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nmh94

nmh94

Posted
Posted

Players are too concerned about playing in the T20 leagues around the world instead of playing their off season overseas like in the good old days..

 

Very true. Time was new, or aspiring test players would hone their skills with a county cricket stint, exposing them to new conditions and regular, competitive four day cricket. Now, they spend their time in India trying to hit every ball out of the park on the flattest pitches imaginable.

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btron3000

btron3000

Posted
Posted

We are a joke against spin on the subcontinent. 7-80. Unbelievable.

 

I remember both Steven Waugh and Border saying that when they went to the subcontinent they looked at the pitches and worked out what shots they could play, and just waited for the right ball for those shots. Otherwise they just defended.

 

Not sure if it's as stated above and too many players just do the T20 thing too much, but they just always seem to come out saying they want to play "their normal game" ie they don't adapt at all.

 

That dismissal of Smith in the first innings of the first Test might be looked back on as a turning point in a lot of careers, from both sides, not least of which his own. Australia was totally on top against a team we always beat who were struggling after the retirement of great players. Now they have their tails up and we are looking like we do in India - clueless.

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nmh94

nmh94

Posted
Posted

Nailed it Btron. I'm not sure what is worse: our flat track heroes with the willow, or oir 'spin' options. Jon Holland has looked so far out of his depth on a spinning (underline that!) wicket its not funny. The Lankan turners are in another league.

 

The saving grace has been Starc, who was excellent. It looks like he is finally fulfilling his immense potential.

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btron3000

btron3000

Posted
Posted

Wow.

 

I'll tell you what though. This England v Pakistan series is a pearler. Pakistan win first test by 75 runs. Always on top in fourth innings, but still a bit nervy. England bounce back to kill them in the second.

 

The third is shaping like a classic. England with a decent first innings of 297, then an early wicket. Pakistan then put on a 180 run partnership. Just when it looks like they can't get out one of them gets run out and then England get a wicket off the last ball of the 2nd day to give them a sniff. They take momentum and by the end if the third day they have wiped away the 100 run deficit and taken a small lead for no loss. Day 4 and Pakistan bowl much better. They get two wickets in succession and England under the pump again. Root and Vince dig them out and they are only 2 down with a 120 run lead when the leggie gets Root.

 

3 down, England lead by 131 on a wicket playing well. New ball due soon. Right in the balance halfway through day 4. PROPER TEST CRICKET!

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luisenrique

luisenrique

Posted
Posted

This partnership looks to have taken it away from Pakistan though, unfortunately. 

 

I think T20, as much as I hate it, is slightly over blamed for the debacle in Sri Lanka, just because half our team (Burns, Voges, Nevill, Lyon etc) don't really play it much anyway. But it is to blame for selectors thinking people like Holland are test quality bowlers, and/or the lack of quality spinners coming up. Every young spinner now is primarily gonna learn to dart the ball in with minimal flight, because that's what works in T20. What a time to be alive.

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btron3000

btron3000

Posted
Posted

is it worth piling money onto the draw to make some $$$?

I doubt it'd be worth it. It's got to be the lowest odds, followed by England win. If you plump for a draw, there is a chance that England ramp up the pressure on them today.

 

Betting on individual games in team sports is rarely worth it. Too few outcomes and therefore odds too low for the risk. It's good fun, but that's it.

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btron3000

btron3000

Posted
Posted

I just put on Fox to check the score, and Rodney Hogg is on that Cricket Legends show that Crash Craddock does. Talking about rest days in Tests:

 

As soon as they took them away the whole thing tidied up because when you haven't got a rest day you can't get up to mischief. When we played the Pakis in Perth we had a rest day and were a bit bored, y'know bored blokes filling up a bucket of water and tipping it on people from the 4th floor of the hotel. Lo and behold the bucket is there and below there is Imran in a suit and Javed in a suit, well Happy Birthday! Hahaha

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Unlimited

Unlimited

Posted
Posted

Unlimited I hope you saved your money

 

I did

 

I was considering chucking all of it on England draw no bet after lunch when Pakistan were 1/79 off 30 overs or whatever - that was when the draw was $1.10 and way too short

 

But I was really tired and betting when tired is stupid so I went to sleep

 

wake up and i'm like :nono::smurfnono::smurfpoint:

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luisenrique

luisenrique

Posted
Posted (edited)

I dunno if Misbah's comments got lost in translation, but he said something like...'we need to get lessons from England on how to reverse'...not sure if he meant that genuinely or was hinting at something.

 

I must admit the thought has always been at the back of my mind. There are a few recent series, most notably the last Ashes, where after going behind at home they suddenly discover the ability to produce prodigious swing while the other team can't. And they have form, it's not that long ago that they were caught using mints (? something like that) on the ball.

 

Probably just because I hate England, but there's a part of me that thinks they're up to shenanigans.

Edited by luisenrique
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DCWSW

DCWSW

Posted
Posted

Great article on cricinfo

 

As he ponders changes to Australia's badly malfunctioning top order, coach Darren Lehmannhas admitted that increasingly homogenised domestic pitches - and drop-in wickets at multipurpose stadiums - have played a role in stunting the adaptability of batsmen.

