4th Ashes Test : MCG

[smithy]

No this isn't a picture of Mitchell Johnson.
It's just another tattooed person with nothing better to do than deliver garbage.

[Jimmy]

The ball was an illegal delivery - not out. Play on.

Its not the point

YES IT IS AN ILLEGAL DELIVERY
But why dont they reveiw every ball thats bowled in this test match
Why only review the balls where wickets are refered, or as in this case the Umpire referred it

Raffertys rules

They cant half ass it, if they do what dar does 100% of the time fine, but they don't, so its crap. That was unprecedented and quite frankly extremely poor. Id be surprised if he umpires again anytime soon and CA must call for a review of that incident. To be honest the review system needs to come out of the players hands and go directly to the third umpire. The third umpire must now, seeing as the level of the review system is high, review all balls baled, they have gone too far otherwise to turn back now.

No excuse for us playing like shit, but this doesn't help your psyche

[Jimmy]

And for **** sake, smith cant bat and smith cant bowl. For a leg spinner, he is technically poor, not exploding through the crease at all and the number one thing, can't ******* turn it if it was a door knob.

[smithy]

The rules are there for the umpire to be able to review a close front foot call upon a dismissal.
I reckon it was bloody good umpiring for him to do that.
He would've got more criticism if he hadn't reviewed it, and in the end the right decision was made.

Also, Ponting has been fined 40% of his match fee.

http://www.foxsports.com.au/cricket/the-ashes/ricky-ponting-to-face-scrutiny-from-match-referee-after-argument-with-umpire-aleen-dar/story-e6frf3gl-1225976750215

[smithy]

You don't want to edit that last post yourself Jimmy ?

[spell_check]

That was my team for this Test. I knew they wouldn't do anything to the team; the few brilliant performances covered the cracks in the team.

Watson
Marsh
Hussey
Khawaja
Ponting
Ferguson
Haddin
Johnson
Siddle
Harris
Bollinger

Again, this won't happen - they love Clarke, the latest NSW golden boy is Hughes, won't have the guts to move Ponting down the order (or Ponting himself can't see the benefits), and the mantra will be to have a specialist spinner, no matter how innocuous their first class careers are.

[cripple]

The ball was an illegal delivery - not out. Play on.

Its not the point

YES IT IS AN ILLEGAL DELIVERY
But why dont they reveiw every ball thats bowled in this test match
Why only review the balls where wickets are refered, or as in this case the Umpire referred it

Raffertys rules

They cant half ass it, if they do what dar does 100% of the time fine, but they don't, so its crap. That was unprecedented and quite frankly extremely poor. Id be surprised if he umpires again anytime soon and CA must call for a review of that incident. To be honest the review system needs to come out of the players hands and go directly to the third umpire. The third umpire must now, seeing as the level of the review system is high, review all balls baled, they have gone too far otherwise to turn back now.

No excuse for us playing like ****, but this doesn't help your psyche

Not unprecedented at all. After it happened, ABC guru's were able to find 5 other instances of the same thing happening this year, including one that helped pup get off in India. We should all want the correct calls made during a match and if an umpire is confident enough to say he might have got one wrong, kudos to him for publicly announcing it. Maybe australia's disgraceful excuse of a captain could take a leaf out of his book.

[Adelaide Hawk]

And for **** sake, smith cant bat and smith cant bowl. For a leg spinner, he is technically poor, not exploding through the crease at all and the number one thing, can't ******* turn it if it was a door knob.

EDITED BY MODS

Don't hold back, tell us what you really think

[GWW]

One of the things I'm curious about is the particular attributes that Tim Nielsen brings as national coach. I know he was an assistant under Buchanan (who had no particular record as a player himself but who I rated as a coach) but I've always thought we could have done better, maybe with someone like Shippherd who's had some success with Victoria. Nielsen was a wicketkeeper which meant he specialised in neither batting or bowling (although admittedly he was a reasonable batsman), so its presumably the scientific/technical parts he learnt off Buchanan that got him the job. To me though it has been a curious situation having wicketkeepers as coach of Australia and SA (until recently replaced), with neither having a career at the level they coached at (from memory Sorrell may have been a state squad member and may have played 1 or 2 games for SA).

[smithy]

This from Robert Craddock.

