mere funde

Tag: Australia

  • I want what Hussey is smoking!

    “We need to get up to make sure we’re fourth to get into that. We’ve got a couple of years to continue the curve of getting better every time. I think our team is getting better all the time,” Hussey said.

    Overall – Australia
    Year Mat Runs HS Ave 100
    year 2007 4 2314 150 60.89 6
    year 2008 14 8110 169 35.10 19
    year 2009 13 7637 160 39.56 15
    year 2010 8 4635 209 34.08 9
    Mike Hussey
    Mat Runs HS Bat Av 100
    year 2007 4 374 133 74.80 2
    year 2008 14 900 146 37.50 2
    year 2009 13 804 121 36.54 1
    year 2010 8 442 134* 36.83 1
    Ricky Ponting
    Mat Runs HS Bat Av 100
    year 2007 4 192 56 38.40 0
    year 2008 14 1182 158 47.28 4
    year 2009 13 853 150 38.77 1
    year 2010 8 700 209 46.66 1



    Yep, that must be it. Australia, Hussey, and Ponting must be getting better all the time!!

  • The one that matters!

    I loved the way India played in this series.

    In the first test they showed that they had the balls! The fought back in a manner reminiscent of the Aussies of yore! Till the last wicket fell you Australia never gave up (remember those Steve Waugh innings?), and India seems to be learning that lesson, slowly but steadily. Even bowlers seem to value their wickets, and are trying to make the opposition earn it.

    In the second test, India played like a number one team should play. With assurance. Like the toss didn’t matter. Like losing Sehwag early didn’t matter. If it had been more than 5 years back we would be talking of the Indian team shutting shop to prevent a defeat. Now India went for an outright victory. Commentators said that the SG ball would reverse after 40 overs – they said lets do it before that. Sachin playing like he always does nowadays. M Vijay and Pujara playing really well. The bowlers doing an exceptional job – all of them. Remember that the tail wasn’t allowed to wag. Stuff good teams are made of.

    We still have some distance to go to be ranked alongside the West Indies of 80’s or the Aussies (of 1940s and 2000s). The fielding needs to go up by many a notches. The batting, the middle and lower order, still tends to collapse every once in a while. And our biggest worry, our bowlers. They need to be more consistent and injury free. Harbhajan needs to rediscover his mojo and compliment the tight lines of Ojha with wicket taking. Zaheer needs a couple of good partners. I am believe that we have the ability to get there – all it needs is nurturing by the BCCI, instead of them focusing all their energy in going kinky on Lalit Modi’s ass.

    Finally, a lot of people talked of Australia losing three in a row. What I am more interested in is seeing when was the last time a team won three in a row scoring more than 200 in the fourth innings!

    Team India with the Border Gavaskar Trophy
    We won!!

  • Quotes of the day

    From the world of cricket come the lines below. Talk about hitting below the belt!!

    It was in Jamaica that Mike Gatting became the first batsman, as opposed to bowler, to be accused of ball-tampering after being struck in the face by Malcolm Marshall. When they finally retrieved the ball, which had richocheted so far it was located somewhere around the mid-off region, they found, or so legend has it, a piece of Gatting’s nose embedded in it.

    Martin Johnson, Times Online

    The new age cricketing wife or girlfriend tends to be a brassy sort of gal who can’t wait to tell the Allan Border Medal interviewer who designed her dress and her hanky – both of which happened to be the same size.

    Robert Craddock, The Courier Mail

  • Cricket becomes interesting…

    … once again!!

    A long long time ago, test cricket became boring. Not because of the run rates or the draws. But because one team beat everyone else, every God damn time. And then as it happens with everything else, the winds of change started blowing.

    McGrath, Warne, Langer and Gilchrist retired. About a year ago Ponting and Hayden decided they could not bat anymore. Symonds found things more important than playing. Hussey and Clarke were ok, but they couldn’t carry nine other. Lee lost his mojo. Krezja is a pathetic excuse of a spinner (tonnes in first four innings!!), even Symonds and Clarke bowl before him. Only Mitchell Johnson looks like he can do some damage. But then one bowler doesn’t a test match win.

    India started the downturn, and Australia lost at WACA. Can you believe that?? They lost at the WACA. It was the Australian fortress, and they had not lost there in more than a decade. They cheered for a victory that was more a farce than anything else.

    In fact, the entire Australian team lost is so much that they lost again at WACA. That is a first in history. Back to back losses at the WACA for Australia. Who woulda thought?? 

    But here is the thing. The test world has become interesting again. India, SA, England and Australia are now equal contenders for Test supremacy, and possibly Sri Lanka.

    India has a good batting line up, and a promising bowling department. Australia still have Ponting and Hayden, and along with Clarke, Symonds and Hussey can bat anyone out of a test. England with KP and Flintoff would have a realistic chance at the Ashes, but methinks they need another good bowler. SA seems to have buried the ghosts of the past, and seem to have a good batting line up, and perhaps the best bowling with Ntini, Steyn, and Morkel.

    So here it is. To exciting times ahead.