The Cricket Thread

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Why didn't they put Hussey up the order?

[Corzza]

I watched an interview with the guy. So humble does not like the spot light and even when they wanted him to hit the winning runs he made Johnson hit it.

[Corzza]

3rd ODI: India v Pakistan at Delhi - Jan 6, 2013


India 167 (43.4 ov); Pakistan 157 (48.5 ov)

India won by 10 runs

[Corzza]

Watson to put bowling duties on hold

Injury-plagued allrounder Shane Watson is set to put his bowling duties on hold and concentrate on his batting when he makes his return to the Australia team, coach Mickey Arthur said on Monday.

The burly 31-year-old has struggled with injuries and missed the third test against Sri Lanka in Sydney after sustaining a calf strain during the second test in Melbourne.

Watson also missed test matches last season due to injuries and it might have convinced him to give up bowling for the time being, Arthur said.

"Watto wants to come back as a batsman. He wants to come back into the team with a primary focus of batting," Arthur told reporters in Sydney.

"He feels every time he bats and then he gets injured bowling, he just loses a bit of momentum with his batting."

The retirement of Ricky Ponting and Mike Hussey from the middle order means Australia will have quite an inexperienced batting order for upcoming test series.

The decision on when to resume bowling will be left up to Watson, who has played 38 tests for Australia at a batting average of 37.

"Once he feels his body is going well and that he feels he's cemented his batting position, we will then take another look at how we want to go with Shane in terms of bowling," Arthur said.

"And that's a decision that only Watto can make. We'll be working very closely with him on that, because obviously Shane bowling a couple of overs is really good for us.

"Shane Watson absolutely loves bowling. He still wants to bowl, but his primary focus right now is to make the team as an out-and-out batsman."

A floater in Australia's top and middle order since his 2005 test debut, Watson boasts a better average as an opener but had to come down to manage his bowling workload.

Now set to drop his bowling for the foreseeable future, Arthur did not rule out the option of Watson opening the batting for Australia again.

"I guess if he's not bowling it's worth the consideration," Arthur said. "I still maintain that No 4 was a really good fit for Shane Watson but that was (with) Shane Watson bowling some overs as well.

"We're lucky in that I think Watto can bat anywhere from No 1 to six in our order and has had some success there.

"Who knows? Maybe he does, maybe he doesn't (open) but it's probably too early to discuss it."

Edited 07/01/13 08:26 PM by Corzza

[Corzza]

Australia spin worry ahead of India


Australia's series win over Sri Lanka did nothing to ease the uncertainty over their batsmen facing India's spinners on next month's tour to the subcontinent, newspapers said on Monday.

Australia made hard work of chasing down 141 runs for victory on a turning Sydney Cricket Ground pitch before wrapping up a five-wicket win in the final test and a 3-0 series clean sweep.

Left-arm spinner Rangana Herath took three wickets for 47 and had most of the Australian top order in trouble in a tense few hours late on Sunday's fourth day.

Australian newspapers, looking ahead to the four-test tour to India, sense problems ahead for the team, who will now be without 79-test veteran Mike Hussey following his test retirement.

"Australia won a test yesterday, but missed a precious chance to get their house in order," News Ltd's Robert Craddock said.

"As a consequence, they will fly into India for a four-test tour a bit like an explorer heading into a dark forest at night.

"A pungent whiff of uncertainty is in the air."

Craddock said there were two unsolved issues in the Australian team ahead of the series in India.

"There are two major issues which will land like a bag of cement on Australia's doorstep in India – the choice of a second spinner to support Nathan Lyon and the recall of Usman Khawaja as the long-term replacement for Mike Hussey," he said.

Similarly, the Sydney Morning Herald said the final test revealed some of the problems ahead of Australia in India.

"Those three nervous hours at the SCG were just a foretaste of Chennai and Hyderabad," cricket writer Malcolm Knox said.

"It won't have gone unnoticed that the batsman who coped with the spin bowling and noisy close-in fields better than anyone except Clarke was the bloke who came in at No 5 (Hussey).

