5th Test Border Gavaskar Trophy January 3-7 1000hrs @ the SCG

[grumbleguts]

Blokes through the generations I have grown up and continued to watch;

Richardson
Azharuddin
Vengsarkar
Jones
Martyn
Aravinda
Boon
Cullinan
Robin Smith
Ganguly
Laxman
Sarwan
Bell
Mark Waugh
Malik

Etc etc etc

Good, world class players who made dozens and dozens of centuries, match winning knocks across all countries in all circumstances. None of them averaged more than 45 (Laxman with 45.7 is the highest).

I love how you just make sh!t up. It's cute.

Martyn averaged 46.37
Jones averaged 46.55

But yeah Laxman averaged more than them.

 

[grumbleguts]

View attachment 2198421

Pity he was using a forklift and not actually lifting them legitimately.

 

[Big Bryza]

Grade cricket podcast said the crowd had been chanting at him for about 30 minutes before he responded.

All fun and games.

The Konstas shoulder charge will hurt his legacy though, that will circulate on the internet forever.

On another note TGC poddy has become Captain Serious all of a sudden. Don't want to upset the Indians it seems.

 

[SSSSSS]

Has to be one of the worst summers of cricket I can remember.

Obviously Australia winning is a big positive. However the fact that 3/5 games were essentially done and dusted by day 3, 1 was a washout and we were left with just 1 quality game that went the length.

The pitches in Australia need some serious work. This summer was far to much in the bowlers favour and very few batsman could get on top.

Can’t have pitches that favour the bowling conditions to that degree. If this was in India and we had the same results on spinning pitches we’d be up in arms.

Found it a very disappointing series in the end and not up to the hype which was a shame.

One of the most enjoyable series I've watched in a long time IMO.

 

[grumbleguts]

Heavy rain in Melbourne today.

Haha! I'm down in Melbourne today. This isn't even remotely heavy.

 

[Cataholic]

Heavy rain in Melbourne today.

They're predicting heavy and salty dissipation on a flight to India I hear.

 

[Big Bryza]

Has to be one of the worst summers of cricket I can remember.

Obviously Australia winning is a big positive. However the fact that 3/5 games were essentially done and dusted by day 3, 1 was a washout and we were left with just 1 quality game that went the length.

The pitches in Australia need some serious work. This summer was far to much in the bowlers favour and very few batsman could get on top.

Can’t have pitches that favour the bowling conditions to that degree. If this was in India and we had the same results on spinning pitches we’d be up in arms.

Found it a very disappointing series in the end and not up to the hype which was a shame.

Yeah let's produce roads where both sides make 500+. Great stuff to watch.

 

[Coops93]

I think broadly the that the pitches were a little (and I mean just a little) too spicy, 3 day tests aren't ideal imo. Would like most to at least make the 4th day, but that's just me.

This Sydney pitch was way too much. A 2.5 day test isn't great. If the same were to happen in India the pitch would be ripped to shreds.

 

[PhatBoy]

I love how you just make sh!t up. It's cute.

Martyn averaged 46.37

Hahahahaha after the shit you’ve spouted this summer, THAT’S your ‘gotcha’ moment? Damien Martyn averaging 0.6 more than a parameter I stipulated? How’d you work that out by the way, with your protractor?

Oh sorry my bad, off a list of 15 players, one of whom I checked because I wasn’t sure if he was 45 or 47, the other 14 I thought off the top of my head were 45 or lower, ONE didn’t fit my criteria

I could just make up the laws of cricket and spend 5 weeks pretending I know what they are instead.

How about I do that? That would be good hey? Good for a bit of a giggle, anyway

 

[Big Bryza]

Yeah I know that my tactic to do that if I had 31 wickets at 12 in a series would be to bail on arguably the most bowler friendly wicket in the series just as the top order had been removed in the first innings.

Regardless, if Boland was rightfully selected for the entire series, he would have been the MOTS.

