Apologies to any kiwis out there!

Indians absolutely blow chunks while trying to defend 321, and it should have been anyway.
Tendulkar with the 3rd 99 in a calendar year. Has to be a record.

And Hussey pushing his test average to 90-ish. Wonder if he gets to 100 sometime this summer.
Aussies have 3 man booths now? When did that start?

Hey mate

Australia started the 3 man booths during the Ashes last Summer , IIRC.

I missed parts of the Sri Lanka game as I have been busy but saw enough highlights to observe the following…

- Hayden looked the best of the batsmen early in his innings, but threw his wicket away.
- SCG Macgill bowled better than his figures showed. Did you see the delievry that nailed Vandort??? A Warnie special!!
- Hussey is amazing, but I liked Clarke’s inning better though he was a little lucky.
- WHY WAS MALINGA NOT PICKED?
- WHY WAS MALINGA BOT PICKED?

Yea, saw that. Caught the edge of the hard rough. Didn’t know McGill already had 200 wickets!
I actually thought the best australian innings was by Ponting, but then, am an unabashed Ponting fan.
- No Malinga was idiotic, anda huge gamble. Though their main problems were the dropped catches.
- Its going to freezing in Hobart?
- How are the kids? giving you sleepless nights?!

Kids came home yesterday and there will be a few sleepless nights. FOX has a great 2 hour highlights package of the days play in cricket which will help me for the summer. I have been watching a lot of the domestic stuff for the first time in 10 years or so as well. That will help me identify for you some up and coming Aussie stars of the future as well. My claim to fame is being the worlds biggest Matt Hayden fan in 1992 when he was still playing for Queensland.

Ponting is the best batsmen this country has produced in the last 20-25 years. He is amazing. Murali got him with a beauty as well, I forgot about his innings to be honest!!

What are your thoughts on the Indian test squad announced? Especially the re-inclusion of Harbhajan Singh.

Am not happy with Harbhajan Singh/ Kartik picks. I can see them going with form, and that they are not very old. But I much rather they had picked Piyush Chawla ( 18 yr old leggie ). If nothing else, he could pick Kumble’s brain. On the Aussie tour, we will be playing only spinner anyway.
The main thing to come from the Pak series will be whether we stick with the Jaffer/Kartik opener combo, and whether they give Sehwag another go. And ofcourse, how on earth do we get Yuvraj Singh into the test side? One of Ganguly/Laxman has to go…

Actually first time I saw Hayden was a disastrous WI series where Walsh/Ambrose had his number. Don’t remember which one. And I used to think Matthew Elliott was going to be a big star for the Aussies. shows what I know.

I remember that series for Haydos. He shouldered arms to a ball that he thought was outside the line of off stump and was clean bowled (MCG, I think)

He scored a century at Adelaide , but was dropped about 20 times getting there.

I love watching him and Ponting bat together.

Test starts tomorrow at Hobart, not sure how cold it will be!!!

Steady start for the Aussies, Sri Lanka bowling with no luck again

Australia now in total control again - Phil Jaques looking real good - Hussey being Hussey

The pitch and the day looked a beaut. SL looking so listless.
I know Jacques has it going good, but somehow wasn’t impressed with him much. Hussey again..yearghhh.
And which team was fernando playing for? The Aussies couldn’t have asked for a better net bowler.

I thought the Indian bowling attack would pose some problems to the aussies, but looking at the start you guys ahve got, its looking scary. The Indians need the ball to swing or we gonna be toothless.

Tendulkar rolled back the years yday. But then sharply reminded everyone it was 2007 and got out in the 90s.

I see where you are coming from with Jacques as well. I am not convinced at all , just yet. Hussey is awesome, and Clarke looked great again. Gilly was Gilly as well

Tendulkar looked great - which means I really can’t wait for the Indian visit in Dec/Jan!!!

I have a feeling this game will end up a draw with Sri Lanka scoring about 400-450 in their first dig.

Brett Lee is bowling really well however

I’m hoping Attapatu scores 200 after his ‘muppets’ outburst

Sri Lanka didn’t score 400 - I was not even close.

Brett Lee & Stewart Clark were amazing today.

And that’s stumps on the third day in Hobart. Australia lead by 407 and are in an imposing position here. Brett Lee and Stuart Clark led a fine bowling effort earlier in the day, restricting SL to 246. Mahela Jayawardene’s hundred, his first against Australia, was one of the few consolations for Sri Lanka. Jaques then continued his fairytale run and put Australia in a dominant position at the end of the day. Incidentally 5536 people landed up at the Bellerive Oval today.

