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ANZAC Test 2012 – Australia v New Zealand – Teams

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So the sides for this Friday night’s Australia v New Zealand ANZAC Test have been selected and to be honest there are a few surprises in there! Check out our preview of all the action while you’re here: ANZAC Test 2012 Preview

Australia v New Zealand ANZAC Test 2012

First of all, what the hell has Darius Boyd done to deserve selection in this Australian side let alone retain his place in the Queensland side? I know I’m a biased NSW supporter but plenty of wingers have done enough to warrant selection ahead of him. I’ve never been a massive fan of incumbent selections especially in Test Matches where there is so much football played in between each test.

Brett Morris and Jarryd Hayne have been in great form this season and have cause to feel a little aggrieved at not being considered for the squad.

13 of 18 are Queenslanders which has a similar vibe to last years side. Once again this year it will be Queensland v NZ while the NSW boys battle it out against each other on Sunday in Mudgee.

James Tamou was a massive shock to me, I thought he may have got a call up to the City v Country match but not the Kangaroos. Considering he played for the NZ Maori just a couple of years ago, this is a bit of a strange one. This also now opens the door for Tamou to be included in the NSW Blues side for Origin 1. A move that is sure to have the banana benders up in arms once again!

The Kiwis named a provisional squad of 19 players for the ANZAC Test which was just cut down to the final 17, both teams are included below. Let us know your thoughts on the selections below in the comments.

Australia – ANZAC Test 2012:

Billy Slater, Darius Boyd, Greg Inglis, Justin Hodges, Akuila Uate, Johnathan Thurston, Cooper Cronk, Paul Gallen (vc), Cameron Smith (c), David Shillington, David Taylor, Sam Thaiday, Luke Lewis. Interchange: Daly Cherry-Evans, Ben Hannant, James Tamou, Anthony Watmough. 18th man: Matt Gillett.

New Zealand – ANZAC Test 2012:

Josh Hoffman, Jason Nightingale, Shaun Kenny-Dowall, Simon Mannering, Manu Vatuvei, Benji Marshall, Shaun Johnson, Sam McKendry, Issac Luke, Ben Matulino, Frank Pritchard, Adam Blair, Jeremy Smith. Interchange: Nathan Fien, Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, Jesse Bromwich, Alex Glenn. (Gerard Beale and Jason Taumalolo dropped from extended training squad).

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Australian Cricket – Where to Now?

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So Australia have just lost the second test in an absolute thriller against New Zealand, losing by 7 runs after needing 42 off the last wicket. A disappointing result but this kind of cricket is the reason why, in my book, test matches still have a place in the cricket world despite the emergence of T20 and the short nature of One Day Internationals. 

Australia have gone with a mixture of youth and experience for the test series against New Zealand but part of me wonders whether it may just be better to cut the cord and start from a clean slate. The youth have shown that they are up to the task, this test series alone has uncovered Pattinson and Lyon, and shown us that David Warner is capable of adapting his short form talent to the longer form of the game.

Just today David Warner almost got Australia over the line single handedly in just his second test match, a fantastic century that came off just over 150 balls. Quite an effort for someone just starting their test career and who is constantly being written off as only a “T20 and One Day player”.

Courtesy of abc.net.au

It’s our experienced players though that should be leading by example, many of them are past their best so the only reason I can see to keep them on is if they are providing the younger players an example to follow, they don’t seem to be doing that at all to be honest. Michael Clarke isn’t doing too much wrong as captain, that knock against South Africa in the second and final test match when Australia were on the ropes suggests to me that he has what it takes to lead by example.

I’m mainly worried about Ponting, Hussey and Haddin. The middle order has let Australia down far too many times recently, most notably today when they collapsed in a heap, allowing New Zealand to fight back and win the test match. I couldn’t imagine Gilly giving away his wicket so cheaply knowing that one wicket could lead to the bowlers having to get Australia out of trouble by chasing runs that the batsmen should have put on the board.

We’re already in a rebuilding phase and have just drawn a series against a New Zealand side many thought would struggle against our Domestic sides. Perhaps it’s time to complete the transition and replace our middle order with some in form youngsters, they couldn’t do much worse and would only benefit from the experience. 

Australia needs to return to the glory days of world cricket domination and the only way I can see us doing that is to uncover some more young gems like Pattinson, Cummins and Warner. 