 

[Howard Littlejohn]

I think broadly the that the pitches were a little (and I mean just a little) too spicey, 3 day tests aren't ideal imo. Would like most to at least make the 4th day, but that's just me.

This Sydney pitch was way too much. A 2.5 day test isn't great. If the same were to happen in India the pitch would be ripped to shreds.

Sydney did seem under-prepared. Or maybe prepared for the usual rain, three days play out of five seems about Sydney average.

 

[Southerntakeover]

Got to give credit to both teams for how this rivalry has developed. It's been a decade or so since there's been a shut out in the series, the away team has won a test each time- we're 8-9 in test wins (including WTC) since 2014. Feels like a real contest with ebbs and flows.

The Ashes has the history, but the English team's complete non-competitiveness in Australia takes a lot of the lustre out of it. During the same time we're 14-7 against England. (draws excluded obviously).

 

[HirdsTheWord]

Brook is light years in front of SK.

yes, because he is 6 years older....

Both will be fun to watch come the ashes.

 

[Bletch]

I think broadly the that the pitches were a little (and I mean just a little) too spicey, 3 day tests aren't ideal imo. Would like most to at least make the 4th day, but that's just me.

This Sydney pitch was way too much. A 2.5 day test isn't great. If the same were to happen in India the pitch would be ripped to shreds.

Had a bit in it, but wouldn't agree on 'way too much'. It's test cricket. And let's face it - both teams have a pretty ordinary top 6 (on recent form). Can't remember too many 'unplayable' deliveries. Smith copped a beauty in the 2nd dig, but more than contributed to his own downfall with the way he played it.

 

[PhatBoy]

Regardless, if Boland was rightfully selected for the entire series, he would have been the MOTS.

Possibly but he wasn’t. His average is/was the same as Bumrah’s.

Why would he ‘rightfully’ be selected for the entire series? Hazlewood was head and shoulders Australia’s best bowler in Perth for starters.

 

[Big Bryza]

Possibly but he wasn’t. His average is/was the same as Bumrah’s.

Why would he ‘rightfully’ be selected for the entire series? Hazlewood was head and shoulders Australia’s best bowler in Perth for starters.

And if Bumrah bowls yesterday he might have gone 0/80. Possibly.

 

[Coops93]

I think Sam Konstas did relatively well in his 2 games.

The MCG he completely rattled India with his first innings and brought Khawaja and Marnus along with him. Like it or not, his gameplan threw Bumrah off his lines and lengths for a while which made it easier for the others. The 2nd innings India had a look and had a plan. That's going to happen.

Both his innings in Sydney given the benefit of hindsight I think were important. The scorecard says he scored a couple of 20s but on that pitch those were handy scores from your opener - in fact he was the highest scoring opener for the match in total runs. Particularly the 2nd innings, scoring a slightly better than run a ball 23 (along with the extras) helped us jump out of the blocks and get well into the chase early which was crucial on that pitch, and always is chasing short targets.

Some of the periphery stuff, which is self inflicted, has distracted from his performances. But in terms of his actual batting I'd say 3 out of 4 innings were a + to the side.

 

[Lunchtime]

Sort of... that average very much boosted by his 334* Tubby was an excellent opening bat, and a better captain, but his time was up. Quick look at his last 5 years:

View attachment 2198412

Can see with this that he was underperforming for quite some time, though had that happy knack of pulling out a ton at the right time. Reckon he was still doing enough throughout this time to justify his spot (along with his captaincy), but was cooked by end of the 98/99 Ashes.

I'd say Rohit Sharma was more cooked than Tubby who got out of his form slump (21 innings without a 50+ score). Sharma averages 31 with the bat whilst Captain - the end has come for him and very very quickly too.

 

[grumbleguts]

I think broadly the that the pitches were a little (and I mean just a little) too spicy, 3 day tests aren't ideal imo. Would like most to at least make the 4th day, but that's just me.

