TOPIC:

who would be your captain then BH ?
dropping Paine would then create another problem, he averages 35 in test cricket doesnt he - people need to settle down a bit about making mass changes after 1 innings..

MarkOlsen wrote: who would be your captain then BH ?
dropping Paine would then create another problem, he averages 35 in test cricket doesnt he - people need to settle down a bit about making mass changes after 1 innings..

Smith would be my Captain every day of the week regardless of the moronic decision to ban him from any leadership position for 12 months on top of the 12 month playing ban as I thought the whole lot was a complete overreaction by CA to appease the numptys.

well since he cant be the captain then you will need another option !

MarkOlsen wrote: well since he cant be the captain then you will need another option !

And when those 12 months are up MO do we go straight back to Smith as Skipper as there is no way Paine could possibly keep his spot on current form?
They may be looking at Head as a possible successor down the track but he hasnt even cemented his place in the side with the bat as yet.
What a pity these blokes arent on performance based contracts instead of these extremely well paid retainers we might see a bit more of a dog fight with the bat something our 10 and jack showed last night and they are out and out bowlers!

It took a couple of old heads to realise that holding up an end is the smart thing to do and give Smith, who is an out and out champion the time to build his innings to a point where we are are the very least at break even. Given the conditions and pitch maybe have our noses in front. The pomms are 1 major bowler down for the test but it's now up to the quicks and Lyon to bowl impeccable line and length and let the Duke do the work like the pomms did, hold their catches and they might end up with a lead by stumps tonight/tomorrow. Glad to hear that the English press got stuck into those cretins who booed Smith on his hundred then gave him stick for showing some emotion after the end of play. For me Smith has more than paid his dues for his stupid decisions against the saffas.

Paine is still Australia's best gloveman as well.. long way to go in this series so he'll be ok, any reason why Starc didn't play? He's our best quick!

Poms 1/118, ball doing nothing in the air. Is it time to get the sandpaper out?

It's almost worth giving one of the part-timers - Head, Smith, Warner or even Wade - a trundle, DD.

Archie if all that fails we could throw Wade the gloves and the skipper could roll his arm over. Have we ever played two wicketkeepers in the same side before? Adam Gilchrist was so good with the bat maybe he played as a batsman before Healy handed him the gloves?

I think everybody was intoxicated by the quality of Smith's innings yesterday and rightly so, it was one of his best but looking beyond that , seeing Siddle and Lyon playing so comfortably last evening gave me a sense of disquiet as to the value of a score of 284 and I think Englands batting today has confirmed those fears. Root has the look of a man who wants to bat for 2 days and may well do so.