Shares a lot of thoughts already mentioned here.

DON'T shed a tear over Australia's Ashes demise - the looming defeat could be just the kick in the pants Australia needs.
While Australia has recklessly snatched at glory this summer, no team in 25 years has come to our shores better prepared or with a stronger collective focus than this England squad.

Let's be honest, Australia did their best to cook up an even contest by offering up a couple of green wickets. But the Perth win was a bit like a Red Bull shot – a quick fix not totally connected to the real world.

Spicing up decks is great fun but it is also the last chance saloon for every desperate cricket nation and a candid admission that you are lacking in orthodox skills.

An Australian victory in this Ashes series would have only served to heighten Australia's belief that their system is going fine when it's clearly not producing young players of Test pedigree. They need an urgent review of their setup.

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If England win they deserve it. They banned wives from the tour where Australia took them everywhere.

They chose an XI and stuck to them while Australia were forced to experiment .

They arrived for this series even before Australia. They train hard. They catch well. They rarely bowl no-balls.

They are not a great team, but they play for each other – something we have not been able to say about any England team since Mike Gatting's men came here 24 years ago.

The great tributes to England's coaching staff in the past two Tests have been the performances of back-up pacemen Chris Tremlett and Tim Bresnan, who were tossed cold into the series. Both bowled in perfect rhythm when they could have been excused for shedding rust.

While England's frontline pacemen were toiling away in Brisbane and Adelaide, the coaching staff were quietly preparing these journeymen for their greatest challenges .

Among significant points of interest were . . .

Anderson factor

James Anderson's best spells in this series have been comparable with the great Kiwi Richard Hadlee when he cleaned up Australia in the mid-1980s.

Not simply his probing accuracy and subtle swing but his durability and aggressive body language.

It has been an irresistible package and a credit to bowling coach David Saker who challenged Anderson to redefine himself.

It takes a huge amount of mental energy for a bowler to sledge Australia on home soil, as Anderson has, and willingly become the lightning rod for Australia's return fire.

And this from a player once described by Justin Langer as a "bit of a pussy" and who had a reputation for dropping his shoulders under pressure.

Magnificent stuff.

Ricky Ponting

If the fat lady sings any louder, the police will be called in to order her to stop annoying the neighbours.

It's difficult to see how next week's Sydney Test will not be his last on home soil, probably his last anywhere.

The ball just seems to get to him quicker now. That happens when you are 36.

If he makes a big score in the second innings in Melbourne or at the SCG, people will get all excited and say, "so much for those critics".

But Mark Taylor, Allan Border and Steve Waugh all had occasional flashes of magic in their final years when their juices flowed once in a while.

It is the year-round stats that tell the story of batsmen in decline and Ponting's have faded.

Dodgy deck blues

Modern Australian batsmen are spoilt. They play on flat, featureless decks that allow them to get away with slack footwork thrashing wide of their body. They are not used to playing patient, disciplined cricket and are exposed when conditions run against them.

There is no sense whingeing in the dressingroom like several of them did in Perth. They just need to toughen up. The art of leaving the ball has lost its glamour.

Sadly, the era of the old-fashioned Test match warrior is gone. The hard yakka gladiators of yesteryear have been buried with their steel helmets.

Phillip Hughes is a classic example of a sunny day player. When the ball is doing nothing, he can blaze away on the off-side like a wild west gunfighter. But when it's doing something his game lacks the rigid discipline to succeed.

[Adelaide Hawk]

Not unprecedented at all. After it happened, ABC guru's were able to find 5 other instances of the same thing happening this year, including one that helped pup get off in India. We should all want the correct calls made during a match and if an umpire is confident enough to say he might have got one wrong, kudos to him for publicly announcing it. Maybe australia's disgraceful excuse of a captain could take a leaf out of his book.

I had a chuckle at the Nine commentators who suggested it may have been Trott at the non-striker's end who brought it to Dar's attention. How can a batsman who has already left the crease and is making his way down the pitch tell if it was a no-ball or not?

I don't have any problem with how Dar handled this situation. If they leave it all up to the umpires I'm happy with that. I just hate the system when players get involved.

[smithy]

Robert Craddocks report card from todays test.

