4th Test Border Gavaskar Trophy December 26-30 1000hrs @ the MCG

[1990crow]

Between Brad Battin and Scott Boland I know who I'm choosing.

 

[1990crow]

Nah, went straight to Cummins. It might have required a direct hit at the keepers end but he would have had him.

Was a very risky single & didn't need to be taken.

Maybe, but once the batter makes the call and went, there was either going to be a wicket (what Kohli did), or force Cummins to make a direct hit which may not have happened.

 

[Visions]

What stops a score of 500 is set batsmen giving their wickets away. Marnus’ brain fade brought on the rot when we had a commanding position. Four starts from the top four batsmen. You don’t get to 500 scoring 60s

One of our top 4 scored 140 and almost carried his bat, the top 4 made 330 between them, the tail did the best they could and they still weren’t able to crack 500, because we currently have a walking wicket in Marsh playing as a number 6 batsman, who cant last more than 15 minutes at the crease before exposing the tail.

There may be issues further up the order but at least they are contributing every now and then, rather than failing every innings.

 

[Young Redleg]

I love how there are certain posters (especially the one who happens to be named after a Greek philosopher) who conveniently disappear as soon as Smith starts scoring runs again

 

[1990crow]

If Australia wins here they play South Africa for the WTC.
I'd rather play SA than India looking at their lineup.

 

[beatnik]

Also playing it down makes Kohli look like a bigger tool that the intimidation effort had no effect.

Maybe but the real issue here is that if an Australian had done that, there would have been calls for a suspension…Indian cricket has corrupted global cricket, period.

 

[1990crow]

Maybe but the real issue here is that if an Australian had done that, there would have been calls for a suspension…Indian cricket has corrupted global cricket, period.

It's been this way for 20 years. Harbhajan should have been banned for what he did to Symonds.

 

[beatnik]

Oh I know hence the ... after massive bump.

That poster needs to change his free Palestine pic to a free Kholi one.

Do you think genoc!de is funny?

 

[beatnik]

It's been this way for 20 years. Harbhajan should have been banned for what he did to Symonds.

Agree

What really grates is that Indian cricket is corrupt AF but always cries victimhood…it’s pure gaslighting

 

[Lunchtime]

Lara was the best bat after Bradman IMO.

Always subjective though.

And I get it.....i totally get the love for Jacques Kallis (All Time Great by the way) and Steve Smith (All Time Great too), but Lara was just something else.

Maybe Smith's peak was as good or close to Lara's? But like i said, Lara's ability to score big..not many could do that.

Kumar Sangakarra (All Time Great) could do the same (score big) but he played 15 Test matches against minnows Bangladesh (three 200+ scores) and 5 against Zimbabwe (one 200+ score). He scored in total eleven 200+ scores.

Sangakarra: Vs Bangladesh

Batting records | Test matches | Cricinfo Statsguru | ESPNcricinfo.com

stats.espncricinfo.com

Sangakarra: Vs Zimbabwe

Batting records | Test matches | Cricinfo Statsguru | ESPNcricinfo.com

stats.espncricinfo.com

I have, in my opinion, Lara as the best batsman I've seen and Tendulkar is at number 2 but I'll say this....there isn't very much between them at all in my opinion.

Recency bias will have a lot of people say Steve Smith is the best but perhaps one knock is that he doesn't score big often enough - 34 Test hundreds (so far) and "only" nine 150+ scores. Consisteny is his strength.

Anyway as you said it's subjective and it's probably worth it's own thread actually for a good discussion/debate.

 

[Kennedy Parker]

He doesn’t play against India nor Australia enough.
Australia gets a 5 match series v India. NZ only gets 2-3 matches if that v England India or Australia. It’s a travesty.

While it’s a shame that NZ don’t get as many opportunities to play in big series, Smith by comparison averages 47 home and away against NZ. Root averages 53 against NZ compared to Williamson 42 against Eng.

 

[southern_crusher]

Stand by the same call I made before. Pitch had nothing to do with either wicket. Poor running then Kohli fell because he was rattled. All wickets so far have been from brainfades or overly aggressive batting. Can’t remember one where I felt like the bowler deserved it

Cummins to Rahul??

 

[Tugga27]

And I get it.....i totally get the love for Jacques Kallis (All Time Great by the way) and Steve Smith (All Time Great too), but Lara was just something else.

Maybe Smith's peak was as good or close to Lara's? But like i said, Lara's ability to score big..not many could do that.

Kumar Sangakarra (All Time Great) could do the same (score big) but he played 15 Test matches against minnows Bangladesh (three 200+ scores) and 5 against Zimbabwe (one 200+ score). He scored in total eleven 200+ scores.

Sangakarra: Vs Bangladesh

Batting records | Test matches | Cricinfo Statsguru | ESPNcricinfo.com

stats.espncricinfo.com

Sangakarra: Vs Zimbabwe

Batting records | Test matches | Cricinfo Statsguru | ESPNcricinfo.com

stats.espncricinfo.com

I have, in my opinion, Lara as the best batsman I've seen and Tendulkar is at number 2 but I'll say this....there isn't very much between them at all in my opinion.

Recency bias will have a lot of people say Steve Smith is the best but perhaps one knock is that he doesn't score big often enough - 34 Test hundreds (so far) and "only" nine 150+ scores. Consisteny is his strength.

Anyway as you said it's subjective and it's probably worth it's own thread actually for a good discussion/debate.

