Kiwis tour of Australia, 2011

[Manny_Pacquiao]

the guy is such a waste of space. needs to get kicked out ASAP. he is an awful batsman who should at least do the right thing and retire voluntarily.

He'll prolly get 2 at least. Still a very good batsman.

yeah, a 'very good batsman' averages 27 in the last TWO years...:hysterical::hysterical: even an oily rat like ashwin could do better than that

[King Tendulkar]

Cairns shamlessley jumping on the bandwagon

[Magneto]

Ponting is just going through an extended bad patch. Just a couple of good innings, and the monster will wake up from his sleep. Plus, is there anyone on the horizon who can replace Ponting? They haven't yet managed to find an apt replacement for Katich; finding someone to fill the big boots of Ponting will take quite some searching.

[Pagalpanti]

^ The difference is Sachin atleast had something to offer. Ponting is finished!

Sachin also averaged around 28-29 during 2005-07 period :P Thats when Chappelle said Sachin should retire.

[achilles]

Sachin also averaged around 28-29 during 2005-07 period :P

Sachin had age on his side :D

[CSK Fan]

Sachin also averaged around 28-29 during 2005-07 period :P Thats when Chappelle said Sachin should retire.

Nah, he only averaged very low only during one year, 2006 2005 - only 6 matches average - 44.40 2006 - 8 matches average 24.27 2007 - 9 matches average 55.42 Prior to his 'lean' period, Sachin had averaged 91 in 2004 and later 48 in 2008

[Raghav_12]

Sachin also averaged around 28-29 during 2005-07 period :P Thats when Chappelle said Sachin should retire.

Nah, he only averaged very low only during one year, 2006 2005 - only 6 matches average - 44.40 2006 - 8 matches average 24.27 2007 - 9 matches average 55.42 Prior to his 'lean' period, Sachin had averaged 91 in 2004 and later 48 in 2008

:--D

[pensionplan]

Hope RP gets a ton at the Gabba.

[Lord]

on 54:(( wat have u done Cairns

[cowboysfan]

on 54:(( wat have u done Cairns

some inconsequential idiot cant keep their trap shut,this may turn into another manjrekar comment.

[rkt.india]

Australia look long-term for Ryan Harris Ryan Harris, Australia's preferred pace spearhead, has almost certainly played his last Test match for 2011, and will not return until he can get his injury-afflicted body fit enough to guarantee five days of strong bowling. One of the most problematic men among the quintet of players omitted from the Brisbane Tests, Harris, 32, is Australia's best bowler when fit, but seemingly less likely to remain so with each match he plays. Pat Howard, the team performance manager, has decreed Harris must be brought to a point at which he is capable of performing for five days before he can resume with the team. At present, Howard indicated, two or three days of bowling and fielding is about the best Harris can manage. Currently convalescing after a hip/pelvis complaint, Harris is understood to have been placed on a longer-term fitness program over the next month, and is unlikely to be considered for the Hobart Test or the Boxing Day match against India. He is scheduled to return to bowling in Brisbane on Monday, but will not be rushed back. "The medical team are working particularly hard with a mandate to try to get him back to produce a really good five-day outcome," Howard told ESPNcricinfo. "We know we could rush him back quickly and get him bowling for two or three days and that doesn't really help him in the long-term or Australian cricket, so we're really looking at how do we get Ryan back to play at his best for five days. We all know if we can get him back to that stage, then we've got a fantastic asset playing for Australia." Harris bowled some outstanding spells to help Australia win a Test series in Sri Lanka, and was also among the wickets in the first Test against South Africa in Cape Town. However a hamstring strain kept him out of the third Test of the Sri Lanka series, and he missed the second in South Africa with a hip ailment. He is also managing a degenerative right knee. This combination of trouble spots means that Harris' fitness can be a day-to-day proposition, and Howard is adamant the Test team led by Michael Clarke should not be second-guessing the fitness of any of its XI. To that end, Howard has suggested that last-minute or even match eve fitness tests may be consigned to the dustbin of history. The early decision to rule out five players from the Brisbane Test squad was a choice made out of consideration for the demands of the summer ahead, but also to ensure that fitness tests and the flying in of shadow players did not disrupt the assembly and preparation of the firs Test team. "What we're trying not to do is wait until the last day to make a decision on an injured player," Howard said. "We didn't wait until 6pm the night before the Test to say Pat Cummins can't play. We've said put in all the physio we can, be very active with that and medical services to get him back to 100%, rather than try to put him out at 80%, and we made that decision with a few of the players looking at we've got six Test matches here." Cummins joined the Australia squad in Brisbane on day two of the first Test against New Zealand, as part of the team's desire to more closely monitor the fitness and wellbeing of its cricketers. Howard said the team's medical and fitness staff were being given a greater opportunity to work with the likes of Cummins and Shaun Marsh, also allowing the captain Michael Clarke to see and know precisely how his injured players are going. "Shaun Marsh has been with the team all week, Pat Cummins is coming up to visit, Ryan Harris has been in, Shane Watson's been in, Mitchell Johnson flew back over [for surgery]," Howard said. "We do want to closely deal with that because that helps the selectors have a deeper squad, that helps the captain understand where his team is going for the next couple of Tests, the strength and conditioning guys monitor that re-entry into games. There is a closer co-ordination of that." http://www.espncricinfo.com/australia/content/current/story/543269.html

