Ashes 2013/14

[Alistair20000]

Come on Malco, be fair, whilst I don't think they have anyone of the quality of a Warne or McGrath, they have some bowlers who have bowled to a very high standard.

Johnson is having one of those spells where everything he touches turns to gold, fair play to him however he will lose it sooner or later, I rate Harris very very highly and have done for a long time, he is a top quality bowler, he bowls with good accuracy and good pace, he is a class act imho, how you can describe him as a medium quick journeyman is beyond me. Siddle has bowled very well as well, ability wise I don't think he is anything special however he is capable of banging out a line and length time and time again, even Lyon has bowled with great control and got some spin, they have all bowled very very well.

Bang on the nail Missy.

A very niggardly and even curmudgeonly view from Malcs IMO. Do you think he was a miserly off spinner who couldn't bat or field close in ?

 

[wemissmoxey]

Do you think he was a miserly off spinner who couldn't bat or field close in ?

Perhaps he was one of those teenage Umpires you get, you know the ones !! (facepalm)

Or perhaps he was just a scorer !!

 

[Alistair20000]

Perhaps he was one of those teenage Umpires you get, you know the ones !! (facepalm)

Or perhaps he was just a scorer !!

The benefits of lateral Simian thinking. I reckon you might be on to something here.

How about Malcs and our Jase as teenage umpires of a certain type ?

 

[Jason H]

While I did start doing umpiring stints in my teens, as anyone playing the game should, and I'm a keen student of the game even as I push towards 40, I wouldn't consider myself a "teenage Umpire".

Jack of all trades (except bowling since I got the yips), me. Master of few.

 

[malcolms]

Bang on the nail Missy.

A very niggardly and even curmudgeonly view from Malcs IMO. Do you think he was a miserly off spinner who couldn't bat or field close in ?

Medium pace bowler, 2nd slip and top order bat..so wrong on all counts

Still don't accept that the quality of the Aussie bowling is "top drawer" Now if you said our batting was crap then I would agree...but then average bowling can get crap wickets..

 

[malcolms]

Hope Finn enjoyed his 6 week holiday in Australia, cos that's all it turned out to be.... :S If you put him together with Tremlett...you do wonder what the selectors are thinking!!!

 

[East Devon Clown]

Form aside, it was sad to see Finn get sidelined. I now he's expensive at Test level, but he does offer something different to the rest of the attack. That factor needs harnessing, though. Could be an attitude failure or a coahing failure.

 

[Jason H]

Form aside, it was sad to see Finn get sidelined. I now he's expensive at Test level, but he does offer something different to the rest of the attack. That factor needs harnessing, though. Could be an attitude failure or a coahing failure.

Mostly the latter, although a Mr Smith played a substantial role in this. Any batsman worth his salt facing a quick bowler will, at the point of delivery, be watching the bowler's arm and gauging the pace, length and movement of the ball. He will not notice if the bowler has accidentally flicked off a bail. However, Smith, one of the ultimate gamesmen of the sport today, recognised he could negate the potency of a fine bowler by drawing attention to this and crying foul claiming that old schoolyard excuse "Sir! Sir! He put me off!".

Since then Finn has been very badly advised in terms of his run-up and delivery, he'll come good again but it needs a fair amount of unpicking of Saker's work to do so.

 

[Hants_red]

Listening to the radio in the car and we're about to win the ODI. Get home, switch on laptop and connect to the BBC website and we've lost. How the flip did that happen? ;(

 

[Jason H]

We had the likes of pieman Bresnan bowling half-track slow "bouncers" at the death, that's how it happened.