Top of the world? - You're havin' a laugh

[Slow Love™]

Got no idea what greg was getting at either.

 

[FiveFor]

Got no idea what greg was getting at either.

just too easy.

 

[social]

True, the lack of depth is a bit worrying (for them), but the first XI is pretty damn good.

And to think that I was roundly criticised for daring to suggest such a thing before the series started.

 

[marc71178]

We can not judge the strength in depth of a team by purely looking at FC stats. For all anyone knows all of the batsmen listed so far with strong FC averages might be Ramprakashes at Test level - we simply do not know the strength in depth til a string of injuries come along and we see the underlings play Tests for a while.

Also if you looked at FC averages then Collingwood would be nowhere near the Test side...

Actually on 2nd thoughts, maybe FC averages should be used...

 

[marc71178]

For 18 months Brett Lee couldn't even get in the side, and class batsman like Stuart Law hardly got a look in.

This is Brett 20@41 is it?

As for Law, how does anyone know he is a class Test batsman?

 

[marc71178]

England as a team are still a bit better than Pakistan, but not by a big enough margin to overcome losing the toss

The same England team who imploded to lose a Test they should've won you mean?

How is that the toss that lost it?

 

[marc71178]

t won't matter if we have Warne, McGrath, Lee and MacGill. Who else is going to get wickets with these four bowling ? Its worked for us before.

I wopuld put question marks over 2 of those 4 (and the other 2 might be by then reaching the end and dwindling in ability)

 

[marc71178]

as for back up seamers i wouldn't mind having the likes of Gillespie, Kasprowicz etc

Yes, the 2005 pairing really worried us

 

[marc71178]

Well it'll be interesting to see how England do go in India. Pakistan may not be preparing raging turners, but I have no doubt in my mind that India will for at least 2 of the 3 tests. Will England play 2 spinners than with Jones possibly back? Doubtful.

Reports suggest Jones is going to be back, so it'll be the same Ashes XI again, but the middle order will be a lot more experienced...

 

[honestbharani]

Yeah but come on Neil; he'll bowl worse than he did in the first-innings and take a bag. How many drops were off his bowling? Just taking one of those wickets might have resulted in a few more.

Y'know who's the real surprise package of this series? Shoaib Akhtar. I have never seen him steam in so consistently as he has this series. He's been quick as usual but he's bowled accurately and hasn't thrown in the towel like he's been guilty of previously. Has bowled with a heck of a lot of heart in this series.

He has even been batting with a lot of responsibility. Who would have believed that?

 

[Zinzan]

On results, they aren't, but personally I'd back South Africa against anyone other than Australia and England, excluding perhaps touring the subcontinent. They're a solid all-round team, and improving from a brief slump. I'd rate Australia and England the clear best right now, and South Africa, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka in a fairly even group behind them, with South Africa far more likely to win on tour than any of the other three.

I'd expect over the next year or two we'll see that carried over into results. With the addition of Nel and the improvement of Ntini, South Africa are developing a solid bowling attack again, and they've certainly got good enough batting stocks to match it with most teams.

LOL Sri lanka ahead of New Zealand .....thats why NZ just gave them a thrashing recently aye . New Zealand are currently a much better team than sri lanka at either form of the game. Do remember it was just a month or so ago that NZ convincingly beat india in that tri series (and only lost 1 game when it didn't matter without bond and vettori). Since then India went on to thrash sri lanka.

 

[magsi23]

I don't think people are giving enough credit to how good this Pakistan really is. This Pakistan side at full strength or slightly below are capable of pushing Australia and England for the top spot. They probably have the best depth going around in Test Cricket. Asim Kamal and Hasan Raza are very good reserve batsmen. Abdul Razzaq is already better then the best all rounder in Australia, Shane Watson. Then you look at their bowling depth Gul, Rana, Mushtaq and Saqlain, a lot better then Engand or Australia. If they can improve the consistency of their 1st XI and find the right combinations they could be a brilliant side.

very well said

 

[andyc]

I wopuld put question marks over 2 of those 4 (and the other 2 might be by then reaching the end and dwindling in ability)

MacGill is really a world class bowler. He seemed to be troubling Lara a hell of a lot more than Warne on the first two days of this test.

 

[Maison]

I love English cricket fans. Two slightly off-games and suddenly it's find the nearest skyscraper and get ready to hurl yourself off it. It's been a great series so far - and it's not like Australia have any back up seam bowlers either. How many casual fans had heard of Tait? Australia picked Nathan Hauritz nine months ago. We just need a little more middle order stickability - Inzamam's been the difference this series.

I've got complete faith in Duncan

well its the same for australia.... one 'bad series', coupled with some dodgy bowling and poor batting, and martyn gets the kick......... woohoo.

I still cant beleive england isnt beating the pakistani's though, oh well. the next year or so will be a good test for england and where they really stand.