IT'S always a terrible look when players get in the face of umpires and there is a special cringe factor when the umpire is Aleem Dar.
Like several other subcontinental umpires, the one thing that rattles Dar is in-your-face confrontations, for it is at odds with his quiet, respectful nature.

Several years ago when he was umpiring in Australia the Australian team ground him down with aggressive appealing and Dar became very insular, lost confidence, and his fellow umpires were concerned about his solemn state of mind.

That experience toughened him though. Following Ricky Ponting's fierce outburst on day two of this match, Dar quickly regained his poise.

A few overs after the Ponting scrap he admirably challenged his own call of a caught behind decision off Matt Prior after he sensed - late but correctly - it was a no-ball.

Dar is an unpretentious, dignified man who donates a portion of his monthly wage to the family of a bus driver killed in Lahore when terrorists attacked a bus carrying the Sri Lankan team last year.

When he walks on to the ground each day Dar looks to the heavens and says a prayer for his daughter who died seven years ago while he was umpiring at the World Cup in South Africa.

He raises his hand in the air, then touches his heart and the earth in a way of saying "from the earth we came and to the earth we shall return".

He also prays for good fortune and a smooth ride on that particular day.

Some days you get them. Some days you don't.

BEN'S BLUES

Ben Hilfenhaus has tried his heart out this series but the results just haven't flowed and his Test place is now vulnerable.

There seems no logical way Australia will play four fast men in Sydney, which means one of the quicks must go.

Peter Siddle was the man under most pressure but he has quietly challenged Hilfenhaus with a high energy performance in Melbourne.

With just two wickets at more than 140 each for the series Hilfenhaus has failed to threaten and appears a metre or two slower than he needs to be.

He has been Australia's most economical bowler but neatness alone is not enough - England's batsmen are reading his swing variations almost flawlessly and getting set early.

A GENTLE TROTT

JONATHAN Trott does not make pulses race or people rise from their seat - but you just have to love his ticker.

How soothing it must be for England's top order to have this four square fighter emerged, gloves raised, at the fall of the first wicket.

Bell always looks prettier and Pietersen more dangerous but Trott is a bigger wicket than any of them.

Australia needs a J Trott.

Slow and steady does some time win the race. Australia knew exactly how he played before he arrived here - dragging almost everything to the leg side - but still he has been harder to remove than a red wine splash on a white table cloth.

SMITH'S PROMISE

His figures don't yet show it but Steve Smith has a poise which could make him an anchorman of the next generation.

His leg-spinners may have lacked penetration but Australia has seen much worse since Shane Warne's retirement. Far from being intimidated by the big occasion, he embraced it, even though there are still some neatness issues.

His ability to keep his head when Kevin Pietersen charged him said something about his inner steel.

Could he be a future leader after Michael Clarke? Can you name anyone else in the frame?

[smithy]

I don't have any problem with how Dar handled this situation. If they leave it all up to the umpires I'm happy with that. I just hate the system when players get involved.

I think that's the best solution AH.
Even if the 3rd umpire has a quick review before the batsman leaves the field would be ok.
As long as the decision is correct.

I really rate Aleem Dar after today.

[whufc]

I don't have any problem with how Dar handled this situation. If they leave it all up to the umpires I'm happy with that. I just hate the system when players get involved.

I think that's the best solution AH.
Even if the 3rd umpire has a quick review before the batsman leaves the field would be ok.
As long as the decision is correct.

I really rate Aleem Dar after today.

agree, i dont think you can ever critise an umpire when the correct decision has been made.

im sure if Ponting had got called back in everyone would be praising his decision, i think one thing the DRS has proved is the umpires are correct far more often than they are wrong.

[Adelaide Hawk]

This from Robert Craddock.

Let's be honest, Australia did their best to cook up an even contest by offering up a couple of green wickets.

Modern Australian batsmen are spoilt. They play on flat, featureless decks that allow them to get away with slack footwork thrashing wide of their body. They are not used to playing patient, disciplined cricket and are exposed when conditions run against them.

Interesting juxtaposition of thoughts. On one hand he criticizes Australia for preparing green decks, then he criticisizes Australia for preparing flat, featureless decks.

Make up your mind Robert ... what is it you want to see?

Far be it for me to stick up for Australia's lamentable performances this summer, but it seems to me it is the English team who has benefited most from Australian conditions this summer, and it was them who faltered in Perth when suddenly faced with batting on a pitch offering the bowlers some assistance.

