Hi, this is a good article by Daniel Laidlaw, the presence of LARA and WAUGH is a major factor in the on-going test series. How ever, i cant deny the fact that, it is always exciting to watch the aussie bowlers VS LARA and the Aussies batsman in action. (Sorry, WI bowlers are pathetic, they miss fast bowlers of their previous era). Ponting is in amazing form, along with Langer and Hayden. Good luck to both teams.
As always, I enjoyed your column. Since I have moved back to U.S. four weeks ago, I couldn't watch the first two test matches but there is a question I would like you to respond to. Aussies have chosen to go with five bowlers and as you have mentioned, they have needed all five of them to bowl. The selection of five bowlers may partly be due to the absence of Warne and McGrath, both of whom are wicket takers but are also such disciplined bowlers and set the tone for bowling. But here is my question: does having five bowlers make it difficult to rotate the bowlers and bring in the right bowler as per the situation. In some sense, when you have a McGrath or a Warne, you could ask them to perform under any situation, either to contain or attack. Given the fact that Steve Waugh himself bowled quite a bit in both the test matches and it appeared as if atleast one bowler was underbowled in every innings, even on occasions when WI made a substantial score. When all of their leading bowlers are available, Australian bowling has a great rhythm: give an extended first spell to all the three quicks and then bring Warne and rotate the quicks. Now even with five bowlers, Captain's job isn't easy. Do you have any comments.