never knock a champion side

[WCE2000]

very good performance all round.

Andrew Symonds took two key wickets, Mark Bouchers wicket putting South Africa on the back foot, then the wicket of Sean Pollock gave them no chance.

Glen McGrath and Andy Bichel bowled brilliantly. Gillespie bowled well and was unlucky to have such expensive figures, however he made the breakthrough with McKenzie. Warne struggled i thought. Didnt look dangerous, but managed to keep the runs down.

Didnt see us bat unfortunately, but moving Martyn up the order was definetaly a good move.

 

[JUBJUB]

Now use Martyn to open with Hayden & bring Bevan into number 4 [bye bye Junior].
Martyn's two previous one-day centuries were made as an opener.

 

[bluet]

Originally posted by JUBJUB
Now use Martyn to open with Hayden & bring Bevan into number 4 [bye bye Junior].
Martyn's two previous one-day centuries were made as an opener.

Nah keep Maro at 4 , he was born to play there..Bevo at 5 and S Waugh at 6...Just have to find an opening partener for Gilchrist...
If we could find someone our top 6 would then be the best in odi cricket IMO...

 

[iceman]

i dont think Martyns suited to be an opener, #4 looks to suit him just fine

all we need now is to find the right opening combination and things may start to fall into place.... hopefully Gilchrist will be in that combination??!!

 

[The Hippie]

I'd give Hayden a couple more games, opening with Gilchrist. I have reservations about him in the one-day game though. He's struggled at it before and again the 2 games he's played this series. Everyone keeps bringing up his Test form, but nowadays they are 2 different games. He scores pretty freely in Tests because there is hardly anyone in front of the wicket and he can wait for anything well pitched up or banged in short. With more fielders in front of the wicket, he seems to be tied up more easily and it puts pressure on to play shots, and that is how he's been dismissed both games this series, caught at mid off playing a wild stroke.

Mark Waugh should be the one to go, his confidence and footwork has deserted him and he is just playing from the crease.
Martyn looked better at 4, Bevan should play 5 or 6.

 

[Port01]

Considering australias first 15 overs and last 10 overs were crap, I think we were quite lucky that we got such a total solely on the back of two good innings from the 16th-40th overs.

After Ponting got out we were shocking, Waugh and Martyn kept waiting for the bad balls to try to hit boundaries, and they didn't come often. With 6 wickets in hand it begs the question why. (I thought Martyn might have lashed out after making 100, but no). 50 runs off the last 10 overs with 6-7 wickets in hand simply isnt good enough. Australia still needs a late order batsman capable of improvising without premeditation.

If brett Lee is back next game the selectors are simply fuked in the head. Bichel was great.

 

[Catman]

Originally posted by The Hippie
I'd give Hayden a couple more games, opening with Gilchrist. I have reservations about him in the one-day game though. He's struggled at it before and again the 2 games he's played this series. Everyone keeps bringing up his Test form, but nowadays they are 2 different games. He scores pretty freely in Tests because there is hardly anyone in front of the wicket and he can wait for anything well pitched up or banged in short. With more fielders in front of the wicket, he seems to be tied up more easily and it puts pressure on to play shots, and that is how he's been dismissed both games this series, caught at mid off playing a wild stroke.

Mark Waugh should be the one to go, his confidence and footwork has deserted him and he is just playing from the crease.
Martyn looked better at 4, Bevan should play 5 or 6.

I agree Hippie. I have my doubts too about Hayden in the One day side. So far his return of 2 small scores only raise more questions on whether he deserves a spot.
Mark Waugh, should be out, it's that simple.
Martyn at 4, great move.

 

[GoEagles]

Originally posted by iceman
i dont think Martyns suited to be an opener, #4 looks to suit him just fine

The 130 he smashed last February at the WACA when he opened for Australia wasn't a bad effort. I'm stoked he got moved up the order to #4, but I'd love to see them trial for 2 or 3 games for Martyo to open the innings.

