Consigliere Posted March 26, 2017 Share Posted March 26, 2017 Lyon is doing the business. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljkeane Posted March 26, 2017 Author Share Posted March 26, 2017 Yeah, I thought Australia were in trouble but Lyon's dragging them back into it. Jadeja's a bit of a danger man though. By the way Dharamsala looks like a great setting for a cricket match. ETA: Bad drop by Renshaw. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmanion Posted March 27, 2017 Share Posted March 27, 2017 And australia has well and truly shit the bed again here. Going to take a miracle not to lose the series now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paxter Posted March 27, 2017 Share Posted March 27, 2017 Barring a miraculous bowling performance this morning, Australia have well and truly lost the plot in this test. They were bowled out for 137 yesterday and, more egregiously, lost 9-156 in the first dig after a very promising start. If they'd managed to grab a first innings lead this series would still be well and truly alive, even with the almost inevitable second innings collapse. What will hurt most from an Australian perspective is that they've bowled very well throughout the series, won three of four tosses and (critically) have faced an underperforming Indian batting lineup, with slots four to six in the batting order hardly contributing a run. When you compare this to the recent England tour (in which Kohli dominated, Ashwin batted well and Nair got a triple ton), India really were ripe for the plucking in this series. Unfortunately the onus lies squarely with Australia's batting again. With only two batsmen (Smith and Maxwell) averaging over 32 in the series, it's hard to argue that much has changed since the Sri Lanka whitewash. The familiar technical problems against spin, lack of robust opening partnerships and almost no contribution from the lower order have loomed large, and will lead to more soul-searching about how to win in the subcontinent ahead of the (still unconfirmed) tour of Bangladesh later this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmanion Posted March 28, 2017 Share Posted March 28, 2017 As good as smith is australia needs to find some guys to back him up in all conditions. Warner doesnt do enough when the pitch is playing up and the ball is moving, renshaw i think is going to be a really good player but is still early in his development same with handscome but the rest of the order just falls apart to often. The marsh brothers need to be forgotten about in test match cricket i cant see khawaja leaving us worse off in this series than shaun and mitch offers nothing with the bat compared to maxwell and they are about an equal choice with ball. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Anti-Targ Posted March 28, 2017 Share Posted March 28, 2017 New Zealand could have beaten South Africa in this third test, but with a shortened game I think South Africa could bat out a draw and NZ will run out of time. Unless of course the NZ bowlers make short work of South Africa and they fail to overcome the NZ first innings lead. The lead is just big enough for that to be a possibility. But it's also not all that big of a lead that South Africa wouldn't be confident of overcoming it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paxter Posted March 28, 2017 Share Posted March 28, 2017 The problem for NZ is South Africa's batting depth - De Kock coming in at number 7 and averaging over 50 is pretty daunting. Almost reminiscent of the Australian line-up that had Gilchrist at 7. That was some innings from Williamson though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Anti-Targ Posted March 28, 2017 Share Posted March 28, 2017 Yeah, NZ could get 4 relatively cheap wickets and SA could still easily overtake the first innings lead. Gah! Gilchrist at 7 still gives me night sweats. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paxter Posted March 28, 2017 Share Posted March 28, 2017 Jeez. De Kock already in at 60/5! Would be an amazing victory if NZ can pull this off. Meanwhile, Pujara has been disastrously run out at Dharamsala... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular John Umber Posted March 28, 2017 Share Posted March 28, 2017 New Zealand are a different team these days, it's great to see. I'm very disappointed in the SA top order though, they've struggled this whole series. This is a NZ without Boult or Southee, how can they be rolling over like that? And they've been getting themselves out a lot too. so many dismissals flashing outside off. We're going to get absolutely creamed in England if Hash doesn't come right, and we don't settle our openers. We can't rely on Faf, Bavuma, and QdK with the tail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Consigliere Posted March 28, 2017 Share Posted March 28, 2017 NZ should go on to win this Test quite easily to draw the series and deservedly so. They have outplayed us since day 1. Only bad weather can save SA now. It's a shame that rain ruined the first Test. That one was tantalizingly poised and could have gone either way. Some serious question marks hang over our top order; our opening partnership isn't good enough and with Amla's sketchy form, it's nearly guaranteed that we will be two down before 50. Even more disappointing is our top order failing so dismally when NZ were without their two premier seamers. De Villiers' eventual return should hopefully add more stability to our top order though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Anti-Targ Posted March 29, 2017 Share Posted March 29, 2017 Bugger, final day rained off. NZ was so in with a chance to even the series. Weather turned a potential series loss for South Africa into a series win. But still, SA took their chance in the 2nd test and NZ screwed the pooch in the second test. And that's cricket. