Cricket

England with a stunning victory today...

against an ICC affiliate XI...

Got to say that the most pleasing thing for me was to see Ponting make some big runs at long last all be it on a flat deck against buffet bowling.

He has been one of the games true greats and I was getting worried that he might have stayed on just a touch to long.

Is he going to call it a day now that he's played India or is he angling for 1 last hurrah against the English and a chance of re-capturing that little urn?

What do you guys think?

Chris Chan wrote:England with a stunning victory today...

against an ICC affiliate XI...

You can only beat whats put in front of you

But interesting to see what a difference the ball had as it got older ... first innings they had them 6 down at lunch i think ..... then the ball goes soft and we struggled.

Got to work on that as the Pakistan team will be no push over if they get it together.

I was reading an article yesterday on their spinner ( his name escapes me for the moment) and how he's now developed a 3rd delivery to go along side the offie and doosra. Could be bluff and bluster to wind the english batsmen up but he seemed pretty confident he'd got something new up his sleeve.

It depends on his and more importantly the Aussie's form. If they are losing they may choose to promote 'new blood'. Of course if he continues to knock big runs, how can he be dropped?

I honestly think that the Indians have to make some big decisions with their batting line up though. They need to move on from an ancient line up who is also costing them any number of runs in the field

I think the Pakistan series will be quite tough, made even harder with Bresnan being forced out of the series. His stamina and reverse swing with the old ball would be really helpful on those pitches, as well as his valuable lower order runs.

I think Tremlett is also out at the moment so big moment for Finn. Such good bowling depth at the moment.

But yeah, Pakistan have been on a bit of a role recently in terms of playing cricket. Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, I think West Indies as well. Zimbabwe. Ok, they're not the strongest nations but they have been winning and they do it in a bit of a negative style, slow cricket, grinding down the opposition. It works for them. In Ajmal they have a very good spinner and I still have question marks against a few of the England players and their ability to play world class spin. Fortunately, there is very little of it about at the moment. Their quicks are usually impressive although their batting isn't the best. Think England will have to work very hard to get the wins.

They are meant to be some of the flattest tracks around in the UAE so could be a bit of a grind. The batting flattered to deceive in the last warm up game. I agree it's going to be a tough test and Pakistan will want to settle some demons with a good display. Let's hope Akmal is around to drop 12324342 catches in a day

I just read news that Virat Kohli was fined 50% of his match fee after he was seen gesturing to the crowd with his middle finger during the second test.

What rubbish ICC need to come hard than fining 50% of match fees. ICC is a disgrace.

duncan.cooper1 wrote:Got to say that the most pleasing thing for me was to see Ponting make some big runs at long last all be it on a flat deck against buffet bowling.

He has been one of the games true greats and I was getting worried that he might have stayed on just a touch to long.

Is he going to call it a day now that he's played India or is he angling for 1 last hurrah against the English and a chance of re-capturing that little urn?

What do you guys think?

Ponting has said several times over the past year that he will continue playing as long as he feels that he can add something to the team. Based on his last performance, it seems that that is still the case. I hope that he can turn out a few more performances than that.

Assuming that he continues to make a few big scores, I wouldn't be surprised if he plays the next Ashes.

David Hogan wrote:

duncan.cooper1 wrote:Got to say that the most pleasing thing for me was to see Ponting make some big runs at long last all be it on a flat deck against buffet bowling.

He has been one of the games true greats and I was getting worried that he might have stayed on just a touch to long.

Is he going to call it a day now that he's played India or is he angling for 1 last hurrah against the English and a chance of re-capturing that little urn?

What do you guys think?

Ponting has said several times over the past year that he will continue playing as long as he feels that he can add something to the team. Based on his last performance, it seems that that is still the case. I hope that he can turn out a few more performances than that.

Assuming that he continues to make a few big scores, I wouldn't be surprised if he plays the next Ashes.

