1st Test Australia v Pakistan Dec 14-18 1250hrs @ Perth Stadium

[grumbleguts]

Yes, I am aware of that. I could also mute the tv.

Muting the tv doesn't tell you when he's finished rambling though.

 

[Moonwatcher]

8th actually.

Pretty good company.

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9 matches to get 18 wickets to match Walsh

 

[frankrizzo]

This is the problem with the now busy International scheduling.
Back a few decades ago.Pakistan would of played tour matches vs Shield teams.Great hitouts for a touring team.
Optus Oval is like the Gabba.Allmost pencil in an Aussie victory.Great bowling ,wicket breaking up.To high a mountain for Pakistan to climb,early in their tour.

They have just one test win in last 40 years in australia and that was dead rubber i dont think you can blame warm ups for way pakistan play in australia they just arent good in these conditions and they also just arent much of a test side right now which explains losses at home to aus/eng and drawn series vs a kiwi team which is having its own struggles with test form.

 

[Tugga27]

Well lookity, lookity.

Don't hate him at all. The numbers don't lie. He may not be the worst Oz cricketer to have played so many matches but he is in the conversation.

Of course you hate him.
Your comments get quite personal about him.

It's ok not to rate someone.
But when you refuse to give them credit when they do well, you look a bit silly IMO.

 

[Tandy]

Safe to say no green in the Pakistan series. Fair enough too. Hasn't been great

 

[Sea fog]

Pakistan is just not consistent enough over a whole test match to challenge the likes of Australia.

 

[largebus]

Maybe the people deciding the MOTM award just don't like Senile Uncle Horace.

 

[frankrizzo]

Our home summers have become very predictable,

Serious question what era did you watch where that wasnt the case? last time i can really remember things being a bit unpredictable at home was maybe late 80's very early 90's(classic with windies 93 for example) then we basically crushed everybody for 20 years, last 6-7 years has actually been most competitive in last 30 years we have lost multiple series at home in that time as well.

 

[Cursed Cat]

Surely Rizwan comes in for Sarfaraz for the Boxing Day test, Rizwan could even just play as a specialist batsman without the gloves.

A specialist spinner might help them too like Abrar if he is fit enough to play.

I thought Sarfaraz kept pretty well.
Batting was sub-par though for sure.
They've got to try something though, that much is obvious.

 

[nobbyiscool]

That was a bummer. I went for a little post pub nap thinking I'd wake up in plenty of time to watch the end of play... how quick did they lose those last 6 wickets?!

It's a bummer that distance/resources/cost pressures/culture stop us from following that US or European example where you can pretty much tee up a game, book stadia, and sell tickets on a couple of days notice. Much as I'm cynical about whether people passionately care about BBL, from an entertainment perspective we could've used a BBL game tomorrow night after a pretty rubbish test match.

I wonder if going forward they should schedule a match "on standby" and just play it on Tuesday afternoon if the test goes deep into day 5.

 

[gtrxuone]

Im assuming at the Junction oval.Vic bat for one day and then Pakistan for a day.In a two day match.
See what changes Pakistan make . Will they be competive on Boxing Day.

 

[Flogwater]

Although you would be more inclined to replace Hazlewood with Boland, no?

I was surprised this is the only group to have played with all having taken 200 test wickets which is some feat. Lee musn't have crossed the 200 barrier when Gillespie was fading.

He did remarkably well to recover from his stroke and come back but he is well past his best. However, we should be grateful to the likes of Jim, Aggers and Bryan Waddle for their sterling service to test cricket on the radio.

IIRC he came back from the wilderness and got a ton and has now edged Rizwan out of the side.

Old mate was struggling well before his stroke, which was back in 2016 IIRC.

As is the case with Maxwell, longevity does not necessarily translate to quality.

Maxwell embarrasses himself with his misguided nostalgia for the WACA and laughable suggestions that it should be used to host internationals in Perth against the lower profile countries. There are some other BF threads that eloquently covered the shortcomings of the WACA as a venue for watching cricket. Like Maxwell, the WACA was never all that good and is well past the time that it could have been considered fit-for-purpose.

It's no accident that defenders of the WACA tend to be broadcasters and other folk who sat in air-conditioned comfort and enjoyed the best vantage points, and not the plebs who had to endure practically zero shade, uncomfortable seats and poor quality sight lines.

 

[Cleavy]

Old mate was struggling well before his stroke, which was back in 2016 IIRC.

As is the case with Maxwell, longevity does not necessarily translate to quality.

Maxwell embarrasses himself with his misguided nostalgia for the WACA and laughable suggestions that it should be used to host internationals in Perth against the lower profile countries. There are some other BF threads that eloquently covered the shortcomings of the WACA as a venue for watching cricket. Like Maxwell, the WACA was never all that good and is well past the time that it could have been considered fit-for-purpose.

It's no accident that defenders of the WACA tend to be broadcasters and other folk who sat in air-conditioned comfort and enjoyed the best vantage points, and not the plebs who had to endure practically zero shade, uncomfortable seats and poor quality sight lines.

that is what was originally planned/mooted when the new stadium was conceptualised.

 

[PhatBoy]

Surely Rizwan comes in for Sarfaraz for the Boxing Day test, Rizwan could even just play as a specialist batsman without the gloves.

A specialist spinner might help them too like Abrar if he is fit enough to play.

Sarfaraz has been a proven test cricketer over a lengthy career. I would keep him in the gloves and play Rizwan as a batsman

 

[western royboy]

Old mate was struggling well before his stroke, which was back in 2016 IIRC.

