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

[JackOutback]

The point isn't the pure numbers, it's the aesthetic of a big stadium looking mostly empty.

16,000 in Tasmania looks way better than 20,000 at Perth.

It's the same thing that always gets said when MCG games have 20,000 at them. It's still 20,000, but it looks and sounds fairly bleak in that stadium.

It was 30,000 plus for days one and two, and 26,000 for day three. This is despite the Test being in the school term and pre-Christmas working period. It will do much more than that again next year. Plus there's talk of moving the WA Day holiday to November, which would improve the numbers. Not every city gets Boxing Day or the New Year every year just because they think they are special. Hell, 42,000 at a BBL game is more impressive than 87,000 in a city twice our size and featuring the most marketed day of cricket for the year.

I can't see a time when Perth will ever get a sold out Optus stadium for Test cricket. I think they might get 40k for day 1 of the ashes next year but thats about it.

It'll be closer to capacity than 40,000.

 

[FlowersByIrene]

Konstas is no where near Warner at the same time of their career, the "kid" will need reel it all in before next year's Ashes series or he might not be playing at all? Morris is correct and his last innings should live with him for months to come....

David Warner was playing grade cricket at the same age Sam Konstas is. Warner debuted in the T20 side in 2009 at the age of 23 and debuted in the test side later at 25.

I'd say Konstas is far ahead of Warner at the same stage of their career.

 

[western royboy]

I don't think Warner and Konstas are comparable at all TBH. Warner never really batted the way Konstas has so far in his test career.

Technically miles apart

 

[Outshined]

It's great to see that the perpetual Bigfooty interstate cricketing wars are still ongoing, even after an amazing test series.

3-1 was probably fair. Australia were the better team post-Perth with a few more contributors across the board. Still some big top 6 questions left leading into the Ashes but there's at least a silver lining with Webster fitting right in and Green to come back. McSweeney got thrown under the bus a bit but is a decent prospect too.

Feels like a decent chunk of the XI are aiming for next summer as a swansong but the axe would (or at least should) be dangerously close for a select few.

 

[western royboy]

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

Potentially able to stream it to one billion new subscribers as long as they play along

 

[greatwhiteshark]

It was 30,000 plus for days one and two, and 26,000 for day three. This is despite the Test being in the school term and pre-Christmas working period. It will do much more than that again next year. Plus there's talk of moving the WA Day holiday to November, which would improve the numbers. Not every city gets Boxing Day or the New Year every year just because they think they are special. Hell, 42,000 at a BBL game is more impressive than 87,000 in a city twice our size and featuring the most marketed day of cricket for the year.


It'll be closer to capacity than 40,000.

Based on what? 30k is about our max for test crciket. I have added 10k because its an ashes test. you are thinking 50-55k?

Hope you are right but reckon pigs might fly before that happens in Perth.

 

[greatwhiteshark]

It was 30,000 plus for days one and two, and 26,000 for day three. This is despite the Test being in the school term and pre-Christmas working period. It will do much more than that again next year. Plus there's talk of moving the WA Day holiday to November, which would improve the numbers. Not every city gets Boxing Day or the New Year every year just because they think they are special. Hell, 42,000 at a BBL game is more impressive than 87,000 in a city twice our size and featuring the most marketed day of cricket for the year.


It'll be closer to capacity than 40,000.

Hopefully it is a new added holiday. We need to keep the foundation day holiday in first week of June.

 

[Coops93]

Something I've not seen mentioned about this last match is that I think it's clear playing Starc was a mistake. Bowled fairly average in first innings but was able to jag a couple so not completely poor, but barely bowled at all in the 2nd, and when he did he went for nearly 10 an over.

Picking him knowing he was injured was a clear cut mistake. But it didn't matter, the pitch did enough that we didn't get the kms into our guys - plus Beau was able to keep tight. We're just lucky the pitch was active enough that the game wasn't going to last until day 4 or 5 and require us to bowl longer spells.

 

[Bucking Beads]

So you and your mates think Border would have exhibited more ‘fire in the belly’ by being a petulent loud mouth, rather than utilising his technique and character to give his team the best chance of success in a Test??

There is certainly areas that Konstas needs to work on but he is the shot in the arm the team needed.

 

[JackFlash]

David Warner was playing grade cricket at the same age Sam Konstas is. Warner debuted in the T20 side in 2009 at the age of 23 and debuted in the test side later at 25.

I'd say Konstas is far ahead of Warner at the same stage of their career.

Warner is no brain surgeon, but Konstas is a snag short of a barbie if ever there was one. (Undisciplined) He's a long way from being Australia's opening batting answer and has a lot to learn, i was a fan until that 2nd innings. These two upcoming Tests against Sri Lanka can either make him or break him.

 

[JackOutback]

Based on what? 30k is about our max for test crciket. I have added 10k because its an ashes test. you are thinking 50-55k?