Just talking to a customer today and we are both praying for a great series vs. India beginning December 26

Just talking to a customer today and we are both praying for a great series vs. India beginning December 26

Yea. Been looking forward to it for a while. Hope it isn’t a damp squib. Think depends on how we bowl. If we get early wickets, and put pressure on the middle order. Saw a bit of the morning session today before I had to go out. Amazing how accurate Lee ahs become, but the Srilankans weren’t really looking to score apart from Sangakkara. Pity he got out when he did.
Also was impressed that they swung the ball, which is good news. Been hearing all these reports that that the Kookaburra doesn’t swing at all after the first 10 overs. And Srilankans didn’t swing it much.

Finally - an interesting game!!

Sangakara is a great batsmen , wish he would have played at the Gabba

Sangakkara sure made it interesting. Pity Koertzen cut it short.

This means that we will see Hogg for the Indian series? India-Pak test series starts Thursday. There goes my weekend :(

I think Magill will be back but needed to be told to wake up and get fit again. We need him for the three tests at Adelaide, Sydney and Melbourne.

Sangakkara was not out - what a shame - but the three early wickets killed them as well.

Looking forward to the Sri Lanka - England series and of course the India - Pakistan series

India-Pakistan nicely balanced. Though its been a battle of incompetence more than any truly breathtaking moments.
A dropped catch last evening of Misbah ul Huq might well give this test to the Pakistanis.

Today my name is Mr.Breaker - 24 November 2007 04:24 PM

India-Pakistan nicely balanced. Though its been a battle of incompetence more than any truly breathtaking moments.
A dropped catch last evening of Misbah ul Huq might well give this test to the Pakistanis.

Looks like India are home. Why did they take the light after only needing 31 for the win??

Watched Ricky Ponting score a century for Tasmania yesterday, he is awesome.

EDIT - India just wrapped the test up. Good solid win.

Looks like India are home. Why did they take the light after only needing 31 for the win??

It was pretty horrible light, and with no rain forecast, just the sensible thing to do.
A victory is good, but we got bunch of issues to iron out still. Sreesanth might miss the Aus tour, which will be a big blow for us.
When he is in rhythm, he can swing the ball at 140+, which would have been very useful.

Looks like Stewey Magill could be out as well, as he could be opting for knee surgery.

Bradd Hogg shits me, but he’ll do. We have no spinners left after Hogg in this country. I mean NO ONE

Did you read Buchanan’s article on Tendulkar? usually I like the Australians for how rooted to the facts their comments tend to be. But the arrogance in the article is overwhelming. He makes a good point about Tendulkar having trouble moving his feet early on ( Which batsman doesn’t? Ponting has fallen a bunch of times LBW while falling over early on ), and being troubled by Mitchell Johnson. But the ending line that he is worried that Pakistan will play Sachin “into form” just made me want to slap him. Was Buchanan such an overbearing ass when coach too?

On a more serious note, Australians should be worried if Dravid notches a huge score in the Ind-Pak series. he is visibly short of confidence, but if he regains his old form, it will be twice as hard for the Aussies.

Today my name is Mr.Breaker - 28 November 2007 11:53 PM

Did you read Buchanan’s article on Tendulkar? usually I like the Australians for how rooted to the facts their comments tend to be. But the arrogance in the article is overwhelming. He makes a good point about Tendulkar having trouble moving his feet early on ( Which batsman doesn’t? Ponting has fallen a bunch of times LBW while falling over early on ), and being troubled by Mitchell Johnson. But the ending line that he is worried that Pakistan will play Sachin “into form” just made me want to slap him. Was Buchanan such an overbearing ass when coach too?

On a more serious note, Australians should be worried if Dravid notches a huge score in the Ind-Pak series. he is visibly short of confidence, but if he regains his old form, it will be twice as hard for the Aussies.

Can you link me the article?

I never liked Buchanan after seeing him speak at a lunch. My god he was boring and mundane.

this is the link
http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,22834301-23212,00.html

I usually use this blog to browse cricket articles. They do a fairly nice job rounding up.
http://blogs.cricinfo.com/surfer/

Today my name is Mr.Breaker - 29 November 2007 01:54 PM

this is the link
http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,22834301-23212,00.html

I usually use this blog to browse cricket articles. They do a fairly nice job rounding up.
http://blogs.cricinfo.com/surfer/

great to see you link me to a site I have on my bookmarks toolbar!!

I have been crazy busy as I always am this time of year.

There is a great young talent playing for NSW and his name is ....Phillip Hughes!!!

The second test in Calcutta turned out to be a damp squib. That was one bad pitch.
Indian team for Aus to be announced this week. Sreesanth might miss the whole tour, almost certainly the first half.
Heard MacGill is out, Tait is bowling well, and MCG is going to get in a drop in pitch which is going to be bouncy and seaming. Thats going to be a nice wake up call.

Hope this Phil Hughes doesn’t tear his hamstring!

The second test in Calcutta might have sucked , but I am liking where the Sri Lanka test is heading. Kumar has 4 tests in a row with a score greater than 150. Amazing!!!

I hope Sreesanth comes out here - we need an exciting summer desperately.