I think the difference between Smith and Lara is, when Lara was on, he got them real quick as well.

 

[Trojan90]

Finally caught up. How good is test cricket!

Don’t understand people complaining about a bat friendly pitch. God forbid a bowling side has to work hard for their wickets. It’s test cricket, it shouldn’t always be easy. Just like the batsman having to dig deep for runs in Perth and Adelaide. How can anyone have a problem seeing Konstas and Jaiswal do there thing and Smith making a nice 100?

The Vics annoy me in general and the G has been a road in the past but nothing wrong with this pitch so far. Also, is there anything better than the Aussies getting on a run during an evening session at the G?

As over the top the Konstas stuff has been. It’s so good for the game. If he’s getting the kids excited about test cricket then I’ll happily suck it up.

 

[Lunchtime]

I think the difference between Smith and Lara is, when Lara was on, he got them real quick as well.

Lara's strike rate in Test cricket was 60.52, Smith's strike rate in Test's is currently at 53.59.

 

[SC_Power]

Agree

What really grates is that Indian cricket is corrupt AF but always cries victimhood…it’s pure gaslighting

That’s ok, the moral high ground we occupy where no Australian has only ever accidentally been doping or gambling/match fixing helps me sleep at night.

 

[SC_Power]

He doesn’t play against India nor Australia enough.
Australia gets a 5 match series v India. NZ only gets 2-3 matches if that v England India or Australia. It’s a travesty.

Also considering that each player never had to bat against their own countries attack.

who wins between Smith and Cummins/Hazlewood/Starc/Lyon?

 

[Trojan90]

And I get it.....i totally get the love for Jacques Kallis (All Time Great by the way) and Steve Smith (All Time Great too), but Lara was just something else.

Maybe Smith's peak was as good or close to Lara's? But like i said, Lara's ability to score big..not many could do that.

Kumar Sangakarra (All Time Great) could do the same (score big) but he played 15 Test matches against minnows Bangladesh (three 200+ scores) and 5 against Zimbabwe (one 200+ score). He scored in total eleven 200+ scores.

Sangakarra: Vs Bangladesh

Batting records | Test matches | Cricinfo Statsguru | ESPNcricinfo.com

stats.espncricinfo.com

Sangakarra: Vs Zimbabwe

Batting records | Test matches | Cricinfo Statsguru | ESPNcricinfo.com

stats.espncricinfo.com

I have, in my opinion, Lara as the best batsman I've seen and Tendulkar is at number 2 but I'll say this....there isn't very much between them at all in my opinion.

Recency bias will have a lot of people say Steve Smith is the best but perhaps one knock is that he doesn't score big often enough - 34 Test hundreds (so far) and "only" nine 150+ scores. Consisteny is his strength.

Anyway as you said it's subjective and it's probably worth it's own thread actually for a good discussion/debate.

I find it hard to believe many batsmen even Lara had a ‘peak’ like Smith.

The Oval 2013 - The Oval 2019, I’d consider Smith’s peak. 6353 runs at 73.02 over 6 years is insane.

As for not going huge. Today’s knock is an example of why this didn’t happen much. How many times did Smith get to 100 batting with the tail and forced to hit as many runs as possible before the tail fell.

 

[norway blue]

Test cricket is the best.


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[The hands of stone]

Lara was the best bat after Bradman IMO.

Always subjective though.

Agree , certainly most talented .
Feel he could have averaged an extra 5-7 on his career if he took it super seriously all of the time .

Pollack is a sneaky also , but we will never really know

 

[Lunchtime]

I find it hard to believe many batsmen even Lara had a ‘peak’ like Smith.

The Oval 2013 - The Oval 2019, I’d consider Smith’s peak. 6353 runs at 73.02 over 6 years is insane.

As for not going huge. Today’s knock is an example of why this didn’t happen much. How many times did Smith get to 100 batting with the tail and forced to hit as many runs as possible before the tail fell.

Smith batting at number 3 and 4 for most of his career - plenty of opportunities to score more 150+ scores.

 

[carltonchelsea]

One usually leads to the other.

You beautiful bastard, spat my sake all over the floor

 

[SSwans2011]

I find it hard to believe many batsmen even Lara had a ‘peak’ like Smith.

The Oval 2013 - The Oval 2019, I’d consider Smith’s peak. 6353 runs at 73.02 over 6 years is insane.

As for not going huge. Today’s knock is an example of why this didn’t happen much. How many times did Smith get to 100 batting with the tail and forced to hit as many runs as possible before the tail fell.

Ponting scored 8114 at 69.35 over the course of 1999-2006.

Sachin 6334 at 63.98 for 1993-2001.

It's a little harder with Lara because he didn't have an obvious peak.

Shows just how absurdly good Smith was at his peak, especially given he wasn't surrounded by the batting line-ups Sachin and Ponting had.

 

[Lunchtime]

For most of his career (not so much at start of career) Lara wasn't surrounded by much collectively batting wise from memory apart from Jimmy Adams and Chanderpaul (good player). Which makes his feats of scoring big even more remarkable.

 

[Iceman!]

For most of his career (not so much at start of career) Lara wasn't surrounded by much collectively batting wise from memory apart from Jimmy Adams and Chanderpaul (good player). Which makes his feats of scoring big even more remarkable.

Who did Smith have for most of his peak? Warner and? Marnus came along right towards the tail end of his peak.

Smith really was batting during a really weak era for Australia batting.