August 12, 2005
Aussies Need to Lift
After England took the honours on day one of the Third Test, the Aussie cricketers will need to show greater resolve today.
There were some worrying signs yesterday. In the first session Gilchrist dropped a couple of crucial catches that turned out to be costly. Gillespie looks like a spent force. Ponting's captaincy lacked insight: giving Dizzy 15 overs when he was being dispatched at a run a ball was criminal; waiting for more than 30 overs before introducing Warne allowed England to take the upper hand.
The senior men in the team need to lift their games. Today will be an acid test. I hope the Aussies, especially in their fielding and batting, are mentally tough enough to meet the challenge.
Otherwise my prediction of a series 3-1 win to Australia will be looking very shaky!
Update (16/8): Well, Ponting certainly lifted to enable Australia to save the game in what was one of the most thrilling finishes I can remember for a drawn test. The Aussies can still win 3-1 but more importantly this gripping Ashes series is in the balance and capturing the cricket public's imagination.
Posted to Cricket by Keith Pitty3-1 may still be accurate. Just the other way around. Our bowlers really aren't getting the swing that the English bowlers are getting.
Posted by: Daniel Bradby at August 13, 2005 2:11 AMwith day 5 about to start, it is safe to say they didn't, but they DO have one last chance, 99 overs to either score the remaining 399 to win (not likely), or hold out for 98 overs for the draw (with no weather likely to intervene, that doesn't look much likelier). Now is really the time for the senior players to stand up!
I reckon you'll know pretty quick though if Australia is serious about not losing this game. The easiest way to tell is if they play like they are trying not to lose (not playing any of their shots etc.) then you can almost guarantee they will. If you don't play your shots, you take winning out of the options, and if you do that you give the other captain the option to relentlessly attack. I've got a picture from the last day of this year's Bangalore test between India and Pakistan that shows Ganguly with seven fielders under his nose, and the other two are mid off and leg gully. Madness!
Posted by: Jed Wesley-Smith at August 15, 2005 3:31 PMJed, I agree with your assessments. If I were a betting man I wouldn't be putting any money on anything but an English win (assuming the weather doesn't intervene, of course.)
It would be a pleasant surprise to see a couple of the Aussie batsmen chalk up centuries by following that well-worn adage: "Play each ball on it's merits."
Then again, if the English bowlers happen to be simply too good, I guess I'll have to grudgingly admit that the Poms deserve to be 2-1 up.
Posted by: Keith Pitty at August 15, 2005 4:05 PMCricket was the winner yesterday.
It's a terrible cliché, but you are allowed clichés when talking about sport. ;-)
Posted by: Simon Brunning at August 16, 2005 6:44 PMBearing in mind that Simon knows nothing about sport that's quite an accurate use of a cliche.
Keith, it might be theoretically possible for Australia to win 3-1 but is it likely to happen? Well, I sincerely hope not anyway.
Posted by: Andy Todd at August 17, 2005 5:59 PM