Who knows what i'm thinking?
Well, if it rhymes with, "Why would you constantly bowl short balls (many too slow or going down leg side or wide!) when they keep getting hit for boundaries?" you'd be spot on.
Now there are many fine deliveries that can be bowled in cricket and the bouncer is one of them. And, rubbish balls do get good batsmen out, but good balls are needed to get tailenders out. Malinga and Mathews last night proved that not enough thought is going into strategy within our bowling squad... and that clearly that part of the team will let their frustration override their focus on their task!
Siddle and Hastings just kept banging them in too short (it is bloody hard to slog a yorker to the boundary boys!) Jonno continued going too far across and away to the right handers- if you are going to negate the possibility of LBW, why not mix it up a little Mitch and come around the wicket?
Watson bowled a better line and length, but was still a tad short to allow the subtle movement he was getting to come into play, therefore, ineffective.
Smith was ridiculously under used particularly when the 2 right handers were taking a long handle to everyone else! If your back was sore too (like Marsh) what the hell is going on with our conditioning coaching?
Doherty... well, what a first few overs he had; he won us the game with his run out and 4/15... but wait a minute...
It is easy to be critical from the sidelines...so i will continue to be!
Pup, if Smith is landing them, bowl him (to r/h tailenders particularly!).
Hastings, what the hell are you even there for!??!!!??
We all know the score wasn't enough, so the batting squad needs to get a full length mirror too!
I said Doherty won us the game, and without a doubt he opened the double doors, not by getting Sangakarra out (he got himself out, even though it was a good ball), but by getting the other wickets that pushed Sangakarra into that mindset that produced such a shot. For mine, Kumar looks very complete (again) this season and will be difficult to contain- i doubt he'll throw it away like that in the next 2 games!
I thought the plan was to get a couple of wins under the belt to build momentum before the cricket season started... when you give away a game like that, i'd imagine Australia just put ALL of the pressure back on themselves for the rest of the season!
Does Australia need a repeat of the Montreal Olympics (no success) to revamp every facet of its cricketing structure? I hate losing, but if it takes a summer of no joy to shake things up, so be it, because last night SUCKED!
stoph verismo
down the wicket
p.s Congrats Malinga on your best ODI score. you had fun, took us on, and won...a good night out.
I agree, Last night sucked and while I care not a jot for the one dayers we do need to build some sort of momentum...maybe all test players should be banned from the final 2 ODI's and made to play Shield cricket (might make too much sense).
ReplyDeleteMalinga was fantastic with the bat for a guy who should be pitching for the Chicago Cubs.
some of his 'line-drives' were good too!
ReplyDeletethat (shefield shield) is a great idea Sledgey.
ReplyDeletemake em keep their heads down instead of swinging at anything.
Hussey was slow, but showed that you can still build an innings in this middle duration form game. if 3 of the batsman do that per innings and the others go the tonk you'll get a good total. Also, his (Huss') tippety-run yesterday arvo proved you can still tick the scoreboard over when the bowling is tight.
talking of which, how good have SL's line and length been over these 2 games. spot on most of the time.
Cam White, best domestic captain in the country. Should be one day captain. He wins games for the Vics through his captaincy.
ReplyDeleteAustralia's solution to the tail has been short for years. I hark back to South Africa at the MCG that fateful 3rd day. Number 9 batted all day.
Last night was like a car crash. I could see it at 8/150 that we would lose. Malinga didn't even look uncomfortable as he passed his highest score of a mammoth ......13!!
The man obviously only brought one bat he thinks so much of his ability to use it.
Siddle, sorry mate. Anger and bouncers don't work when they only need 3 an over in the short stuff. PITCH IT UP!!
Johnson is not a one day bowler for mine. Not enough in it for the pitch and his wide stuff gets the treatment too often. Too many gaps in close where he threatens.
Clarke was out of ideas at 8/175 and looked it. Bring the field up Clarke and make him hit it over the top of a field with no gaps rather than into paddock size holes.
Speaking of line and length. IT'S WHAT UNDOES SHIT BATSMEN WITH TOP SCORES OF 13!!
that was Steyns 70 odd, right Nospmas?
ReplyDelete6 straight loses to Aus now!
I stayed glued to it after the 8th wicket - had been in and out before then (no, not that kind). The amount of times Malinga tried to guide the ball down to third man and missed by a mile - I wonder if it's worth putting the ball on his toes and seeing if he misses that? If he does - he's out I believe. How teams don't learn from watching each other I can't understand. Sri Lanka bowled brilliantly for the last 5 overs by putting the ball full every ball. When dot balls don't matter it doesn't matter how many times the ball hits the keeper's gloves from short of a length after the batsman misses it. All of Aus' pace bowlers showed a lack of either intelligence or ability during the Mathews/Malinga partnership. I can only assume Smith was actually unable to bowl.
ReplyDeleteI love watching Sri Lanka and all credit to them - record 9th wicket partnership in ODI history - no mean feat. I just wish we played them more in test cricket; Sangakkara and Jayawardene are class acts we deserve to see more of. Mathews is one of the finest talents going around too.
I reckon Nossie is right about Johnson - in test cricket you can get away with some 4 balls with wicket balls around them but with only 10 overs this can be too costly a price to pay for wickets. The margin for error is so slim with harsher wides, spread fields etc. At least I'll definitely tune in for game 2 now!