Interesting piece in the News Limited papers today about Shane Watson - he is certainly not "persona non grata" in and around the Test team at the moment, but pretty close to it by the sounds of it....
The SA bowlers are dropping like flies...Philander was ruled out of the test, Kallis went off early with an injury and Steyn has just gone off with what looks like a hamstring problem.
Clark just hit 5 fours in one over to bring up his 150...amazing.
I'll admit i was maybe wrong about Warner as an opening test batsmen...consistency was the main thing i was worried about. If either he or Cowan can consistently get a good score in most innings than they may be a good combination. Ponting on the other hand must be nearly out of chances...his dismissal was terrible.
I felt sorry for Punter......he ended up looking as inelegant as I used to in my backyard cricket games against Dad! I have followed the Australian team very actively since the 1990 Brisbane Test against England and I believe that over that period Michael Clarke is the most complete Australian batsman I have seen, ahead even of Ricky Ponting, Mark Waugh, Matthew Hayden and Michael Hussey.
Also, this is the 9th most number of runs scored by a team in a day's play in Tests!
I'm a big fan of Clarke...when it came to light that he was going to be captain a lot of people were saying he wasn't suited for the job and that he wouldn't have the grit and the fight but he has proved to be a great captain with some of his tactics and decisions leading to wins for Australia. The thing that has impressed me the most is that as captain he has stepped up and taken his game to a whole other level and been leading by example.
I'm a big fan of Clarke...when it came to light that he was going to be captain a lot of people were saying he wasn't suited for the job and that he wouldn't have the grit and the fight but he has proved to be a great captain with some of his tactics and decisions leading to wins for Australia. The thing that has impressed me the most is that as captain he has stepped up and taken his game to a whole other level and been leading by example.
I pulled the same card out of a box the other week haha, though it's not very rare i'm sure his form of late can't hurt its value!
On another note...Our bowlers are once again not getting any early wickets or breakthroughs...it's good to be economical but i really think if Siddle and Hilfenhaus continue this series as they have been bowling not only in this series but other series too then they need to be dropped.