Hope you are right but reckon pigs might fly before that happens in Perth.

I don't believe there is a 'max' for Test cricket. We've drawn over 40,000 to the BBL a couple of times this season already, there are cricket fans here if you appeal to them. An Ashes Test, the first ball of the series, a large English population, promotional focus on bringing tourists over and a potential public holiday means I think we can top 50,000 for the first day.

Hopefully it is a new added holiday. We need to keep the foundation day holiday in first week of June.

I mean, there's an argument WA is underdone in terms of public holidays, so I agree it would be better to add one rather than shift, but not because of any allegiance to 'foundation day', which hasn't been used for a decade or more and has no real relevance to modern WA.

 

[Borisdog]

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

Jeez.

Wouldn't be about money would it?

Nah.

 

[Caj]

There were 96k people at the Perth Test this year for 4 days.

If the Tasmanians hit their record crowd of 18,149 on all 5 days... you get a 90k crowd.

Yep Tasmanians are notoriously poor in their support for test cricket, god knows how they’ll be able to maintain an AFL team, particularly one that will struggle to ever get off the bottom of the ladder

 

[Borisdog]

At his peak Virat was as good as anyone.

The thing that tarnishes his legacy to me is not so much the diminished average, it’s just how easy it has become to take him out of games. He gets out so consistently fending at balls outside off that he just doesn’t need to play, and has done so for a long time. For a player of his quality to not have fixed that, when all he has to do is let those balls go, is bizarre.

When you compare that to Smith, he got “figured out” by Wagner in 2019, and since then he’s been constantly adjusting to find ways to counteract that approach. His year by year average shows that while he’s never returned to peak levels, he has still found a way to be a consistent high level contributor.

And Wagner showing the way on Smith is now guiding others how to bowl to him.

The way he got out in the first innings in Sydney is going to continue while he continues to mudcrab across the stumps with an "aging eye". He corrected it for a while, but it's back worse than ever now.

He was trying to hit a ball outside his eyeline through midwicket. Anything fullish in that 4-6th stump zone to him he's hitting across the line.

He can't effectively "play the line" of any ball pitched fullish in that zone. He will be hitting everything "inside out" if he tries.

 

[Rabish Binney]

It's interesting this perception, because Cummins (1002 deliveries), Siraj (943) and Starc (920) all bowled extensively in the 5 matches too (Bumrah bowled 908 deliveries).

Yes, I know Bumrah was out of action for essentially one and a half innings of the final Test, but the point is that other bowlers had comparable workloads at least.

In any case, what happened here with Bumrah reminds me of Lillee in the 72 Ashes, where he took 31 wickets, although that was in another league entirely. In five Tests he bowled 1499 deliveries - that's one delivery short of 250 overs, or on average 25 overs in each innings of every Test.

Little surprise that by the end of the tour he was having back niggles, it got worse in the following Australian summer and he broke down completely in the 73 tour of the West Indies. He didn't play again for 18 months.

Don't forget also Sherb, back in those days the touring Australians played against every county as well.

I assume the great DKL may have played in some of these?

I think on the 1977 Ashes tour, the Aussies played a total of 32 first class matches (including the 5 tests).

 

[F6Typhoon]

comparisons between Warner and Konstas arent clear cut according to Channel 9 and SENs Tom Morris. Morris believes Warners aggression was more controlled at the genesis of his career. Konstas is more reckless and out of control

And WTF would Tom the mouth Morris know?
Has he run out of AFL players to pot?

 

[Leather Poisoning]

The Konstas criticism is so annoying. As soon as someone shows some flair every single mistake they make is attributed to them being immature and reckless (even if they score better/more than pretty much any other opening bat of the series).

The rush to push any big personality down is so weird. It's like people don't actually want to be entertained. We want heroes but we also want them to stay inside very specific set of guidelines

 

[Duckimus Prime]

And Wagner showing the way on Smith is now guiding others how to bowl to him.

The way he got out in the second innings in Sydney is going to continue while he continues to mudcrab across the stumps with an "aging eye". He corrected it for a while, but it's back worse than ever now.

A ball that reared up sharply from just short of a good length?

That was nothing like what Wagner bowled to him. Wagner was bowl short at the body with a stacked on-side field.

It was just repeating body line with fielding restrictions. And he should've been called up for bowling too short too often.

 

[grumbleguts]

Yeah, at footy I don't mind it, but 6 hours of it just gives me a headache

Im just old and cranky - sit the **** down and clap politely

Yes. I didn't pay an exorbitant fee to have some idiot give me a headache for 6 hours. It is invasive for thousands of people around them and they don't give a crap.

 

[Wetdog]

2004 v Zimbabwe

The frontline bowlers playing in that test should hang their collective heads in shame that they didn’t take the 10 wickets before Katich was asked to roll his arm over.

