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Brisbane ratings

Test cricket England

by Oliver Brett - BBC Sport (U1779520) 27 November 2006

These are my ratings for the 22 players who took part in the first Ashes Test at the Gabba.

Many of you will disagree, so please let me know what you think

ENGLAND

Andrew Strauss - 4 With the responsibility of opening the batting, he never looked unduly troubled before twice playing the hook shot far too early in his innings and paying for the consequences. Once would be inexcusable, twice unthinkable.

Alastair Cook - 5 Cleaned up early on by Glenn McGrath late on day two, he prospered for a while in the second innings before falling to Shane Warne and needs a stronger defensive technique against spin. Dropped a straight-forward catch in the outfield.

Ian Bell - 6 Stood alone on the burning bridge in the first innings to record a valiant half-century but rather walked into Shane Warne�s slider before he had scored on Sunday. Does look much improved from the 2005 Ashes series.

Paul Collingwood � 7 Will be inwardly furious that he did all the hard work to get to 96 in his first Test in Australia before gifting his wicket to Shane Warne with a moment of madness. Looks to have secured the number four spot now.

Kevin Pietersen � 7 It is so difficult to resume an innings in the 90s and the big-hitting Hampshire right-hander succumbed in the first over of the final day. His partnership with Collingwood will hopefully inspire England in Adelaide.

Andrew Flintoff � 6 Bowled beautifully on the first day when so little else went right for England, but rather faded from Friday onwards. He is in desperate need of a good score with the bat � it�s been a very long time since he hit a big score for England in any format. No glaring captaincy errors, but that�s an area that will remain under scrutiny.

Geraint Jones � 6 Got through the game without an obvious wicket-keeping error, and further justified his inclusion by surviving for 90 minutes in the first innings and hitting a quick 33 in the second. Australian wickets could suit his game.

Ashley Giles � 6 Under huge pressure with many appalled by the absence of Monty Panesar, he did his best to be an attacking slow bowler, but was unable to add to his early first wicket and bowled only five overs in the second innings.

Matthew Hoggard � 6 Probably the most consistent of all England�s bowlers, but what swing he did get was generally well read by the excellent Australian batsmen. It was just as well he did not bat at eight here � his batting is getting worse.

Stephen Harmison � 5 Was the target of huge criticism � Ian Chappell calling him �as underdone as steak tartare� � and remains England�s biggest enigma. In fairness, conditions were not as helpful to him as they were expected to be.

James Anderson � 5 His match figures do not make for pretty reading, although Ricky Ponting said he felt the Lancashire swing merchant had bowled well at times. Dropped a catch he should have taken but ran out Justin Langer.

Average rating per player: 5.7

AUSTRALIA

Justin Langer � 9 Got away with some rash shots early on the first morning, but ended up with scores of 82 and 100 not out. He has been mystified that he is under pressure in the side, particularly from the Sydney press, and responded magnificently.

Matthew Hayden - 5 Scores of 21 and 37 on such a good wicket for batting were not a good return for a man more familiar with batting at the Gabba than anyone else. England kept him quiet in 2005 and can now hope they can do the same in Australia.

Ricky Ponting - 9 Marches off to Adelaide with 256 runs under his belt and a 1-0 lead in the series. Deserves enormous credit not just for his wonderful batting but also his ability to bring the best out of a side under tremendous pressure.

Damien Martyn - 5 After making just 29 before being dismissed by Ashley Giles his place is already in doubt with Shane Watson raring to play and Michael Clarke showing his worth here. That�s how it goes in Australia.

Michael Hussey � 8 This terrific left-hander has made the most of his belated entry into Test cricket and the only real surprise was that he missed out on a century in his first Ashes appearance. Fielded well too, with a fine catch for Australia�s first wicket.

Michael Clarke � 7 This prodigiously talented player hit a responsible half-century in his only innings in Brisbane, showing patience when necessary before launching an assault on Ashley Giles. He is certainly maturing as a batsman.

