Olympics.... Australia KO1 England

:good

 

Big Game Belly hasn't show enough mental toughness.

 

Ian Bell lacks the ability to deal with pressures. Every time it gets tough, you never see Bell digging in with a 70 not out over five hours - you will see Bell ct so and so b so and so 7 (or similar). He cannot play the spinners to save his life, and isn't worth his place in the one day side either.

 

Harmison is back in the side for the next test atsch.

England XI(in batting order):
Andrew Strauss
Alastair Cook
Ian Bell
Kevin Pietersen (c)
Paul Collingwood
Andrew Flintoff
Tim Ambrose (wkt)
Stuart Broad
James Anderson
Steve Harmison
Monty Panesar

Is Sidearse injured or what? Flintoff at 6 is a bad call, I'd rahter have Broad there and Pietersen should bat at 3 rather than Bell.

 

Siddy is not 100% fit, clearly the selectors have learned their lessons atsch

I would bat Broad at 6 with Flintoff at 8 - Broad has batted really well this summer and has only looked like getting out when he was slogging with walking wicket Panesar at the crease.

I suppose they are trying to be more aggressive - a fit, focused and firing Harmison can be a useful asset but those are three big if's - also, WTF are they going to do in the winter with an away series against India coming up?

Harmy is homesick enough playing at Headingley or Old Trafford, what will he be like in Chennai or Bangalore atsch

 

I think we need harmy extra pace and bounce to cause the South Africans a problem because even though sidebottom, anderson and broad have done well, harmy on fire can fire the ball in over 90 mph on frequent occasion and he compliments the bowling of freddy as well.

 

Yeah they do make a reasonable pair - but in truth neither are really worth their places at the present time. Flintoff would get in as a bowler only, he cannot be relied upon to produce sufficient runs at 6.

 

Who the **** hijacked this thread and turned it into a cricket one :-(

 

Guilty - it was when people were talking about which sports Australia were better than us at, and somebody said that Aus were only good at sports we didn't give a damn about

 

Steve Waugh and Gilchrist are pushing really hard for 20/20 cricket to be played at the olympics, i think it would be a great idea. They have 7s Union why not the shorter fan friendly 20/20.

 

I think it would be a great idea as well - there are a few sports which could (and should) be ditched. 20-20 could be included at their expense, that way, you could condense all the 20-20 into the Olympics and Commonwealth games and lose it from the ICC calendar (with the aim of protecting Test match cricket as the premier form of competition) and allowing the game to grow on a world level.

I think it is much easier to compete at T20 level than at ODI or Test (as Bangladesh have discovered).

Ditch the following......

Handball - WTF is that?
Syncronised swimming and diving - again pointless
Fencing - sends out the wrong message to kids
Taekwondo - we already have judo and boxing, why this?

 

All 3 forms of cricket should be included in the Olympics.

They should also add Rugby League in it, and Rugby League World 7's. :yep

 

Well the Test tournament will last about ten mins.......

I could really see Brett Lee tearing in at some part time computer programmer from Japan, or Shahid Afridi teeing off against an American sandwich artist :rofl

I hate sevens rugby - league isn't that bad but sevens union is awful :deal

 

Yeah i just thought though being made England captain sometimes, well no most the time there captains lose there game totally. Which in Englands case you cant afford to happen with Pieterson.

I just thought if you gave it to someone that doesnt really shine that much they might feel like they have to work to keep there spot like a Bell or a Strauss.

Where if you give the captaincy to your best player with flair it makes them hold back a bit more.

Like you never seen Botham the big job cos that would take away his his chararistics from his game.
Just my 2 cents.

Look at Aussies winning formula for being the best cricket team.
You give the job to the most determined and serious guy on the team that is mature.

Border
Taylor
Waugh
now
Ponting

When England was in great form you had guys like
Gower
Lamb
and Gatting

Another case in point is look how bad the West Indies were when Lara was captain.
Or how shocking India were with Tendulkar at the helm.

 

So is Pup the next man to lead Australia?

Other than him there are no obvious candidates - Hayden & Hussey will be too old, Lee probably the same.

Another thing - is Nathan Bracken as hated as some say?