2nd Ashes Test v England @ Lords, the home of MCC/Cricket

[CoverKing]

Not a keeper, so not sticking up for haddin too much here. I think he is being harshly criticised here. I understand his keeping isnt up to test standard, but is the test standard the same as what it was 5/10 years ago? i dont think so.

Andy Flower has said that lords is the hardest ground in world cricket to keep on. i heard healy say the same. its hard to pick up, judge the height and everything! i dare say the slope of the oval may have some impact.

I thought this was even more obvious when Ponting miss judged flintoffs edge (altho he caught it), thinking it was carrying higher then it actually did.

Yes, haddin struggles compared to the likes of Healy, Marsh, Gilchrist. But in this test alone, i think he has been harshly criticesd IMO

[blink]

Bring in Manou??

[cyclops]

dont worry boys,wen gilchrist was keeping ther wer better keepers in australia than him also.giv haddin a break.

[Pup]

Bit harsh with the Johnson criticism lads

Not unwarranted at all, According to nearly everybody he is the best bowler in Australia and the tripe that he has served up has been unacceptable, he would know that and so does everybody else. Needs to be better if he wants to lead this attack.

Perhaps some short memories of what this outstanding bowler has done in recent times

Not at all, Everybody knows he had a super 6 tests against South Africa and that is all well and good but that does not give him a right to bowl the way he is here.

First time bowling in England
First time bowling with the pommy new ball instead of the kookaburra
2 flat decks

Not one of our bowlers have had test experience in England so not a big factor for me, Flat decks and new balls do not matter when you are bowling long hops on a regular basis, Start bowling line and length then he might see some rewards.

Yes he has bowled below par
SAFOOTY critics are into him
Pommie commentators are getting into him

Rightly so. Being a good bowler does not give him a free pass when it comes to recieving criticism.

Even though he is bowling below par look at the stats at Tea day1 2nd test

Yeah and look at his runs? Leaking far too many runs for a opening bowler.

I would be criticising the part time spinners who have bowled 0/101

Ah what? How can you criticise part time bowlers for not getting wickets? They are not there to take wickets, they are there to fill the gaps and hopefully buy a wicket in some cases, You and i both know that there job is to bat and not take wickets.

[Pup]

Not a keeper, so not sticking up for haddin too much here. I think he is being harshly criticised here. I understand his keeping isnt up to test standard, but is the test standard the same as what it was 5/10 years ago? i dont think so.

Andy Flower has said that lords is the hardest ground in world cricket to keep on. i heard healy say the same. its hard to pick up, judge the height and everything! i dare say the slope of the oval may have some impact.

I thought this was even more obvious when Ponting miss judged flintoffs edge (altho he caught it), thinking it was carrying higher then it actually did.

Yes, haddin struggles compared to the likes of Healy, Marsh, Gilchrist. But in this test alone, i think he has been harshly criticesd IMO

Each to their own but the way he has kept this match is not good enough. And to clear things up my problems with his keeping had started long before this tour, sure he is a good batsmen but his primary role is to perform behind the stumps and at the moment he is not doing that, any time he has to move he looks slow and sloppy, I hope he can fix it but he needs to improve dramatically to hold onto his role in the future.

People need to realise how important to the team a good keeper is, Easy runs such as byes or drop catches deflate teams a huge amount and i certainly do not want to be like other Test playing nations and chop and change the keepers every 6 months like England have since Stewart left, We need a good keeper and we need to stick with them throughout their career like we have done with Marsh, healy and Gilchrist. Whether Haddin is that man well i guess we will find out in the next 6 months. I hope he has improved by then and IMO he needs to or his spot will be in severe jeopardy.

[Adelaide Hawk]

No-one has said anything questioning the ability of any of the bowlers. We all know Johnson is a good bowler but that doesn't mean he won't have poor matches/series. Currently he is having a shocker and the others not that far behind. The performance not their general ability is what was terrible last night. Having said that we have the 6 down. Clean them up quickly tonight and we will still be on top

Agree with all of that. It's just such a shock to see talented bowlers unable to hold a seam in line and unable to bowl an acceptable line and length. I'm still shaking my head with what I saw last night. I really don't think Ian Botham was trying to be smart in saying he is trying to work out what the fuss was all about with Johnson. If he didn't see the South African series, he could be forgiven for wondering.

Today's a new day, and hopefully a much better one for Australia.