Also got to consider, is there a viable alternative for Ponting in the moment?

duncan.cooper1 wrote:

David Hogan wrote:Best all-rounder, that's for sure. Really difficult to say if he's the best cricketer.

Ooooo big call on the best all rounder there !!

Got to agree with Mario ..... Sobers would be in with a shout along side Botham, Imran Khan, Hadlee, and then you have to take into account if your looking at batting all rounders or Bowling ones.

Kallis has probably been the best in the "modern era" of the last 15 years or so though.

p.s. glad to see the board back up and running

Comparative Test Figures

Jacques Kallis:
12,260 runs scored at 57.02
274 wickets at 32.51

Sir Garfield Sobers:
8032 runs @ 57.78
235 wickets @ 34.03

SGS is definitely a more popular player, because of his swashbuckling style.

And it is unfair to underestimate the opposition Kallis has come up against also (not saying you are). He had to face Warne, McGrath, Murali (on the sub-continent).

As Mario said, a comparison is probably futile, but fun. I don't think Kallis gets the recognition he deserves though, especially here in Australia.

Chris Chan wrote:Also got to consider, is there a viable alternative for Ponting in the moment?

Depends on what you mean by a viable alternative. I think there are some players who could come into his position and do a pretty good job. However, that's not the same as "replacing" Ponting. In much the same way that Haddin was a very good player to come in and attempt to fill the hole left by Gilchrist. He certainly hasn't replaced Gilchrist in any facet of the game.

The unfortunate thing is that there is a player who could have played Ponting's role with great success, yet he had terrible luck of being of a similar age to Ponting and never getting a proper chance. Under different circumstances, Brad hodge could have been a great test batsman. He played 11 test innings which included two half centuries and a double century. He was the batting version of Stuart MacGill. If they were born in any other country in the world, they each would have played 100 tests.

Sami Rockfeller wrote:When is the next Ind-Aus match starting? Just put a lot of money on Aussies thumping the Indians.

Your money looks safe. Perth is a pitch that India struggles on normally, as it has a lot more bounce compared to indian pitches. And this time it is particularly green, so will seem all over the place up around their arm pits.

Sri Lanka Collapsed against SA. 43 All out...wow that is a shocking result.

Sri Lanka and India are the two teams in huge decline at the moment

England are in pretty shit form at the moment. Another disappointing day with the bat, bowlers are gonna have to step up majorly tomorrow

I amazed people tonight at dinner with my ability to remember the top ODI and test scores of pretty much every decent Australian batsman from the last decade and a half.

Then I pulled out the big guns - a thorough statistical history of Don Bradman's career, all off the top of my head.

If only I could have remember important so well.

David Hogan wrote:I amazed people tonight at dinner with my ability to remember the top ODI and test scores of pretty much every decent Australian batsman from the last decade and a half.

Then I pulled out the big guns - a thorough statistical history of Don Bradman's career, all off the top of my head.

If only I could have remember important so well.

It's amazing how much sporting knowledge sticks, like remembering exact scores or goals or events or random stats.

Good old Monty with a 5-fer today!

Spot fixing saga rages on

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-16527008

Aussies and Indians go with an all pace attack. Clarke wins the toss and sent the Indians in to bat on a very green WACA wicket.

Aussies on top, what a surprise...

another collapse by the indians. will be interesting to see how many the aussies rack up

Aussies 0/94. Someone forgot to tell Warner this is Test cricket...hes on 70 off 50

This match has gone stale on the first day itself. Not so good from a sporting view but its putting lots of riches in my pockets.

Wow, what a knock from Warner. I only saw the higlights, but there were some huge sixes. That one off Sharma was immense.

I think the most pleasing thing from this series is Hilfenhaus' bowling. He has 19 wickets so far and it seems that the Indians simply don't have a clue how to face him.

When was the last time India and their much vaunted batting line up scored 400? I heard 8 out of their last 16 first innings have been less than 250. Absolutely shocking, only 6 months ago they were world number 1....