**Official** New Zealand in Australia

[Jono]

No one is saying Johnson is great.

All they are saying is criticising him after such a successful year seems stupid.

 

[Flem274*]

Johnson was awesome last year after being pretty crap previously. It will be interesting to see if he carries on, then we can judge better imo.

 

[Polo23]

Johnson was awesome last year after being pretty crap previously. It will be interesting to see if he carries on, then we can judge better imo.

Exactly. I'm not prepared to rate him either way at the moment. I do however think batsmen will work him out.

 

[Redbacks]

Exactly. I'm not prepared to rate him either way at the moment. I do however think batsmen will work him out.

That will require them not playing shots to his bad balls

 

[Polo23]

That will require them not playing shots to his bad balls

Yeah, I think people will work out "Hey, this guy finds it almost impossible to hit the stumps since he isnt swinging it back...so anything that isn't really full and straight, I can leave". And i'm sure teams will assess the way in which he gets his wickets, and play accordingly.

 

[Athlai]

nz versus bangladesh

Shakib Al Hasan took 5 wickets at 18 avg with economy of 3 in 3 odis
and in tests he took 10 wickets at 17 and and economy of 1 in 2 tests

nz versus eng

swann took 7 wickets at 24 with economy of 4 in 5 odis

decent outing if you ask anybody.

Okay Test matches are irrelevant here so I'll just skip that part. (And Shakib is a world class spinner by anyone's standards)

Shakib while good in Bangladesh was moderate overall against New Zealand in the past 3 years.

8 @ 31.37 Econ 4.67

If Australia had a bowler that good they should pick him any day.

Swann also in the past 3 years has only been moderately successful.

7 @ 29.57 Econ 4.70

Again if Australia had a spinner even of this calibre he might be an option.
Yet you were suggesting that NZ were poor players of spin overall which simply isn't the case.

In the last 3 years the top wicket taking spinners against NZ follow
Murali 18 @ 10.55 Econ 3.19 (sublime, outclasses us anyday)
Hogg 8 @ 30.12 Econ 6.20
Shakib 8 @ 31.37 Econ 4.67
Gayle 7 @ 48.42 Econ 5.57
Swann 7 @ 29.57 Econ 4.70
Razzak 6 @ 54.33 Econ 5.62
Panesar 6 @ 33.33 Econ 4.25

Overall: Spinners since 3 Feb 2006

98 W @ 37.25 Econ 5.21
While against all teams spinners have taken
1850 W in this period @ 33.22 Econ 4.58

Since when did we become a team who plays spin poorly?

As far as I know we just play Murali poorly.

Remove him and spinners have taken 80 W against NZ @ 42.14 Econ 5.41

 

[Top_Cat]

Yeah, I think people will work out "Hey, this guy finds it almost impossible to hit the stumps since he isnt swinging it back...so anything that isn't really full and straight, I can leave". And i'm sure teams will assess the way in which he gets his wickets, and play accordingly.

If it was that simple, world-class batsmen would have done it by now. You seriously think they don't know that?

 

[_Ed_]

As far as I know we just play Murali poorly.

No shame in that.

 

[TT Boy]

Must be a decent trick if Jacques Kallis keeps falling for it. It never looks pretty when a batsman gets out to a ball which is nigh on a half volley but similarly the likes of Ntini have got 300 plus test wickets by inducing left handed batsman to merely follow and poke at balls which are never going hit their off-stump. Everyone knows that Ntini doesn't bring the ball back into the left-handers and it will just go on from the angle but it hasn't stopped them from playing at it.

 

[howardj]

Chuffed for Callum!

One of the few good calls the Aus selectors have made of late.

Hughes should be in for the injured Marsh, instead of Voges, though.

 

[Johnners]

Chuffed for Callum!

One of the few good calls the Aus selectors have made of late.

Hughes should be in for the injured Marsh, instead of Voges, though.

Nah, I'm a fan of Ferguson, but the call is pretty poor. His list-a record is atrocious, and he's not even having an outstanding OD season as it stands. A good season, yes, but the likes of Bailey and Klinger have a far better case afaic.

 

[Mister Wright]

Agree with The Clap for once.

Definitely would have loved to have seen Bailey selected. Also, am a huge fan of Klinger so would have loved to have seen him there also.

 

[Johnners]

Problem Bailey has is that he isn't having his best season. Although he did hit a ton against NZ last week...

 

[Mister Wright]

Problem Bailey has is that he isn't having his best season. Although he did hit a ton against NZ last week...

Not having that bad of a first class season from memory, haven't really noticed his FRC season though. Can't be any worse than Ferguson's 'get out after a start' season.

 

[Johnners]

Ferguson's actually having quite a good First Class season, comfortably better than Baileys. Callum has 576 @ 48, 2 tons, 2 50s, compared to Baileys 322 @ 24 with only 2 50's. Ferguson is also averaging about 10 more in the FRC.

Would have preferred they went for Klinger over both though.

 

[Uppercut]

I'm tipping the apparent drop off in his captaincy has less to do with Warne the tactician not being there and more to do with Warne and McGrath the bowlers not being there.

It's easy to blame him - look at the attacks he's had to work with since the WI. Lee busted and bowling mud pies, Clark injured, MacGill retired, Hogg retired, McGain injured. Now a rookie like Siddle who's showing promise is injured as well.

Take out bowlers like that together with those who preceded them (Warne and McGrath) and see how positive any captain is when faced with top class opposition like India away and SA with the standard of the attacks he had. You can fudge around it all you like with short covers, silly mid-ons, a couple of midwickets, whatever - if you don't have the bowlers you won't win. Simple.

The problem with this line of argument is that i don't think Australia lose specifically because of Ponting's captaincy. They might well have lost anyway. But watching them it's often quite obvious that his captaincy isn't very good- he makes a lot of extremely questionable decisions. Off the top of my head, some of the worst ones- bowling Hussey and Clarke to make up for over rates, bowling part-timers while waiting for the new ball when they had South Africa on the ropes in the second test, allowing India to score at 5 per over without hitting any boundaries at all in the second test, second innings there.

You can say, "he doesn't have Warne or McGrath'', and it's true that makes captaincy a lot harder for him, but it doesn't excuse some of his absolutely shocking decisions.

 

[Precambrian]

If it was that simple, world-class batsmen would have done it by now. You seriously think they don't know that?

Didn't they? See averages in the India series.

 

[Uppercut]

Uhm well he is bowling at 145+ ks all day long. That said, you'd think they'd do a better job than they do at the minute. After all the batsmen he's got out nicking full balls outside off stump you'd think they'd catch on.

Very effective against lefties though. There are only three LHBs in the South Africa team, and in the three-match series he snared Smith three times, Duminy three times and Morkel twice.

 

[Top_Cat]

Uhm well he is bowling at 145+ ks all day long. That said, you'd think they'd do a better job than they do at the minute. After all the batsmen he's got out nicking full balls outside off stump you'd think they'd catch on.

Gosh, it's almost as if it's harder to do than it looks. Unfair!

 

[Uppercut]

Gosh, it's almost as if it's harder to do than it looks. Unfair!

Of course it is, but you see where I'm coming from. As a RHB, staying in against Mitchell Johnson is hard, but it's not as hard as staying in facing someone who can get you out bowled, lbw and caught as opposed to just caught. You'd think their performances might reflect that more than they do.