[cennals05]

Not sure how much Cricket will be played today. Definitely looks like rain about.

Read an interesting stat in one of the papers over here this morning. Johnson has taken 101 wickets in 23 tests. He got his 100 in the same amount of tests as Warne and McGrath and we all know what they went on to do.

[wycbloods]

Not a keeper, so not sticking up for haddin too much here. I think he is being harshly criticised here. I understand his keeping isnt up to test standard, but is the test standard the same as what it was 5/10 years ago? i dont think so.

Andy Flower has said that lords is the hardest ground in world cricket to keep on. i heard healy say the same. its hard to pick up, judge the height and everything! i dare say the slope of the oval may have some impact.

I thought this was even more obvious when Ponting miss judged flintoffs edge (altho he caught it), thinking it was carrying higher then it actually did.

Yes, haddin struggles compared to the likes of Healy, Marsh, Gilchrist. But in this test alone, i think he has been harshly criticesd IMO

Each to their own but the way he has kept this match is not good enough. And to clear things up my problems with his keeping had started long beofre this tour, sure he is a good batsmen but his primary role is to perform behind the stumps and at the moment he is not doing that, any time he has to move he looks slow and sloppy, I hope he can fix it but he needs to improve dramatically to hold onto his role in the future.

People need to realise how important to the team a good keeper is, Easy runs such as byes or drop catches deflate teams a huge amount and i certainly do not want to be like other Test playing nations and chop and change the keepers every 6 months like England have since Stewart left, We need a good keeper and we need to stick with them throughout their career like we have done with Marsh, healy and Gilchrist. Whether Haddin is that man well i guess we will find out in the next 6 months. I hope he has improved by then and IMO he needs to or his spot will be in severe jeopardy.

Whilst i agree Pup i don't think that is the view of the selectors of the Australian side at the moment.

[billybob]

how many catches has brad haddin dropped in his career this is to settle a debate

[Bully]

its funny watching the foxtel coverage on the game with the commentary before the match and drinks etc between Mark Waugh and Damian Fleming, been a few times where i thought after flemings comments that mark waugh was going to jump out of his chair and deck him? been a few times where M Waugh has said something then D Fleming has basically told him no your wrong?

am i the only one seeing this?

[FD88]

Hilf!! What a ball, what a cricketer!

</Lawry>

[stan]

You know what is really funny, is that we have bowled so poorly on a decent deck and we are still in the game. Now thats funny!

[Adelaide Hawk]

Credit where it's due ... great decision by Ponting to open with Hilfenhaus and Siddle. They are our best new ball options IMHO.

[stan]

Not sure how much Cricket will be played today. Definitely looks like rain about.

Read an interesting stat in one of the papers over here this morning. Johnson has taken 101 wickets in 23 tests. He got his 100 in the same amount of tests as Warne and McGrath and we all know what they went on to do.

Look Johnson is a good bowler, he just had one of those days when the ball just didnt come out right.
8-370. F**** me they should have been 4 - 450 the way we have bowled.

[stan]

Credit where it's due ... great decision by Ponting to open with Hilfenhaus and Siddle. They are our best new ball options IMHO.

HilF just knocked over Broad Poms 9-378.
Good swing there for him. Will Broad, Anderson, Flintoff and Onions be able to get swing like that. One would think they should being there home decks and all.

[locky801]

Credit where it's due ... great decision by Ponting to open with Hilfenhaus and Siddle. They are our best new ball options IMHO.

HilF just knocked over Broad Poms 9-378.
Good swing there for him. Will Broad, Anderson, Flintoff and Onions be able to get swing like that. One would think they should being there home decks and all.

Take Strauss innings out of this and they have scored SFA

[wycbloods]

0/200

all out 390?

A good come back from the Aussie bowlers.

[dedja]

Fantastic start by the boys ... anything under 400 for the Poms will be a big body blow with the start they had.

[stan]

Credit where it's due ... great decision by Ponting to open with Hilfenhaus and Siddle. They are our best new ball options IMHO.

HilF just knocked over Broad Poms 9-378.
Good swing there for him. Will Broad, Anderson, Flintoff and Onions be able to get swing like that. One would think they should being there home decks and all.

Take Strauss innings out of this and they have scored SFA

Yeah I cant argue with you there.

[stan]

0/200

all out 390?

A good come back from the Aussie bowlers.

Yeah thats what I was saying before. They should be sitting on 450 right now at least with only 4 or 5 down.