Our bowling attack with Starc, Cutting, Pattinson, Cummins and Lyon, not to mention Copeland and Hazlewood, looks promising. Injuries to Australian quicks before the summer brought about the change, why do we have to wait for a player to be injured before he is replaced in the test team? They always say it is harder to get out of the Australian Test Cricket side than it is to get into it, things don’t seem to have changed much.

Courtesy of Fox Sports

I think that will change with the new selectors and coach showing that they are not afraid to make the hard decisions. With Cricket Australia’s board also going through somewhat of a facelift, I think the test series against India is going to be a chance for us to see just how far they are willing to go to put Australia back at the top of World Cricket.

I don’t think chopping and changing the side is the answer, players should be given a chance to get themselves back into form, but we need to have some sort of backup plan for those players that are clearly going through an extended rough patch, for example Phillip Hughes. This guy has undoubted talent and could be one of the great openers of this generation, he has time on his side at just 23 but for some reason he just can’t seem to get amongst the runs at the moment.

I’m not sure whether it’s because there is no competition for his place at the moment, or whether it’s just one of those things that will correct itself the more playing time he has, but I think we need to have a squad of players ready to come in and replace an out of form player. That will force the player to go back to domestic cricket and iron out the flaws, rather than hoping a few extra net sessions will correct everything knowing that he’ll have another chance in the next match.

Thankfully, Michael Clarke as our new captain seems to be on the same wavelength. After today’s loss to the Kiwis, Clarke suggested that Hughes may need to go back to Domestic cricket to find that form again, we should have Shaun Marsh back and Watson will probably be fit for Boxing Day so we have options at the top of the order to replace the out of form Hughes without having to go back to the drawing board and blood another youngster. I wish I could say the same for our middle order…..

What are your thoughts now where Australian Cricket needs to go next? Do we need to continue to blood these youngsters slowly or should they come in at the expense of the ageing and out of form players such as Ponting, Hussey and Haddin? 

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Sportsbanter’s Weekend Sports Wrap – 12 December 2011

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A lot to get through this morning with plenty of action over the weekend, we start off locally with week 10 of the A-League and then continue with the weekends Barclays Premier League action and a look at “El Clasico” from Sunday morning.

Hyundai A-League

Five days ago the Roar seemed invincible. What a difference a week makes with the Roar falling to their second consecutive defeat, this time at the hands of a pumped up Melbourne Heart side.

First half goals to Argentinian Jonatan Germano and teenager Eli Babalj gave Melbourne Heart a 2-1 victory that gives every other club in the league hope for this season.

Brisbane threatened another one of its stunning comebacks after Mitch Nicholls scrambled a 77th minute-goal over the line but in the end a win for Heart was nothing more than they deserved. Brisbane will now need to regroup as they take on Wellington Phoenix in Dunedin on Wednesday night. 

Courtesy of news.com.au

Wellington Phoenix got a crucial 1-0 A-League win over Perth Glory at Westpac Stadium on Saturday with Ben Sigmund scoring the only goal late in the game.

The winner came in the 85th minute and was the only thing separating the teams in what was a pretty dull and not very entertaining match to be honest. The Phoenix did finish the match with 10 men after substitute Mirjan Pavlovic was sent off for a shocking tackle on Steve Pantelidis from behind deep in stoppage-time, causing more woe for Ricky Herbert with the Phoenix needing all the troops they can muster for the match on Wednesday against the Roar.

Central Coast Mariners have moved to equal top spot in the Hyundai A-League after dispatching local rivals Newcastle 2-0 in an emphatic win at Bluetongue Stadium in Gosford on Saturday night.

The Mariners led 1-0 at half-time courtesy of a headed goal to Rostyn Griffiths in the 25th minute before they sealed the three points when Matt Simon scored his fourth goal of the campaign just before the hour was up.

The win means the Mariners have now gone seven matches without defeat, picking up 19 out of a possible 21 points and sit equal with the Roar on points after their loss on Friday night. It now looks like more horses have joined the race for the A-League title with the Roar dropping back to the pack following their record breaking run.

Late on Saturday night Adelaide United snatched a 1-1 draw with Melbourne Victory at Etihad Stadium with Barbiero the hero with an 82nd minute goal.

