Australian Contract List 2010/11

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Re: Australian Contract List 2010/11

LIONS then DAYLIGHT;397669 said:
Sometimes Boris I reckon you should go out on a limb and make a firm prediction.
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I do have one, I just like to see what is going on in other people's heads. I also like to produce a case from another person's perspective to see what is happening.

It is very easy to write off another team if you have such a rivalry against them, so once in a while I like to look from an English standpoint.

Their team in England last year was the best they've had in quite a while, seemed settled and only a couple of dodgy selections. Now I think that side is set in concrete more now, and unlike Australia they have been playing some decent sides.

I would say it's more even than you are suggesting.
 
Re: Australian Contract List 2010/11

Boris;397781 said:
I do have one, I just like to see what is going on in other people's heads. I also like to produce a case from another person's perspective to see what is happening.

It is very easy to write off another team if you have such a rivalry against them, so once in a while I like to look from an English standpoint.

Their team in England last year was the best they've had in quite a while, seemed settled and only a couple of dodgy selections. Now I think that side is set in concrete more now, and unlike Australia they have been playing some decent sides.

I would say it's more even than you are suggesting.
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We played South Africa 6 times last year, and tied 3-3.

Our side is better now than it was back then.

I'm not writing England off at all, I'm simply saying they will come here, get beaten comprehensively, and then leave.
 
Re: Australian Contract List 2010/11

I think Australia will beat England well, but not comprehensively.

I think of all places The Gabba will be where the English get 1 up to start the series.
 
Re: Australian Contract List 2010/11

The Gabba is Australia's worst performing ground, it offers up the spiciest pitches that don't always suit the home team and makes for good games. Naturally it is hardest to win there.

It's also likely to be a greenish top and humidity in November is always high. That means swing and seam. It's England's main hope of the Ashes at all, and I'm liking something decent from them there. If not a win, then at least a very good fight.
 
Re: Australian Contract List 2010/11

Actually, Boris your wrong, simply, fundamentally wrong. It has nothing to do with opinion, it is factually incorrect.

The Gabba is one of Australia's best performing grounds, check the records for yourself.

I have never seen the ball swing consistently at the gabba in any of the test matchs played in recent memory at the Gabba. Against New Zealand in 2008/09 a thunderstorm a few days before the test played havoc with preparations and meant that the pitch was a greentop. State games are slightly different; Keven Mitchell Jnr leaves slightly more grass on the deck, in order to get a result over 4 days.

You will get new ball swing early and perhaps a bit of seam. The wicket will flatten out over days 2 and 3 before cracking on day 4 and gradually breaking up.

If the curator, Kevin Mitchell Jnr, gets a full amount of preparation into the wicket then the pitch will be hard and fast, exactly the characteristics that suit our bowling attack and batsmen.

Not only that, but England's bowlers are inexperienced in Australian conditions; England doesn't have a warm up game at the Gabba. Inexplicably, or perhaps Cricket Australia being cheeky, England has agreed to warm up games in Perth, Adelaide and Hobart.

Perth no longer is the bouncy wicket of old, while Adelaide and Hobart are the lowest and flatest wickets in Australia. Why England is playing a warm up game in Hobart, has got me stuffed, considering no test match will be played at Hobart.

England will go from slow, low and flat wickets at Adelaide and Hobart, to a bouncing hard deck in Brisbane. I can see it now, Australian win the toss, bat, rack up 550, and then have the England batsmen giving slips catching practice as the likes of Strauss, Bell and Prior try and force of the back foot with the ball screaming through to the cordon.

That is why so many international teams struggle in Brisbane; the bounce is what catchs them out, not excessive movement or swing. On feather beds you can just hit through the line, however, when the ball is bouncing and carrying through if you make one mistake with your footwork then the ball will catch the edge and CARRY through to the cordon.

Think back to the 2009 Ashes, how many times did you see the ball on the first morning carrying through to Haddin around his ankles; you won't have that here in Australia, except in Adelaide and perhaps Perth.

England will be routed at the Gabba, and I can't wait.
 
Re: Australian Contract List 2010/11

Come on Eddie; Australia has Watson - the best performing Australian batsmen off the last 6 months in all formats of the game, not to mention his handy medium pace bowling. Australia has a spinning option in Hauritz, who also provides lower order hitting power.

North has cemented his spot, while Bollinger has leap frogged Peter Siddle to take the new ball.

McDonald, Hughes, McGain out.

Watson, Bollinger, Hauritz in.

I rate Hughes highly, but McDonald and McGain were never going to be anything but stop-gap players, especially McDonald, who is an honest player but he isn't a player who will win you cricket matchs.
 
Re: Australian Contract List 2010/11

LIONS then DAYLIGHT;397856 said:
Actually, Boris your wrong, simply, fundamentally wrong. It has nothing to do with opinion, it is factually incorrect.

The Gabba is one of Australia's best performing grounds, check the records for yourself.
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Funny that because it far from the best, strangely enough is the worst. I will post up the actually stats as soon as I get them, but I know for a fact that The Gabba of the past ten years is the ground where the most losses have been incurred, and it's even worse in ODI cricket.

LIONS then DAYLIGHT;397856 said:
I have never seen the ball swing consistently at the gabba in any of the test matchs played in recent memory at the Gabba. Against New Zealand in 2008/09 a thunderstorm a few days before the test played havoc with preparations and meant that the pitch was a greentop. State games are slightly different; Keven Mitchell Jnr leaves slightly more grass on the deck, in order to get a result over 4 days.

