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Top_Cat's Prognostications For 2005

Top_Cat

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Well since I know you all care so much about what I've got to say, I'll give you a treat and offer my predictions in cricket for 2005 year beyond. Most of these will be Australian-centric but hey, I'm Aussie after all.

- Brett Lee will be in the top-5 TEST fast bowlers within the next 2 years (if he gets picked). The man isn't just bowling quick anymore.

- Shahid Afridi will be the world's leading bowling allrounder within the next two years. He's still only 24 and I think his bowling is improving all the time (ever since he ditched the faster ball anyway).

- Ashley Giles and Marcus Trescothick will win back the Ashes for England. Oye, that's gonna hurt.

- Shane Warne WILL play in the 2007 World Cup. He probably feels he has some unfinished business to attend to.

- Dan Cullen will be fast-tracked into the Australian side within the next two years.

- Glenn McGrath will play Tests until he's 40 but will retire from ODI's within the next year.

- The issue of individual player sponsorship will eventually split the cricket world in all countries. The WI's is just a test case. Mark my words.

I have more but they're a bit far-fetched. :) Just remember you heard it all here first!

Thoughts?
 

Scallywag

Banned
Top_Cat said:
- Brett Lee will be in the top-5 TEST fast bowlers within the next 2 years (if he gets picked). The man isn't just bowling quick anymore.



- Ashley Giles and Marcus Trescothick will win back the Ashes for England. Oye, that's gonna hurt.




- Glenn McGrath will play Tests until he's 40 but will retire from ODI's within the next year.



Thoughts?
These seem a little contradictory but like you said they are only prognostications.
 

Scallywag

Banned
If Lee becomes one of the best five and McGrath is still playing I think it would be hard for England to take the ashes.

Unless you are predicting Australias bats are going to fail spectacularly.
 

BoyBrumby

Englishman
Top_Cat said:
- Brett Lee will be in the top-5 TEST fast bowlers within the next 2 years (if he gets picked). The man isn't just bowling quick anymore.

- Ashley Giles and Marcus Trescothick will win back the Ashes for England. Oye, that's gonna hurt.

- Glenn McGrath will play Tests until he's 40 but will retire from ODI's within the next year.

Thoughts?
Ok, in order:

- No, he's bowling short & wide too! Sorry, cheap shot. He has looked impressive in the ODIs, to be fair; but I can't quite see him back up there tho.

- Admirably even-handed call, but even I (as patriotic a Pom as the next man, unless the next man happens to be Scaly Piscine! ;) ) can't quite see it. If the pitches turn enough to help Ash I reckon Warney will make hay. About 2-1 or 3-1 to Oz seems about right.

- I still see him maybe going after The Ashes, 35 is old for a seamer.
 

age_master

Hall of Fame Member
Top_Cat said:
Well since I know you all care so much about what I've got to say, I'll give you a treat and offer my predictions in cricket for 2005 year beyond. Most of these will be Australian-centric but hey, I'm Aussie after all.

- Brett Lee will be in the top-5 TEST fast bowlers within the next 2 years (if he gets picked). The man isn't just bowling quick anymore.

- Shahid Afridi will be the world's leading bowling allrounder within the next two years. He's still only 24 and I think his bowling is improving all the time (ever since he ditched the faster ball anyway).

- Ashley Giles and Marcus Trescothick will win back the Ashes for England. Oye, that's gonna hurt.

- Shane Warne WILL play in the 2007 World Cup. He probably feels he has some unfinished business to attend to.

- Dan Cullen will be fast-tracked into the Australian side within the next two years.

- Glenn McGrath will play Tests until he's 40 but will retire from ODI's within the next year.

- The issue of individual player sponsorship will eventually split the cricket world in all countries. The WI's is just a test case. Mark my words.

england winning the ashes back, nah they might win a non dead rubber test though ;)

the rest are all pretty possible, Lee wont make the test side for a while yet though, maybe in england.


Afridi ive always seen as a very very dangerous player, as a bowler he seems to have the awkward factor. who knows.

Individual sponsors will be a big problem in the coming years.
 

Jono

Virat Kohli (c)
Fair enough prognostications. However if anyone was going to win England the Ashes, I think it'll be Thorpe. Just a gut feeling.
 

BoyBrumby

Englishman
Jono said:
Fair enough prognostications. However if anyone was going to win England the Ashes, I think it'll be Thorpe. Just a gut feeling.
Oooo, dunno. Thorpey was magnificent in '04 (think he averaged over 70), but there were a few signs in the SA series he may've peaked just slightly.

