SA Footy

Australia batting first made 5/358

Top scores for Australia
Hodge 123 (110 balls)
clark 93n.o
Gilchrist 57

Netherlands all out for 129
Wicket takers for Australia
Hogg with 4
Bracken 2
McGrath 2
Tait 1

Australia wins by 229 runs

The powerhouse Austraian batting line up, have they created history.
By my reckoning thats 4 scores of 300+ in a row [NZ X2, SCOTLAND X 1, NETHERLANDS X 1]
AU were 3/230 odd after 40 overs and struggling a tad
HODGE who continues to blossom made 123[81] how can they drop him now
CLARKE 93[85] last 4 shots were 6661
AU 358 and another emphatic win, we are back!

WATSON came in with an over to go and for those who did not stay up
to watch his innings I will describe it for you
1ST BALL a push to long off for 1
2ND BALL a thunderous stright drive that went to the boundary with awesome power for 4
3RD BALL a cracking on drive to long on for 1
4TH BALL the last ball of the innings a lofted on drive that went on and on and on for a massive 6
12[4] if only he opened......

NE 129

HOGG 4/27[4.5] the star
OOH AHH 2/33 [8] now has 5 wickets on tour

OTHER NEWS
---------------

WOOLMER [58] dead, 24 hours after his teams inglorious loss to Ireland

FLINTOFF a day before the CANADA game was alledgedly rescued after falling
off a boat drunk
A few team-mates have been caught drinking as well BELL/ANDERSON and surprise
surprise PLUNKETT as well [after being caught drink driving recently]

PIETERSON made 6 v CANADA

mal wrote:HODGE who continues to blossom made 123[81] how can they drop him now

Quite easily. The can just not write his name on the team sheet

Seriously Hodge shouldn't be dropped. He's been fantastic with the bat, in the field and even useful enough with the ball.

Symonds in Watson out. Pretty simple really. Mal be honest for a second, that makes sense.

rod_rooster wrote:

mal wrote:HODGE who continues to blossom made 123[81] how can they drop him now

Quite easily. The can just not write his name on the team sheet

Seriously Hodge shouldn't be dropped. He's been fantastic with the bat, in the field and even useful enough with the ball.

Symonds in Watson out. Pretty simple really. Mal be honest for a second, that makes sense.

68
81
55
18*
12*

Average 78 last 5 digs how do we drop WATSON who is also blossoming
No one deserves to get dropped.

GILchrist cant be dropped is the keeper
HAYDEN batted shit last night but made a record o/d score recently, cant be dropped
PONTING not
CLARKE his 93* might have saved him but is a proven o/d batsman cant be dropped
HODGE as above
HUSSEY a few failures in a row,but will fire again cant be dropped
WATSON as above
HOGG took 4 for last night and made 40*[15] v Scotland and is the recognised spinner

No one deserves to get dropped ......


OTHER NEWS
---------------

GILchrist wanted to play for SA in the early nineties but we had a great keeper
in Tim NEILSON, oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooouch !!!

mal wrote:

rod_rooster wrote:

mal wrote:HODGE who continues to blossom made 123[81] how can they drop him now

Quite easily. The can just not write his name on the team sheet

Seriously Hodge shouldn't be dropped. He's been fantastic with the bat, in the field and even useful enough with the ball.

Symonds in Watson out. Pretty simple really. Mal be honest for a second, that makes sense.

68
81
55
18*
12*

Average 78 last 5 digs how do we drop WATSON who is also blossoming
No one deserves to get dropped.

GILchrist cant be dropped is the keeper
HAYDEN batted shit last night but made a record o/d score recently, cant be dropped
PONTING not
CLARKE his 93* might have saved him but is a proven o/d batsman cant be dropped
HODGE as above
HUSSEY a few failures in a row,but will fire again cant be dropped
WATSON as above
HOGG took 4 for last night and made 40*[15] v Scotland and is the recognised spinner

No one deserves to get dropped ......


OTHER NEWS
---------------

GILchrist wanted to play for SA in the early nineties but we had a great keeper
in Tim NEILSON, oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooouch !!!

mal he isn't suited to batting down the order. You yourself have admitted this. There is no spot for him in the top order because there are too many players better than him for those spots. Symonds has to come in. Who would you drop ahead of Watson?

As you said no-one deserves to be dropped but Watson is being forced to play out of position. There is no requirement for 4 fast bowlers in a side on the Carribean wickets. Slower bowling is proving more effective. Either Watson stays in and Symonds misses out or you have to drop another player for Symonds. Who could you possibly drop? If you drop one of the other batsmen you are effectively saying Watson is a better batsman than whoever is dropped. There is no way Watson is a better batsman than anyone else currently in the team. Is Symonds more valuable to the team than Watson? Even you couldn't argue that the answer is yes.

ROD you answered your own question for me.
ROY for WATTO would be a straight swap, gives us a big hitter in the line up
something AU dont have in the late order from this line up:
WATSON
HOGG
BRACKEN
TAIT
OOH AHH

For balance i would open with WATSON and drop HAYDEN [ I better hide now ]

We both know the selectors love WATTO and they will try to keep him in and me happy and you

dont need to hide MAL because thats the way i was thinking . if we have to put SYMONDS in then promote WATSON to opener and tell HAYDO its due to the rotation POLICY

If you drop Hayden for Watson you are effectively saying Watson is a better batsman than Hayden. Going down this path would be finding a spot for Watson at the expense of picking the strongest line up. For what it's worth i'd have Symonds come in for Watson but bat at 5 or 6 depending on the situation. Hussey to come in at 7.

if you were picking on form in this tournament RIGHT NOW then you would drop HUSSEY. the least performed of the top order.

magpie in the 80's wrote:if you were picking on form in this tournament RIGHT NOW then you would drop HUSSEY. the least performed of the top order.

Thankfully it doesn't work like that.

rod_rooster wrote:If you drop Hayden for Watson you are effectively saying Watson is a better batsman than Hayden. Going down this path would be finding a spot for Watson at the expense of picking the strongest line up. For what it's worth i'd have Symonds come in for Watson but bat at 5 or 6 depending on the situation. Hussey to come in at 7.

I said for balance .....
But just for the record
WATTOS record as an opener is the same as HAYDOS for averages , strike rates.

mal wrote:

rod_rooster wrote:If you drop Hayden for Watson you are effectively saying Watson is a better batsman than Hayden. Going down this path would be finding a spot for Watson at the expense of picking the strongest line up. For what it's worth i'd have Symonds come in for Watson but bat at 5 or 6 depending on the situation. Hussey to come in at 7.

I said for balance .....
But just for the record
WATTOS record as an opener is the same as HAYDOS for averages , strike rates.

And for about the billionth time mal, averages and strike rates don't tell the full story. How would having Watson opening instead of Hayden improve the team balance?

I tried to get the game on the radio, but didn't get anywhere. Did anyone get the same problem?

ABC did not broadcast it. I was spewin too