Posted by When the best players are given a chance, they take it. For example, Mike Hussey didn’t need to be given a fifth chance when compiling 134 not out in Australia’s stunning win against Pakistan.
Dropped by Kamran Akmal off Danesh Kaneria on 23, Hussey merely narrowed his eyes and said: ‘You’ll pay for that.’
Pakistan did, to the tune of a further 22 runs, at which point Akmal again dropped him off Kaneria.
‘Now you’re for it,’ said Hussey, before punishing Pakistan with another seven runs. Akmal then completed a hat trick of incompetence off poor Kaneria.
The Australians are merciless. You quite simply can’t give one a fourth life and not expect to pay the price. They’re cold and ruthless like that.
Another reminder that never try to predict the result when Pakistan plays cricket.
The entire Pakistan team is made up of Ian Bell. Everyone knows they’re prodigiously talented. Occasionally they give a glimpse of that talent, but ultimately they always bollocks it up.
I also have no feelings either way about any of them.
That’s an interesting development. Can the very reason why we love Pakistan also be a reason why we’re indifferent about Ian Bell?
they are not. absolutely not. if imran farhat and faisal iqbal think they’re prodigiously talented, well… hah. they’ve got talent in the pace department, that’s about it. uber akmal excepted.
On a slightly off topic subject (but still about an Aussie), my copy of Jrod’s book arrived today.
No mention of KC in the acknowledgements, I was horrified to find. Several journos mentioned in first name mode: Patrick (Kidd, I persume), Gideon (Haigh, I persume), Lawrence (Booth, I persume).
But no KC.
Just thought you ought to know.
Looking forward to the read nonetheless.
I make it a point not to acknowledge King Cricket in my daily life.
He is mentioned in the book, and hopefully he will be mentioned in a small yellow book come may.
The timid field settings at the stat of the fourth day which allowed Hussey and Siddle to nudge it around for a few hours made for rather painful viewing, especially when Pakistan’s batting collapsed rather promptly.
I can only sympathize with Pakistani fans. To be so good, yet so bad, all in the same match takes some really special talent. But then nobody’s surprised.
If Akmal is thinking clearly, he’ll book the next flight to a nice remote country and hide from all his countrymen. Dropping that many catches to lose a dead-cert match? Ooh, the effigy makers would be working overtime.
Really this is Alec Stewarts fault.
Since Russell was dropped due to a desire for a ‘stronger’ batting line up every other team has followed suit and handed the gloves to any ham fisted buffon who can swing a bat and half knows what they’re doing behind the stumps.
Sure, you get the rare exceptions like Sanga, Dhoni and Gilly but the ‘trickle down’ of this stupidity is such that now many first class sides don’t have a ‘real’ keeper making it hard for them to progress through the ranks. It also makes it hard to get sides out if the one person who is supposed to be there for their fielding grasses esay catches.
Shame on you Alec, you’re almost single handedly responsible for crushing the dreams of a nation.
“Toss decision vindicated” – Headline on Cricinfo
“All the Australian team talk was right and the doubters were wrong.”
“Ponting was heavily criticised from the first day for his decision to bat on a juicy surface that set up Australia’s fall for 127. By the end his logic was satisfyingly sound.”
– From the above article
This is like that Sydney test against India. Just because you win doesn’t mean you weren’t wrong.
I am absolutely gutted. Pakistan deserved to win. Aussies deserved to lose. This result proves that there is no justice in this world. As some one put it at JRod’s place, I’d have been happier to know that this match was fixed. As it stands, this disaster ranks up there with Titanic and Hindenburg (neither of which I actually experienced)
“Just because you win doesn’t mean you weren’t wrong.”
so?
One person’s decision can mean little. Yousef made the right call and totally lost it. Ponting could’ve lost the toss and batted first anyway.
It’s what he, and everyone else, did consequently for 4 days that matters. Every cricketer makes right and wrong decisions every ball, every moment of the match. That’s 22 players all making right and wrong decisions for up to 4-5 days, not to mention the umpires, most of which we (fortunately) never know about, but all cumulate, ultimately, in a win and a loss.