When Lehmann and his contemporaries were learning their trade, each major venue had a pitch of unique character, from the bounce of Perth to the seam of Brisbane to Adelaide's something-for-everyone, Sydney's spin and Melbourne's variable bounce. However the contrasts have diminished in recent years, not helped by the installation of drop-in pitches at the MCG, the Adelaide Oval and, soon, Perth's new stadium.

Another factor over time had been the preparation of increasingly friendly pitches for seam bowlers to aid each state's bid for the Sheffield Shield, followed by a reverse directive from the team performance manager Pat Howard for flatter surfaces. While the number of runs scored in Australian first-class competition has risen, batsmen are clearly not facing the same challenges that so confounded them in Kandy and Galle.

"I think we have said for a while that we would like the Shield wickets to go back a little bit in time where they are all different," Lehmann said. "You had Perth which was grassy and bouncy and went through and swung, and Brisbane seamed and Adelaide reversed and spun and Sydney spun from day one.

"All those things we would love to see happen, but the problem we've got now is we've got drop-ins at a couple of grounds, so it's hard to do. You would love that to be the case but you are living in a different world and so it's a bit harder. In terms of Test wickets, whatever we get we'll trust the curators to do the best they can. I think you see it has been pretty fair in Australia for a couple of years but there is no reason it can't improve either."

Groundsmen in Australia are hard at work trying to find ways to improve the variety of pitches they can prepare. Adelaide Oval's head curator Damian Hough is at the forefront of experimentation with moveable surfaces, developing more porous drop-in trays that allow moisture to escape and so create the right environment for the pitch to deteriorate. Last year Adelaide provided a pitch made more or less to order for the use of the pink ball in the inaugural day/night Test.

The desire to change and improve has been visible in the flurry of thoughts around the Australian team over the past few days, starting with a team decision to play more proactively in the second innings in Galle. This was most dramatically shown by Adam Voges, who repeatedly tried the reverse sweep to break up the line of the spinners, before falling to the same shot.

"We have had those discussions already," Lehmann said of the brainstorming that led to Voges' innings. "It's probably him going 'I have to change', thinking he can play a certain way, and change in other ways. So, that's learning the game, isn't it, and trying to adapt. But being proactive is the key to having good success in the subcontinent, not being reactive."

Lehmann said he agreed with the captain Steven Smith's contention that the selectors needed to choose batsmen more suited to the prevailing conditions in future. However, he also added that if this were so, public and media perceptions needed to change, given the fact that no member of the current squad "deserved" to be missing from the Sri Lanka squad given their performances last summer.

"Totally agree," Lehmann said of Smith's suggestion. "The interesting thing, though, if you have a look at our summer and the way our batters played, if we didn't take any of those batters, how would we be viewed in the press? It's always tough. We haven't had the success, now we have to look outside the square."

Shaun Marsh is in contention to come into the Test XI for Colombo, as a top-order batsman with a decent record against spin and runs on his last visit to Sri Lanka in 2011. None of Joe Burns, Usman Khawaja or even Voges could have too many complaints were they omitted for the third Test, a decision Lehmann said would not count against their chances of being chosen again on more familiar home turf.

"Everyone in the squad will be considered, that's what happens when you don't have the results you would like, we will need to have a look at the wicket, sum it up and go from there," Lehmann said. "You don't like dropping anyone, you feel for them when they don't play as well as they would like. That's the hardest thing as a coach and a selector - you have to make tough decisions sometimes.

"We are playing a Test match in tough conditions; [we will] pick the best XI for that and then worry about the summer when we get home. It won't hold against anyone, this is a squad that we think is right. Obviously results show different and say different but we have to make sure we are picking the best XI to play."

Daniel Brettig is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo. @danbrettig

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luisenrique

luisenrique

Posted
Posted

Yeah, re: the first article, made me laugh when they were saying 'oh but we actually had enough preparation for this series'. One 3 day game! I remember back in the day when you played at least 2 four day games before the first test, AND often one in the middle of the series.

 

Stop trying to sugar coat it, there's no time for preparation because so much of the calendar is taken up by meaningless limited overs shite.

 

Also was it you daniel who posted on twitter that Panesar has signed for Campbelltown??

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btron3000

btron3000

Posted
Posted

Both those reasons have been known for ages, they just won't do anything about it.

 

It's all about cash.

 

Too much limited overs garbage to have proper tour matches.

 

And the drop-in pitches are the fault of the AFL. They basically took over the grounds they are talking about with $$$, and now the pitches are garbage.

 

I don't understand why they at least don't try and put the ODIs at the start of tours. You need less preparation to do well in ODIs and it gets you into the country and even if the pitches for the ODIs are flat you can still hit up the practice wickets.

 

2 games and then one in-between Luis - check out 1989 - 5 one dayers v counties, 3 x ODIs, 5 x 3 day games BEFORE the first test. Then at least 2 x 3 day games between all tests! 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_cricket_team_in_England_in_1989

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989_Ashes_series

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