Australia v. India. 4th. Test - Gabba.
The commentators yesterday were very critical of the Oz batsmen who threw their wickets away: Harris, Smith, Wade, Marnus (all of them except Warner).K wrote:....
Hayden asked why there are all the middling scores and no centuries.
Ponting says they are just making "simple mistakes and a lot of them". He gives the Harris and Smith wickets as examples.
...
Blewett said their cheap dismissals showed the batsmen had "mental issues". He said if it'd been in Border's time there would have been the double teapot and smashed plates in the dressing room.
Slater said Marnus should have made at least 150. He said by getting out Marnus had left his side in trouble.
Slater: "Where is the discipline? Where is the hunger?"
Brayshaw said the pitch was "very flat" and the batsmen would not want to look at the TV replays.
They were already replaying Wade's two ugly swipes that got him out in the previous Tests, and then he went and added a third.
So now they are replaying three very similar ugly swipes as a package. What is Wade thinking? 
Yesterday, Ponting said par score on this pitch was 400.
Today, Blewett said they should have scored 400-450.
Pontiing said the average winning first-innings score here is 440.
Presumably, all those numbers are against a full bowling attack, not a 3rd XI bowling attack with one man down.
The pitch is not that good. Cummins has 1/17 but could as easily have had 3 for 5 if the various nicks to and through slips had gone to hand. We saw the same thing in the Australian innings, too: no-one was really ever “in”. It was good that they, for the most part, battled on. Watching Labu give up various chances on his way to a bare hundred, it was difficult not to wish they dropped Warner and Smith, instead.
As to the first innings total, the historical “par” at the Gabba is in the 330s, so 369 was a good result, especially after going in with only 3 established Test-standard batsmen and losing 1 of them in the first over.
As to the first innings total, the historical “par” at the Gabba is in the 330s, so 369 was a good result, especially after going in with only 3 established Test-standard batsmen and losing 1 of them in the first over.
He should be more shocked and disgusted at having to watch Pujara bat. A country with a billion people, all of whom want to play international cricket - where did they get this clown from? The country that brought us Gavaskar, Vishwanath, Vengsarkar, Tendulkar, Sehwag, Very Very Special Laxman and Kohli etc etc etc now presents us with a bloke you wouldn't go across the street to watch for free. He's like a less-adventurous Dravid (a concept I would have thought funny until watching this, just now).
By the way, I think it may be Tea. I have the game on "mute" while I watch the ice hockey. Certainly, the score hasn't moved for quite a while - so we're on a scheduled break, have had a rain interruption or are waiting for Pujara to get off strike so we can see some cricket.
Last edited by Pies4shaw on Sat Jan 16, 2021 3:10 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Meanwhile, in that ice hockey I was watching, Colorado have come back from a first up loss against St Louis to take the return-game 8-0. It's fair to say that Colorado scored faster than Pujara.
And, in time-honoured fashion, here's the Monty Python we always listen to when there'e a weather-interruption: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qQEsVl0wkQ
And, in time-honoured fashion, here's the Monty Python we always listen to when there'e a weather-interruption: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qQEsVl0wkQ
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Lazza
- Posts: 12836
- Joined: Tue Feb 04, 2003 7:01 pm
- Location: Bendigo, Victoria, Australia
Pies4shaw, I disagree with your comments about Pujara but realise that my appreciation of test cricket was cemented in much earlier times to you, listening to commentary of Trevor Bailey, Chris Tavare and Geoff Boycott batting. Sure there were others. There was no ODI or 20/20 pyjama cricket. Slowly building up an innings, especially on terrible uncovered pitches, was inspiring to watch. This type of stoic batting defined test cricket but people also had far more patience to appreciate the battle, albeit slow.
Don't confuse your current path with your final destination. Just because it's dark and stormy now doesn't meant that you aren't headed for glorious sunshine!
Lazza, Test batting technique is dying and administrators, players and fans don't seem to care. (That's why I'm glad at least one batsman in the world, Kane Williamson, has a sound technique.) I can understand the "fun" of T20 slogathons, but it comes at a huge cost. How can slogging like that not affect your technique? Ten years ago, Michael Holding said that T20 would kill Test cricket within 20 years.
To match the failing techniques of all these flat-track bullies, the pitches have been made flatter and flatter. That's why I fear all these dead pitches. (That's why I was alarmed but not surprised by what Sydney dished up.) They are simply speeding up the death of Test batting technique. If they made pitches more sporting, batsmen would have to raise their games. Now if there's any movement at all, batsmen have a huge whinge.
To match the failing techniques of all these flat-track bullies, the pitches have been made flatter and flatter. That's why I fear all these dead pitches. (That's why I was alarmed but not surprised by what Sydney dished up.) They are simply speeding up the death of Test batting technique. If they made pitches more sporting, batsmen would have to raise their games. Now if there's any movement at all, batsmen have a huge whinge.