Aus vs Pak: 3rd Test (Jan 2-6), Sydney

[Rachael]

http://uk.cricinfo.com/db/PLAYERS/AU...N_SR_02010125/

Originally Posted by cricinfo

He remains the cleanest of hitters and, several remodelled actions later, decidedly sharp with the ball. [...] "He has all the attributes," noted Alan Davidson in 2002. "A fine physical specimen, good athlete; just give him time." Now 22, the time seems ripe.

Sounds like another one to be factory produced from the modern coaching production line: pretty much guaranteed to be effective enough.. and equally surely destined to really irk those of us who hanker after the touch with the bat and the guile with the ball that these modern, coached robots never seem up to mastering.

postscript: just found the following:

Shane Watson

2004 ENGLISH FIRST-CLASS

Batting & Fielding    M    I  NO  Runs   HS     Ave 100  50   Ct  St
All First-class       1    2   1   136  112* 136.00   1   0    0   0
County Championship   1    2   1   136  112* 136.00   1   0    0   0

Bowling               O      M     R    W    Ave   BBI    5  10    SR  Econ
All First-class       8.4    2    28    0    -     -      0   0    -   3.23
County Championship   8.4    2    28    0    -     -      0   0    -   3.23

2004 ENGLISH LIST A

Batting & Fielding    M    I  NO  Runs   HS     Ave 100  50   Ct  St
All List A            4    3   2    84   54*  84.00   0   1    3   0
National League       2    2   1    77   54*  77.00   0   1    1   0
C & G Trophy          0    -   -     -    -     -     -   -    -   -

Bowling               O      M     R    W    Ave   BBI    4w  5w   SR  Econ
All List A           24      0   118    0    -     -      0   0    -   4.91
National League       9      0    39    0    -     -      0   0    -   4.33
C & G Trophy          -      -     -    -    -     -      -   -    -    -

All looks encouraging with the willow but pretty indifferent on the bowling front, really.. but without looking at the scorecards for those matches it's hard to tell: not a statistically very major sample!

[Shaka]

Yasir Hameed was all at sea in Gillespie's 1st couple of overs, but he dug in and has adjusted well as the morning has went on, showing the bolshie character on whom many of us were hoping would see him through. Fine 50 so far and well done.

For me though, the jewel in this innings has been Salman Butt. Even when the ball was swinging and seaming all over the place first up, he was calmness personified, adjusting late, leaving the ball with precision. This lad is special.

We haven't had a great tour so far, but with Malik, Yasir and Salman all showing a fast learning curve it's not been a disaster many are portraying. This is a team with some big players missing and doing better match by match.

[Shaka]

Shane Watson looks very ordinairy btw. Yasir spanked him for 6 as soon as he dropped short. I'm assuming he is being groomed for the ODI series as he is nowhere near Kaspo's class as a bowler.

[Beny]

I've never rated him as a bowler although I never saw him before he had to change his action after he spent 2 months in a back cast. Fantastic Batsmen though.

[Paoli]

I wouldn't consider Watson a genuine all-rounder, rather a batting all-rounder. The closest thing to a genuine all-rounder at the moment is Fred Flintoff of England and he is followed by Jacques Kallis, whose bowling form has tapered off a wee bit of late.

However, there was a time when Watto was considered a BOWLING all-rounder. He is of genuine speed (135+) and I do think Beny, that if he can improve his seam position, line and length, he could mature into a Jacques Kallis or a Andrew Flintoff.

[Maranello]

Yes he does have the speed without the penetration. Watson has been the fastest bowler on display today, reaching 142km/h, and averaging close to that, higher than McGrath or Gillespie.

[Paoli]

To sum up Day 1, we must say a big congratulations to the super talented Salman Butt, who made his maiden test ton today.

Pakistan looked brilliant at 1 for 198, but a stupid shot from Younis Khan triggered a collapse. Younis played well for 46, and Yasir, who I've branded "useless", finally made some runs against quality opposition, with a 58 in which he was dropped twice in two balls in the second over.

Salman played brilliantly, mixing his powerful cutting and driving with some good shots off his legs, and you can add some good pulling to that. His ton came with a pull in which he was nearly caught by McGrath. Younis looked brilliant, taking an extreme liking to Stu MacGill, until he played a stupid shot that reminded me of the attempted heave over mid wicket off Warne's bowling at Perth.

Youhana, Asim and Afridi all went out for low scores, and Akhtar, Kaneria and Rana didn't offer tailend resistance

On the Aussie front, Stuey MacGill, who had 0-35 off 4 overs, finally got his line and length right when he took the wicket of Younis Khan. From then he seemed to go from strength to strength.

Dizzy Gillespie bowled absolutely brilliantly early on, but without any luck, two dropped catches and several balls just missing the off stump didn't help his cause

McGrath was his usual self, taking the wicket of Salman on 108, and following it up with two more. A super consistent line and length was the order of the day, as it has been for his whole career, for McGrath.

The two Shane W's, Warne and Watson, bowled not bad without doing any damage. Warnie took one, Watson none although Warne was relatively harmless.

Stu MacGill, who must be congratulated on taking 5 wickets, did a marvellous job. Kamran Akmal has been putting up late resistance on 35 not out. Stumps score is 9/292.

[Shaka]

Another good position squandered by the middle order, but some credit has to go to McGill who was turning the ball square. Warne looked very ordinairy at the other end in comparison, but with a not very deep batting line up, Pakistan will be disappointed with the manner of dismissal of Kamal, Younis and Afridi - although with Afridi it's always on the cards.

A shame as a score of 450 plus which was very much on would have seen the Aussies under some pressure for a change. Nice to see Kamran Akmla getting some runs after coming in for heavy criticism lately. This will do his development as a player a lot of good, his attempts to farm the strike were a good lesson for the watching Razzaq whose batting with the tail was so feeble in the last match, despite all his experience.

[Rachael]

Interesting first session of play on this 2nd day for Pakistan: all out without adding much to the overnight score.. but two big wickets inside the first 20 overs of the Aussie reply.

Australia 1st innings R M B 4 6
JL Langer b Naved-ul-Hasan 13 16 3 0
ML Hayden b Danish Kaneria 26 57 5 0
*RT Ponting not out 35 45 5 0
DR Martyn not out 6 12 0 0
Extras (b 4, lb 1, nb 4) 9
Total (2 wickets, 21 overs) 89

The big problem would seem to be that the bowlers are haemoraging runs at such a rate that the Pakistan lead could disappear shortly after tea!

[R W S]

18.4 Danish Kaneria to Hayden, OUT: goes for a big straight slog well
away from his body and the ball easily ducks through the gap onto
the stumps

Australia RR: 4.24

The biggest danger to the Aussies could be complacency. They seem determined to go after the Pakistan bowlers. They have knocked Shoaib out of the attack - he only bowled four overs!