I don't think the Aussie selectors are to be blamed or they can really do any better....remember this same side won in South Africa earlier this year...Ponting is a GREAT player but a BAD captain. He got away early on as captain because he had the likes of Gilchrist, Warne, McGrath, Langer (and Hayden, Martyn, maybe Lehmann too...)....Once they all left, he's learning the real game starts now

The team is rebuilding now and to be fair, they do have some decent players and some good match-winners. Guess we have to give them some time. Maybe that rebuilding process will be faster if they have a better captain (Clarke is good?)....suddenly it looks like there are just average Test teams everywhere ...I really don't think South Africa, India or Sri Lanka are any great shakes either....watch what happens to India in Tests once Dravid and Tendulkar go....

I'll put most of the blame on the selectors but Ponting doesn't escape it either. I would love to hear Dalgleish's reaction to the selectors .. I bet Merv would cop a serve. Selecting - tour guiding and commentating: how can he comcentrate on just one?!

I think the thing about the Aussie captains is that history shoes that when they give up the captaincy they also give up cricket. NOt like the England team, for example, that can have a captain quit but he still stays with the team. The Aussies just don't do that. I dn't think Ponting is ready to give it up altogether and the Aust cicket team can't afford to lose his skill and experience just yet. And I don't think that Clarke is ready yet either and who else is there? Dean Jones thinks Shane Warne could be coaxed out of retirement for the captaincy. Noooooooo! LOL

I'm watching the news at the moment and it keeps saying about Ponting being about 12 hours from landing in Australia and that they'll give us the latest as soon as he lands. Poor bloke. He must know what's going to be greeting him .. he probably wants the plane to crash on a deserted island.

Well,was Ponting arrested on touch-down? lol!

Did I hear my name mentioned?

I've been in the Netherlands for the past week-and-a-half, so I managed to miss every ball of the last Test (I did get to watch NL vs Afghanistan though ).
Re the selectors - the problem starts and ends with the Chairman, Andrew Hilditch. The way I read it, Hilditch operates in much the same way that Trevor Hohns did ie., his way or the highway, but the difference is that Hohns was more astute than Hilditch. Merv, Boony and Jamie Cox merely submit ideas, and Hilditch makes the decisions. While it's good to have accountability, I don't think it's right to have what amounts to one selector.
There used to be a saying amongst cricketers that it's harder to get out of the national team than it is to get into it. This was largely true during previous selection regimes, but went out the window a couple of years ago. Remember Jason Krezja? Remember Chris Rogers? Remember Doug Bollinger? How about Bryce McGain or Beau Casson? They've all played Test cricket for Australia in the past 2 years, and been cast aside by a selection team who was searching for a 'quick-fix' for a faltering side, rather than persevering with talented players who didn't quite set the world on fire, but had potential. Krezja is particularly significant, because he DID perform, but then was expected to take 10 wickets every game to make up for the rest of the side's shortcomings. When he didn't, he was cast aside, rather than given any leeway at all.
Apparently, Cricket Australia is going to turn the position of Chairman of Selectors into a fulltime position. I hope someone like Darren Lehmann or Damien Fleming apply for the job, because they actually KNOW the game. Hilditch does not.

I'd like to see any of the following involved in selection Warne, Steve Waugh or Lehmann at the very least they have proven themselves to have "cricketing brains". I think Boof has eyes on a coaching position however.

Who gets the chop when Ponting returns?

I'm thinking Hopes.

I'm thinking, why should Ponting return?

Did he answer your question?

Actually, no.

The side was up 4-blot, Ponting's place in the order was filled by Cameron White, who peoceeded to score a very good hundred. As a reward for that, White gets dropped down to 7 to accommodate Ponting, and James Hopes, who's done very little wrong, gets flicked altogether.
I've never said that Ponting is not a good player. He is one of Australia's best of all time. As a captain, he's less than average, but his batting can still turn a game. However, why should he walk back into the team whenever he wants, effectively disrupting everything, including the captaincy of his successor, Michael Clarke? Ponting is coming up for 35yo, and every time he decides that he wants to come back for another game, it's at the expense of a younger player.
Remember, the future is called the future for a reason.

