Australia tour of New Zealand - Feb 2016

[sussexpob]

Smith always looks like he could get out as soon as the ball nips about, but he has scored a bucket full of runs in the last two years. Fair play to him, and to shanky who, being a adoptive Aussie has always backed his corner

Id go as far as to suggest that Smith's success shows how disastrously poor test cricket has become. His first tour of England he looked incapable of blocking the ball, and on his second he only looked like a credible test player on pancake pitches.

If this guy is the pinnacle of the game then the game itself is in a poor state.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Haze got fined 15% of his match fee.

Smith said he did cross the line, in contradiction of Bird's earlier statement.

A divide in the Aussie camp?

[yuppie]

Haze got fined 15% of his match fee.

Smith said he did cross the line, in contradiction of Bird's earlier statement.

A divide in the Aussie camp?

Not likely, just more time to look at the situation.

Clearly Australia overstepped the line.

[GarlicJam]

Haze got fined 15% of his match fee.

Pitiful. Not much of a signal to the cricketing world. I know it is his first time before the beak, and I don't know what the maximum is for such a charge, but I thought at least 50% would be the outcome.

Whereas I though 100% and a suspended ban would be a better punishment/warning.

Smith said he did cross the line, in contradiction of Bird's earlier statement.

A divide in the Aussie camp?

A quick survey of the team found that 85% of them reckon that there is no divide in the team (at least now that Clarke and Bailey are gone), so no, no divide.

Thanks for the concern though.

[sussexpob]

I wonder if the umpire simply said "Adam Voges" in response

[yuppie]

Not sure an Australian team can ever be successful with out a divide.

The difference is that they just get over it and play for the greater good. Ignoring Kim Hughes here of course.

[Arthur Crabtree]

A quick survey of the team found that 85% of them reckon that there is no divide in the team (at least now that Clarke and Bailey are gone), so no, no divide.

Thanks for the concern though.

No problem. If I don't keep an eye on this stuff, who will? We'll see next time Australia pick a team whether Jackson is in it I suppose.

[GarlicJam]

There's been a rumour going around that he is English, so surely the rest of the team will feel uncomfortable around him.

[Arthur Crabtree]

With the numbers of Anglo Aussies about, I guess he'll fit in ok- plus their friends in the press. I reckon I read Malcolm Conn is a half English. Just if Smith and Bird can't see eye to eye as something as central to the Baggy Green as where the line is drawn, then I fear for him. It's one of those sensitive issues, like the team song.

[sussexpob]

It's one of those sensitive issues, like the team song.

Is that you Mr Hussey?

[Arthur Crabtree]

I think next time history repeats itself there, it's as tragedy.

I don't want that.

[shankycricket]

By the way, Steven Smith's away average in Test cricket is 54. Thats 5 runs higher than everyone's darling "technically sound" Kane Williamson's OVERALL average and 10 runs higher than Williamson's away average. Guess who is labelled the home track bully?

Probably something to do with the fact he looks rubbish when the ball moves slightly in the air.

Thankfully, cricket is about runs and not a beauty contest.

[sussexpob]

By the way, Steven Smith's away average in Test cricket is 54. Thats 5 runs higher than everyone's darling "technically sound" Kane Williamson's OVERALL average and 10 runs higher than Williamson's away average. Guess who is labelled the home track bully?

Probably something to do with the fact he looks rubbish when the ball moves slightly in the air.

Thankfully, cricket is about runs and not a beauty contest.

Its actually about winning, and in recent away loses to Pakistan and India, he didnt score enough runs or a hundred..... and bar the deadest of pitches thrown up in England, he looked very average against good bowling.

In fact, if you look at the Ashes series he has played in, 3 of his 5 hundreds come in dead rubber games with the series already decided. The 4th was scored in the second innings at Perth when any bookie would have given you 2500/1 on England even getting a drawn series. The Lords test was the only live series score he has really made, and that was on a pitch dead as flared jeans and disco.

[sussexpob]

One only has to look at Adam Voges and Usman Khawaja's recent records to justify what pitches these statistics are being taken from.

Khawaja was outclassed in England in 2013. He was also outclassed in a B team game by England the previous Ashes series, and everyone in Australia conceded the boy had no technique.

Adam Voges was taken apart by England in the Ashes and looked like a minor counties player who had accidentally been mistaken for a cricketer..... he averages 95!!!!!!

Playing in 1995, none of these would have made a 5th test match against a decent attack on a spicy pitch.

[braveneutral]

Jackson Bird is on Bailey's side I reckon.

What's all this jealousy of KW?