Quote:
Originally Posted by Strange Famous
In all seriousness, it was a tight series between two teams who werent at their best... you really have to question Punter's captaincy... his failure to go for the throat in Cardiff (and some brave batting by Monty) was the difference in the end.
Maybe some decisions didnt go their way, but I dont think there were a LOT of shocking ones... at the end of the day they couldnt consistently take 20 wickets, and thats why England were able to stay in the series and win through in the end.
Punter is a great batsmen, but you have to question him as a captain... not that I care!
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I don't necessarily think it was a captaincy issue. I think our bowling was generally poor. We might have the bowlers that took more wickets, but they were obviously expensive, and there really is no excuse for the horrid batting collapses.
I really question our selectors
- how do they justify Watson as the 'spare' batsman? His numbers just don't justify this position and he has a serious technical issue with getting out lbw. There are heaps of better batsmen than Watson that didn't make the touring squad. His position (if anywhere) is as a lower order batsman who bowls a lot of overs. Unfortunately, his bowling looks ordinary at this level.
- bowling selection. Clark should've played earlier, but maybe shouldn't have played in the last test at all. It is amazing that Oz have a frontline spinner and didn't choose him for this last game...
In reality, though, Oz aren't the side they were with Langer, Hayden, Martyn, Warne and McGrath. I think it is going to take us a fair amount of time to get out of the wilderness. Our ranking is now 3, and will be 4 if Sri Lanka beat NZ (as expected).
Maybe Ponting is not the best captain, but Oz has never been a country to cut a captain. He really has the job until he retires. He would need to really lose form to be dropped and while there are hints that his batting is no longer at its peak, he is hardly struggling.
All credit to England - Trott played well on debut - maybe you guys just need to drafta from more saffers and you'll be world beaters
(seriously, I am joking - he qualifies for England and you pick the best you can...)
Well done to England - can you hold onto the urn for us until 2010/11 Summer?