 

[The Hitman]

Gilchrist must open. Junior is gone, and I think that Hayden and Ryan Campbell (as a batsman) should be tried there until one of them fires. On Martyn, keep him at four.

Onto the thread title, I agree. You cannot keep a champion team down. It is a long way back, and I honestly don't expect us to make it - but it wouldn't surprise me.

I don't care what anybody says, we are the #1 ODI side in the game. Boucher spoke stupidly too soon.

The Hitman

 

[Tiger_Of_Old]

as i have mentioned in another post bring in langer open up with langer and hayden it worked in the tests why not the one dayers?
cheers!

 

[WCE2000]

Originally posted by The Hitman
it is a long way back, and I honestly don't expect us to make it - but it wouldn't surprise me.

its not the far back from where we are. A good win over South Africa tomorrow will put into second place.

 

[Briedis]

Surely after scoring all those runs last year and averaging 80 in one-day cricket we are being way too hard on Mark who has only struggled for 4 games, once being run out. Mark will get his form back soon and become the graceful run-scoring machine we all know him to be...patience people!

A left-right combination at the top will benefit Australia. Gilly and M. Waugh for mine. Hayden played well in India, but I'm also not convinced by his one day form in England or in this series, but deserves a chance. Maybe he could be used down the order?

How about -

Gilly
Junior
Punter
Marto
Bevo
Steve
Haydo
Symonds
Bichel
Gillespie
McGrath

And rotate the squad with Lee, Lehmann, Watson, MacGill

Forget Warne for ODIs...

 

[dogboy23]

This is the way it should be

Waugh(probably the best one day batsman in the world last year)
Gilly
Punter
Martyn
Bevan
Waugh
Harvey/Symons although Watson should be starting to be groomed now as neither of them have been up to standard so far.
Bichel
Warne
Dizzy
Mcgrath

 

[The Hippie]

Originally posted by tiger of old
as i have mentioned in another post bring in langer open up with langer and hayden it worked in the tests why not the one dayers?
cheers!

Test form doesn't necessarily translate to the one-dayers, Tiger. The fields in front of the wicket are different and that is where Langer and Hayden were strong with only one or two fielders in front of them in the Tests. They coulld wait for the bad ball and pick their spot. It's a different game in the one-day version and it showed the way Hayden has been frustrated into playing a couple of ordinary shots in his 2 digs.

 

[dogboy23]

Originally posted by The Hippie


Test form doesn't necessarily translate to the one-dayers, Tiger. The fields in front of the wicket are different and that is where Langer and Hayden were strong with only one or two fielders in front of them in the Tests. They coulld wait for the bad ball and pick their spot. It's a different game in the one-day version and it showed the way Hayden has been frustrated into playing a couple of ordinary shots in his 2 digs.

Exactly look at Michael Slater everyone thought he would be a brilliant one day player but he is a horrible one day player.It is completely different.We have to open the innings with Gilchrist imo as he gets us off to a flyer.Yesterday reminded me of the plan the australians followed in the late 80s a plan which got them the 87 world cup but has long been out dated.There formula was something like keep wickets in hand and boony and marsh would try and have it at something like 0 for 50 after 15.By 25 overs they would hope to be no more than 1 or 2 down for 100.After that there would be a general progression of run rate liftig by the likes of Deano and Border and in the last 10 they would just throw there bat at anything whilst having wickets in hand.They were forced to change this after Srilanka in the mid 90s began opening with a scoring blitz with Kaluwitharana and Jayasuriya leading the charge.New Zealand also employed similar tactics in the 92 world cup with Mark Greatbatch.You just cannot have slow scorers at the top of the order anymore.

 

[Fat Red]

Good point dogboy about the change in tactics but don't forget the rules have changed now.

Bowlers are allowed to bowl one bouncer. This puts the pressure back on flat track bullies like Bevan and Klusener, who dominate on the front foot. New tactics will have to be thgouth through for this, adn their may be a place again for genuine openers.