I agree with all that but we both know he was going to walk straight back in.
White shouldn't have played at three regardless of his hundred, and well done to him, but he's a hitter, any old clown can grind out a hundred( you know what I mean!) but very few can hit the ball in the late overs like White can. Putting him at three? I wonder what Brad Hodge thinks about it all.

how can England be so bad at ODI yet win the Ashes? One commentator there last night speculated that the Australians are used to chasing down high totals as that are commonplace in Australian domestic cricket yet for the Poms it wasn't so. They were good at chasing 230 but not 300. Thought it was interesting.

What does anyone think of the 40 over game with twoinnings of 20 overs each? The idea seems to be gaining a bit of momentum lately.

Is there any other sport that can have such a range in it's games like cricket?

Quote:

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Is there any other sport that can have such a range in it's games like cricket?

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Darts and cards?

I'd call them games for a start, not sports.
But a sport where the rules are basically the same but the length is different or even the set up .. like golf maybe. I dunno, just talking out my hat here.

And what are other sports that go over multiple days?

What about tennis, and its different surfaces? Clay, grass, synthetic- apparently they all play quite differently, although the basic rules are the same.

As per your example, golf has several formats, too. Stableford, scratch, skins, best ball, ambrose, etc, all have different scoring methods, participants (some are solo, and some are teams), and most of the pro events last for four days.

Cycling has lots of variants, too. From a 40-second sprint to the Tour de France is quite a change of pace.

ANyone watching the ODi IND v AUS?

If Harbajhan keeps this up he might well become the most hated man in Austalia LOL

It's making for an exciting game!! 29 from 12 needed.

awww, that was a bit anti-climatic after such a blazing few overs! Good start to the series though!

....will be a cracker of a series...both teams are equally good/bad. My money's still on Australia winning it 4-3 or 5-2...

Just like to pass on the news that David Shepard the former test umpire passed away tonight. He was famous for the one legged Nelson, and a quality umpire to boot.

Felt sad on reading that news. I quite used to like watching him. Jovial to look at...good umpire with those quirky jumps at square leg whenever the score was 111

India meanwhile thrashed Australia in the second ODI. Love to watch that face of Ponting when his team's losing Couldn't the Australians find a better captain?

Yep, very sad about Shep. I spoke to Dave Orchard today, and he said that it wasn't unexpected. Shep had been ill for quite a while.

As for the 2nd ODI, Australia didn't bowl badly, India just batted ridiculously well.
And don't get me started on 'captain' Ponting....

Cricketing world is all very active (SA-England, India-SL, Pak-NZl, Aus-WI all ON at the SAME time), but it suddenly seems very quiet in here

Well, the Aust-WI Test starts tomorrow here in Brisbane, and they are already predicting that no-one will turn up to watch. The West Indies got spanked by the Queensland batsmen in the warm-up match, so nothing much is expected of them.
Ironically, there are 4 Queenslanders playing in the game, and none of them play for Queensland! Shane Watson and Nathan Hauritz have gone to NSW, Mitchell Johnson has moved to West Australia, and Brendan Nash plays for West Indies!

This summer is starting off a bit anticlimatic - plus I can't watch it on tv so I'm not getting into it at all. Ho hum.

The story this week that did make me chuckle was Mitchell Johnson coming out and saying that the reason that he'd been bowling badly during the Ashes was that he's had a fight with his Mum over his girlfriend/ LOL What? Why come out and say that? Sheesh I'd near enough forgotten he'd had a shocker.

maybe Mrs Johnson can get together with Mrs Warne and find out how she went through being blamed for mucking up their son's cricket.

Watson living up to expectations.