This Sydney pitch was way too much. A 2.5 day test isn't great. If the same were to happen in India the pitch would be ripped to shreds.

It's extremely difficult to time a test using the pitch to last 4 days and 23.4 overs. But that aside, the Sydney pitch was fair to both sides as both sides were predominantly seam attacks. (If Bangladesh were touring, that would have been an incredibly unfair pitch)

What most countries would do, being 2 - 1 up in a test series, is create an absolute road for the final test ensuring a draw.

Given Sydney is a three day test at the best of times (recent history suggests we lose 2 days over the course) the pitch was timed perfectly to produce a result in the typically available time. And when you think about it, at Bumrah's expected 3 or 4 in the second dig, and the game goes down to the wire.

I think they got the Sydney pitch just right.

 

[Southerntakeover]

Hahahahaha after the shit you’ve spouted this summer, THAT’S your ‘gotcha’ moment?

How'd your views on the Brisbane declaration decision age?

 

[smasha]

And i think the vast majority of Indian supporters are brilliant generally. A small minority are terrible but we'd have the same like every country

Very nice supporters I met at the G.
Some on social media wreck it for others but on the whole,Indian fans are terrific.

 

[grumbleguts]

I think Sam Konstas did relatively well in his 2 games.

The MCG he completely rattled India with his first innings and brought Khawaja and Marnus along with him. Like it or not, his gameplan threw Bumrah off his lines and lengths for a while which made it easier for the others. The 2nd innings India had a look and had a plan. That's going to happen.

Both his innings in Sydney given the benefit of hindsight I think were important. The scorecard says he scored a couple of 20s but on that pitch those were handy scores from your opener - in fact he was comfortably the highest scoring opener for the match in total runs. Particularly the 2nd innings, scoring a slightly better than run a ball 23 (along with the extras) helped us jump out of the blocks and get well into the chase early which was crucial on that pitch, and always is chasing short targets.

Some of the periphery stuff, which is self inflicted, has distracted from his performances. But in terms of his actual batting I'd say 3 out of 4 innings were a + to the side.

Not to mention the accelerated wear on the ball he induced.

 

[Coops93]

Had a bit in it, but wouldn't agree on 'way too much'. It's test cricket. And let's face it - both teams have a pretty ordinary top 6 (on recent form). Can't remember too many 'unplayable' deliveries. Smith copped a beauty in the 2nd dig, but more than contributed to his own downfall with the way he played it.

The amount of body blows are a fairly decent sign that it was a lot. A high score of 60 off about 30 balls because actually batting a proper innings was so unlikely also speaks to it.

Webster was the only one who handled the pitch, everyone else struggled massively. As was highlighted by the commentators, his height was a benefit on that pitch as the rearing delivers were a fine height for him. Everyone else was getting hit.

 

[smasha]

Yeah I went to Day 5 at the MCG and was surrounded by Indian supporters. Very passionate and fanatical but no behavioural issues and they seemed like nice people.

They certainly contributed to the good atmosphere and made it a more fun day at the cricket.

Same.
Fantastic the colour and carnival they provide with the drums.

 

[sherb]

I think broadly the that the pitches were a little (and I mean just a little) too spicy, 3 day tests aren't ideal imo. Would like most to at least make the 4th day, but that's just me.

This Sydney pitch was way too much. A 2.5 day test isn't great. If the same were to happen in India the pitch would be ripped to shreds.

2.5 day Tests aren't necessarily a comment on the pitches - they can also be due to the approach and technique of the batsmen.

I didn't think the Sydney pitch was that bad (certainly not as bad as many seem to be making out) to be honest. There was more bounce than normal but apart from that it wasn't too bad. It certainly didn't seam any more than you would expect and it wasn't turning on day 2 or anything like that. A number of the wickets were due to either poor shots or by unnecessary fishing expeditions outside the off stump.