Other Sports: Page 5 - The Arsenal discussion community: One More in the Tolly

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invisibleman18

Bloody hell. How the fuck have you just lost that match? 150-2 chasing 241 when I last checked earlier, then I go back onto cricinfo a quarter of an hour ago and you're 9 down.

Burnwinter

Our batsmen are fucking shit that's how.

invisibleman18

😆

Like I said on the previous page, after growing up following England through the 90s and early 2000s, Australia now being fucking shit is bringing just about as much joy as us being number 1. 🙂

Timbob

Ball started swinging, that's what happened. Those reviews at the end were well funny.

There's been loads of great tests recently. Test match cricket is very much alive, but only outside the subcontinent. The pitches in india, sri lanka and Pakistan/UAE are just too batsmen friendly.

Burnwinter

I've dealt with it for years by emotional disinvestment in this pack of wankers. David Warner's innings deserved better but you'll never get consistent leadership from the likes of Clarke and Ponting.

invisibleman18

Was always going to take a while to rebuild after losing all those greats pretty much at once. That team was remarkable in that every player is generally thought of as one of the greats of the game. Throughout that whole period you'd put out a test team where pretty much every player in the lineup was one of the best players of all time. Now it's only Ponting left and he's very much in decline. IMO it's even more remarkable how awful the next generation is. After Taylor, Slater, Langer and Hayden how is Phillip Hughes the best opener you've got? You only have to bowl 1 ball to him. Caught Guptill Bowled Martin 4 times in a row FFS. 😆

Burnwinter

Yes, and the situation hasn't been helped by the mismanagement of the careers of the likes of Katich and Hussey in my opinion.

One of the biggest problems we've faced is that during our golden era our selectors lost the plot without it really mattering. Now that we're so much weaker it's all too clear the emperor has no clothes.

They seem to expect witless continuity to bring results by default.

Burnwinter

@Tim You're right about the wickets on the subcontinent. Batsman worship over there is wrecking their cricket.

invisibleman18

Hussey was very unlucky to have spent most of his career in that era and not been able to get a test till he was 30 (and opening the batting due Langer being injured from memory and he made himself undroppable in that series). If he'd been from any other country he'd have surely played double the tests by now and his stats would be right up there with the best.

What's the deal with Katich by the way? Had some kind of bust up with Michael Clarke so he's been dumped completely hasn't he? I know he's 36 but has surely got to be better than Hughes, who I imagine will lose his place to Warner once Watson is back.

Also why won't they give David Hussey a chance in the test team? He's been a key player in the ODI side and unbelieveably he's got an even higher first class average than his brother.

Burnwinter

Yes, basically Katich grabbed Clarke by the throat once for wanting to leave the dressing room early for a media appointment before singing the team song after a win. The ice over that moment eventually resulted in him being cut. A talented player, with a spine, who would've been bloody useful today.

Mike Hussey was unfortunate yes, but I think he should've been dropped early in his run drought. As for David Hussey I have no idea, though it doesn't help if you're not from NSW as Hughes is.

Haha, on Wikipedia Hughes' name has been changed to "Phillip Joel Hughes caught Guptil bowled Martin" 😆

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phillip_Hughes

Timbob

Always though the unluckiest Aussie batsman who never get a proper crack was Brad Hodge. Genuinely think he was one of the top 10 batsmen in the world for a lengthy period of time, but only played a few tests (think he got a double hundred against S. Africa in one of them too!)

Claudius

If you're into combat video games and don't watch UFC, then look for highlights of UFC 140. That was one of the best cards I've seen, close to rivaling UFC 139. I still cannot decide which was the better finishing move: Frank Mir's arm-breaking kimura or John Jones' standing guillotine choke.

And Jones, a young light heavyweight champion has had arguably the best year in the sports' history, obliterating all challengers.

invisibleman18

Agree about Brad Hodge Tim, forgot about him. Definitely looked a top class batsman when given the chance and he's another who probably would now be thought of as one of the greats if he'd been from another country. Always felt he should have got a lot of the tests Damien Martyn, Darren Lehmann or Andrew Symonds got. There were always all these wonderful players in the Husseys and Hodge and Katich etc who could barely get a look in when all those stars were around and I'd assumed Australia would always have depth and top players coming through like that. Now all the legends have gone, forget about the Langers, Haydens, Waughs and Gilchrists, where are today's Husseys and Hodges?

What about someone like Phil Jaques? He's got a great record - 3 hundreds and 6 fifties with an average of 47 from 11 tests, and a first class average of 49. I was actually at his ODI debut in Melbourne when he scored 94 and I thought I was watching the next great Australian opener. Haven't even heard of him for years now, why has he been completely discarded? I seem to remember he could have played for England through his parents too, pity we didn't get him.

Anyway, the rugby world cup trophy is going to be on display at work today as the government department I'm at was heavily involved in the planning and organising of the tournament. Will try and get a photo to post.

Timbob

I think Phil Jaques had a really nasty back injury and nowadays can barely field. He can be carried in first class cricket, but in modern test cricket everyone needs to be a quality fielder really.

Stuart Law was another that missed out when they had all those greats. Back then the Aussie 'B' team could have beaten England (and actually did in a couple of odi's if i remember correctly). Dont really know what's happened to Australian cricket, although i have to say they still have a lot of very good players and some good young bowlers, and they are still pretty competitive. Some people say that kids are more interested in other sports in Aus nowadays, but I'm not sure I really buy that. Havn't been down under since 06/07, but the general public, adults and kids, seemed as in to cricket as ever.

Just think it was an etraordinary era and time has now moved on.

Burnwinter

Stuart Law is who I would've mentioned, and Lehmann before he got his chance.

Greg Blewett also seems to be half forgotten these days, though he certainly had a decent spell in tests.

When it was happening, it seemed like it would last forever, but it turned out we were just the New West Indies.

I saw a couple of Test matches between WI and Australia during the overlap of the two eras, when Border was captain and we had Boon and Marsh opening, Dean Jones down the order, and the likes of Merv Hughes and Bruce Reid bowling. Meanwhile you had a four-pronged pace attack of Ambrose, Walsh, Marshall and Patterson for the West Indies, and Viv Richards, Richie Richardson, Haynes and Greenidge, Gus Logie ... Jesus that was a side. Great cricket.

Meanwhile the English had Mike Gatting, whose greatest achievements will always be racially abusing the umpire and getting bowled by Warnie 😃

Tony Montana

What happened to WI cricket?

Everyone's into Athletics now I guess.

Burnwinter

Same thing that happened in Australia I guess - it's gone sort of dormant because the team's nowhere near as good. There's also that whole problem of the WI not being a country ...

invisibleman18

Oh well, I'm sure things will turn around for the Aussies before too long. You've got some pretty exciting looking bowlers coming through. Just the batting is in real disarray at the moment. Reckon this summer (if not this test just completed) is surely the end for Ponting. Surprised the Ashes wasn't. They desparately need some better batsmen than Hughes and Khawaja in the top 3. Warner will be the one who stays in when Watson comes back with Hughes surely gone now and presumably Shaun Marsh will come back into the side at 3 too.

Anyway just had some photos with the rugby world cup so will post when I get a chance.

invisibleman18

Getting up close with the Rugby World Cup:

Meatwad

this is bad ass.

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