Australia win, New Zealand lose

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I was disappointed to learn England comfortably chased down 294 to defeat New Zealand in the 2nd Test. It's not just the Ashes - any England loss is savoured by Australian cricket fans. But more importantly, Australia won the 1st Test in the West Indies.

Stuart Clark just keeps on taking wickets - it's amazing how easily the baton was passed from McGrath to mini-McGrath. If only Shane Warne had passed his baton on so easily (Warnie doesn't give anything up easily). Gorilla Macgilla was bowling like, well, me. Long hops, full tosses, juicy stuff that's bread and butter for batsmen desperate for runs. Warnie's implausible Ashes comeback seems slightly more plausible.

The most worrying element of Australia's win is the heavy dependence on Brett Lee and Stuart Clark. Ponting bowled them through nearly the entire first session - both bowling 10 over spells. Ponting as captain has a tendency to lose faith in some bowlers and overbowl the more reliable ones. I just hope he doesn't drive his two wicket takers into mid-series injury.

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Posted by JC on Tue 27 May

7 comments

Stuart Clark was pretty impressive I don't know if the West Indies were just doing an England of choking or if it was the pressure. But after the first morning wicket there were an amazing number of maidens and the West Indies just couldn't make a single.

As for the over bowling of Lee and Clark its hard not to in that situation, espcially with McGill being rather useless and Johnson not hitting the right areas. At this rate we should just dump Macgilla bring in any of our spare bowlers, maybe even Bracken and if we need spin use Clarke and Symonds (they can't be any worse than McGill).

We were also missing Hayden in the slips Katich dropped a simple catch off Chanderpaul (which considering his form could have been a match losing prospect). Just goes to show how useful Warne was, not just for his bowling, but his slips fielding, his occasional form with the bat and of course his sledging from slips.

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Posted by andrew on 2008-05-27 13:37:41

That's my whole point - Australia's bowling attack is a two man attack. Because Clark and Lee are so much better than the rest, Ponting inevitably overbowls them. Good short term results, worrying long term prospects of either or both getting injured.

Can't wait for Haydos to come back in, if just to get Katich out of the side. I've never forgiven him for his Ashes 2005 performance - he was a boy among men back then and I don't see any different now.

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Posted by JC on 2008-05-27 14:44:54

Well, perhaps if M.Clarke can BE BOTHERED to turn up for our next match we may get a few more runs and restore the natural balance...

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Posted by virtualgaz on 2008-05-27 17:48:37

Clarke is in the West Indies and is definitely playing in the 2nd Test. Wonder if his missus tagged along.

Just read a great quote from one of the West Indians:

"We gave the Australians a fight right down to the wire," Sammy said. "We got ourselves into a winning position, but the guys think that this Test match has more positives than negatives."

I'd call losing a Test a pretty whopping big negative.

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Posted by JC on 2008-05-27 18:11:47

Is that like "we thought we'd get hammered, but we just 'lost'"...? They could do with good old Aussie psycho babble. Roll out the Juggernaut and Parchment puns JC...

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Posted by virtualgaz on 2008-05-27 18:41:34

I must admit I did look twice when I saw some of the West Indian surnames. They're definitely giving Plunkett and Sidebottom a serious challenge for most ridiculous sounding Test cricketers.

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Posted by JC on 2008-05-27 19:26:13

Top 20 silliest test playing names blog entry prapps?

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Posted by virtualgaz on 2008-05-28 15:26:12

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