"A cover-drive, a pull, a reverse-sweep, and safe carriage to the end. Farewell, Mr Cricket, we'll miss you. And for your team, 46 days from now in Delhi, they'll miss you."

Knox said only Clarke and his dancing feet looked relatively at ease playing spin in the Sydney test.

He added that Australia's run chase was more tense than the scorecard indicated and was a guide to how the batsmen will fare in the test series in India.

Clarke admitted Australia's batsmen needed to work on ways to play India's spinners on their conducive wickets.

"Especially in the second innings on the subcontinent, it is generally very tough to play spin bowling," he said after Sunday's win.

"There's areas we need to continually get better at, spin bowling is one of those areas.

"In a couple of months' time we're going to be faced with conditions that do spin a lot so there's no better place to get better than on the subcontinent."

[Corzza]

Rare home win on the cards for SA


South Africa will be looking to secure just their second home test series win in over four years when they take on New Zealand in the second test at St. George's Park on Friday.

The Proteas have risen to the top of the International Cricket Council's (ICC) test team rankings thanks to their wonderful away form which has seen them win back-to-back series in Australia and England and remain unbeaten on their travels since 2006.

However, South Africa have won just one test series at home since their 2-0 victory over Bangladesh in November 2008, a 2-1 victory over Sri Lanka in early 2012.

The Proteas will be confident of winning the second and final test against New Zealand after demolishing the Black Caps by an innings and 27 runs inside three days in the first test in Cape Town.

The visitors were shot out for just 45 runs on the first morning of the test, a period of play that New Zealand coach Mike Hesson described as a "horror session".

They will not face their first-innings tormentor Vernon Philander after the seamer was ruled out of the match with a hamstring strain and they showed some fight in their second innings with 275, so South Africa are expecting a battle.

"New Zealand put up a bit of a fight in the second innings and that's the nature of the Kiwis. For what they might have lacked in the player pool, they make up for with determination and guts," said left-arm spinner Robin Peterson.

"The conditions at St. George's probably mean the game will go the distance instead of what happened at Newlands. I'm expecting the Kiwis to be a bit more at home here than anywhere else in the country," added Peterson.

The pitch in Port Elizabeth is expected to be a low and slow track making it more like the pitches the New Zealanders are used to at home.

Philander, who has taken an incredible 74 wickets in just 13 test matches, will be replaced by inexperienced fast bowler Rory Kleinveldt though batsman New Zealander Kane Williamson does not expect the hosts' attack to be any weaker.

"They have a lot of depth and that is probably why they are the best team (in the world). They can call on blokes who will do the job. We are looking at all their bowlers equally in getting ready for this next match," said Williamson.

"They are all different bowlers and they complement each other well. Philander is probably one of the best bowlers in the world at the moment (but his absence) is certainly not a release in any way because there is Morkel and Steyn there that are also some of the best bowlers in the world as well."

Pacemen Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel are ranked first and eighth respectively in the world test bowling standings.

Williamson added that the Black Caps would be far better prepared for the challenge of playing South Africa after their comprehensive defeat in the first test.

"The last test was certainly a learning curve, especially for the blokes who hadn't played against the South Africans, the best team in the world. That has certainly gone into our training to hold us in better stead for the next game."

[Corzza]

Australia 53/0 (10.4 ov)

Sri Lanka

Australia won the toss and elected to bat

[Corzza]

Australia 98/2 (21.4 ov)

Sri Lanka

Australia won the toss and elected to bat

UT Khawaja run out 3 (11b 0x4 0x6) SR: 27.27

[Corzza]

Australia 193/2 (36.5 ov)

Sri Lanka

Australia won the toss and elected to bat

[Corzza]

Australia 212/3 (39.0 ov)

Sri Lanka

Australia won the toss and elected to bat

PJ Hughes c †Chandimal b Malinga 112 (129b 14x4 0x6) SR: 86.82