Pura Cup 4/5ths satisfying
G'Day All,
I've recently joined the team here at cricket-blog.com and am looking forward to adding to the already great alternative content on this site. JC's added my profile to the About Us page, along with the other new bloggers on the site.
I thought for my first post I'd discuss the recent 'test match' between the mighty NSW blues and some cane toads which has showcased some fantastic cricket. 8 Australian players were featured, however none of the TV networks thought to broadcast the event as they were living out their obscession with One Day garbage, so I had to rely on text updates from cricket.com.au . Still, I reckon I followed the scorecard closely enough to give an unbiased match report...
Day 1 - Good Areas and some bloke called Hayden
Day 1 was a rain interrupted affair with Haydos bringing up a century as the Cane Toads plodded along at a mere 3 runs an over, due in main to some tight bowling and superb fielding from the mighty blues.
Day 2 - Bad Guys Out, Good Guys In
Haydos pushed on today to contribute 179 to the dark side's of the Tweed's tally, eventually falling to Stuart Clark. The norterners' tail rallied hard before being shown the door for 467. The mighty blues sure had their work cut out for them at this point, and with Cowan and Jaques falling cheaply the blues were in need of a captains knock. Enter Simon Katich stage left. Michael Clarke was in superb touch before being run out by Katich off the last ball of the day. Allegations of Queenslanders cheating have proven completely unfounded, and we have been instructed not to question the integrity of Paddington St end umpire Sir Joh again.
Day 3 - Katich draws faded curtains on QLD hopes
The Queenslanders showed up an hour late for play today, unable to grasp the intricacies of Daylight Saving Time. Katich continued his domination of the northern attack eventually tonking up his triple century and declaring the blues innings at 606, and taking first innings points from the powers of darkness in the process. Katto's score of 306 off 351 was the highest score at the SCG since Bradman's 452 in 1930. Haydo's again proved his worth by batting out the 12 overs to stumps.
Day 4 - Not enough overs in the Day
Day Four started off well for the Blues, with 2 quick wickets to Stuart Clark. Queenslanders rallied for the rest of the session and managed to make it to lunch without further loss. 3 quick wickets (2 to Clark) after lunch and the toads were again on the ropes, effectively 5/5 after taking off the first innings deficit. A heartbreaking stand from Simpson and Nofke of 105 really took the game away from the NSWelshman, the pivotal moment coming when we took the new ball only for Simpson to see Maroon and belt 22 off Bracken and quickly bring up his ton after that.
Day 5 - Please sir, can we have some more?
This match had all the hallmarks of a great test and tomorrow could have provided a fantastic conclusion, alas there is no Day 5. I remember when the 4 day tests came in and have never agreed with it. Personally I'd rather see additional bonus points for finishing in 4 days, but still have day 5 there for the much wanted result.
I guess it's fair to give these 4 day tests some credit for the Aussie's recent improvement in turning draws into wins, however I believe the extra bonus point would provide adequate incentive to finish them off in 4.
| Posted by Moses on Mon 29 Oct |  7 comments |
No contract Katich started with a scratchy first 100 off 204 balls and the remainder, 206 was taken off just 147 balls. Phoar, that's enough to get praise from a QLander. Lets hope his form stays on track and he gets a recall.
What about Nofke takes a five for and a 50 with the bat. One to watch. Cracked a ton the other day too.
Kind of embarassing for Mitchell and Brett. Maybe they were still in recovery mode.
Would have liked to see McGilla get a few more.
Posted by Hanuman on 2007-10-29 22:31:53
To further muddy the waters, Mitchell Johnson, considered a lock for the 3rd seamer position, got tonked by Katich who is also putting his hand up for the middle order. But who's going to make room for him? It's going to be interesting following the selection debates heading into the 1st Test against Sri Lanka.
Oh yeah, one other thing. Queenslander!!!!
Posted by JC on 2007-10-29 22:48:59
I remember he'd bowled about 12 overs by the time the second new ball came... 5 overs later was belatedly given a go and got Simpson out 3rd ball.
Still, for a 5th day this could have been a great test. Now we'll never know, but thanks for the 1st innings points anyway ;)
Posted by Moses on 2007-10-29 23:03:24
Some interesting comments in this article.
Maher blamed the Blues for batting beyond Queensland's first innings total.Jimmy's just bitter because by Katto declaring at that time he denied QLD an opportunity to play for 6 points, though still left NSW in with a better than average chance of claiming outright victory. I thought our declaration was pretty well timed, any earlier and we'd definately have to bat again, any later and we wouldn't have had those 10 overs to get a shot at Hayden who would have been tired after fielding for two days in the heat. We had all day to dismiss the toads with a 134 run lead, had Simpson and Nofke not rallied hard then an outright victory for the mighty blues would have been the likely result.
"Today we could have been playing cricket for six points; for some reason we were playing for two," claimed Jimmy Mahar. "They decided to make it a dead rubber and take the two points." "That's their prerogative but it's not something I would have done."
"(Our reaction was) we need 35 an over - it was going to be a hard get. Maybe (it was) a bit of gamesmanship on behalf of Queensland. We were happy to walk off when there was 16 overs to go." - Stuart ClarkI too was at a loss to understand their thinking on QLD's declaration, perhaps they wanted some bowling practice. 260 odd runs off 12 overs? cmon.
Posted by Moses on 2007-10-30 09:06:56
Posted by JC on 2007-10-30 09:08:28
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