Paxter Posted February 10, 2023 Share Posted February 10, 2023 (edited) Australia overthinking things by dropping Head. But the big gulf between these teams is in the spin department. Lyon may be the greatest Australian offie ever, but he probably wouldn’t crack the XI for India. ETA: But maybe Murphy would crack the XI!!!! India really showing their batting fragility now. They miss Pant badly. Edited February 10, 2023 by Paxter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeor Posted February 11, 2023 Share Posted February 11, 2023 (edited) Great debut by Murphy, but that's probably the only bright spot for Australia. The batting was horrendous (Smith aside) and the bowling, Murphy excepted, was not threatening enough. A very one sided contest that was over quickly. India won't been to change anything but I suspect they're going to be watching lots of video analysis of Murphy in the coming days... Edited February 11, 2023 by Jeor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raja Posted February 11, 2023 Share Posted February 11, 2023 Alex Carey trying to reverse sweep Ashwin on that pitch has really made me laugh Paxter 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paxter Posted February 17, 2023 Share Posted February 17, 2023 Bazball going strong as England looks to reverse their generally quite poor recent record in NZ. India v Australia resumes today in Fortress Delhi. India's last test loss there was not in my lifetime. I do still think there is an opening in this series for Australia if they manage to score even half-decent totals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raja Posted February 17, 2023 Share Posted February 17, 2023 (edited) It's a pity because Dharamshala is a gorgeous venue. I really need to go watch a cricket match there. One of the best venues I've played cricket at was just outside melbourne with a cricket ground built in the hills. Stayed there for 2-3 days and played against the local club team. I need to figure out where that was. Edited February 17, 2023 by Raja Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paxter Posted February 17, 2023 Share Posted February 17, 2023 (edited) Career defining knock from Tom Blundell. Still advantage England though with runs on the board. Australia fighting hard and could yet muster something decent-ish. Still a bit of a waste of a chance to bat first and post a big score. Edited February 17, 2023 by Paxter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
williamjm Posted February 17, 2023 Share Posted February 17, 2023 I managed to get a ticket yesterday for this summer's Ashes match at The Oval. When I looked before pretty much all the Ashes tickets seemed to have been sold out, but I guess they released another batch. I'm not even sure now when I last managed to see a Test in person, I think it's been at least 5 years. Paxter and ljkeane 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeor Posted February 18, 2023 Share Posted February 18, 2023 Australia's 263 looking like a par score having bowled out India for 262. Looks like a one-innings shootout now, and Australia will feel pretty good about that batting first and now 1/50. Head scoring some quick runs - a mystery as to why he was left out of the First Test given his imperious Test form over the summer against South Africa, scoring at Gilchristian strike rates. It must be one of the first times that Australia have selected three frontline spinners as well. I'm not sure that was the right call given they only have Cummins for pace (all-rounder Green is still out) but I guess it was hard to decide who to leave out of Lyon/Murphy and they wanted the variation of the leftie Kuhnemann. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljkeane Posted February 18, 2023 Share Posted February 18, 2023 17 hours ago, williamjm said: I managed to get a ticket yesterday for this summer's Ashes match at The Oval. When I looked before pretty much all the Ashes tickets seemed to have been sold out, but I guess they released another batch. I'm not even sure now when I last managed to see a Test in person, I think it's been at least 5 years. Nice. The good thing is with the way Bazball’s going is it should be fun regardless. England look very well set against New Zealand. There’s a bit of a game breaking out in Delhi. I’m only looking at the score but it does sound like a little bit of a missed opportunity for Australia though given they had India 150 odd for 7. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeor Posted February 18, 2023 Share Posted February 18, 2023 1 minute ago, ljkeane said: England look very well set against New Zealand. There’s a bit of a game breaking out in Delhi. I’m only looking at the score but it does sound like a little bit of a missed opportunity for Australia though given they had India 150 odd for 7. When you have a guy with 5 Test centuries (Ashwin) coming in at Number 9, 7/150 really isn't what it seems! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raja Posted February 18, 2023 Share Posted February 18, 2023 Already a big fan of handscomb as the man wears a hat whilst batting Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paxter Posted February 19, 2023 Share Posted February 19, 2023 More batting woes for Australia losing nine in a session. Fortress Delhi will live on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raja Posted February 19, 2023 Share Posted February 19, 2023 On 2/11/2023 at 11:06 AM, Raja said: Alex Carey trying to reverse sweep Ashwin on that pitch has really made me laugh My word. He's done it again. I'm not sure what the plan was against the Indian spin bowling, but it certainly wasn't use your feet and play with a straight bat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raja Posted February 20, 2023 Share Posted February 20, 2023 I think Cam Green should be really good for the aussie side if he's coming back for the last two tests. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paxter Posted February 20, 2023 Share Posted February 20, 2023 4 hours ago, Raja said: I think Cam Green should be really good for the aussie side if he's coming back for the last two tests. Starc I think could also be handy since Australia have had so much trouble running through the tail. Cummins is heading back to Aus for family reasons. It could actually strengthen the Aussie team if he doesn’t make it back in time… Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeor Posted February 20, 2023 Share Posted February 20, 2023 Well Australia losing 8/28 hurts all the more because they were actually in a fairly strong position, leading by 60 with 9 wickets in hand and batting first. Shows how it can all turn on a dime in India. One of the big contrasts is the strength in each side's tail. India have batting strength all the way down but for Australia, Cummins at 8 is at least one position too high (Test batting average a touch under 16) and then Murphy, Lyon and Kuhnemann could all be interchangeable as No. 10s. None of them are quite the bunnies of a Number 11 spot but they're not going to produce many runs. Contrast this to Lee, Starc, Johnson who all had 20+ averages, supplemented by dour grinders like Gillespie who could hang in there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raja Posted February 20, 2023 Share Posted February 20, 2023 I think anything close to 200 would have at least given them more of a chance, so whilst they failed spectacularly, they were in with a shout till that session. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paxter Posted February 21, 2023 Share Posted February 21, 2023 The scary thing is that Australia isn’t losing to India - they are losing to Ashwin, Jadeja and Patel (collectively the highest run scorers and wicket takers). The rest of the team has barely fired a shot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigFatCoward Posted February 23, 2023 Share Posted February 23, 2023 James Anderson being the worlds number one bowler at 40 is mental, my body had fully broken down by that age. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljkeane Posted February 25, 2023 Share Posted February 25, 2023 Apparently Joe Root is still good at cricket. Good that was cleared up. The turnaround in this England test team since McCullum and Stokes have taken over really is remarkable. Positivity and backing their batsmen to play to their more limited overs orientated strengths is clearly a factor but this many wins down there's obviously more to it than just that. The thought behind how they time their innings to put the opposition into really awkward positions when they have to bat is really encouraging, it was most clear cut in the last test were they made New Zealand bat under the lights but the declarations in this test and in Pakistan have been really well timed too. I was also listening to Jarrod Kimber on a podcast recently and he was talking about how the development of the wobble ball delivery in recent years has had a really big impact on the struggles test batsmen have been having and he made the point it's a lot harder to bowl if the ball's getting repeatedly smashed into the stands one day style to flatten the seam out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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