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paxter Posted March 29, 2017 Share Posted March 29, 2017 My heart goes out to the Black Caps; South Africa were undeserving winners on that tour. New Zealand showed a lot of fight and displayed impressive depth in their squad. It's been interesting watching the fallout from Australia's narrow defeat in India. Most pundits and fans seem to fall in to one of two camps: Australia is still pretty terrible in subcontinental conditions, but Smith played the series of a lifetime to maintain competitiveness; or Australia has really improved in subcontinental conditions and has moved on from the whitewashes against Pakistan, Sri Lanka and India over the last few years. I'm squarely in camp 1! But I'm also squarely in the 'biased against Australia' camp :P. One thing is for sure: this is a far better Australian team than the one that lost to South Africa at the start of the Aussie summer. ETA: One thing people don't seem to disagree with (and I don't either): neither team covered themselves in glory in that series in terms of playing in the spirit of the game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Consigliere Posted March 29, 2017 Share Posted March 29, 2017 Terribly unlucky for NZ. We definitely did not deserve to win that series. A drawn series would have been a fair result. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paxter Posted April 4, 2017 Share Posted April 4, 2017 In a predictable move, Cricket Australia is now lobbying for the planned tour of Bangladesh to be a strictly limited-overs affair. I hope the BCB hold firm on this - every other side in international cricket (even India!) has done Bangladesh the courtesy of playing them in test matches in the recent past. But Australia still seems to consider themselves above doing so. I for one would much rather see whether Australia's batting can hold firm against Bangladesh's test attack than watch yet another irrelevant and insipid ODI series! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Winged Shadow Posted April 4, 2017 Share Posted April 4, 2017 I think they just don't want to risk it in against Bangladesh (too much to lose, nothing to gain), specially as the pitches will be ruthlessly spin friendly. While they will most likely grind out a win, a loss isn't out of the question. Bangladesh managed to get a series draw against South Africa, England and India at home, and the Aussie batting lineup is still a bit fragile at the moment. I'd like to see at least one Test match, just to see how they do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brAnthelAstgreenseer Posted April 4, 2017 Share Posted April 4, 2017 12 hours ago, Paxter said: In a predictable move, Cricket Australia is now lobbying for the planned tour of Bangladesh to be a strictly limited-overs affair. I hope the BCB hold firm on this - every other side in international cricket (even India!) has done Bangladesh the courtesy of playing them in test matches in the recent past. But Australia still seems to consider themselves above doing so. I for one would much rather see whether Australia's batting can hold firm against Bangladesh's test attack than watch yet another irrelevant and insipid ODI series! What do you mean by even India ? We have been playing tests against them and visiting them long before most of the other countries. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paxter Posted April 5, 2017 Share Posted April 5, 2017 9 hours ago, brAnthelAstgreenseer said: What do you mean by even India ? We have been playing tests against them and visiting them long before most of the other countries. Yes - visiting them. But India did not host a single test against Bangladesh until February 2017. Bangladesh have been playing tests since 2000. Just took them 17 years to earn the privilege! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hereward Posted April 5, 2017 Share Posted April 5, 2017 I am unexpectedly underwhelmed by the approaching Ashes, which is unprecedented for me. This seems strange considering the one-sided thrashings of the 1990s, but at least then there was the excitement of watching some of the sport's greatest ever players and hoping for backs to the wall defiance and maybe even an occasional upset. This time there is little in the way of greatness on show, winning away is vanishingly rare and England's batting fragility against pace (and spin), combined with a lack of quality bowlers in non-English conditions, make a thrashing by an average team seem inevitable. Someone talk me out of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paxter Posted April 12, 2017 Share Posted April 12, 2017 On 5/04/2017 at 6:19 PM, Hereward said: Someone talk me out of it. The lack of immediate response to your post probably tells a story! I tend to agree that this summer's Ashes will go Australia's way. England and Australia's recent tours of India suggest that Australia is the better side, particularly in the bowling department. It's likely that the fast-bowling contingent of Starc, Hazlewood, Cummins, Pattinson, Sayers and Bird will expose an England batting line-up inexperienced in Australian conditions. Batting wise, Australia's captain is in a rich vein of form, while the likes of Warner and Khawaja will provide a lot more backbone to Australia's batting than was on display in India. Having said that, I think there a few factors that might work in England's favour: This may be the first Ashes tour in decades not to feature a WACA test. The venue for the third test remains unconfirmed and will depend upon whether the new Perth stadium is completed in time. If this occurs, England will avoid having to play on a pitch on which they have historically struggled and may instead enjoy more benign conditions on a drop-in wicket. The Adelaide test will be a day-nighter. While Australia has been quite successful in this format so far, I think that England's bowling could be a tricky proposition under lights, especially if there is some movement in the air with the pink ball. Someone like Jimmy Anderson could really enjoy those conditions. Australia was comprehensively beaten by South Africa last summer and showed some vulnerabilities against Pakistan. Despite the impressive recovery after the Hobart test, there were quite a few instances in which a fairly young, inexperienced Australian side was placed under pressure, even by a misfiring Pakistan team. As always, the first test at the 'Gabba will be an important barometer for the series. If England can at least get a draw there, or even put up a strong fight, the remaining pitches should provide more opportunities to attack the hosts. It (hopefully) won't be like the India tour, during which England drew the first test only to wilt over the remaining matches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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