Hi Guys,
It is my last post for a little while as I am off down the beach for 5 days. By this stage the Ashes will of been complete unless something drastic happens.
I took my two little boys to MCG yesterday and was a great atmosphere. You do not mind get beaten in cricket however the way Australia go about their cricket has been very consistent throughtout the series. Mentally, they are not prepared to sit through difficult batting conditions. I count'nt at least 3 batsmen that played silly shots to get out.
Strauss won the toss and bowled. The ball fizzed around and it was interesting since you can hear the sound of the willow from the crowd and I do not think I heard the Australias hit the middle of the bat too many times even when defending. So, it was particularly difficult to bat.
England bowled superbly between Anderson, Tremlett, Bresnan in conditions which were similar to England conditons. They pitched the ball up, were able to move the ball and fielded brilliantly. Well done.
I think Phillip Hughes will make it however the shot he went out on is typically of a player who thinks he is invincible on flat pitches. Problem was the pitch was not flat and needs to learn to play in all conditions. Watson was all at sea. Next up was R Ponting who was scratchy at best. Played two nice shots and then played the Tremlett delievery all wrong - once upon a time he would of pulled that delivery since it was quite short. Hussey recieved a nice ball from Anderson and his luck finally run out. M Clarke played ok for a while and looked to be in OK touch until he nicked one. Steve Smith is not a No.6 (he is a No.7 or No.8) and C White should take this position (still cant work out this logic). B Haddin played an aweful undiscipled shot.
Every single Australian that went out looked like they did not care. They played rash, undiscipled shot to outstanding bowling. Yeah sure the conditions suited the bowling however you need to have some more patience in their stroke play. I thought Par was around the 200 run mark.
Onto the English batting. The sun came out as soon as they walked out. They used the heavy roller also to flatten to pitch. Yep, that did the job alright. All of a sudden conditions suited the batsmen. Once again, England opening pair showed great composure on every ball and picked their shot play. Similarly when you heard Strauss and Cook hit the ball whilst defending then it hit the middle of the bat every time. They were in good touch.
The Australian bowling was too short from Johnson, Harris & Hillfeneus. I thought Siddle bowled well however he understand the conditions more since he is Victorian.
In most of the Shefield Shield Games in the last few years at MCG. The team that Bats first generally loses.
Anyway all the momentum and skill with England. It is very overcast today so there will be some wickets I would expect and there will be some showers however it should not stop England for regaining the Ashes. The next 3 days of weather should be very sunny.
Congratulations to England well done.
The fall out for Australia will be heavy however it needs to happen to bring through a bunch of new talented kids (there are plenty around also).
All the best. I am off to the beach.
Luke
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