Duncan Fletcher's fighting words
I always thought Duncan Fletcher was a bit of a goose and he just confirmed it with some big talk overnight. First he laid into Shane Warne saying how easily the English batsmen handled him:
"We were pretty confident the way we played him there. The only thing is we gave him two soft wickets, and outside of that we played him very, very well and positively, so that was a big positive which came out of there."It's amazing how often you hear the word "positive" out of beaten sides. Admittedly Pietersen plays Warne well, probably due to hours of net sessions they shared at Hampshire. But Warne bowled well in Brisbane - the main reason Warne failed to take many wickets was because Clarke and McGrath were getting them all. Fletcher goes on:
"I thought we played the other bowlers pretty confidently as well, especially in the second innings."Was he watching the same match I was? England were dismissed for 150! The second innings mainly consisted of one large partnership. With five wickets in hand on Day 5, they couldn't even last the 25 overs required for the Gabba to get their ticket revenue. But wait, there's more. He also criticised Australia for not selecting Stuart MacGill for Adelaide:
"They're only leaving out MacGill because they're worried that Shane Watson's not playing. Australia has won 11 out of (its past) 12 Tests, and don't want to move a guy like (Adam) Gilchrist up to six and Shane Warne up to seven. That's the strange part about it. People tell us just to bat to number six. We try and bat past six (by including Jones and Giles), yet everyone thinks it's fine with Australia trying to bat down to number eight and nine. You've got to bat with depth and that's what we're trying to do, make sure we've got batters who bat down to number eight at least."Now I'm confused. Is Duncan Fletcher criticising Australia for doing the same thing he does - picking a team with batting depth? And should he be pointing the finger over defensive selections when he chose Ashley Giles over Panesar who he dubbed the "best finger spinner in England"? And how can he criticise our batting when we scored 800 runs for 10 wickets in Brisbane? I'm not sure the coach of a side who just lost by 270 runs should be talking themselves up so big. But if it fires up our boys (as if they need it), all the better!
| Posted by JC on Wed 29 Nov |  2 comments |
Talk it up while you can Duncan. You will soon be a cooked goose.
Posted by TA on 2006-11-29 11:30:04
Posted by TA on 2006-11-29 11:30:04
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