There again, he's always been mercurial, so maybe it's just one of his sulks!

I just have a feeling KP might be in the test team come The Ashes....
 

Link

State Vice-Captain
i dont want this to turn into an ashes thread, but i rekon trescothick, Strauss Pieterson and Harmison will play constant roles.
 

Jono

Virat Kohli (c)
BoyBrumby said:
Oooo, dunno. Thorpey was magnificent in '04 (think he averaged over 70), but there were a few signs in the SA series he may've peaked just slightly.

There again, he's always been mercurial, so maybe it's just one of his sulks!

I just have a feeling KP might be in the test team come The Ashes....
Well, I can just see McGrath and Gillespie ripping through Strauss, Trescothick and whoever bats at 3, and then Thorpe comes to the crease, and uses his experience grinding out a 100.

Maybe not necessarily winning it for England, because I'm confident Australia will retain (supporting England though), but I can see Thorpe playing a big hand for England.
 

Top_Cat

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If Lee becomes one of the best five and McGrath is still playing I think it would be hard for England to take the ashes.
That's why I said Lee over 2 years because I don't see him getting picked just yet (so I doubt he'll have an influence over the Ashes)

And McGrath, I reckon, will probably have a good series but I still reckon England are in with a chance.

- No, he's bowling short & wide too! Sorry, cheap shot. He has looked impressive in the ODIs, to be fair; but I can't quite see him back up there tho.
As I said, *if* he gets picked and I'm more referring to where he's headed than where he currently is. There are plenty of signs, in my view, that he might have turned the corner. One thing which Lee never really head was the 'hit-the-seam' factor which would make edges hit the shoulder of the bat like Gillespie and McGrath. In the ODI's and other matches I've seen Lee play, it looks as if his trajectory has changed from being a skidding-type bowler to more of a hit-the-seam type and it looks very impressive, particularly in that first spell against Pakistan last night. Yes he bowled Youhanna but the number of times I saw the ball hit the splice of the bat was a LOT and in all the years I've seen Lee bowl, he's never been that type of bowler consistently.

- Admirably even-handed call, but even I (as patriotic a Pom as the next man, unless the next man happens to be Scaly Piscine! ) can't quite see it. If the pitches turn enough to help Ash I reckon Warney will make hay. About 2-1 or 3-1 to Oz seems about right.
Indeed but it's never been Giles' turn which has got him wickets. I think he's bowling REALLY well right now and that's without the deck turning. On a more uneven type of pitch, I think he'll be very effective and if there's one thing the Aussies have shown for quite a few years now, the finger spinners tend to trouble them (lack of experience; we don't have many decent ones playing Pura Cup and the pitches just don't suit that sort of bowling as a general rule) and lefties particularly so. The Indian leftie and guys like Vettori and Tuffers have always troubled the Aussies just with their flight more than spin. And I reckon if Giles has a good series, he'll either take a few bags himself or help the others do so by laying on the pressure. I just think he's about to do something really great.

As for Tresco, he's due for a brilliant series against the Aussies. If he gets runs and Strauss even has a merely solid series, it'll put the Aussies on the back-foot. They excell at putting an opposition on defensive by taking early wickets. If the Aussies don't get Strauss or Tresco early, it'll put them under enormous pressure.

Having said all of that, the English players will be just as jaded as the Aussies because they've had a tough schedule like the Aussies to get through. I don't think we'll see much of Flintoff in the series due to injury and I think guys like Vaughan, Jones and Harmison are showing the signs of too much cricket.

- I still see him maybe going after The Ashes, 35 is old for a seamer.
Yeah but he's not exactly bowling like a 34-35 year old. He's still bowling at a world-class level. Unless he's getting sick of it all, he certainly has the ability and the form to play for a few years yet. Most bowlers start a slow decline once they hit 30 but McGrath is bowling as well as he did in the 90's. I've stopped bothering to make predictions about his decline because it doesn't seem as if it will come!! :D

Afridi ive always seen as a very very dangerous player, as a bowler he seems to have the awkward factor. who knows.
My prediction on him is more of a 'I see good signs' thing. Again, where he seems to be headed rather than where he's at.

I just have a feeling KP might be in the test team come The Ashes....
Really? Not being in the country I'm not sure but wouldn't someone like Ian Bell be the next in line for a Test recall? I know KP is in great form, though.
 

