World XI v Australia

there was actually a sehwag/kallis partnership building but then sehwag fell and the whole batting order just came falling a part except an exceptional 35 from flintoff and a 44 from kallis.

Originally posted by -JP- I get the impression that most of the World XI want to get this game over with and be somewhere else.

ofcourse, the world 11 have already disgraced themselves. they can't really prove anything now. the matches haven't even been close, australia has dominated everything.

but i expected a better inning from inzamam because before when he wasn't included in the original world 11 test squad, he was saying that he wanted a chance to prove himself in australia, and now he got his chance and he got out on 1. his last chance to 'prove himself' will be in the second innings of this boring one sided test and i hope that he scores a century.

Harmison on fire, he's just bowled Clarke too! 160/3

i'm expecting a big ton from lara and inzamam. why them? because they are great players but both underpeformed in the first innings of this match and i expect them to do something special and bring the world 11 home.

well well,not even a shot fired by the rest of the world,pitiful and well played aussies,very hard to beat Aussies in OZ ,i think they have lost 1 series at home in 12 years and hardly lose a test let alone a series,When was the last time anyone can remember Australia getting a flogging?
I just cant remeber that happening,so credit where it is due well done australia,ROW team ,shame,you had 3 one dayers,one game against victoria,and 1 test super match and not once did you make it to 50 overs,yes even in the test both innings they failed to bat out 50 overs and patience is needed to beat Oz in Oz,which is something that was lacking in the row team.I feel unfortunatly this may see the end of super series which is a shame as australia played there part,and the row team didnt or couldnt come together so much talent and so little mateship to each other,Murilli,flintoff,***le,sangakara,vettori(in odi) excused the others tut tut.

I think everyone is being far too hard on the world team. Come on, who in the last thirteen years has come remotely close to Australia in Australia? Remember 5 years ago when South Africa were world number 2 and everyone was billing the test series as the Kings of Cricket clash?

South Africa emerged broken, bruised and battered, 3-0, with three humiliatingly lopsided results. Australia doctors their pitches to suit their bowlers, their batsmen are the best suited to the Australian conditions, and their crowds are loud, obtrusive and in the faces of the visiting team. Combined with the fact that they are, still, one of the greatest teams to have played the game.

So don't write the World Team off. Had they had an extra three weeks in Aus to adapt to the conditions, had they played at the end of the season (when everyone had match practice) and had they played at a friendlier venue than that great Australian fortress of the SCG, the result could have been different.

I don't know why everyone is being so critical. Was it written in the requirements that for the series to be a success the World HAD to win? Was everyone forgetting that Australia are unbeatable at home? Wait and see the Ashes next year. Australia will win 4-1. And I'm not being inflammatory, I'm being realistic.

JP,i think you may be right there ,i expect england to really push Australia in the next ashes,they have the confidence to say,lets take them on and i hope and think we will get another magical series.

Superbokkie what do you want the aussies to do,get a pitch to suit the ROW team? The wicket wasnt doctored ,the SCG has been a spinners wicket for 110 years now.They never doctor any wickets and frown on nations that do.I can tell you right now what the wickets will be in the next ashes,SCG spinners haven,although runs for good players of spin,Gabba in queensland fast bouncy as well as WACA in west aussie,the fastest off all the aussie pitches and bounciest ,lucky for any team to get past 3 days, Melbourne always gives a good contest for bat and ball players who work hard will be rewarded in melbourne,and adelaide thats the batsmans paradise,bowlers heartbreak,most always a drawn test.
as for the aussie supporters being in the players faces and intimdating them well none more so than any other country and if you want to see crowd intimidation go to India and pakistan,west indies,even last ashes in england ,i like to believe it is the country getting behind the teams as The english have just worked out. I believe the Eng public getting behind the team and pushing them was a main reason in the win,it is something they have lacked before as when oz started with a win the media in england got stuck into the team and then went on about how hopeless the team was.this time it didnt happen they stuck with the team and the beliefe payed off as the players felt it.I cannott prove this but this is my belief. The australians play with a spirit and passion that has to be commended,for the sake of cricket if teams want to win they must lift there game as england did,now you see a better class of world cricket as the level is up a notch.Hope the other teams also lift and this only makes cricket better and more enjoyable to watch.
1 more point on the super series,they are not going to get pats on the back for the effort they put in, they will get no sympathy from noone and nor should they,50 over to bat for the quality of that team should have been a piece of cake,no one wanted to put in the hard work.They also had 2 world class spinners in the team ,some would suggest a better combination than the aussie pair,so if they had doctored the pitch and lost the toss they would have looked stupid,pithches in australia have and always will be the same every series,the 5 wickets are all different to give every player bat and ball a fair chance over the series to show there strength,it just happens that oz play the conditions better because they play them more,but the same applies when ozz goes to other countries,they must addapt to the local conditions.
So still no pats on the back from me to the world 11 they should be a sad lot that get on the plane and head home,they let a golden oportunity pass and showed the old adage a champion team will always beat a team of champions!!!

