Aussies v. Black Caps - 3 Tests.
Commentators Maxwell (I think), Nannes, and someone else have been moaning about the flatness of the pitch.
Maxwell talked about all the hopes of something for the bowlers before the match started. You'd have to be very gullible to believe any of that now. Sydney may be the last chance for a pitch fair to the bowlers. All the flat-track bullies can rejoice.
Nannes sounds very much like Gilchrist.
Maxwell talked about all the hopes of something for the bowlers before the match started. You'd have to be very gullible to believe any of that now. Sydney may be the last chance for a pitch fair to the bowlers. All the flat-track bullies can rejoice.
Nannes sounds very much like Gilchrist.
NZ bowled manfully in unhelpful conditions (and were helped by a couple of soft dismissals). Why would you think that the score contradicts the widely claimed flatness of the pitches? I thought NZ should be happy with their efforts but may still be looking at a 400+ Oz first-innings total. We used to think that 400 was a huge total, not something you can get when you throw away wickets.Donny wrote:It WAS good for the quicks.
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Again, I don't know why others are not hearing the chorus of criticism from so many journos and commentators about the flat pitches. Did the pay TV guys think these are good conditions for bowlers? Surely not. I'm glad FTA viewers don't have to put up with Vaughan's smug voice, though they have to put up with Brayshaw's ugly voice.
Any Oz batsman who has done worse than Marnus since he subbed into the Ashes is a failure. At the time, Marnus was averaging 38 in first-class cricket, so it's unlikely that he's some sort of batting freak. He's just dedicated to his work and values his wicket. The others should follow his lead.
If Ferguson's injury is bad, NZ are in a spot of bother.
- Donny
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You seem obsessed with this stuff, K.
Why can't you just enjoy the cricket ? Yesterday was fascinating.
Preparing wickets is not rocket surgery (;)). It's still up to the cricketers to sum up/read the deck.
If 2 openers play brilliantly and are still there at lunch, does that indicate they're batting on a road ? No. If a team is 3 or 4 down in the first hour, does that, necessarily, mean it's a bowler friendly strip ? No. Might have been 3 or 4 injudicious strokes.
There are so many variables.
Cricket is a huge commercial venture. Of course curators try for the perfect wicket. The last thing they want is a 2 or 3 day Test. By the same token, they don't want a draw on a batting paradise, with, perhaps, 2 or 3 declarations and 3 or 4 century makers.
'Getting it right' is often just how the batsmen and bowlers perform. Brilliant catch or missed chance. Well judged single or bad call - run out. DRS - either way. Batsman plays a wonderful uppercut over the slips for a boundary or slightly misjudges it, to be caught. Batsman plays on to be bowled or French cuts the ball, for 4.
It's just cricket.
Why can't you just enjoy the cricket ? Yesterday was fascinating.
Preparing wickets is not rocket surgery (;)). It's still up to the cricketers to sum up/read the deck.
If 2 openers play brilliantly and are still there at lunch, does that indicate they're batting on a road ? No. If a team is 3 or 4 down in the first hour, does that, necessarily, mean it's a bowler friendly strip ? No. Might have been 3 or 4 injudicious strokes.
There are so many variables.
Cricket is a huge commercial venture. Of course curators try for the perfect wicket. The last thing they want is a 2 or 3 day Test. By the same token, they don't want a draw on a batting paradise, with, perhaps, 2 or 3 declarations and 3 or 4 century makers.
'Getting it right' is often just how the batsmen and bowlers perform. Brilliant catch or missed chance. Well judged single or bad call - run out. DRS - either way. Batsman plays a wonderful uppercut over the slips for a boundary or slightly misjudges it, to be caught. Batsman plays on to be bowled or French cuts the ball, for 4.
It's just cricket.
Donny.
It's a game. Enjoy it.
It's a game. Enjoy it.
Flat pitches are an existential threat to the game. It's gone hand in hand with the death of Test batting. It's also clearly encouraged ball tampering, as desperate bowlers tried to get something, anything, to help them. (The use of past tense there might be naive, but people claim that reverse swing has disappeared from the game because after Warner-Bancroft-Smith everyone is scared of getting caught doing anything to the ball.) It's probably related to the death of wicketkeeping too. Wicketkeeping the world over is largely abysmal. It was abysmal during the ODI WC. The technical mistakes keepers make seem so basic, you wonder why they are not fixing them. Sangakkara likes deconstructing their flaws, and it's always the same thing. How can they all keep making the same mistakes?Donny wrote:You seem obsessed with this stuff, K.
Why can't you just enjoy the cricket ? Yesterday was fascinating.
...
I don't think we need to go into mass denial and indulge in fantasies about what has happened in order to enjoy the cricket. I assume most of the journos and commentators who make strong criticisms are enjoying the cricket, though I guess it's possible they are tortured and just doing their jobs for the money. (The same I think is true about Collingwood Football Club and its current problems, and its historical problems winning GFs. There are many Collingwood fans on this bulletin board, in GD, who seem to believe that the only way to enjoy footy is to enter into some sort of fantasy world in which the Club never makes any mistakes and in which there is no GF problem. Worse, they aggressively try to censor any discussion of these problems... But I digress...)