Adam Gilchrist � 6 His susceptibility to England left-handers was again shown up when he succumbed to a three-ball duck to Matthew Hoggard on day two. However he kept wicket very well, with four catches and a stumping.

Shane Warne � 7 With four of the top five wickets to fall in the second innings, Warne held Australia�s bowling together when the seamers were tiring on day four. After all these years, he still has a psychological hold over England.

Brett Lee � 6 His batting (he made 43) was probably more impressive than his bowling, which yielded two wickets for 149 runs. However, he did have the satisfaction of getting Andrew Flintoff out for a duck, and Kevin Pietesen in the 90s.

Stuart Clark � 8 Looks to have secured that precious third seamer�s spot in the Australian side with seven wickets in the match. With the bat, smashed 39 off just 23 balls, and his only blemish in the match was a dropped catch.

Glenn McGrath � 8 On a wicket that never gave much help to bowlers, Australia�s veteran star was outstanding in England�s first innings, taking 6-50. Tired a bit later in the match, but had the satisfaction of knocking over Geraint Jones� stumps.

Average rating per player: 7.1

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comment by Jose_Cyriac (U6690123)

posted Nov 28, 2006

My 2nd test line up:

strauss
cook
bell
pietersen
collingwood
flintoff
jones
hoggard
Harmison
panesar
Mahmood

I feel Eng should bat first if they win the toss...no doubt about that..hope they will win the toss...LAs time except Lords England batted first all the times..I feel that was a crucial thing in winning back the Ashes...

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comment by pajames2 (U6727389)

posted Nov 28, 2006

Winning the toss and batting first seems to be a great advantage these days, if England are to do well in the 2nd test they need to show some discipline. This was missing in both the bowling and batting departments at the Gabba, you just cannot afford to throw your wicket away when playing Australia or they will just punish you. If England can put the pressure on the Australian batsman early by taking a few wickets i n that first session they are in for a chance. If Australia get away from them like they did this week then there is no stopping them. Australia's game plan is all down to confidence, the team thrives upon it, that's where England needs to strike !

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comment by Steve_Gerrard_Gerrard (U2285537)

posted Nov 28, 2006

Oh we must win the toss in the next game, we cant afford to let them bat first because if they do rack up a big total the pressure will be all on our batsmen again.
Im hoping to see us bat first, get a score of 400+ and really go after their batters, put them on the back foot and see how they react.

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comment by 606USA (U6724986)

posted Nov 28, 2006

Let me start by saying that reading many of these comments gives me a little smile... each person carefully hand-picking the good points of their favored sons and turning a bling eye to the bad!! Yes...ok, we're ALL gulity of that at times - referees, commentators, media, journalists etc.

But STATISTICS are STATISTICS!!!! Take a look and see the EVIDENCE!! Those that count are the recent ones NOT some from 7 years ago as someone on here used to justify Jones selection over Read!!

While on this topic...2 points:
1. HOW MANY opportunities has Read been given SINCE STEWART to prove his abilities against Jones?? Exactly!!

2. The majority of AUSTRALIAN TV and MEDIA commentators rate Chris Read's all round game as an ENGLAND WICKETKEEPER and also his potential ABILITY far more highly than Geraint Jones... (btw, I guarantee I spend more time IN Australia than the MAJORITY on here - so I should know - oh, and so should they don't you think....statistics!!).

I am a true Englishman at heart and follow my team as closely as I am able; but we ALL need to be honest right now...

Back in the Summer only CERTAIN players played some brilliant cricket and THEY were the ones who won the series - Geraint Jones was NOT one...neither was Ashley Giles, nor James Anderson. Both Chris Read and Monty Panesar should have been played the entire series on the back of their contribution in the summer. You SHOULD NOT all go round praising Geraint Jones on the back of his RELATIVE performance - of averaging 26 with the bat and taking one catch - what is so great there??!!

