3rd Test: England v Australia

[Mantis]

Re: 3rd Test: England v Australia

A delay to the start of play due to rain. The outfield is sodden.

Hughes has announced his axing via Twitter & Watson will open the batting for Australia.

Watson has never batted above #6 for Australia, but has opened 6 times for Queensland for scores of 0, 0, 0, 15, 13 & 0.

Awesome.

I am so over Australian cricket ATM.

[1eyedog]

Re: 3rd Test: England v Australia

A delay to the start of play due to rain. The outfield is sodden.

Hughes has announced his axing via Twitter & Watson will open the batting for Australia.

Watson has never batted above #6 for Australia, but has opened 6 times for Queensland for scores of 0, 0, 0, 15, 13 & 0.

Has obviously opened the batting in the ODIs quite a bit. Do you think he will be used in the Hughes mould as an aggressive opener to get the runs flowing? Surely this must be the case. He struggles between the ears sometimes and does not have the mentality to be an opening batsman.

[GVGjr]

Re: 3rd Test: England v Australia

Australia are 1 for 126 off 30 overs after winning the toss and batting. Watson 62no and Ponting 17no after Katich went for 46 (off 48 balls)

[GVGjr]

Re: 3rd Test: England v Australia

Manou made his test debut after Haddin broke a finger

[Bornadog]

Re: 3rd Test: England v Australia

Manou made his test debut after Haddin broke a finger

Yes that is a strange one. Broke his finger during practise after Australia had won the toss.

[Mantis]

Re: 3rd Test: England v Australia

Yes that is a strange one. Broke his finger during practise after Australia had won the toss.

You can't change your line-up after the toss.

[comrade]

Re: 3rd Test: England v Australia

You can't change your line-up after the toss.

I think the England team allowed it to happen.

[The Coon Dog]

Re: 3rd Test: England v Australia

I think the England team allowed it to happen.

Haddin hurt the index finger on his left hand during the warm-up, leaving Australia needing to get permission from the match referee, Jeff Crowe, and the England management to replace him with the uncapped 30-year-old South Australian Graham Manou.

England's captain and coach, Andrew Strauss and Andy Flower, agreed to the request, but the absence of Haddin is another blow to the tourists, who also confirmed they had dropped their struggling opener Phillip Hughes, replacing him with the all-rounder Shane Watson.


* I must say I commend England for their agreement. Its easy to bag them at times, but good to see some common sense applying & the 'spirit of the game' being upheld.

[LostDoggy]

Re: 3rd Test: England v Australia

Does this just confirm what a crap keeper Haddin is? Which other Test level keeper in history would break his fingers in the warm-up?

[mighty_west]

Re: 3rd Test: England v Australia

Does this just confirm what a crap keeper Haddin is? Which other Test level keeper in history would break his fingers in a warm-up?

Does that make Glenn McGrath crap for stepping on a ball during warm up in 2005?

[mighty_west]

Re: 3rd Test: England v Australia

Haddin hurt the index finger on his left hand during the warm-up, leaving Australia needing to get permission from the match referee, Jeff Crowe, and the England management to replace him with the uncapped 30-year-old South Australian Graham Manou.

England's captain and coach, Andrew Strauss and Andy Flower, agreed to the request, but the absence of Haddin is another blow to the tourists, who also confirmed they had dropped their struggling opener Phillip Hughes, replacing him with the all-rounder Shane Watson.


* I must say I commend England for their agreement. Its easy to bag them at times, but good to see some common sense applying & the 'spirit of the game' being upheld.

Geez i wonder if they had of let the Aussies do the same thing had Hauritz broken a finger and let us bring in Clark as a replacement!

Either way though, very good sportsmanship, and whilst a blow for Haddin, i'm actually looking forward to seeing how Manou goes now.

Well done Watson, alot of us including me was very critical of him opening up at test level, but so far so good, it's pretty easy to critisize but then not give credit when it's due.

[Mantis]

Re: 3rd Test: England v Australia

Aren't the poms a friendly bunch then. In the truest sense of the game I would have said bad luck, but nice work by Strauss and co.

Good start by the Australians, I haven't seen any of the highlights, but it seems Watson has taken his opportunity (still don't believe he deserved one) so hopefully he goes on with it.

[LostDoggy]

Re: 3rd Test: England v Australia

Does that make Glenn McGrath crap for stepping on a ball during warm up in 2005?

Haha.. well, looking around for stray balls on the ground isn't a integral part of a fast-bowler's mandate, which is to run in and bowl fast.

Catching a ball without unduly breaking your fingers is actually a core part of a keeper's job, one would have thought.

[mighty_west]

Re: 3rd Test: England v Australia

Catching a ball without unduly breaking your fingers is actually a core part of a keeper's job, one would have thought.

If you took a look at Ian Healy's hands, you'd see that most keepers good or bad cop busted fingers quite regulary, its just part of the gig.

[Sockeye Salmon]

Re: 3rd Test: England v Australia

Does that make Glenn McGrath crap for stepping on a ball during warm up in 2005?

Avoiding crickets balls lying on the ground is not an essential skill for a fast bowler to be successful*, the ability to catch a cricket ball without breaking one's finger is a fairly important skill for a wicketkeeper.



*Clearly, while not crucial, the ability to avoid said cricket balls is preferable.




Edit: Just saw Lantern's post.

We really are getting a little to close for comfort, aren't we?