Shot by both sides:Performances Against England in 2013.

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Re: Shot by both sides:Performances Against England in 2013.

Postby Arthur Crabtree » Wed Jan 08, 2014 10:56 pm

If Carberry had caught Haddin...
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Re: Shot by both sides:Performances Against England in 2013.

Postby Arthur Crabtree » Fri Jan 10, 2014 8:32 pm

4. Ryan Harris, 2-70 & 7-117 in Chester-le-Street.

Our triumphs are instigated by misfortune, and great luck propels us to our destruction. While Australia may rue the non selection of Ryan Harris at Trent Bridge in their narrow defeat, would he have been quite so drunk in Sydney if he had played? Both series were played by him on the edge of injury, and he looked quite elderly at the Oval. Like dad on a family outing, Harris would step in when the game threatened to get out of hand. As Australia battled for control of a fluctuating Test at the Riverside, Harris steered the game towards his team again and again, with new and old ball. All for nothing, on this day, but still, a rousing and spirited endeavour.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/566935.html


4. Steve Smith, 111 & 15 in Perth.

Australia won the toss and elected to bat, which proposed risks and rewards on a fast Perth pitch, which promised to break up. When Steve Smith was joined by Brad Haddin, Australia were 143-5, following another top order malfunction. He left the arena at 338-8, on a pitch that had brought him little previous success. After a number of skittish juvenile flings and bit parts, Smith was looking like a support player, a character actor. This was a big breakthrough for him. This was a lead part, and a breakthrough success.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/592399.html
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Re: Shot by both sides:Performances Against England in 2013.

Postby Arthur Crabtree » Thu Jan 16, 2014 10:08 pm

3. Peter Fulton, 136 &110 in Aukland.

A harsh time Fulton had of it, going into the third Test in Aukland, on slow pitches that made run scoring tough, and a leg side game that was easy to stifle. Confidence was low. And like many beaten looking England opponents over the last year, Fulton finally prevailed, cautiously in the first innings, expansively in the second. He flayed Finn and Panesar, particularly over the short straight boundaries. In the third innings, England lost all control in the field. As would become a pattern.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/569245.html

3. Mitchell Johnson, 5-63 & 3-25 in Melbourne.

By Melbourne, England knew exactly what was coming, but couldn't do a damn thing about it. Johnson swaggered like the strong-arm heavy in an old time gangster film; asking a succession of trauma eyed England batters where they wanted it. The helmet or the boots. England's lower order was humiliatingly out of its depth, and there was comedy in their attempts to avoid the pain that came at his end. Most memorably, Broad was skewered by the yorker, as he was in Perth. It wasn't even a contest. And he ran out Joe Root.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/592400.html
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Re: Shot by both sides:Performances Against England in 2013.

Postby Arthur Crabtree » Sat Jan 18, 2014 7:22 pm

2. Brad Haddin, 1 & 71 in Nottingham.

Australia chasing 147 for the last four wickets to win at the England stronghold of Trent Bridge, fell just 14 run short after Haddin and Pattinson's 65 runs for the last wicket. If not for an inconvenient break, they would have done it. Haddin broke Steve Finn along the way, and gave Australia credibility in the series. After the Coldstream Guards marching band, the Red Arrows, and the apple cheeked tenor singing Land of Hope and Glory and Rule Britannia to the dressing rooms at lunch... I was almost willing them home.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/566932.html

2. Mitchell Johnson, 7-40 & 1-73 in Adelaide.

In The Seven Samurai, a village of placid, defenceless farmers are periodically visited by a marauding gang of bandits who bully them and take away their harvest. This was the story of Johnson's Ashes, and the fact that no one rode to the defence of the poor English meant the series lacked an uplifting second act. In the first innings, Johnson took a flaming torch to the poor straw huts of the England batters, with seven brutal, remorseless wickets and a 400 lead! Only Ian Bell and his 72* was left behind to retell the fable to future generations.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/592398.html
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Re: Shot by both sides:Performances Against England in 2013.

Postby Arthur Crabtree » Tue Jan 21, 2014 3:39 pm

1. Brad Haddin, 94 & 53 at Brisbane.

Australia were 100-5 when Haddin came to the wicket, later 132 for 6. Broad had scythed through the Australian top order, and after the 3-0 away defeat, what felt like unified national resistance seemed as substantial as a soap bubble. Clarke was undone with a bouncer: cut off the head... English journalists and former players outlined their obituaries for Australia 2013. Haddin was last out for 295, and it was England's bubble that had burst. It is easy to imagine a whole alternative series without Haddin's knock, if Australia had lost at the Gabba. They were hard won runs, scored when they really meant something.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/592397.html
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Re: Shot by both sides:Performances Against England in 2013.

Postby Arthur Crabtree » Tue Jan 21, 2014 10:20 pm

1. Mitchell Johnson, 4-61 & 5-42 in Brisbane.

Haddin delivered a rather ambiguous recovery, with Mitch at his side as he did with Hussey in 2010. But in that series, Johnson and his colleagues had been unable to exploit any batting advantage. On Johnson's return, some felt he would transform what was possible for Australia, others expected the same as before, but I'd guess both sides were nervous. After his first spell, Johnson had bowled 5-0-26-0 and the world was still spinning. On his return, he speared Trott's wicket with a short ball, and duped Root to chase a wide one... and he ran though the middle order like it was a highlights package. In the second innings, he accounted for the tail. England got out in the same ways over and over, and they perished as all who are unable to adapt must. It felt like a shocking act of aggression. Like starting a streetfight with a grenade.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/the-ashes-2 ... 92397.html
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Re: Shot by both sides:Performances Against England in 2013.

Postby Arthur Crabtree » Tue Jan 21, 2014 10:34 pm

We only have eight Tests this year, so hardly any point doing this again next year. Which makes me feel sad for the current status of Test cricket, after the truncated contest with South Africa in 2012. Hope we have plenty to look back on all the same.

As all this is very much just my personal, probably biased response to what I have been watching, let me award my favourite player of the year. Obviously, it's a Kiwi, as they lost. But if I overlook that, I'd pick Ryan Harris, who never quite managed to hide his great skill and artistry in a humble and faintly bluff demeanour. I could even take a little pleasure in the obviously great joy he had in respite from a career harmed so much by injury. And I hope his absence of histrionics sets an example to many others, few of whom share his skill. Harris, at least, never rubbed our noses in it.
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