In front of 16,562 fans, Victory looked set to take home all three points after Archie Thompson grabbed his fourth goal of the campaign just before the hour mark but it wasn’t to be as Barbiero ensured the Victory went home with another draw, that makes it 6 draws from 10 games now.

Victory could still have won it in the closing stages but Harry Kewell had a shot cleared off the line by Cameron Watson and then both Carlos Hernandez and Grant Brebner failed from within the six-yard box to connect with a Kewell cross with the goal at their mercy.

Gold Coast United have finally broken their run of five successive defeats but they still remain rooted to the bottom of the Hyundai A-League ladder, playing out a 0-0 draw with Sydney FC at Skilled Park in what were atrocious conditions.

It was quite a gloomy day on the Gold Coast and just prior to kick off rain was bucketing down, the conditions made it hard to play real football and Ben Williams was kept extrtemely busy, dishing out nine yellow cards – seven of which went to Sydney – in what was at times a spiteful affair.

While the hosts will be happy to have escaped with their first point since October, the Sky Blues were on the back foot for most of the match and failed to carry on the momentum built when they ended Brisbane’s record undefeated streak last weekend, despite this they will probably be happy to have escaped from the two matches with 4 points under their belt and knowing that they were the ones to knock Brisbane off their perch.

Couresy of insideworldsoccer.com

Barclays Premier League

Manchester United bounced back from their UEFA Champions League disappointment with victory over Wolves, while Robin van Persie was the hero once again for Arsenal as they took down Everton on their 125th Anniversary.

Arsenal 1 Everton 0
Bolton 1 Aston Villa 2
Liverpool 1 QPR 0
Man Utd 4 Wolves 1
Norwich 4 Newcastle 2
Swansea 2 Fulham 0
West Brom 1 Wigan 2
Sunderland 2 Blackburn 1
Stoke 2 Tottenham 1

Robin van Persie scored an absolute screamer to lift Arsenal to a 1-0 win over Everton at the Emirates Stadium and give the fans reason for celebration on the 125th Anniversary of the club. Thierry Henry gave the dutchman a standing ovation for his effort, a goal that even he would have been proud of.

An affair that Arsenal largely dominated but without much to show for it turned in their favour in the 70th minute when Alex Song delivered a a ball over the top to in-form captain Van Persie.

Van Persie judged the ball perfectly, firing home on the volley to mark his 15th league goal this season and lift the Gunners into fourth place on the table, albeit it temporarily with Chelsea due to play Manchester City tomorrow morning.

Aston Villa piled more pressure on Owen Coyle’s Bolton with a 2-1 victory at the Reebok Stadium which leaves them rock bottom of the table this week.

Marc Albrighton handed the visitors the lead in the 33rd minute when he fired in a low shot from a few yards out, before Stiliyan Petrov added to the Trotters’ troubles as his shot took a deflection off Gary Cahill and unluckily into the back of the net.

Bolton did manage to pull one back after the break when a Tuncay pass fell to Ivan Klasnic in the area, allowing him to spin and hook the ball home, but Villa held on for a much needed win.

Liverpool climbed the table this week with a 1-0 triumph at home to QPR inspired by Luis Suarez’s second-half header at Anfield.

The Reds could be without their star striker for an extended period if the Argentinian is punished for either of the two claims the FA are currently investigating, however they have him to thank as just after the interval he applied a glancing header to a pinpoint Charlie Adam cross to plant the ball in the back of the net.

The victory sees Kenny Dalglish’s men leapfrog Newcastle into sixth after their campaign hit another bump at Norwich on Sunday.

Manchester United were in desperate need of a win after crashing out of Europe in midweek and Wolves were the side on the end of it, United romping to a 4-1 triumph over at Old Trafford as Nani and Wayne Rooney grabbed two goals each.

Nani fired the hosts ahead in the 17th minute, leaving Wayne Hennessy with no chance when he picked up the ball from a short corner before smashing a low, powerful shot home.

Rooney doubled the scoreline in the 27th minute, ending his Premier League goal drought dating back to September 18th with a low drive from 25 yards.

Wolves snatched one back immediately after the restart when in form Steven Fletcher nodded into the top corner but Nani put the Red Devils back in the driving seat soon after when he tapped home an Antonio Valencia cross.

