***Official*** West Indies in Australia

[Mister Wright]

Is it me or the do the West Indies have a problem getting tailenders out? I first saw it against Bangladesh and now it's over in Austarlia.

It's not you. They had trouble getting the Qld tailenders out TWICE. Today they struggled to get the top order out, not good signs for the series.

 

[Mister Wright]

Lee continuing to impress with the bat. Career average of almost 21 now.

Needs to do something with the bat, because he doesn't do much with the ball...

 

[Mister Wright]

i didnt say that he was, im just pointing out that he didnt get to bowl in overcast conditions, which you indicated.

I hope Bracken has a good relationship with Mother Nature then, because he's going to need overcast conditions, a wet pitch and those English lollies to get swing. He got absolutely none on Friday. You get more swing from a bowling machine.

 

[King_Ponting]

Needs to do something with the bat, because he doesn't do much with the ball...

Could probably take watsons spot in the team as lee scores more runs and takes more wickets than the so called "all rounder"

 

[Mister Wright]

I don't think anyone hits it longer...

I've seen 5-6 sixes by him go out of the ground at verious venues and he is the first guy ever to hit one out of the gabba..

Dad told me that (I think it was) Grout hit a six in a Sheffield Shield game that landed on a tram line somewhere well past Stanley Street. Although that was long before it had it's current grandstands.

 

[Linda]

Could probably take watsons spot in the team as lee scores more runs and takes more wickets than the so called "all rounder"

Haha, I was thinking the same thing. Turn him into the allrounder and boot Watson.

 

[Mister Wright]

Oh! What a catch by Bracken!

Speaking of Bracken, interesting thing about his bowling today, when considering a balanced Australian attack this summer. What Bracken did today was exactly what Watson needs to be able to do. Bracken was relatively unthreatening, didn't get a lot of movement or look like taking a wicket, but he has 10-4-23-0, which are very respectable figures. If Watson can justify his place with the bat and at least do what Bracken did today with the ball, which was to give the other seamers a rest and tie up an end, he will be of great value to the Australian team. It will allow Australia to rotate MacGill and a third specialist seamer through the team without weakening the bowling attack, putting too much pressure on Lee and McGrath, or weakening the batting. A spell of 10 overs going for 2 or 3 an over and not taking a wicket is perfectly decent, and what Watson has to learn to do, even if it involves bowling wide of the stumps like Bracken did.

He has to get a bowl first!

 

[Mister Wright]

Out of interest, would Aussie fans liked to have seen Lara play a classic innings and score a century instead of being wrongly given out for 30?

Definitely. The only reason I went to the ground today was to see Lee get hit around and Lara score runs. Saw one, but didn't see the other. Although 30 runs is better than nothing.

 

[Pratters]

Just what I was fearing:

Tomorrow: Scattered thunderstorms in the morning, then mainly cloudy during the afternoon with thunderstorms likely. High 81F. Winds NNE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 80%.

Tomorrow night: Overcast with rain showers at times. Low 69F. NNE winds shifting to WSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 60%. Rainfall near a quarter of an inch.

Monday: Light rain with thunderstorms by evening. High 77F. Winds E at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 80%.

With such a weather forecast even, would have made much more sense to enforce the follow on, try and get Windies out as quickly as possible. If Lara made a 200, or Windies managed a lot of runs, you take up the challenge and try and win it as much time you are left with (if there is time left)

There is a chance Australia may miss the possibility of bowling Windies out if it rains a lot in the next two days. It would have been much better to try and get the Windies today and the time left rather than play with that chance.

 

[Mister Wright]

Although I am only reading the live scorecard on cricinfo, Hayden's century seemed to be a high quality one.

It wasn't quite of the highest quality, and I think he'd even admit it wasn't his best. However, it was great to watch. The Hayden/Ponting partnership is the best in the Australian team ATM.

 

[Mister Wright]

First they did not enforce the follow on. I find no logic in that. You want to finish the match as quickly as possible to avoid an usual circumstance of rain or some great Windies performances in their inning (which may be vital if you have declared not anticpiating that great performance).

So ideally you would want to enforce the follow on so that the decision to declare is not upon yourself. Which Australia could do.