Y'all know that quite simply, these current selectors HAVE NOT picked the BEST players.... they have merely picked their FAVORITE players!! Si??

As for letting Troy Cooley go...are the Aussies not laughing aloud at the stupidity of that also?!!

England have (and in Cooley DID have) good coaches - the selection side is a disgrace. The man I detest - David Graveney - his contribution is SHAMEFUL and only a combination of men like Ian Botham, Geoff Boycott and any AUSTRALIAN great as a team of selectors will solve our problem LONG TERM....

DAVID GRAVENEY must go along with the rest of the stuffy, toffee-nosed type Brits running it.

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comment by medium-pacer (U3466950)

posted Nov 28, 2006

Feel sorry for Monty and Read'

If they come back they must play like supermann to stay in the side, any average performance and Duncan will bring back his family

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comment by Tinners_of_Waleswood (U6734131)

posted Nov 29, 2006

I can�t believe Harmison got 5 out of 10 I�ve seen better bowling at village level. First ball of the innings set the tone and England have never recovered. Harmison has been spraying it about and been out of sorts for quite some time. If the Sky sports team can see what�s wrong with his action and how to sort it out what are the England coaching team getting paid for? He�s a class bowler when he�s firing, but he aint and he needs to be dropped whilst he gets it together. No doubt he will stay in the side with the selectors continuing to gamble on him getting it together.

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comment by Gilo41 (U6722115)

posted Nov 29, 2006

Yep, I agree with a lot you say USA (are you a UK Yankee?). I think a lot of unnecessary disruption has been caused by bringing back players from the successful 2005 series. We're dealing with the hear-and-now, and the guys that beat Pakistan should by-and-large remain in favour.
So, although Jones has done OK you just don't know when a defining moment will come along that may win or lose a match so we need the best man with the gloves bar none. However, his confindence must be at an all time low now. Same with Panesar. He was a key player in the home series and so should be now. I think the whole country agrees with that! Flintoff was always going to come back, and I think rightly so as captain. Strauss is quite a respectable captain but I thought he was a bit on the cautious side during the summer and does not have Freddie's charisma and leadership.
The only guy I do not trust from the summer series is Mahmood. I do not think he's up to test cricket. He's already started whinging about racist taunts, which although they are always unacceptable sounded rather lame. Something like 'you can't be English!'. Well OK that's not a nice thing to say but I do think his reaction to it was over-sensitive. He is, after all, ethnically Pakistani, as Panesar is ethnically Indian. But I sense Panesar turns the taunts to his advantage I suspect Mahmood is a more fragile personality.

Finally, talk of Vaughan's comeback worries me. If he plays in any of the tests then I think the selectors should be shot! Even if he is fit he will be totally out of form and needs a season in county cricket to get back to anything close to decent form. I saw him at Sussex during his previous rehabilitation attempt and it was a bit sad to see him so hopelessly out of touch (though good for us!). In my opinion he should not even be out there, because he is probably and unwittingly a disruptive influence.

As to the selectors, well USA, I agree to some extent. We could do with a Rod Marsh figure again to ruffle the feathers of the 'establishment' but I'm not convinced about Botham. He has never been renowned for his man management skills. And what different personnel should we employ? Apart form one or two possible exceptions we've probably got the best England representatives out there. Due to the lack of depth in our game our injuries hurt us severely. Though you could point to Mcgrath's injury last year as being a defining moment!

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comment by mike_lev (U4802326)

posted Nov 30, 2006

TROY COOLEY worth his weight in gold.
How come we let him go home ???

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comment by markro2015 (U6743851)

posted Nov 30, 2006

We really need to be writing about how well England perform in winning causes!

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comment by Cabin Boy (Irish World Cup Hero) (U3958667)

posted Dec 3, 2006

Only just seen this, and can't agree with giving the dreadful Giles six out of ten. Four would have been about right.