Valencia played provider once again as Rooney added his second from just inside the box to seal the commanding win. This sort of goal scoring form could have come in handy in the UCL but he will now have to settle with scoring goals in the Europa League.

Norwich handed Newcastle their third defeat in four games at Carrow Road as they secured a 4-2 victory, with Grant Holt and Demba Ba both bagging braces. Newcastle are on a shocking run of form that has seen them drop from the top 3 to out of the European places within a few weeks.

Wes Hoolahan handed the Canaries the lead in the first half when he tucked the ball over the line from close range in the scramble that followed a 39th minute corner.

Toon’s top scorer Demba Ba then levelled the match up on the stroke of half-time, pouncing on an impressive Yohan Cabaye pass before coolly slotting home into the bottom corner of the net.

The second half was a goal fest with Grant Holt powering home off the underside of the crossbar in the 59th minute after his initial shot was parried back into his path by Tim Krul. Steve Morison then stretched their lead when he thumped the ball in just four minutes later and the Toon’s afternoon then went from bad to worse when Dan Gosling was dismissed for a raised foot on Russell Martin.

Newcastle kept fighting though as Ba added a second off a perfectly-weighted ball from Shola Ameobi but Holt completed his own brace to wrap up the win for Norwich City.

Clint Dempsey saw a penalty saved as Swansea beat Fulham 2-0 at home. The Liberty Stadium clash was locked at 0-0 until the 56th minute when a Scott Sinclair shot took a massive deflection off Dempsey, sending Mark Schwarzer the wrong way for the opener.

The Fulham man’s afternoon then continued to go downhill in the late stages when his penalty was saved by Swans keeper Michel Vorm.

The referee had pointed to the spot after Cottagers substitute Kerim Frei was hauled down by Ashley Richards in the box.

The Swans completed their win late on when substitute Danny Graham scrambled to knock home a Mark Gower corner.

Wigan managed to climb off the bottom of the standings and out of the drop zone with a much-needed 2-1 triumph over West Brom at the Hawthorns.

Defender Steven Reid scored just his second goal in six years when he opened the scoring for West Brom in the 33rd minute.

He found the back of the net from a 25-yard free-kick which was conceded by Gary Caldwell, lifting a superb shot over the Wigan wall and beating goalkeeper Ali Al Habsi.

Albion’s lead only lasted four minutes, however, as Victor Moses replied by bending a brilliant strike into the top right-hand corner from edge of the box.

Wigan then took the lead in the second half when Reid brought down Moses in the area and Jordi Gomez made no mistake in converting the resulting penalty, he sent Ben Foster the wrong way and rolled the ball into the bottom corner to give Wigan a much needed win.

On Sunday Tottenham’s 11-match unbeaten run ended with a 2-1 loss at Stoke City.

Matthew Etherington, who played for Tottenham for 3 years early in his career, scored twice in the first half to help send the Spurs to their first defeat since August 28 2011.

Emmanuel Adebayor scored a penalty in the 62nd minute for Tottenham, but they also had Younes Kaboul sent off for a second bookable offence, although replays showed it was quite harsh on Spurs.

In the other game, Sunderland celebrated Martin O’Neill’s first match in charge by beating Blackburn 2-1. Sebastian Larsson scored the winner during injury time to lift them out of the relegation zone and get their season back on track.

Blackburn had reason to be upset with the result with a late penalty decision going against them however it was not to be and Blackburn remain rooted to the bottom of the table. O’Neill, who hasn’t coached for over a year since parting ways with Aston Villa, guided Sunderland to only their third victory of the season.

Courtesy of the Mirror

El Clasico

Barcelona came from behind to win 3-1 at Real Madrid in an eventful “El Clasico”.

In the seventh and final Clasico of 2011, Real Madrid knew that a win would send them six points ahead of bitter rivals Barca with a game in hand.

Jose Mourinho’s league-leading side couldn’t have made a better start by going in front after just 22 seconds – the quickest goal in the Clasico’s history.

Barcelona goalkeeper Victor Valdes’ poor clearance fell to the feet of Real’s Angel Di Maria, who drilled the ball into the penalty area only for Sergio Busquets to block its progress.

The rebound fell to Mesut Oezil and his volley deflected off Busquets, before Karim Benzema was able to lash home from six yards. A comedy of errors and not the best start for Barca.

