2nd Day’s : Thoughts on observation : A Cricketer’s relation between bat and bowl.
The second day ended with Warner/Rogers taking over the reins from Johnson/Harris, as Australia marched towards overpowering England at Gabba.
Chris Rogers was playing with more freedom, compare to his first inns short knock, and Warner looked more determined to dominate. Both looked comfortable at crease. Before this it was Johnson, who justified his selection by bowling hostile to rattle English top order.
Johnson relationship with bat and bowl.
Its strange with Johnson, if he bats well than he would pick wickets in heaps, and vice versa. It does not matter how he gets them, his performance is based on his relation with his other skill, viz bowling or batting!.
Whenever he scores >50, his bowling average in that innings is 24.19 (against career 30.93). http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/player/6033.html?class=1;filter=advanced;orderby=start;runsmin1=50;runsval1=runs;template=results;type=allround;view=innings
and whenever he picked a 4 wkt haul, his batting average in those games are 34.30(against career 21.96)
Johnson mainly is a bowler, he has been selected for his pace & hostility, yet his stats displays a perfect relation a cricketer can have from batting and bowling. In 8 out his 52 Tests(including this) he was able to score >50/inn, as well pick 4wkt/inn, which is a wonderful contribution from a bowler for his team.
Its an envying performance – if one has to compare this performance with genuine Test all-rounders in Test history, I would love to know, how many times they would have manage to display a perfect relation.
Sir Ian Botham holds the Test record of scoring century & picking 5wkts/inn in same Test on 5 occasions.
Now coming back to this game, the surface looked hard, fast & bouncy, yet good for horizontal batting on day 2, and hopefully it would be remain same tomorrow. Australia have managed to take a hefty lead of 159.
Lead :At home Australia still has a strong hold on their opponents.
Since 2000, in 79 Tests(including this game) at home, they have manage to take lead in 63 Tests, and when they score < 300 in 1st innings (13 times) than only 5 times they gave a lead. Interestingly 6 times England have dismissed them for <300 in 1st innings.
For England to save this Test they would require to revert to their old and tested method of playing Test cricket, viz consume time, bat for sessions and draw the game. And one feels England might open with Joe Root to partner Cook.
England have always done well in 2nd innings, and this year in 11 Tests, 4 times England manage to bat for more than 100 overs in 2nd innings which resulted in either win or drawn for them.
They would require a partnerships from bat and bowl and need to complement its relation.
2nd day: Close of play: Aus(2nd inns) 65-0 of 22 overs.
Here is a link to meaning of all ndicators/formula – http://allthatcricket.com/?p=1489