BoyBrumby

Englishman
Top_Cat said:
Indeed but it's never been Giles' turn which has got him wickets. I think he's bowling REALLY well right now and that's without the deck turning. On a more uneven type of pitch, I think he'll be very effective and if there's one thing the Aussies have shown for quite a few years now, the finger spinners tend to trouble them (lack of experience; we don't have many decent ones playing Pura Cup and the pitches just don't suit that sort of bowling as a general rule) and lefties particularly so. The Indian leftie and guys like Vettori and Tuffers have always troubled the Aussies just with their flight more than spin. And I reckon if Giles has a good series, he'll either take a few bags himself or help the others do so by laying on the pressure. I just think he's about to do something really great.
I agree Ash is probably in the form of his life just now & that he is a more subtle bowler than he's given credit for (unfortunately we don't really get a chance to watch much Oz domestic stuff over here, so I can't really comment on your paucity of decent finger-spinners), but for some reason he was a bit underbowled (IMHO) in the SA series. It's a fair point you make about bolwers like him creating pressure for others to exploit, but 11 wickets @ a touch over 40 isn't world-beating form! The best I can say is that he outbowled Boje, which frankly one would expect!! :D


Top_Cat said:
Really? Not being in the country I'm not sure but wouldn't someone like Ian Bell be the next in line for a Test recall? I know KP is in great form, though.
Bell is next off the rank, as it were & a more orthodox, correct batter than KP, but I just like the look of Pietersen. For want of a better expression he's a character! He's going to be like Gilly & be called a "lucky" batter because he plays his shots & he may be better served in ODIs than tests (goes aerial maybe a bit too often for my liking), but he seems to cope with pressure admirably.
 

Top_Cat

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I agree Ash is probably in the form of his life just now & that he is a more subtle bowler than he's given credit for (unfortunately we don't really get a chance to watch much Oz domestic stuff over here, so I can't really comment on your paucity of decent finger-spinners), but for some reason he was a bit underbowled (IMHO) in the SA series. It's a fair point you make about bolwers like him creating pressure for others to exploit, but 11 wickets @ a touch over 40 isn't world-beating form! The best I can say is that he outbowled Boje, which frankly one would expect!!
As you said, I think that was a consequence of being underbowled.

We do have a few decent finger spinners but they're in and out of their state teams becuse of how tough it is to bowl finger spin on Aussie pitches. Case in point; Gaving Robertson. Played in all Tests on the mid-90's tour to India for Australia despite having not played for NSW for a few months!
 

Sir Redman

State Vice-Captain
-NZ to play superbly in tests and rise up to 3rd just behind England.

-NZs sublime one-day form to disintegrate and end the year ranked 8th

Wouldnt suprise me at all if this happened


Others
-Aus to win almost everything

-England to be brought down to Earth after being beaten in the Ashes
 

Tim

Cricketer Of The Year
Yeah there is the possibility that NZ will put so much effort into winning tests that their ODI form will go on the back-burner. Im hoping now that after all the winning in ODI's this year & last..they should be fairly confident about continuing to win ODI's anyway.
 

Mr Mxyzptlk

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Top_Cat said:
As you said, I think that was a consequence of being underbowled.
Correct. Consider that a bowler could have:

5-0-10-0
5-1-6-0
8-2-23-0
15-3-38-2

...and that's reflected as 33-6-77-2 = an average of 38.50. The point being that said bowler may not have bowled badly at all, but lack of a proper spell reflects poorly statistically.
 

FaaipDeOiad

Hall of Fame Member
I'll throw in a few of my own.

Australia will remain undefeated in all test series again through the year, including the one-off test against the rest of the world.

England will lose the Ashes 3-1, but Flintoff amd Harmison will prove themselves by being England's best players, and Strauss will struggle.

Irfan Pathan will realise his potential and come out of 2005/6 considered among the top bowlers in the world.

Brett Lee will continue his run of form and break his way back into the test side.

Shaun Tait will be marked (if he hasn't already) as the next star quick for Australia by the selectors, then will promptly be injured and take time out of the game to do corrective work on his bowling action.

Matthew Hayden will regain his test form before the Ashes, while Lehmann will not and will be dropped for good before then.

Either one of India or Pakistan to win the ODI series between the sides and the other one to win the tests, having no effect whatsoever on those who believe that their home country is absolutely and unquestionably superior to the other. Watch for the umpires or the weather to be blamed in the case of a loss, and superior talent the culprit in the case of a win.

And finally, Shane Warne to announce his return to one day international cricket some time before the 2006 VB series, opening the door for a World Cup career finale.
 

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