Real continued to impress and they could have doubled their lead when Cristiano Ronaldo skewed his shot wide, though Di Maria was perhaps better placed to his right, Ronaldo perhaps a bit selfish but when you have a goal scoring record like his why wouldn’t you be?

Real were in control with Barcelona’s opportunities limited just to counter-attacks, however the visitors levelled proceedings on the half-hour mark through Chile forward Alexis Sanchez.

Lionel Messi was the provider, with the 24-year-old skipping by several challenges before sliding a weighted through ball to Sanchez to fire home adeptly from the edge of the area

Both sides went into the break locked at 1-1, but that changed eight minutes after half-time, when Barcelona were handed the lead thanks to a large slice of fortune.

Xavi’s speculative volley 25 yards from goal took a massive deflection off Marcelo to wrong-foot Real goalkeeper Iker Casillas, with the ball spinning off the post and into the back of the net.

Ronaldo then wasted another good opportunity, with the Real captain heading wide despite being completely unmarked inside the penalty area.

The hosts were made to pay for their profligacy, as a quick counter-attack ended with Cesc Fabregas scoring his eighth goal for his new club.

Messi slid the ball out to Dani Alves on the right, who whipped in a terrific cross towards the backpost. It was met by an unmarked Fabregas, who headed home.

Real had some late opportunities to get themselves back into the contest, but Barca held firm to move to the top of the La Liga table on goal difference. Real do have a game in hand but you’d much rather have the points in the bank to be honest.

Any thoughts on this weekends action, feel free to comment or visit our forum.

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Vodafone Test Series 2011/12 – Australia v New Zealand – Second Test Preview

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The second test kicks off tomorrow and Australia are heavy favourites to take out the series 2-0 after they ripped through the New Zealanders up in Brisbane at the weekend.

James Pattinson did most of the damage in a remarkable spell of bowling that started late on day 3 and ended with the Kiwis at 5 for 21 and Pattinson with figures of 5-7 of just 21 balls. New Zealand never recovered from that and Australia ended up only having to chase 18 runs to win the first test.

Courtesy of Sydney Morning Herald

Despite only needing 18 runs to win, Phil Hughes managed to get himself caught at slip again and can be considered lucky to retain his place for the second test. I can understand why he has been retained though as Australia need to build for the future and we can’t go cutting players for a bad spell especially this early in their career. Giving these young players a good chance is the only way we can build a dynasty similar to the one we had with Warne & McGrath. That side was unstoppable and one of the reasons they were so good is because they were given a chance early in their careers.

This week Australia were dealt a hammer blow on two fronts with both Pat Cummins and Shane Watson ruled out with injury, Watson’s injury should only be short term but it appears that the workload being placed on him is returning him to his old injury prone ways. Cummins, he could miss the entire summer as it was discovered that he had a bone injury that was not initially diagnosed while he was in South Africa. Bowling 65 overs in just your 3rd first class match will do that to you!

Dan Christian came into the side for Cutting, who suffered a side strain while on duty for Queensland in the Sheffield Shield, Australia let him go as he would only have been 12th man and now he will miss the next couple of months as well.

As a result, Australia have name an unchanged side from the one that defeated the Kiwis in Brisbane. Dan Christian will be 12th man in his first foray into test cricket, a great achievement for the all-rounder to get this far and he now has his name in selectors minds if they decide an all-rounder is necessary to replace Watson should his injury not heal in time for India.

The Kiwis will give their all again, at one point it looked as though they could cause a bit of an upset but the Aussies dug in and Clarke, Ponting and Haddin got them home with some solid batting on the second day.

I think Australia will win this one quite easily again and look for improvements in Warner, Hughes and Starc for this test as they should look at the last test as a stepping stone to improving their own games.

Australia: David Warner, Phil Hughes, Usman Khawaja, Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke (captain), Mike Hussey, Brad Haddin, Peter Siddle, James Pattinson, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon. 12th man: Daniel Christian.

New Zealand:  Martin Guptill, Brendon McCullum, Kane Williamson, Ross Taylor (capt), Jesse Ryder, Dean Brownlie, Daniel Vettori, Reece Young (wk), Doug Bracewell, Tim Southee, Chris Martin.

sportsbanter.com.au Tip – Australia
Banter’s Best Bet – Australia – First Wicket Taker – James Pattinson @ $2.75

 

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