[ravishingravi]

And the Elephant strikes back. Good on ya Ricky !!

[ravishingravi]

He is definitely my favorite of their current fast bowlers.

[Sir john]

:kxip: :hatsoff:

[panther]

brillant bowler when he plays

[Magneto]

You can't keep a good man down for long!

[carnish]

ponting plays two good back to back knocks...hope he plays some more against us in adelaide and perth

[rkt.india]

Pattinson destroys Kiwis in cricket Test Paceman James Pattinson narrowly missed a hat-trick in his debut Test as he ripped through the New Zealand top order to put Australia on the path to victory in the first Test on Sunday. The 21-year-old fast bowler snared three wickets in four balls and was 5-7 in seven overs as he skittled the Kiwis to threaten to end the match on the fourth day. Daniel Vettori fell in the over before lunch, leaving the Kiwis at a precarious 121 for seven and trailing Australia by 11 runs. Dean Brownlie was unbeaten on 40. Pattinson, bowling a full length at searing pace, removed Martin Guptill (12), Kane Williamson (0) and skipper Ross Taylor (0) in the space of four balls in his opening over of the day. Guptill could not keep down a lifter and popped an easy catch to Usman Khawaja at bat-pad to start the rot. Williamson was out two balls later, edging to Ricky Ponting at second slip and Taylor was out next ball snicking to wicketkeeper Brad Haddin to leave Pattinson on a hat-trick in his debut Test match. Jesse Ryder barely survived Pattinson's hat-trick ball, a 150 km/h yorker to finish his fifth over with figures of 4-1 and New Zealand clinging on at 17 for four. Damien Fleming is the only Australian to have taken a hat-trick on his Test debut, against Pakistan in Rawalpindi in 1994. England's Maurice Allom and New Zealander Peter Petherick also captured hat-tricks on Test debut. Nightwatchman Doug Bracewell became Pattinson's fifth victim, falling to a full delivery on offstump and was caught behind by Haddin for two, leaving the Black Caps at 28 for five in the 13th over. Pattinson, who was selected for the first Test after just nine first-class matches, surpassed his previous best first-class figures of 4-52 for his state Victoria. Captain Michael Clarke introduced the offspin of Nathan Lyon in the 22nd over and Ryder was lured into a false shot to Mike Hussey at mid-off. Ryder hit six fours in his 36 in 63 minutes but the Kiwis badly needed someone to occupy the crease and score the runs to make Australia bat a second time in the match. David Warner's first ball in Test cricket almost claimed a wicket when Brownlie on 34 was put down by a diving Pattinson on the deep mid-wicket boundary minutes before lunch. But Vettori fell when he attempted to cut part-timer Hussey to Clarke at slip for 17 with two balls left to lunch. http://www.cricbuzz.com/cricket-news/47137/pattinson-destroys-kiwis-in-cricket-test/?utm_source=ig&utm_medium=news&utm_campaign=gadget

[rkt.india]