I also object to any criticism of Australians "doctoring" wickets when it has been happening all over the world for as long as I can recall, Cook from England admitted it happens in England. Headingly 1972 anyone?

[Adelaide Hawk]

one thing the DRS has proved is the umpires are correct far more often than they are wrong.

The most important thing it has proved is that umpires are correct far more than players, that's why I want it taken away from the players.

I can't recall who the batsman was, but I saw one yesterday where Prior was adamant a batsman nicked the ball, and it was clearly not out. We had to waste time holding up the game just to see the umpire was correct, and once again the players were wrong. Then we saw another challenge that was clearly going over the top of the stumps.

On top of this, the ridiculous situation of Haddin being the only one who thought Pietersen had nicked the ball, but they had a review anyway, followed by the hissy fit from Ponting because it wasn't overturned. I've had a gutful of watching players standing around having an extra drinks break when they should be just getting on with the game.

Unrelated to the above comments, I've had a gutful of watching Ponting having committee meetings with bowlers. It's not rocket science, just get on with it FFS!!!!!

[purch]

one thing the DRS has proved is the umpires are correct far more often than they are wrong.

The most important thing it has proved is that umpires are correct far more than players, that's why I want it taken away from the players.

I can't recall who the batsman was, but I saw one yesterday where Prior was adamant a batsman nicked the ball, and it was clearly not out. We had to waste time holding up the game just to see the umpire was correct, and once again the players were wrong. Then we saw another challenge that was clearly going over the top of the stumps.

On top of this, the ridiculous situation of Haddin being the only one who thought Pietersen had nicked the ball, but they had a review anyway, followed by the hissy fit from Ponting because it wasn't overturned. I've had a gutful of watching players standing around having an extra drinks break when they should be just getting on with the game.

Unrelated to the above comments, I've had a gutful of watching Ponting having committee meetings with bowlers. It's not rocket science, just get on with it FFS!!!!!

Couldn't agree more...put it back in the hands of the umps who are the ones watching most closely and who more often than not, get it right.

One thing the current referral rule has obviously done is think that a captain has the right to object not once, but now also a second time...not happy with the first decision Ponting then starts waving his finger at Dar...very embarrassing for all Aussies. The umpire's decision is final you ass! Shame Ponting Shame...

Dar had an outstanding day. I'm in full support of his decisions.

[mighty_tiger_79]

And for **** sake, smith cant bat and smith cant bowl. For a leg spinner, he is technically poor, not exploding through the crease at all and the number one thing, can't ******* turn it if it was a door knob.

are you saying he is Phil Tufnell-like

how is Smiths fielding?

[Dogmatic]

What kind of fitness test did Ricky Ponting have, if he can't field with 2 hands he shouldn't be out there.
For me he is selfish and trying to protect his spot by not allowing the opportunity for a fully fit player.
Michael Clarke showed the exact same qualities in the first test when clearly injured.

[Adelaide Hawk]

One thing the current referral rule has obviously done is think that a captain has the right to object not once, but now also a second time...not happy with the first decision Ponting then starts waving his finger at Dar...very embarrassing for all Aussies. The umpire's decision is final you ass! Shame Ponting Shame...

I agree, very poor show by Ricky Ponting and he derserved his fine. The major reason I want it taken from the players is that they are using it as a tactic. Typical bloody "sportsmen" these days, you introduce a rule to help them and they turn it into a tactic to cheat the system just like AFL coaches do.

It's obvious they are playing the numbers game and if a key batsman is given out caught behind or LBW, they'll refer it in the hope it was a no ball or something. Take Chris Gayle when he was here last. Every time he was dismissed he referred it, didn't matter if he broke his bat on it, or playing back and across to one hitting him on the boot laces.

It's not what the rule is there for and it's crap. They already have a rule which tells batsmen not to linger at the crease and get off as quickly as possible, then they bring in another one which tells batsmen to stand there discussing with their partner if they should go or not.

Yes, we all want correct decisions, but surely the umpiring panel can work it out for themselves without the help of players trying to rort the system. If they must insist upon players having the right to call for referals, maybe introduce a 25 or 50 run penalty if they are wrong. That would certainly cut down the number of frivolous referals.