Do you think Michael Holding hates watching cricket? I don't think so. I assume he loves cricket and loves watching. If you care about something, you won't stay silent when the thing you care about is harmed or in danger. (Well, I cannot remember if I've heard him commentate T20, which he declared has "ruined cricket". Ian Bishop does, but I don't know about Holding, so maybe he does hate T20 and refuses to commentate it.)
I assume Sangakkara also enjoys watching cricket, including the wicketkeeping. And all the other commentators, like Warne, who is not afraid to criticise the game's administrators or anyone else.
One could claim I'm obsessed, but I cannot quote people if they don't write and say what they write and say, so then they would probably have to be "obsessed" too. (But maybe I should have started a separate thread on flat tracks two years ago, after the MCG debacle. It's not too late, I guess!)
None of that is to say that this Test is the most glaring example of the faults talked about above. At least, it features the best batsman in the world, Kane Williamson, though after days in 40-degree heat and a bowler down, who knows what's going to happen when NZ have to bat? They might get bundled out. If huge cracks open up because of the extreme heat, that's just bad luck, though I think a draw is still a big possibility if enough batsmen knuckle down.
The Death of Test Batting. I've said it before. It's a death spiral. As Test batting gets worse and worse, the administrators make the pitches flatter and flatter to compensate, but then the batting keeps getting worse and worse.
And the best bowlers are being spared, because they don't get bowled into the ground. Instead, guys like Mitch Marsh and Labu (or Raval, who's currently doing a good job for his team, though Ponting thinks it's lack of intent by the batsmen, or Stokes and Root, or...) spare them. Did we ever have this obsession with squeezing in 5th and 6th bowlers 40 years ago? The 5th bowler is supposed to be part of the sacrifice to the Goddess of Dead Pitches. The strike bowler is then saved for the new ball, or the new pink ball under lights...
Update:
Ponting said Raval is letting Southee and co get a good long rest. And moments later, he got the bonus wicket of Cummins, bowled attempting a sweep. The first wicket in Tests for Raval.
I'm sure we can find old scorecards where guys like Malcolm Marshall and Imran were bowling 35 overs in an innings.
And the best bowlers are being spared, because they don't get bowled into the ground. Instead, guys like Mitch Marsh and Labu (or Raval, who's currently doing a good job for his team, though Ponting thinks it's lack of intent by the batsmen, or Stokes and Root, or...) spare them. Did we ever have this obsession with squeezing in 5th and 6th bowlers 40 years ago? The 5th bowler is supposed to be part of the sacrifice to the Goddess of Dead Pitches. The strike bowler is then saved for the new ball, or the new pink ball under lights...
Update:
Ponting said Raval is letting Southee and co get a good long rest. And moments later, he got the bonus wicket of Cummins, bowled attempting a sweep. The first wicket in Tests for Raval.
I'm sure we can find old scorecards where guys like Malcolm Marshall and Imran were bowling 35 overs in an innings.
- Donny
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Aussies bat on after Labu's 143.
Marnus Labuschagne took his score to 143, before Neil Wagner bowled him, on Day 2 of the first Oz/NZ Test, in Perth.
Travis head scored 56.
Aust: 6/363. Tim Paine 26*, Pat Cummins 20*, Wagner 3/83.
https://www.facebook.com/AussieCricket- ... =bookmarks
Marnus Labuschagne took his score to 143, before Neil Wagner bowled him, on Day 2 of the first Oz/NZ Test, in Perth.
Travis head scored 56.
Aust: 6/363. Tim Paine 26*, Pat Cummins 20*, Wagner 3/83.
https://www.facebook.com/AussieCricket- ... =bookmarks
Donny.
It's a game. Enjoy it.
It's a game. Enjoy it.
Hazlewood cannot complete his over. Maybe a calf injury.
Both sides could be a bowler down. (Don't forget that Boult is missing with injury too.) One has to ask whether all these bowlers breaking down in modern cricket is the result of all the flat pitches.
Update: TV claims it's a hamstring injury.
Update 2: Matthew Wade on as "first" (second?) change.
Ponting on Hazlewood: "Could be his summer done, to be honest."
Ponting: "I feel sorry for Ross Taylor. This would be a horrible time to be batting against someone like Matthew Wade."
Update 3: They show replays of Cummins vs. Williamson from the previous over. They did not appeal and certainly did not review. Snicko suggests a nick! Another stuffed up review from Oz. And to the best batsman in the world!!
Both sides could be a bowler down. (Don't forget that Boult is missing with injury too.) One has to ask whether all these bowlers breaking down in modern cricket is the result of all the flat pitches.
Update: TV claims it's a hamstring injury.
Update 2: Matthew Wade on as "first" (second?) change.
Ponting on Hazlewood: "Could be his summer done, to be honest."
Ponting: "I feel sorry for Ross Taylor. This would be a horrible time to be batting against someone like Matthew Wade."
Update 3: They show replays of Cummins vs. Williamson from the previous over. They did not appeal and certainly did not review. Snicko suggests a nick! Another stuffed up review from Oz. And to the best batsman in the world!!