Agreed

But he struggles a lot more against India at India than against England at England.

Because of the incrediably high standard he has achieved, what we consider as him struggling in England would to your common garden variety of test batsman be considered a considerably good result.

Ponting over a long period of time has a test average of nearly 60, a lot of test players are getting slaps on the backs from fans carrying averages of around 40.

Ponting lives and bats under a constant fairly large microscope.

Aussies all out 431, Windies 3/115

Haddin 11 failing in his first test innings was interesting, he has a lot to prove and the gap between him and the next likely cab off the rank Ronchi, is a lot closer than the gap was between Gilly and him.

Does have a reputation as being a flat track bully, I hope he just got a good ball and his next couple of outings rectify the situation.

Symonds 70 no, he has become a complete player batting-wise in all forms of the game.

The hallmark of Symonds game to my mind, is he is the man for the job when the chips are down and the pressure is on. The amount of times he has bailed out the Aussies in his short career is quite impressive. Unlike Kattitch. That guy is a choker, and i am disappointed he is back in the team.


I am not too worried about inconsequential failures. It is how Haddin performs under pressure when Aus is 5-116 or something, is what i will be interested to see.

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The thought police are everywhere..............

That overexagerated pre ball arriving movement to off stump and beyond still irk's me about Katich. My theory is that it is OK against lesser bowlers on slower pitches (eg. Domestic competition bowlers on the Sydney Cricket Ground)
But on quicker pitches against better bowlers it struggles.

Funny that the guy he took over from as the domestic record run scorer was also a left hander who liked to shuffle across the crease prior to the ball being delivered (Michael Bevan)
Allthough Bevan had moved from NSW to Tasmania for his record breaking season, you could safely say Bellrieve at Hobart was the next slowest pitch in the country behind the SCG. And also Michael Bevan struggled at test level (had a great one day career though )

I just feel that Katich's new off stump shuffle technique is only really going to work back home at the SCG in the local comp, or against lesser teams such as Bangladesh, Zimbabwe or Kenya.

But rather than blaming Katich, I blame the Australian selection policy that for some reason encourages players to join NSW because it selects most of the players from their. Sure they have a lot of good players Lee, Clarke, Clark and Haddin. Some home grown on the fringe Jaques. But 2 who moved their to enhance their selection chances Katich and Casson ?

Sad to think that they felt compelled to move accross the country, dont the selectors get out West ?

Has NSW turned into an Australian domestic cricket version of Real Madrid or Chelsea ?

Anyone following this? Chanderpaul helped the WI along to a respectable 1st innings total... but wickets have been falling like crazy since Lee got into the WI lower order: Australia 12/4 in their 2nd innings now!

On very early in the morning here, I picked things up at around 7am near the end of the Windies innings, the commentators were still buzzing about the Chanderpaul incident.

Aust 4-17 at stumps

Edwards and Powell have 2 scalps each, Powell got Ponting edging with a good one that swang late, Jaques just sparred at one that left me scratching my head about his future, Katich and the exagerated pre-ball shuffle was easilly picked off by Edwards when he got one to straighten and keep low trapping him plumb LBW (another opener with a short future)

I missed Hussey I was in the shower.

But it certainly was a dramatic session, Chanderpaul was knocked totally unconcious for 3-4 minutes on the batting crease 14 runs prior to reaching his century by a Brett Lee bouncer, and sent the medical staff into a frenzy when he regained conciousness and told them he could not feel his feet and hands.

He recovered, stayed on got the century and the Windies to 312,119 behind the Aussies. Then all hell broke lose in the Aussie 30 minutes at the crease.

Hodge and night watchman Johnson are the unbeaten batsmen, Symonds and Haddin to come. And I would say their is a pretty good chance Chanderpaul would at least be getting a couple of X-Rays or scans right now just to make sure things are OK.

I think Ponting will always come out of any series fairly well (except maybe in India), but he does have technical weaknesses which can be exploited. The dismissal last night was a perfect example, and almost identical to how he was dismissed every time in the VB Series in the summer. That's his weakness- give him balls that swing away a bit, pitched out outside the off stump, and he might fall for the trap. If he does that enough, his effectiveness will be considerably reduced.

Ha!

But seriously, I completely agree about Katich, he was the v-c of our State, for crying out loud, he made his name here and was being regularly selected, and he turned his back on us. Despite what Ian Chappell might say, we hate him out here- go to any Warriors vs. Blues game at the WACA, and I guarantee you'll here "Katich takes it up the ****" (to the tune of Yankee Doodle) going into double digits.

I don't blame Casson becuase he wasn't getting selected, and I don't blame Chris Rogers as much, but Katich's move was just mercenary.

The WIndies quicks have been remarkable in the Aussie second innings. This is definately an encouraging sign for the future of West Indies, but there needs to be consistency over a period of time before we start rejoicing the re-emergence of West Indies as a force in world cricket.

However with a hefty first innings lead, Aussies are still the favourites to win this test match.

From what I read on cricinfo, the pitch is not exactly good for batting and it will not be easy for the West Indies batsmen to play Lee and company on a deteriorating pitch. Even a target of 200 may be difficult.

Agreed, but what's remarkable is how well they've done despite the absence of Taylor. But there doesn't need to be just consistency in performance, but consistency in selection too.

Chanderpaul is their best bet, but I think Morton, Sarwan and Bravo are also capable of lasting with him. I'd say it's about 60-40 in Australia's favour so far, but a couple of quick wickets in the first hour could reverse those odds.

Fantastic fightback from the West Indies - very pleasing and makes for an excellent test now.

I am seriously looking forward to seeing how Hodge and Haddin stand up under pressure. And what an opportunity too. Particularly Hodge. If he can knock up another 60+ this innings, he might be in with a shot for Kattitch's position. I say that because Kattitch is not the incumbent, and like Hodge, is just coming back from purgatory........

Go Hodgey! Test team could do with a Victorian batsman too, been awhile (hey Acker)

Don't have FOXTEL on anymore - might hit the net and find my self some free streams because the first session tonight will be great to watch...

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The thought police are everywhere..............