I feel sorry for Ricky Ponting

[Barney Rubble]

Lol, "he's got the timing of a swiss watch" re: Martyn. Can't take Dean seriously ever again, not that i ever did!

Damien Martyn's had the timing of a British Rail train this summer.

(ooooh, satire.... )

 

[twctopcat]

Ponting's a great batsmen, one of the best of his generation. But he got beaten (only just i might add) by the better team. I don't think he will take long to bounce back from this, though the scars will stay.

 

[Barney Rubble]

Ponting's a great batsmen, one of the best of his generation. But he got beaten (only just i might add) by the better team. I don't think he will take long to bounce back from this, though the scars will stay.

I think his scar, and the moment he received it, may go down as one of the great iconic sporting moments after all that happened in this series. In 50 years' time, when he's at death's door, he'll look in the mirror one last time and remember the lifter he got from (the great?) Steve Harmison, knowing he took part in one of the greatest sporting contests of all time, and probably forgetting that he lost. Likewise every time he meets Harmison for the rest of their lives, Harmison will see that scar and be reminded of how he got the upper hand - he might even allow himself a little smile at the Australian's expense, and so he should.

 

[Langeveldt]

On that incident, my girlfriend said "But scars have the ability to prove that the past was real"...

Thanks for the input, stick to the hop-scotch

 

[Barney Rubble]

On that incident, my girlfriend said "But scars have the ability to prove that the past was real"...

Thanks for the input, stick to the hop-scotch

 

[PY]

On that incident, my girlfriend said "But scars have the ability to prove that the past was real"...

Thanks for the input, stick to the hop-scotch

Gold.

 

[twctopcat]

On that incident, my girlfriend said "But scars have the ability to prove that the past was real"...

Thanks for the input, stick to the hop-scotch

Lol, i hope she never reads that little gem!!

 

[Langeveldt]

Lol, i hope she never reads that little gem!!

I think England would have to win the ashes a few more times to get excited about cricket and join a forum...

Sorry of course to our forum "pimps"

 

[honestbharani]

I think Ponting is an arrogant and defensive captain, much like Ganguly. When he loses, he tries to find all possible excuses except that his team didn't play as well as they should have. And he never wants to change his side that much. He doesn't even admit that certain players have not been playing well. Too many similarities between Ganguly and Ponting's captaincy for me, although obviously Punter is miles ahead as a batsman. I still think Gilly or Warney should be captaining Australia.

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

Is Harmison an overrated bowler or what?

Now, I think he's quite good, and dangerous on an uneven wicket because of his pace and steep bounce, and he plays a useful role in the English team, but honestly how many series does he have to play in a row where he does nothing particularly special before people stop expecting him to take 7 for 12 again? Harmison was the poorest of the English seamers in the Ashes by a reasonable margin, and he was also the poorest against South Africa by a huge margin. He was the best against the West Indies, and had three good series last year, but it is hard to fathom why he is so massively rated when there are significantly better and more reliable bowlers in his own team.

Threads like this just make me wonder.

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

Dean Jones for one. The man is off his head. He worships at the feet of anyone with Australian blood, and refuses to acknowledge that anyone who isn't Australian could ever be any good. The man's probably writing his next article, on why Ponting is a better all-rounder than Flintoff as his figures this series prove, as we speak.

We had him for a panel member during the Ashes for the breaks, and while he was an idiot as usual he wasn't really particularly parochial. He was pretty vicious in his criticism of the Australian team actually, and praised England a lot.

 

[honestbharani]

I have met Dean Jones. He is a pretty funny bloke, but I am not sure his views are the best on cricket. My uncle and cousin actually took a picture with him.

 

[Dasa]

Is Harmison an overrated bowler or what?

Now, I think he's quite good, and dangerous on an uneven wicket because of his pace and steep bounce, and he plays a useful role in the English team, but honestly how many series does he have to play in a row where he does nothing particularly special before people stop expecting him to take 7 for 12 again? Harmison was the poorest of the English seamers in the Ashes by a reasonable margin, and he was also the poorest against South Africa by a huge margin. He was the best against the West Indies, and had three good series last year, but it is hard to fathom why he is so massively rated when there are significantly better and more reliable bowlers in his own team.

Threads like this just make me wonder.

Agree with all of that. Harmison has hardly performed against really good teams, and he did nothing against Aus after Lords.

 

[luckyeddie]

Nope, If Kasper had got 2 more runs and if England had got 1 more wicket, Australia would have still retained the ashes.

They're talking different games

 

[luckyeddie]

Is Harmison an overrated bowler or what?

Now, I think he's quite good, and dangerous on an uneven wicket because of his pace and steep bounce, and he plays a useful role in the English team, but honestly how many series does he have to play in a row where he does nothing particularly special before people stop expecting him to take 7 for 12 again? Harmison was the poorest of the English seamers in the Ashes by a reasonable margin, and he was also the poorest against South Africa by a huge margin. He was the best against the West Indies, and had three good series last year, but it is hard to fathom why he is so massively rated when there are significantly better and more reliable bowlers in his own team.

Threads like this just make me wonder.

At the end of the day, what counts is this simple fact...

Harmison was the worst of the four English pacemen during the Ashes series, but he would still have walked into the Australian side.

 

[Shounak]

Harmo bangs it in short too much. The bouncer doesn't carry the same fear inducing tendencies it used to..

Top order batsmen (and even a lot of taileneders) just aren't intimidated by them and duck. Waste of effort balls in my opinion..

With his height, he should be trying to bowl much fuller then he is..

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

At the end of the day, what counts is this simple fact...

Harmison was the worst of the four English pacemen during the Ashes series, but he would still have walked into the Australian side.

Relevance?

 

[luckyeddie]

Relevance?

The relevance is as plain as can be - even though he didn't come out with the most impressive figures, he still picked up his share of the wickets and worked effectively as part of a unit. Suffice to say, if he had been Australia's fourth bowler, you would have won The Ashes.

 

[greg]

Harmo bangs it in short too much. The bouncer doesn't carry the same fear inducing tendencies it used to..

Top order batsmen (and even a lot of taileneders) just aren't intimidated by them and duck. Waste of effort balls in my opinion..

With his height, he should be trying to bowl much fuller then he is..

I think his job was to mould the ball to get it reversing as quickly as possible

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

The relevance is as plain as can be - even though he didn't come out with the most impressive figures, he still picked up his share of the wickets and worked effectively as part of a unit. Suffice to say, if he had been Australia's fourth bowler, you would have won The Ashes.

Actually, I don't think that last bit is true, but anyway that wasn't my point. He's not overrated because he's actually poor, he's overrated because people talk about him as being England's best bowler and even the best bowler in the world, when he seems to really struggle for consistency and penetration on wickets which aren't suited to his style of bowling. I've been trying to work out why so many England fans rate him so highly, when aside from a purple patch last year he's had a relatively unsuccessful test career to date. Was it simply the wickets and the poor quality of the opposition that led him to be so dominant in the West Indies last year, or is he doing something differently in the last few series?