That’s why cricket is called a team sport. What the two captains initially call just sets the ball rolling,….
It’s better if you show the full Ponting quote. He was only too happy to show the same first class thinking as when he made the decision to bat first:
“We’ve all been criticised for not only just the toss but for the way we played in the first couple of days,” Ponting told Grandstand.
“As I said at the toss, I knew it was going to be hard work for us to bat on first, but the whole philosophy about doing that is that you back yourself to make more in the first innings of the game than what the opposition is going to make in the last innings of the game.
“We got 127, they’ve made 139”
It’s the retrospective gloss Ponting has been applying that’s being criticised rather than the decision, isn’t it?
He can make the wrong decision about whether to bat or not, but don’t try and paint it as a masterstroke if you fluke a win because the opposition drop 80 catches and bat like spazzes.
That’s exactly right, KC. What Ponting is saying in essence is that he tactically decided that they could bowl to less than 200 in the last innings. I just hope he continues with such thinking, as it will mean them losing almost all the test matches they play.
By the way, I notice that this website seems to have been unaffected by the recent snow and ice. This is evidence for what I have suspected for a while now, that it is in fact being run from a tropical offshore tax haven. There are other possible explanations, of course, but none that fit my prejudiced theory as closely.
Looks like Punter’s getting more like Dubya on the inside as well as the outside.
@wolf — Sanga was a pretty poor ‘keeper when he started, at international standard anyway. He worked really hard on it though, and became one of the best.
Everyone still talks about Sangakkara being a wicketkeeper, even though he doesn’t do the job in Tests. Don’t think anyone’s noticed.
Bert, you know as well as we do that south Manchester is neither tropical, nor a tax haven.
Is that the codeword for Antigua these days KC?
It is minus 12 outside. We are wearing a coat indoors.
Antigua this is not.
Yeah, I remember when people were screaming that India controlled the ICC and therefore Dhoni was the ‘keeper of the World XI instead of Sanga. Idiots
“He can make the wrong decision about whether to bat or not, but don’t try and paint it as a masterstroke if you fluke a win because the opposition drop 80 catches and bat like spazzes.”
Exactly what I was trying, and failed to say.
Top Bert and King Cricket etc,
Bitchy whinge, bitchy whinge! Just cos you can’t win except by poor sportsmanship. Time wasting , ball tampering – give me Ponting any day
We love these arguments. We haven’t had one for ages. One second, let us get into the right frame of mind…
Never mind English time-wasting, what about Simon Katich’s batting technique. Give us England any day.
anon, am I included in etc.? I was bashing Aus as well.
“Just cos you can’t win except by poor sportsmanship. ”
Hahahah! That is what people have been saying about Aussies for years – Sledging, excessive appealing, Shane Watson.
Gerontius, did you know that both the pot and the kettle are black in colour? Ball not swinging? Why not roll the ball out to Stuie Broad… he’ll get it moving.
I don’t really need to say this but i’ll add it in there for completeness; Aus are obviously cheating chunts as well.
Give me NZ anyday.
For the record, I’m an India. So you would have to go along the lines of – bullying the ICC whenever we don’t get our way, calling people monkeys and then claiming we were just insulting their mothers, and slapping each other, etc., etc., etc.
Anyway, this is beside the point. I’m not accusing Aus of cheating. I’m saying Ponting made a bad decision and Aus winning doesn’t make it a better decision.
Give me Ponting any day as well. We’d put him straight into the team, for Cook or Bell or Trott or someone. However, under no conceivable circumstances would we allow him to be captain.
Breaking News!
Ponting has averaged less than Alistair Cook in the last three years.
(Source: National Institute of Deeply Misleading Statistics)
My mind fails to accept Aussies as victors at SCG. They won because Pakistan had a naive captain who worked hard to lose.
Mike Hussey has decided to vote for Kamran Akmal to include him in next test squad as well as any other test series he will play against Pakistan.