As is the case with Maxwell, longevity does not necessarily translate to quality.

Maxwell embarrasses himself with his misguided nostalgia for the WACA and laughable suggestions that it should be used to host internationals in Perth against the lower profile countries. There are some other BF threads that eloquently covered the shortcomings of the WACA as a venue for watching cricket. Like Maxwell, the WACA was never all that good and is well past the time that it could have been considered fit-for-purpose.

It's no accident that defenders of the WACA tend to be broadcasters and other folk who sat in air-conditioned comfort and enjoyed the best vantage points, and not the plebs who had to endure practically zero shade, uncomfortable seats and poor quality sight lines.

There comes a time when if you go on for too long you stop being a hero and turn into a villain. Jim has unfortunately we’ll and truly jumped the shark. 50 years broadcasting cricket is a wonderful achievement but it’s also pretty telling at the same time.

 

[PhatBoy]

Serious question what era did you watch where that wasnt the case? last time i can really remember things being a bit unpredictable at home was maybe late 80's very early 90's(classic with windies 93 for example) then we basically crushed everybody for 20 years, last 6-7 years has actually been most competitive in last 30 years we have lost multiple series at home in that time as well.

In the past 16 years (I think it’s 16 - could be 17) Australia has lost 6 series at home and drawn one. 3 losses to South Africa, 2 to India, and 1 to England, along with a draw against New Zealand.

I believe that the convincing nature of the series’ Australia DOES win probably makes people forget that they have actually not been as overwhelmingly dominant as the numbers lead people to believe.

 

[nobbyiscool]

Purely from a crowd perspective, there didn't appear to be a lot of benefit to holding this match at Perth Stadium rather than the WACA. From an entertainment perspective, it wasn't much of a pitch, which I suspect (though don't know) is down to it being multi purpose and hosting Coldplay a few weeks ago, which probably delayed the pitch being dropped in? You don't have that limitation at the WACA, which has to make it conducive to better cricket.

Perth Stadium is yet to host any particularly interesting or entertaining test matches, and when you're 4 (5?) tests in I think you're starting to become due. (We had 2 shockers in a row in Melbourne and we were ready to dig the pitch up.)

 

[Mr Meow]

They are trying to get his average to 30. Pulling a Waugh red ink helps.

Best example of nepotism since his brother.

Marsh's 67 average since being brought back into the side is a disgrace.

 

[The Falcon Strike]

4 day autobahn…. Is that normal?

Thought autobahns were 5 day batfests?

 

[frankrizzo]

In the past 16 years (I think it’s 16 - could be 17) Australia has lost 6 series at home and drawn one. 3 losses to South Africa, 2 to India, and 1 to England, along with a draw against New Zealand.

I believe that the convincing nature of the series’ Australia DOES win probably makes people forget that they have actually not been as overwhelmingly dominant as the numbers lead people to believe.

And 3 of those 6 losses have been in just last 7 years this is really our least dominate stretch at home since maybe mid 1980's yet people are acting like we have a record comparable to india at home.

 

[RookiePick]

At least until boxing Day Nate Lyon has a new nickname in our house - "Levi"

Dominant performance but not unexpected.

Like most touring sides the opposing Quicks seems to extract far more lateral movement than our quicks but our mastery of bounce reigns supreme at home.

Hopefully Pakistan can fire a few more shots with the bat on a more.predicatable surface at the G.

 

[big_e]

Purely from a crowd perspective, there didn't appear to be a lot of benefit to holding this match at Perth Stadium rather than the WACA. From an entertainment perspective, it wasn't much of a pitch, which I suspect (though don't know) is down to it being multi purpose and hosting Coldplay a few weeks ago, which probably delayed the pitch being dropped in? You don't have that limitation at the WACA, which has to make it conducive to better cricket.

Perth Stadium is yet to host any particularly interesting or entertaining test matches, and when you're 4 (5?) tests in I think you're starting to become due. (We had 2 shockers in a row in Melbourne and we were ready to dig the pitch up.)

Notwithstanding that it's currently a construction site, and couldn't have held a test anyway, but a friend who was on the ground during a recent shield game said the outfield was pretty torn up due to hosting WAFL matches all winter.

As for interesting tests, the first one vs India was pretty good - they were chasing a very gettable 290-odd but we ran through the top order.

And the other two we've had prior to this were no different from the other matches in that series, ie we dominated those West Indies and New Zealand teams. That's hardly the ground's fault.

The last four Adelaide Oval tests have been horribly one-sided but nobody suggests they should be stripped of a match. Three of the last seven MCG tests were innings defeats, plus a horrible draw.

Oh, and while we're at it, the last half-dozen tests at the WACA weren't much chop either.

Sometimes it just is what it is.

 

[Great8]

The last four Adelaide Oval tests have been horribly one-sided but nobody suggests they should be stripped of a match.

Maybe because people actually turn up in Adelaide and it’s one of the best supported test venues in Australia. Adelaide loves test match cricket.
Only 9k on a Sunday in Perth, not sure what else CA can do, they already gave them a leg up with the scheduling and still didn’t get what they would’ve hoped for

 

[Topkent]

****ing boooooooring

 

[The Casey Cat]

Lyon is an extremely good bowler and Australia owes a lot of success to him, he also owes a lot of his own success to the three guys he bowls behind. It’s important not to forget that

And they owe a lot of their success to him also. Time and again when they have been unable to get a wicket and the game was getting away or not much happening Lyon has been the partnership breaker. To me has been Australia's most important bowler for this reason.