1st Test Border Gavaskar Trophy November 22-26 1350hrs @ Perth Stadium

Who will win?

  • Australia

    Votes: 31 83.8%
  • India

    Votes: 5 13.5%
  • Draw

    Votes: 1 2.7%

  • Total voters
    37
  • Poll closed .

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What has the test unit overall really ‘achieved’? If you put aside what is essentially a made up tournament where there is no round robin element, disproportionate weightings, teams forfeiting points for slow over rates etc etc - and look yes, well done for winning what was an equally weighted final (you sure as hell won’t hear a NZ supporter bemoaning the format that’s for sure after they won it) but leaving that out of it, as a test outfit, what has the side achieved?

Look at the good or great sides or even the ones that don’t get talked about all that often in elevated discussion:

- This, literally THIS actual India side has just come off 18 successive test series wins at home, an undefeated streak dating back to 2012 or something. They have won here twice, the gold standard for an Asian team. That alone is a huge thing but that 18 straight series wins…. That’s huge in itself. Australia has managed 13 wins in its last 18 at home. During that time Australia has lost and drawn its last two series in Sri Lanka, failed to make a dent in India though did go closer last time, has not beaten England and in a sign of how times have changed celebrated a draw last year. The Pakistan win was meritorious enough I guess and so was the Kiwi one but again sides of yesteryear would have probably won those not in the last session of the last match (Pakistan) and coming from behind (NZ).

The great sides of the modern era have been the Waugh and Ponting Australians who were dominant pretty much all the time and the South Africans under smith who didn’t drop an away series for an entire decade and who’s only losses came against Australia in two hard fought home series having finally conquered the Aussies in Australia.

It’s hard to come up with an argument that makes the current Aussie test side anything more than a side that’s just a bit above average realistically

Very good points. I haven't thought about it & tbh the way the players of this side are spoken of in the media paints a picture of a very dominant team which you've clearly shown isn't accurate.
 

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134 overs out in the field for aus in the 2nd innings. That's a bloody long time, India used a similar tactic to great success last series. Aus have to rotate their bowlers or they'll be burnt out. India will need to manage theirs too.
 
We lead 2-0 before that Carey stumping and change of ball incidents.

Exactly so there should have been no way any side doesn’t WIN the series outright a draw is almost losing it from there. Very average series
 
Exactly so there should have been no way any side doesn’t WIN the series outright a draw is almost losing it from there. Very average series
An Ashes series goes for 5 matches. We went ahead early and losing Lyon in the second test was the decisive factor in not closing the series out easily.

Should we have eked out a series win? I think so, we were the better side but cricket doesn't always play to script and England did enough to square the ledger.
 
It’s not the issue now, people always bring it up when we aren’t going well.

The side from 95 to 08 or so was great because it contained so many great cricketers, not because they sledged people.
making batsmen feel uncomfortable at the crease (without crossing the line) is a part of cricket like it or not. Being overly friendly to the opposition is counter productive

watching the ashes in england last year it was so obvious how friendly we were with the poms..In turn their arrogance and looking down their noses at us was also very evident. Why were we trying to be their friends when they were showing us zero respect..it was pathetic
 
Gone are the days where we had an Opener like Mark Taylor who would grind it out and also he was a very good leaver of the ball too - knew where his off-stump was. A true Test cricketer, he faced some of the all time great fast bowlers.
 
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making batsmen feel uncomfortable at the crease (without crossing the line) is a part of cricket like it or not. Being overly friendly to the opposition is counter productive

watching the ashes in england last year it was so obvious how friendly we were with the poms..In turn their arrogance and looking down their noses at us was also very evident. Why were we trying to be their friends when they were showing us zero respect..it was pathetic
Steve Smith wasn't trying to be friendly when he turfed a chance from Joe Root and claimed a catch
 

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NZ managed to win 3-0. You wouldn’t even know the last two days
Full credit to the Kiwis for what they did in India - they fully deserved the results they got. But I can't help thinking that the Indians had one eye on the tour of Australia: they're a completely different unit suddenly.

How we fight back from this, I have no idea. If Bumrah gets to bowl with the pink ball under lights in Adelaide, anything is possible.
 
You didn't like them when they won us both the One Day and T20 World Cup, Test Championship and retain the Ashes in England which hasn't been done for decades????
ODI WC is a great achievement.
T20 WC nothing special. Happens every 2 years and England, India have also won it. We didn't even make it out of the group stages for two of them.
WTC nothing special. Uneven fixtures, points deductions and a one off final at a fixed venue.
Retaining the Ashes against an average England??? Win the Ashes not retain.

And then we let India pull down our pants at home thrice and can't even beat Sri Lanka away and West Indies at home.
 
You know there’s a solution to the openers. Head is it.
McSweeney can play at 3. Good bye Labs. Smith at 4. Simple. Not that hard

I'm not sure Travis Head has the temperament and technique to be a Test Opening batsman especially when the ball and/or deck is doing a bit. Moving him to open would disrupt the batting order. Leave him where he is.
 

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1st Test Border Gavaskar Trophy November 22-26 1350hrs @ Perth Stadium

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