who you asking?
anyone
looking forward to the game tomorrow
Aussie batsmen need to fire
^ so who are you over at ajarn?
typical Aussie crap...Hayden comes out and says India are only sour because they are losing...
oh...remind me again who won this game...
Bunch of winjers?
lol
Stick to the cricket
You dont want to lose on the other as well
You actually don't make any sense! So who are you on ajarn?
Talking to me?
Australia's major worry is their batting form
^No it's not, it's their personality.
While I would agree that the general Aussie batting has been poor (and Clarke got a shit call): actually, for the first time, yesterday their bowlers could take some of the blame. I think it was the first time, well in a very long time, that none of the front line bowlers took any wickets. While I accept it was a flat wicket, I think Lee's rest has done him no good at all. And Bracken was average yesterday.
Given it was a "final", 225 to 240 was not a bad score to defend. Much better than some they have had to defend this summer.
^ Yeah I reckon they should bring in Stuart Clarke to replace Hogg. The Gabba should be a bit bouncier and Hogg could be wasted.
^If Andrew Symonds bowls one ball in the IPL 20/20, he should be fined by CA. Keeps saying he cannot bowl because of the foot injury he got in Hobart against SL in the test, but $1M and I bet he can bowl a ball or two.
Hard to say, but I've lost what little respect I had for him in the last few weeks - what with, "I don't want to play in Pakistan" and "I cannot bowl cause I hurt my foot.."
Premature to base it on one loss but no Warne, no Gillespie, no Hogg, no McGrath, no Langer, several other players well into their 30's, and - most importantly - no heir apparents...
Writings on the wall I think.
^not too sure about that.
But on the flip-side, at 21, I thought Sharma was worth watching. Got himself out stupid like, but he showed some class along the way. Looks a handy little player.
I also liked this quote from MS:
"If Sachin is there in the middle then you won't have too much of trouble chasing whatever you're chasing"
Mahendra Dhoni, India captain
errm, MS, this is a guy who is averaging 23-ish batting second (and thus cashing runs) and 50 batting first (and thus not). Not too sure you want to betting on ST to do your run chasing for you too often.
I agree
Mental attitude and the desire to win will show out today
3 hours to go if no rain.
Watching on my Indian satelite.
Shame my Hindi is so bad lol
hmmmm, at work
will have the baggy green live update on though...
ustralia in danger of sad farewells The Preview by Peter English in Brisbane
March 3, 2008
The second final in Brisbane could be the last appearance in Australian colours for Adam Gilchrist and, if he is picked, Brad Hogg © Getty Images
The repercussions of a second finals defeat go further than Australia losing a tri-series that has been so important to the country over the past 29 years. Another slip on Tuesday would lead to two of the team's long-term players bowing out a couple of days early without a satisfactory send-off.
At the moment the timing of the Adam Gilchrist and Brad Hogg retirements depends on the result at the Gabba and in the side's current form an early and empty-handed exit would not be unexpected. Gilchrist will have a say in the outcome, but the spot of Hogg is not as secure and Australia will consider Stuart Clark as they try to smother India on a bouncy surface.
In the other dressing room a much happier scenario applies to Sachin Tendulkar, who capped his last series in Australia with a composed century to seal the six-wicket win in Sydney. There has been no public decision on his future, but another trip to Australia is as unlikely as Harbhajan Singh seeking residency here. When Tendulkar spoke about his 117 on Sunday night he was content, which is a worrying sign for Australia.
"It was extremely good to go one-up in the series, the first blow is what matters," Tendulkar said. "We don't have much time before the second final, but we have to get up and put up a good show. We are up for it and we want to continue this winning performance."
The tourists are desperate to go home and the prospect of staying in Australia for another couple of days is not attractive. Controversy is raised with almost every gesture, word or gloop of saliva and the tour has worn down everyone. Another performance like the one India gave on Sunday would end the season of theatrics, which has been combined with gripping contests.
Over the past decade it has been rare to see Australia controlled and their five games against India have resulted in two successes each and one washout. The home team is concerned and after the SCG defeat Ponting had to remind his players that they pride themselves on their output in big games. When the most important tussle of the limited-overs season arrived they were overrun.
"You would be un-human not to have a little bit of a hit to the confidence when you're not getting the results that you're looking for," Australia's coach Tim Nielsen said. "That's the challenge of elite sport. Our challenge at the moment is to keep these blokes up and get them in a state of mind that gives them every opportunity."
The assignment has become much harder as they prepare for their third match in five days. Only three times have Australia lost the opening game of the home finals and come back to take a three-match series - twice against South Africa in the 1990s and once in 2005-06 against Sri Lanka. On three occasions when they have lost the opening encounter the contest has been concluded in two affairs, including last year's 2-0 defeat by England. That result embarrassed the hosts and as the tri-series concept prepares to depart the same emotion is being felt.
While Australia are low, India are on a massive high. The young team accepted many handshakes from local and Indian well wishers during their travel from Sydney to Brisbane on Monday and they were relaxed by their success.
Ishant Sharma (finger) and Tendulkar (groin) have nagging concerns - the batsman's injury has been troubling him for a while - but both are confident of playing. Two spinners will not be used at the Gabba, which is bad news for Piyush Chawla, who bowled well in Sydney, and Irfan Pathan's treatment from Matthew Hayden may create some discussion.
With each team leaning towards an extra fast bowler a summer of high energy may end in a battle of speed. The swing-friendly conditions mean Sreesanth should come in for Chawla and he is more likely to move the ball through the humid Brisbane air than the seamer Munaf Patel.
Although a couple of light showers are predicted for Tuesday, there should be no repeat of the heavy rain that forced the abandonment of the opening match of the series. On that occasion India's bowlers had the best of the conditions and the home side was reduced to 3 for 51. Since then things have got only slightly easier for Ponting's men.
Australia's major worry is their batting form and more meetings were held on Monday in an effort to fix the problem. The tension continues to increase and with one more slip they will be out of their own competition forever. If that happens Hogg and Gilchrist will never return.
Australia (likely) 1 Matthew Hayden, 2 Adam Gilchrist (wk), 3 Ricky Ponting (capt), 4 Michael Clarke, 5 Andrew Symonds, 6 Michael Hussey, 7 James Hopes, 8 Brett Lee, 9 Mitchell Johnson, 10 Nathan Bracken, 11 Stuart Clark.
India (likely) 1 Sachin Tendulkar, 2 Robin Uthappa, 3 Gautam Gambhir, 4 Rohit Sharma, 5 Yuvraj Singh, 6 Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt, wk), 7 Irfan Pathan, 8 Praveen Kumar, 9 Harbhajan Singh, 10 Sreesanth, 11 Ishant Sharma.
Peter English is the Australasia editor of Cricinfo
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