Friday, December 3, 2010

Ashes 2.1: Reminds me of...



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  1. Its funny how things tend to go wrong with a side that is short on talent and self belief. Its difficult to keep a straight face while Australia continue to struggle to save theirs. A well-below-par first day batting performance, triggered by the most horrific of run outs does not happen with good teams. Australia reminds me of the Indian teams of the early 80s.
  2. For the most part, the first day's play at Adelaide has resembled the one at the Gabba, including a hat trick ball. The roles have been reversed of course and no one is questioning why Broad isn't getting any wickets
  3. Shane Watson reminds me of Manoj Prabhakar. Prabhakar was a better bowler and Watson is a better batsman. At an individual level they are both very earnest cricketers but you never find players like them on winning teams.
  4. While on the theme of "reminds me of...." Steve Finn and Niel Foster anyone? Foster toured India in the early 80s and while I was recently watching on TV Finn in Bangladesh, he reminded me of Niel Foster. Stuart Broad at this stage of his career has very similar numbers to Niel Foster but opinions about Foster were always grounded; in line with the story his numbers told. Niel Foster 88 wickets in 29 matches. Stuart Broad 99 wickets in 34 matches.

5 comments:

straight point said...

Shane Watson reminds me of Manoj Prabhakar. Prabhakar was a better bowler and Watson is a better batsman. At an individual level they are both very earnest cricketers but you never find players like them on winning teams.

killer opinion... :)

winning teams don't change and chop like oz also...

hilfenhaus was their best bowler in india... just one test... and he is gone too...

Golandaaz said...

Thanks SP!, yes the Australians seem defeated. Their selection is perplexing. Greg Chappell is at it again :-) What's with Xavier Doherty? May be he will prove me wrong when Australia bowl...who knows. But Australia's selection certainly sucks

Gaurav Sethi said...

Golandaaz, yeah, that's one helluva analogy with Prabhakar. A definite first when he's been compared to anyone, leave alone himself.

On the face of it, I see a stubbled Manoj and a chikna Watson! If Watson plays, he gotta bat lower down and be used as Gilli was. He is the swap for North.

Golandaaz said...

yes NC, Welcome!

SW for North is something that makes immense sense.

You know with Watson as an opener, I always looked at it as stop gap. Problem is he did not fail enough. Neither has he performed like a true opener. Its been like an in-between performance and mostly against weaker teams

Gaurav Sethi said...

Spot on Gol. Grant our selectors this much, they made a tough call dropping Chopra. He was an opener, but he was in-between too.