That shows they are thinking of making some easy test runs and not thinking too highly of the West Indies as a test team. You underestimate opposition at your own peril in this game.

To a lesser degree, taking the lights shows further the concentration on making easy runs. Though it can be agued as well on why they should not take it and lose wickets in dark.

It was highly anticipated on the radio that the reason that they went off was because Clarke didn't want to face the paceman in the "fading light". Topcat - this is not my opinion, but what the radio said.
I can't think of any reason why they would have taken the light, unless injury was a factor, however the light wasn't that bad, and the ground lights were on. I could certainly see my beer fine.

 

[Mister Wright]

WI follow-on, Lara inspires a decent score of over 400 with a backs-to-the-wall effort, Australia collapse under pressure chasing 200 and lose (doesn't even need to be as high as 200). There's a far greater risk of losing by enforcing the follow-on than there is of Australia batting on without any pressure whatsoever and setting 500+ and WI somehow chasing it (on an older pitch).

Yep. There's always the 'Lara factor'. That is the reasont that they didn't declare and why Australia will need to get 400+ in every innings. The W.I. batsman showed promise, and its only going to take one of them to stick around with him. Right decision not to enforce the follow on even though I wanted to see Lara bat...

 

[Mister Wright]

The way the weather is here at the moment, they will declare overnight and then bowl them out before the end of session one.

Yeah, looking at the radar there appears to be a massive storm coming.

 

[Mister Wright]

Had he been dismissed for less, I'd still be saying the same thing; Clarke, in my view, looked better than his numbers suggested.

Dropped on naught in that innings. Looked very comfortable didn't he...

 

[King_Ponting]

Yeah, looking at the radar there appears to be a massive storm coming.

****..........

 

[Mister Wright]

Could probably take watsons spot in the team as lee scores more runs and takes more wickets than the so called "all rounder"

Yeah, I can't see what Watson's doing in the team if he's going to bat at 7 and not bowl. Bring Martyn back and let Watson play for QLD. God knows we need him ATM.

 

[Mister Wright]

****..........

Couldn't have put it better myself.

Although it will probably hit early this morning, and if it doesn't hang around they should play even if it's a bit late. Althout storms are forecast for Sunday and Monday afternoon/night.

 

[Mister Wright]

I can hear the thunder roaring in and the lightning flashing as I type.

*Ducks for cover*

 

[Pratters]

Another thing I want to highlight:

http://statserver.cricket.org/guru?...ershigh=;event=0;submit=1;.cgifields=viewtype

The average 3rd inning total in Brisbane is 289 while the averae 4th inning total is 299!

The apprehensions are quite out of reason in my opinion.

Let me take the two scenarios.

Australia enforce follow on

Windies bats. Australia get 66 overs on the third day and whatever time remains to get the Windies out.

Lets take a possible worst case for Australia - Windies scoring 450 and Australia having to score 225 to win. A challenge on the 5th day no doubt. But not that tough a task. But a chance of a loss remains.

Australia does not enforce follow on

Windies get 500 or more to chase in two days or less considering how much Australia decide to bat further and how much it rains.

In the first scenario, even if it rains later on, Australia know that they will have to chase the required runs at a much hgher run rate. So they bat as agressively as the situation demands.

In the second scenario, if it rains a lot, Windies may have much less overs to bat than Australia could have forced them to.

The more it rains, the more it will that Australia should have enforced the follow on. For example if there are 90 overs of play which can occur in the match, and Australia declare immediately, they have 90 overs to dismiss Windies.

If they would have declared earlier, they would have had around 150 overs to get the wickets and make the runs at a quicker pace (whatever Windies managed above 225).

The declaration is a move is a very conservative approach. As a team you have to take the more agressive stand, playing for a greater chance of winning even if it means there is a very small chance of losing.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Yep. There's always the 'Lara factor'. That is the reasont that they didn't declare and why Australia will need to get 400+ in every innings. The W.I. batsman showed promise, and its only going to take one of them to stick around with him. Right decision not to enforce the follow on even though I wanted to see Lara bat...

I think they saw Lara playing himself back into form in the first innings, and that probably influenced their decision largely, considering that this pitch is still very flat.