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

Who will win?


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Completely agree, although there’s a post right above this trying to compare Bumrahs ball bowled to a series in the 70’s, so it’s not just younger players the grumpy old men get grumpy about
Gilchrist scored a century in 57 balls against England. Nothing wrong with calculated aggression, but coming up through the grades, he learnt you had to remain in the middle to score runs.
 

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The one glaring -ve I have is, I have Test Cricket Withdrawal. Tried to watch the BBL, and it ain't it chief. Its like eating a insanely sugary doughnut after eating a juicy sirloin stake with an amazing salad.
 
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Gilchrist scored a century in 57 balls against England. Nothing wrong with calculated aggression, but coming up through the grades, he learnt you had to remain in the middle to score runs.
At the WACA, god I miss that ground for Test Cricket. What was remarkable is that he had a run of really low scores before that and he was on a pair IIRC.
 

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Be nice to win a series in England.

Its mind boggling we havent won since 2001 yet England have a shorter drought beating us in 10/11.

In hindsight it probably shows how bad England were in the 90's that we just expected we were going to keep going over there and beating them.
 
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In the debate about the pitches, and why we are seeing Tests end in less than three days, I'd like to offer this point of view. The contemporary batsmen, in terms of stroke play, are more advanced than at any time in Test cricket. 10-20 years ago, we'd never have believed it possible that ramp shots, reverse sweeps, etc were accepted in Test cricket.

Overall the game has speed up in general.

But I think they need stay at 5 day test matches for the potential loss of play with the weather.

Australia starting to work out that most test matches now need to start on a Friday.
 
Or if the crowds were the same as the ones that turn out in Pakistan, the West Indies, Kandy, or the Sri Lankan series in SA
Fortunately that won’t happen here.

There’s enough people with money, the grounds are good, and above all, cricket has a solid following amongst our population who can afford the time and money to go.
 
Are you seriously suggesting that most dismissals were brought about by balls hitting cracks etc, rather than appalling technique?

I’m suggesting the pitches were far too much in favour of the bowlers and particularly the fast bowlers. They were green as a forest for Australian conditions and offered far too much to the pace bowlers who on both sides, ripped through the batting.

Spin didn’t play a part in any match. The matches didn’t go long enough for the pitches to deteriorate or cracks to open. Half the innings were done in 50 overs and it wasn’t a contest between bat and ball whereby if you got through the new ball on day 1 and 2, the game would open up. That suggests to me, the pitches were far too favourable to pace bowlers.

There was no doubt some excellent bowling and there always will be with 2 world class attacks. However on both sides the batsmen struggled outside of an innings here and there. Some of these are the best batsmen in the world. These aren’t all players with poor technique.

When you only have 2 batsman average over 40 in a series whereby 6 of the top 15 batsman in the world are playing, that indicates it’s not an evenly matched contest between bat and ball.

There was still some great cricket, however the Boxing Day match was by far the best match as it was an actual contest.

Watching multiple matches decided by half way through day 3 isn’t much of a contest in my view and not a great overall spectacle.

It is possible to have some great moments but still have an overall poor game as a test match.
 
I’m suggesting the pitches were far too much in favour of the bowlers and particularly the fast bowlers. They were green as a forest for Australian conditions and offered far too much to the pace bowlers who on both sides, ripped through the batting.

Spin didn’t play a part in any match. The matches didn’t go long enough for the pitches to deteriorate or cracks to open. Half the innings were done in 50 overs and it wasn’t a contest between bat and ball whereby if you got through the new ball on day 1 and 2, the game would open up. That suggests to me, the pitches were far too favourable to pace bowlers.

There was no doubt some excellent bowling and there always will be with 2 world class attacks. However on both sides the batsmen struggled outside of an innings here and there. Some of these are the best batsmen in the world. These aren’t all players with poor technique.

When you only have 2 batsman average over 40 in a series whereby 6 of the top 15 batsman in the world are playing, that indicates it’s not an evenly matched contest between bat and ball.

There was still some great cricket, however the Boxing Day match was by far the best match as it was an actual contest.

Watching multiple matches decided by half way through day 3 isn’t much of a contest in my view and not a great overall spectacle.

It is possible to have some great moments but still have an overall poor game as a test match.
You’re pretty much on the money IMO. However I thoroughly enjoyed the series. I’ve got nothing against watching batsmen struggle as an old bowler.

CA on the other hand, and the grounds themselves, would very obviously have preferred all the games to run out to the bitter end. Having said that, the revenue was maximised by the 2/3 days being weekends/public holidays mostly. Swings/roundabouts.

The Gabba was probably the best deck of the season, beaten by the weather. It usually is the best pitch in Australia in terms of balance between bat and ball.
 
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check out Higgo’s rant on Indian cricket’s corrupting influence on world cricket starting at 25:50

Beautifully articulated!



I don’t disagree with his point - when things legitimately happen they DONT have to worry because they’re not going to get punished.

Kohli should have been suspended for shouldering Konstas.

Remember back to the Rabada Smith incident - before his appeal he got 2 matches and he didn’t even make physical contact from memory, it was actually just shirt on shirt and it was in his follow through. Kohli should have been rubbed out.

I don’t really think the other stuff they’re harping on about is worth getting charged up over though because if you’re expecting players to get sanctioned for those things be they Indian or not, I think you are going to be disappointed more often than not.
 

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

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