 

[PhatBoy]

Yes. I didn't pay an exorbitant fee to have some idiot give me a headache for 6 hours. It is invasive for thousands of people around them and they don't give a crap.

I imagine that’s how anyone near you on public transport feels if you ever get a phone call.

 

[big_e]

The point isn't the pure numbers, it's the aesthetic of a big stadium looking mostly empty.

16,000 in Tasmania looks way better than 20,000 at Perth.

It's the same thing that always gets said when MCG games have 20,000 at them. It's still 20,000, but it looks and sounds fairly bleak in that stadium.

As opposed to the aesthetics of a suburban ground with a tin shed in one corner?

By the way, the real answer here is that Australia should host six or even seven tests per year.

 

[big_e]

Little surprise that by the end of the tour he was having back niggles, it got worse in the following Australian summer and he broke down completely in the 73 tour of the West Indies. He didn't play again for 18 months.

Food for thought for those who insist fast bowlers should play through pain.

 

[Borisdog]

A ball that reared up sharply from just short of a good length?

That was nothing like what Wagner bowled to him. Wagner was bowl short at the body with a stacked on-side field.

It was just repeating body line with fielding restrictions. And he should've been called up for bowling too short too often.

Yeah sorry, wrong innings. Should've been the first. I went back and looked after your reply, and edited my initial post accordingly.

What Wagner showed was packing the legside and bowling straight to Smith pretty much rendered him unable to score with any freedom. Which is smart bowling in my book, and I was surprised it didn't happen long ago, when Smith started the mudcrabbing.

Wagner's bowling was nowhere near "bodyline". For starters the field restrictions brought about by bodyline render that sort of bowling largely ineffective now, although the real major change regarding field restrictions happened 25 years after bodyline. Combine that with the short pitched bowling laws now and you can't continually bounce the batsman, at least not at head height anyways.

Wagner varied his length between throat and ankles, but his line was largely very, very consistent. And not just to Smith.

A right handed bowler, IMO, has an even bigger incentive to bowl that way to Smith.

I'd go as far as to say any more than 1 bloke in front of the wicket to Smith on the offside is a wasted fieldsman, IF you bowl the right line, and Smith continues with this "stance"

Look where his bat is to anything full on 6th stump to legstump line at point of bowler's delivery. There's no way on Earth he can get his bat around his right leg to hit anything there through the off side without playing heavily across the line of the ball.

I'm pretty sure, in fact certain, that Test umpires wouldn't have had a second of hesitation calling Wagner for any of the numerous versions of short or intimidatory bowling against the laws of the game if they thought he was doing so.

 

[HirdsTheWord]

Oh look an eastern stater coming from a place of privilege whingeing about the Perth crowds..nothing changes

Few points:

1. The Perth Crowds where up this year thats good and will be again for next year for the Ashes
2. You think taking away the test from Perth is going to increase the crowds for the future of WA cricket ? How is that going to work if you are not promoting the game ??
3. The Perth test is being played during the working period. We don't have the opportunity that you do of having the test played on a public holiday everyear for the last 30 odd years and continuing during the time when people who work and students have time off .......if you want the crowds to increase I guarantee if its played on Boxing Day it would be packed .....but we have not been given that opportunity like you privilege lot do and who just take it for granted year after year ...and then have the arrogance to have a go at other cities crowds...you guys have it pretty good show some respect
4. Honestly how does it affect you the size of the Perth crowd?....you own a TV ..the Perth test is great viewing for the eastern states public after work...the tv networks love it

Finally if you feel so bad about Perth crowds and think it should be stripped...why not come over for the weekend and increase the crowd size ?? Perth stadium is fantastic..Perth is a great city and the south west has a lot to offer

1) Don't care if they were up, they still sucked and are not yet worthy to hold a test IMO.
2) We should sacrifice a good atmosphere just so you can build interest? lol? What's test cricket in WA? grassroots? What about interest in Tassie where they will actually show up to the test match?
3) This is just a flat rubbish and obscenely lazy excuse. Adelaide (6-10 Dec Note School Holidays started AFTER the test in Adelaide) and Brisbane (14-18 Dec) were both also played during the working period, Adelaide was a sell out and Brisbane was rain impacted and STILL got decent crowds when play was on, would have also been jam packed if not for the rain.

The notion that work stops people going to the test match in Perth is complete and utter horse shit. it doesn't stop other states going, so it shouldn't stop you guys either.

4) The crowd atmosphere filters through the TV and adds to the specifical. Perth was rubbish.

I'm supposed to travel from Sydney to Perth cause you guys over there are too lazy to show up in your own state? lol if the stadiums so good, you go to it if you live there?

The only thing keeping the test in Perth is the TV time for EST states, and even then, I'd rather it go to Tassie. It's far better a spectacle than Perth. The rest of that waffle you posted is complete hogwash.