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End of an era?
Nov. 10th, 2008 09:28 amIndia have just completed victory over Australia in the 4th test by 172 runs, taking the series 2-0. When was the last time Australia were nilled? -- and both victories were heavy, with Australia not really dominating either drawn game either.
Hayden increasingly looks like a man clinging to the memory of class, and Ponting has seemed more weighed down by the burden of leadership than ever before. Hussey, Clarke and Katich have scored in patches without really convincing. Watson you would have to call a failure with the bat, likewise the keeper Haddin. Did they wish Symonds was with them, I wonder? On the bowling side, Krejza's 12 wickets in this game shouldn't cover up the general poor performance and lack of control. No bowleraveraged better than 32. Ponting is a tough customer, so I'm not really expecting him to resign as captain (or Cricket Australia to have his head) -- partly because no obvious successor is in line -- but I wouldn't faint with shock if it were to happen. Maybe Hussey would get the nod? Or Clarke??
India are in a transition phase too, with Kumble retiring last game, Ganguly this, and Tendulkar and Dravid surely with not long to go. But if this means Laxman can at last get a firm place, that's not all bad news -- Gambhir has shown real class this series, with support from Sehwag and Dhoni (who made the very noble gesture, in his first Test as captain and just about to beat Australia, of letting Ganguly captain the side as they took the last few wickets). Bowling-wise they have no weaknesses, with the experienced Harbhajan and Zaheer and the novices Mishra and Sharma all performing really well.
We'll soon see how significant England's good one-day showing at the end of the summer was, when they come up against this powerful Indian outfit. Fingers crossed!
In more depressing news, West Ham managed to dominate their Saturday game for 82 minutes, and then suddenly ship three goals. Zola I think showed naivety by not using substitutions to toughen up once we had the lead. And the lack of Ashton and Cole was sorely felt, with a host of chances begging conversion. Lots of positives again, but very soon we will get fed up of saying that.
One of the positives is the sparkling performance of on-loan Congolese left-back Hérita Ilunga, and I've also found he has a rather charming blog, which I've syndicated to LJ as![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-syndicated.gif)
herita_ilunga if any of you are interested. "La mauvaise série continue pour West Ham mais comme toute série elle aura une fin..." he wisely says. (Most entries are [very loosely] translated into English too.)
Hayden increasingly looks like a man clinging to the memory of class, and Ponting has seemed more weighed down by the burden of leadership than ever before. Hussey, Clarke and Katich have scored in patches without really convincing. Watson you would have to call a failure with the bat, likewise the keeper Haddin. Did they wish Symonds was with them, I wonder? On the bowling side, Krejza's 12 wickets in this game shouldn't cover up the general poor performance and lack of control. No bowleraveraged better than 32. Ponting is a tough customer, so I'm not really expecting him to resign as captain (or Cricket Australia to have his head) -- partly because no obvious successor is in line -- but I wouldn't faint with shock if it were to happen. Maybe Hussey would get the nod? Or Clarke??
India are in a transition phase too, with Kumble retiring last game, Ganguly this, and Tendulkar and Dravid surely with not long to go. But if this means Laxman can at last get a firm place, that's not all bad news -- Gambhir has shown real class this series, with support from Sehwag and Dhoni (who made the very noble gesture, in his first Test as captain and just about to beat Australia, of letting Ganguly captain the side as they took the last few wickets). Bowling-wise they have no weaknesses, with the experienced Harbhajan and Zaheer and the novices Mishra and Sharma all performing really well.
We'll soon see how significant England's good one-day showing at the end of the summer was, when they come up against this powerful Indian outfit. Fingers crossed!
In more depressing news, West Ham managed to dominate their Saturday game for 82 minutes, and then suddenly ship three goals. Zola I think showed naivety by not using substitutions to toughen up once we had the lead. And the lack of Ashton and Cole was sorely felt, with a host of chances begging conversion. Lots of positives again, but very soon we will get fed up of saying that.
One of the positives is the sparkling performance of on-loan Congolese left-back Hérita Ilunga, and I've also found he has a rather charming blog, which I've syndicated to LJ as
herita_ilunga if any of you are interested. "La mauvaise série continue pour West Ham mais comme toute série elle aura une fin..." he wisely says. (Most entries are [very loosely] translated into English too.)
