16 December 2010

Will England rue day 1 tactics?

They certainly won't rue their selection of Tremlett who bowled brilliantly and ensured that the England selectors get a pat on the back for choosing him ahead of Bresnan, even after various speculation that Bresnan would bowl well into the Freemantle Doctor. Hopefully the 3 England seamers can be as effective in the second innings - they will certainly hope to bowl a bit better as in truth Anderson, and particularly Finn, weren't near their best.

Hopefully England can bat Australia out of the game over the next day and a half, but if not they may look back on day 1 as a missed opportunity. Not only did the bowlers fall short of their best, but I couldn't get my head around Strauss' field positions. Haddin (who incidentally should have batted 6 ahead of Smith) scored his 50 with a risk-free tap down the ground the ground to long-off. Why wasn't mid-off in? And when he'd come out after tea, rather than making it hard form him to play himself back in, Strauss gave him an easy one out to deep cover.

Flower will probably feel that Australia should have been bowled out for less than 200. It's up to England's batsmen to prove that it doesn't matter either way.

1 comment:

Wisey said...

I would say that maybe the are rueing a bit........

Proof that Australia are not a terrible side, but just a weaker one than they have had in the last few years and that England are not a brilliant side but a good one. The problem with listening to too much of the hysterical press from both countries is that their knee jerk reactions start to seap into what people really think.

What actually matters is how well each team plays as their abilities are not so far apart as to make this a one sided contest in any way.

Johnson proved that on his day he can bowl out any team in the world on the right wicket. He performed better than England's bowlers, although on paper they are stronger as a group.

Australia have several world class batsmen. They (in particular Hussey) performed better than England's batsmen in this test.

Awaiting the next misplaced knee jerk reaction which I am sure will be the suggestion that Collingwood will be dropped.....this will be classic scapegoat hunting rather than admitting Australia played well and that they are not really that bad after all.