Pattinson makes it three

First Nathan Lyon, then Pat Cummins, and now James Pattinson. Australia's bowling, so unthreatening during the Ashes last summer, appears to be rediscovering its elements of mystery, danger and excitement with a trio of bewitching debuts in the space of six Test matches. Pattinson's blink-or-you'll-miss-it destruction of a fading New Zealand on the fourth morning of the first Test in Brisbane was as thrilling for Australia as Lyon's five against Sri Lanka in Galle, and Cummins' wickets and winning runs to stun South Africa in Johannesburg. The fascinating thing about Pattinson's spell, which began with the wicket of Brendon McCullum on the third evening and peaked with three wickets in four balls - Jesse Ryder retained his off stump by a centimetre or two on the hat-trick ball - in his first over on the fourth, is that it had been a relatively long time coming. Unlike Lyon and Cummins, each introduced to the Test team on the strength of their promise within 12 months of a first-class debut, 21-year-old Pattinson had been building up to his baggy green cap for some time. He first toured with Australia to India in late 2010, and has whirred down over upon over in the nets across four overseas trips with the national team. On that first trip Pattinson left a distinct impression with all the batsmen who faced him, and only a back complaint prevented him from edging closer to the Test XI in the summer that followed. Such growing pains are considered inevitable among those who have known the challenge of bowling swiftly for their country, and Pattinson returned stronger still. His innate speed and bounce have been augmented by the development of a powerful physique, a torso convex where once it was concave. The time in the wings has also allowed Pattinson to adapt from the "dry", short of length bowling desired by his state, Victoria, to the fuller and more swinging approach favoured by Australia's bowling coach Craig McDermott. Possessing quite pronounced natural curve away from the bat, Pattinson has developed the ability and the inclination to pitch the ball further up, something he was richly rewarded for at the Gabba. McDermott's role in this is not to be underestimated, for he has spent as much time with Pattinson as any other member of the Australian attack in recent months. As the reserve bowler in Sri Lanka, Pattinson spent an awful lot of time delivering to McDermott's baseball mitt rather than Brad Haddin's gloves, and had to deal with the frustrations of a non-playing tourist. In this case, McDermott's empathy, having lived every experience of a young fast bowler both in and out of the Australian team, has proved invaluable. After spending so much time with Pattinson, there was even a hint of disappointment in McDermott when Cummins was chosen first. "I think it's been very helpful, particularly with young guys like James Pattinson," McDermott said in South Africa. "Throughout the Sri Lanka tour he trained his backside off day in, day out and didn't really play much cricket. He's come to South Africa and bowled very well in the T20s and was unlucky to not stay on for the Tests." Much as Pattinson had to wait a little longer for his Test debut, he also had to wait until the second innings to find his best rhythm. Handed the new ball by Michael Clarke on the first morning, Pattinson was understandably nervous, and his palms grew clammier with each brazen stroke by McCullum. Importantly, few of the runs Pattinson leaked were to deliveries fired halfway down the pitch, instead they were full, swinging and loaded with risk for any batsman choosing to chase them. A better second spell would account for the captain Ross Taylor, who dragged onto his stumps in reckless fashion in the same over the bowler had muddled him by moving the ball into him and also away. Having claimed a first wicket and batted capably in Australia's 427, Pattinson emerged for the second innings with a clearer head. Granted a brief burst at New Zealand's openers, he added direction and venom to the swing of the first innings, and capped a quartet of overs for one run by drawing McCullum into an edge to second slip. Swift, seaming and indeterminate of length, it would have been difficult to bowl a better delivery to a top order batsman late in the day. When play resumed this morning Pattinson found it was equally useful when those same batsmen were starting again. Variety accounted for Martin Guptill, squeezing a rib-bound rocket to short leg, before Kane Williamson, Taylor and the nightwatchman Doug Bracewell fenced dimly at the away swing and offered catches to the cordon. Late arrivals to the ground blinked at a scoreboard reading 5-28, Pattinson 5-7, and the match decided. Lyon, now a comparative veteran of six Tests, claimed a hopelessly befuddled Jesse Ryder as the next wicket on his way to another exceptionally tidy match analysis of 7-88. With Cummins soon to return from the inconvenience of a bruised heel, Australia's bowling ensemble is starting to look as rich in 2011-12 as it seemed poor only a season ago. Clarke now has high speed, late swing, and beguiling spin to call on. He is becoming spoiled for choice, where at times his predecessor Ricky Ponting struggled to know who to throw the ball to.

[WC2011INDIA]

He is going to cause some troubles for sure. Please SRT get your 100th 100 out by playing in the last two ODIs against WI. I can totally see Cummins and Pattinson taking his wicket if Sachin does not play his natural game. Gauti and Viru also need to get in form otherwise we are screwed in Australia.