4 times out of 5 innings , the World XI failed to pass 200 - need I say more?

That I took time off work AND got up at 2am enhances my already heightened sense of disappointment. Let's be brutally honest here , the Aussies were no great shakes either - losing 9 wickets for 42 is desparately poor. But the World XI were just plain bloody awful . I hope they got paid in cash , that way they'll have some work to do in getting it home!

Nothing the ICC can say can save this concept - it was an abysmal failure. Already there's rumours of the World Number 1 playing a supertest against the World Number 2. This every four years in the No1 country. It has the merit of two SIDES playing a test match , something that didn't happen in Sydney. But it's still contrived and is simply another fundraising exercise. I say stop messing with cricket - it's worked fine for 110 years - just leave it alone!

Nice to see another cricketing purist on here Hammer !

I have to add that I'm seriously concerned with the ICC. Without appearing biased or worse , racist , the makeup of the ICC is now dominated by Asians. That shouldn't worry anyone too much , afterall they love cricket with a passion found nowhere else on the planet. What concerns me is their apparent preference for the shorter (and more lucrative??) form of the game - the one day bonanzas. Just go through the records and see how many ODI's India , Pakistan and Sri Lanka play - they outnumber England and Australia by the proverbial mile.

Without doubt ODI's are a money spinner - but the history , roots and heart of the game comes from the 5 day format - it's vital that is never eroded.

Originally posted by -JP- Exactly - I'm not sure if you were around when JALRC was telling how the ICC was apparently looking to effectively wipe out the 5 day game and replace it with one innings games. I think if that were to happen, cricket would lose around 50% of its fanbase overnight.

well, to tell you the truth, i thought that tests were getting pretty boring but then after the recent ashes series, tests don't seem boring anymore, instead they seem almost as good as ODIs. but i still prefer ODIs over tests.

Originally posted by Sledger The world cup has it's merits , the rest of the One Day calendar could be scrapped as far as I'm concerned. One day cricket is in decline too - just look how they're tampering with the rules and using "supersubs" and "powerplays" (now that's some stupid title!!!). Overs 16-40 produce the most sterile cricket imaginable with negative fields and negative bowling! The trial period for supersubs is a year , so we have another 10 months or so of this nonsense - I say stop it now and return to the dullness! One more rant (sorry fellas!!) Saad , to call test cricket dull annoys me beyond belief!! The Australians transformed Test Match Cricket under Mark Taylor. The runrate climbed about 4 per over and some of his declarations were hair raising! The rest of the test playing countries followed suit and we're seeing test cricket played at a tempo never seen before. If you think modern day test cricket is boring , then it's just as well you weren't around in the 50's and 60's !!

You're right Sledger, ODIs were getting dull, but the changes they've brought in aren't going to help.

Anyone who calls Test cricket dull or boring clearly doesn't understand it/doesn't want to understand it/is trying to provoke those of us who will happily watch a Test from start to finish.

Now we have some real cricket again (India v Sri Lanka, RSA v NZL, Intercontinental Cup) I shall close this one.