You will get new ball swing early and perhaps a bit of seam. The wicket will flatten out over days 2 and 3 before cracking on day 4 and gradually breaking up.

If the curator, Kevin Mitchell Jnr, gets a full amount of preparation into the wicket then the pitch will be hard and fast, exactly the characteristics that suit our bowling attack and batsmen.
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No ground in Australia swings consistently, but if any does at all it is The Gabba. Is England going to have more of a chance on a greentop in high humidity or a batting track at the MCG where the air is bone dry? Simple method of elimination says that The Gabba is most likely the place where English pace bowlers will flourish the most of all of the grounds.

LIONS then DAYLIGHT;397856 said:
Not only that, but England's bowlers are inexperienced in Australian conditions; England doesn't have a warm up game at the Gabba. Inexplicably, or perhaps Cricket Australia being cheeky, England has agreed to warm up games in Perth, Adelaide and Hobart.

Perth no longer is the bouncy wicket of old, while Adelaide and Hobart are the lowest and flatest wickets in Australia. Why England is playing a warm up game in Hobart, has got me stuffed, considering no test match will be played at Hobart.

England will go from slow, low and flat wickets at Adelaide and Hobart, to a bouncing hard deck in Brisbane. I can see it now, Australian win the toss, bat, rack up 550, and then have the England batsmen giving slips catching practice as the likes of Strauss, Bell and Prior try and force of the back foot with the ball screaming through to the cordon.

That is why so many international teams struggle in Brisbane; the bounce is what catchs them out, not excessive movement or swing. On feather beds you can just hit through the line, however, when the ball is bouncing and carrying through if you make one mistake with your footwork then the ball will catch the edge and CARRY through to the cordon.

Think back to the 2009 Ashes, how many times did you see the ball on the first morning carrying through to Haddin around his ankles; you won't have that here in Australia, except in Adelaide and perhaps Perth.

England will be routed at the Gabba, and I can't wait.
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ALL teams, including Australia, have trouble at the Gabba. Australia has the best record here, not surprisingly, because it is a home ground obviously.

That is what makes, as you have said yourself in the past, The Gabba one of the best grounds in the world, simply because it is a hard place to play. Australia don't have such a dominating record there as they do every other ground in Australia, and that makes for some very good games.

If there is any ground in Australia that England will do well at it is the Gabba.
 
Re: Australian Contract List 2010/11

LIONS then DAYLIGHT;397882 said:
Come on Eddie; Australia has Watson - the best performing Australian batsmen off the last 6 months in all formats of the game, not to mention his handy medium pace bowling. Australia has a spinning option in Hauritz, who also provides lower order hitting power.

North has cemented his spot, while Bollinger has leap frogged Peter Siddle to take the new ball.

McDonald, Hughes, McGain out.

Watson, Bollinger, Hauritz in.

I rate Hughes highly, but McDonald and McGain were never going to be anything but stop-gap players, especially McDonald, who is an honest player but he isn't a player who will win you cricket matchs.
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Hauritz is no better than McDonald, Bollinger has had a couple of alright series against extremely weak opposition, yet to show he is better than Siddle and Hilfenhaus who beat South Africa and both bowled well in England, still got Johnson who was Australias worst bowler in England. Also added Harris who has such a sensational record, will really help Australias home ground advantage with his average of 40 at the GABBA, 70 in Sydney, 120 in Melbourne, a batsman would love those numbers :D

Watson may be an improvement on Hughes, no guarantee that Watson will be opening throughout the Ashes and Hughes watching, its a long way away
 
Re: Australian Contract List 2010/11

eddiesmith;398025 said:
Hauritz is no better than McDonald, Bollinger has had a couple of alright series against extremely weak opposition, yet to show he is better than Siddle and Hilfenhaus who beat South Africa and both bowled well in England, still got Johnson who was Australias worst bowler in England. Also added Harris who has such a sensational record, will really help Australias home ground advantage with his average of 40 at the GABBA, 70 in Sydney, 120 in Melbourne, a batsman would love those numbers :D

Watson may be an improvement on Hughes, no guarantee that Watson will be opening throughout the Ashes and Hughes watching, its a long way away
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Someone nominate this for post of the month.

How did Siddle go against that same 'weak opposition' that Bollinger excelled at?
 
Re: Australian Contract List 2010/11

I think the series will be close. Someone will have to convince me that our batting is not still an accident waiting to happen. If Katich loses form, who do we have left who is reliable?

Hussey isn't, Punter isn't and probably won't be ever again (unless he finds some of that magical Indian summer fluid that Sachin seems to have imbibed), North, who knows?

We are left with Clarke and mr nervous 40's and 90's Shane Watson, the man in a hurry. MJ bowled an absolute pile of rubbish against the Windies in the second test, even if he still took wickets. That was England badness. He was a lot better against Pakistan but we never know which MJ is going to turn up. I think Bolly is a far more reliable and consistent performer but we haven't seen him bowl against a decent line-up yet. The other spot will be between Hilfy, Sids and Harris. As Boris says, Harris' stats in Aus state cricket are hardly reassuring.

It will be about how Stuart Broad and Swann performs for England. They have it all over us in the spin department, but Swann can start to get anxious if he doesn't take wickets quickly and starts to try too hard. If we play him well early, that will set him up to have far less effect on the series.
 
Re: Australian Contract List 2010/11

LIONS then DAYLIGHT;397856 said:
You will get new ball swing early and perhaps a bit of seam. The wicket will flatten out over days 2 and 3 before cracking on day 4 and gradually breaking up.
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Well done, you described every turf wicket in the world!
 
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