Cricket..

What a letdown. Australia went into the match looking vulnerable, and
came out unified again. Stuart MacGill has to be the unluckiest leg
spinner of all time - coming along at the same time as Shane Warne.
MacGill has a fantastic record, taking about 5 wickets per match, but
he really struggles to get a game - except when the team is playing in
Sydney. Hopefully the selectors will see his brilliant 9/80-odd in
this super test and put him into the side for the West Indies early
this summer - They are notoriously bad at handling any kind of spin.

As with the one dayers, it really proves the adage: A champion team
will beat a team of champions. My current thoughts about the Aussie
Cricket team, mostly on the latest one day and test matches:

Matty Hayden is back in form, after curbing his previous
belligerent streak, he's done a fantastic job - Personally I would
have dropped him from the one day team a little earlier, as it was
obvious the pressure of getting on with it had been telling on him.
He played a fantastic match, taking a great catch of Kallis off Warne
- as well as Man of the Match scores of 111 and 77. It was not so
much about the numbers, but the way in which he made them. He slowed
his normal strike rate (of around 70-80 runs per 100 balls) to around
45-50 - and just waited for the bad balls - and did he put them away.
He hit some majestic drives and cuts, reminiscent of his hey days.

Langer got a brute of a ball early on the first morning of this
test, made a 30 odd in the second innings - Was fantastically
consistent throughout the Ashes, when the pressure was on Hayden, he
stayed in and helped us post reasonable scores. Took one easy catch,
but was pretty quiet for the rest of the match.

Ponting showed that he is easily temptable outside the off
stump, as Freddie picked him up with a beautiful swinging delivery,
moving away from Pontings off stump.

Clarke

Made a couple of average scores, but still hasn't been able to live up
to the standard he set during his first test series - taking Sri Lanka
apart. Also looked good against India too. Got bowled by a good ball
in the second innings, although he did play down the wrong line, and
the off cutter made it through the gate. Needs to tighten up a little
bit, but looks like a good prospect for years to come.

It looks like Katich is struggling, after a couple of 50's in
England, and hardly any runs during the Super Series, his place must
be under question - Hopefully Brad Hodge can come in and make an
instant impression - or put Mike Hussey in. Katich is also one of the
'over 30' brigade, with Hodge not much younger - Hussey proved his
class in the Super Series one-day matches, and should be given an
opportunity. Katich looked all at sea against Murali (although,
Murali makes a lot of batsmen look average!) - He just seemed rooted
to the crease, unable to get his feet moving - the shot he got out to
was pretty terrible, playing around his front pad, and bunting a low
catch back to the bowler. Might need to go back to state level to get
himself sorted out

Gilly looked a hell of a lot better, although it looks as
though Freddie Flintoff will be around for a while to unsettle the
Australian batsmen - Certainly Gilly looked suceptible to the 'around
the wicket' tactics of Flintoff, but in this series he did make some
fantastic scores in the one dayers (100, 60, 30) and a flowing 94 in
the first innings of the Super Test. Man of the series.

Watson

Given a chance to prove himself with the ball against some of the best
batsmen in the world. Was a bit one dimensional, not having much
lateral movement, or movement from off the pitch. Bowled a few overs
that he would prefer to forget - Sehwag took him apart. Batted
alright, but needs some good time in the middle.

Warne

Looks pretty good - a very different proposition to MacGill, but still
has enough experience to pick up most class batsmen - While MacGill
got the figures this match, a lot of that was due to the pressure that
Warne built up at the other end - forcing batsmen to take on MacGill
to score - and inevitably getting themselves caught or stumped.
Batting hasn't been great - I'm still waiting for him to make his
first test century - after being so close with a 99 a few years back.
I think from memory he's got the most amount of runs for a player who
has not scored a century.

Lee
Leaked runs like a sieve, but was fast and aggressive throughout - I
think Ponting was right on the money, when he first took the captaincy
- he wanted tighter bowling from Brett - you cant go for 5 runs an
over, even if you are taking wickets. Was unlucky at times against
Sehwag, and just plain bad at other times. Batting has been pretty
good, getting up towards Shane Warne in the batting stakes - certainly
in the one dayers he's been good in the 'lower order hitting batsmen'
role.

McGrath

Metronimic as ever - Very unlucky to tread on a ball in England, and
other than at Lords, didn't/couldn't really show his very best.
Missed one test, looked under-done for the one he came into - and was
behind the 8-ball in the last 2 test matches - I think he even sat the
last one out?

MacGill
An attacking bowler, took a fantastic bag of wickets in this test
match. Personally, I think the Watson/MacGill experiment worked in
this match. It's unlikely that Watson will play against a stronger
bowling attack, and will have a lot easier time of batting. MacGill
is clearly a number 11, but with the ball in his hands, looks likely
to take a wicket every visit to the bowling crease.