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

Who will win?


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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.
 
Sam Konstas.
He might burn as brightly as Peter Toohey (for those old enough to remember) but unless he tightens his technique he will burn out even faster.

His first Test innings must draw comparisons with David Hookes and his debut in the Centenary Test. Hookes, while a phenon at Shield level never transferred his results to Test level. Lack of footwork was his greatest downfall particularly against spin and seam away from Australia.

Sri Lanka will be an interesting watch.

Webster on the other hand looks to have a technique of getting forward or back as appropriate, and doesn't get caught on the crease. He might be very handy in the subcontinent with a solid technique and ability to bowl seam up and spin.

Exciting times.
I was talking about technique with a friend the other day who argues that cricket has evolved now where the Konstas type player can find a spot in Test cricket. In other words, classic technique isn't as important as it once was. Not saying I was convinced totally but there may be some merit to the argument
 
I was talking about technique with a friend the other day who argues that cricket has evolved now where the Konstas type player can find a spot in Test cricket. In other words, classic technique isn't as important as it once was. Not saying I was convinced totally but there may be some merit to the argument

It never, ever has been IMO.

It’s how you apply it whatever technique it is you employ.

Not sure how old you are but when I was a kid you basically had the Aussie team that was
Boon: had a little shuffle across to the offside and a wave of the bat and predominantly kept bat and pad together, defended from the front foot, attacked off the back
Taylor: brought his bat down from the slips quite a bit and liked to plonk the front foot
Steve Waugh: never pulled or hooked, got his hands incredibly low to the ground as he went forward then back and always played off the back foot unless he was defending or playing through the onside.
Mark Waugh: classical technique
Allan Border: looked like he almost stabbed at everything, crouched, went back and across, played away from his body when he attacked outside off and was regularly on the move when he hit the ball


Then you had England:
Gooch: bat almost pointing at the sky it was so far raised in his stance
Atherton: shuffled around his crease and forever prodding at anything outside off stump and never getting his front pad outside the line of the pegs but somehow managed to make runs when he wasn’t playing Australia and very good against short bowling.
Stewart: held the bat handle so high it was like a magic wand and had a huge step backwards
Smith: huge crouch when the bowler let the ball go and got right deep into his crease before waiting for a short ball to jump into

And on it went with Lara and his high back lift etc etc.

A good technique gets you a head start. But that’s about it IMO.
 
I’m not sure about the lost form bit, he was coming off the 2019 Ashes, which to me that or the 2017 India series were the best performances of his career. I think Wagner clearly worked out a way to take away his strength and frustrated him in to taking wickets.

We did see after a while teams going to that approach for a while. The point I was making is that we don’t really see that anymore because Smith figured it out. We’ve seen throughout the past five years teams try different tactics to him and he’s constantly tinkering to counteract it and has been successful (albeit not to the extent of his peak of averaging 70+).

Kohli on the other hand has been getting out pretty much in the same fashion for a considerable period of time, and he has done very little to address it, which is quite remarkable really for a guy of his quality.

To be fair to Kohli though, his record in white ball cricket is astonishing and far ahead of anyone else in this era.
Wagner was awkward for a good few years wasn't he .
Was able to zip the ball off the deck and developed good fields while consistently getting the ball under the armpit cramping for room .
Like you say Smith and most quality bats worked it out eventually .

Kohli's is technique but more importantly ego imo. He simple cannot restrain himself and be disciplined to not force through the off side .
 

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I was talking about technique with a friend the other day who argues that cricket has evolved now where the Konstas type player can find a spot in Test cricket. In other words, classic technique isn't as important as it once was. Not saying I was convinced totally but there may be some merit to the argument
No doubt the bowlers will have the final say. Is their technique/bowling areas good enough??
 
There is certainly areas that Konstas needs to work on but he is the shot in the arm the team needed.
He currently is a sugar hit for CA , but we need him to now develop into the long term real deal .
 
I've always wondered, at the live shows is it phones off, no recording ect ?
Well someone could secretly record it but it defeats & ruins the purpose of the show if someone did.

You want the guests off the leash with no fear you get more funny shit out of them with no recourse or backlash.

Its a cricket comedy night like going to any comedy show.

We got to see the cheeky Ricky Ponting at play & Gilchrist was a bonus in the 2nd part no one knew was actually happening.

It wasn't promoted he happened to be in the crowd and Punter brought him along.

One of the great nights especially if you love the TGC and the humour they bring.

I went in 2019 in Birmingham when i was over there for the Ashes and this was ramped up by x 100 then 5 years ago.
 

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


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