Australian Cricket 2011/2012

[David]

Was nice to wake up this morning after seeing only one more wicket down in the "death session". I watched it on TV until midnight (end of tea) and went to bed with two down. Woke up to three down and almost half way there - and was quite encouraged.

[bennymacca]

also, has there been a more exciting debut from anyone in the past ten years than cummins?

i know lyon also got 5for on debut but that was in sri lanka on a raging turner so it was a failure if he didn't get in the wickets. and while this pitch obviously favours the pace bowlers, you can still make comparisons with how cummins bowled compared with johnson and siddle and he looked a class above. in fact he looked like a young dale steyn which is massive.

time to drop johnson and siddle, i think harris, cummins and copeland is our best attack at the moment. maybe pattinson is next in line after copeland but i havent seen him bowl before so i really have no idea

[AceLosesKing]

I know nothing of cricket (recently anyway) but didn't Clarke score a century on debut? I remember that being pretty special at the time.

[bennymacca]

I know nothing of cricket (recently anyway) but didn't Clarke score a century on debut? I remember that being pretty special at the time.

yep he got 151 on debut in india. and that was in 2004 so i guess i should have said past 7 years

[maccatak11]

For all his misgivings, and people bagging him, Phil Hughes also become the fourth youngest Australian EVER to score 1000 test runs during his knock of 88 in the first innings.

That put him in the company of Don Bradman, Neil Harvey and one other guy who i can't remember.

When being directly compared to Langer or Hayden, nearly every other opener in the world will come up short, but i guess it shows that is isn't really as terrible as people think he is.

I know he has got out a lot behind square on the off side, but looking at his wagon wheel EVERY time he bats, it is also his most prolific run scoring area. So calls for him to stop playing so many balls in that area are a tad silly imo.

It would have been like telling Damien Martyn to stop playing cut shots cos he got caught at backward point a lot, or Ponting to stop hooking cos they always have two men back. I wouldn't curtail a players biggest strength because it is sometimes their weakness.

I used to be a Hughes hater, but after seeing his hundred against Sri Lanka a couple of tests ago, and his first innings at the Wanderers, im sure (perhaps not convinced, but very confident) that he is a long term solution opening the batting for Australia.

[bennymacca]

i also think warner has a future at the top of the order for australia, although i dont really like the idea of two super aggro openers. might mean that warner has to drop to number 6, marsh to open, khawaja at 3, then watson at 4/5, clarke at 4/5

[bennymacca]

anyone else up watching this game? amazing. australia need 9 runs with 2 wickets left

[bennymacca]

OMFG steyn drops a return catch and it goes for 4!

[bennymacca]

wow just wow. cummins survives a huge shout for lbw when it was reviewed and it was umpires call for hitting in line with the stumps, when it was like 51% of the ball outside the line, and then cummins hits a 4 two balls later.

brilliant test and series. such a shame that it is only 2 tests

[maccatak11]

brilliant test and series. such a shame that it is only 2 tests

+1