The Official Cricket Thread

[Guest Pistonbroke]

And now Voges.

 

It has been excellent bowling from SA, especially when you factor in they are a bowler down and that it is Steyn. 

[Jose Jones]

This Rabada cat looks excellent.

[Guest Pistonbroke]

This Rabada cat looks excellent.

 

Indeed, he is only 21 and after 8 tests he has taken quite a few wickets. One of those curious cricketers who bats left handed but bowls right handed. 

[Guest Pistonbroke]

Another good day for SA, tail wagged for ages and they have made inroads into the Aussie batsmen. I can't see Australia batting all day with 6 wickets left and I can't see them getting 307 runs either. 

[A_S]

This Rabada cat looks excellent.

Does he ever. The way he worked over Voges before dismissing him was impressive for a kid.

 

Oh, and Australia looks like it will go into the 2nd Test unchanged. You couldn't make this shit up.

[Guest Pistonbroke]

Does he ever. The way he worked over Voges before dismissing him was impressive for a kid.

 

Oh, and Australia looks like it will go into the 2nd Test unchanged. You couldn't make this shit up.

 

Have you not got a better spinner than Lyon? 

[Guest LFD]

This Rabada cat looks excellent.

Five wickets in this second Aussie innings for him so far.

[Guest Pistonbroke]

A good win for the SA's which means 4 losses on the bounce for the Aussies. That was some fight back when you consider Australia were 158/0 in their first innings and only 86 runs behind SA's first innings score of 244. Even without Steyn SA have a very good bowling unit.

[lifetime fan]

The saffas have a knack of finding young quicks to come through as the old guard get to the end of their careers.

[Yozzer]

Hameed to open the batting, Duckett down to four with Ballance dropping out. Talk about dropping you in the deep end, poor planning by the selectors.

[lifetime fan]

Cook to stand down as captain at the end of the series?

[s(k)aturation]

Smith mightn't last that long.

[A_S]

Have you not got a better spinner than Lyon? 

 

He's been a popular scapegoat ever since he started and it's currently reaching ridiculous levels. To be honest, Smith's attitude towards him in a couple of areas is really fucking me off, especially in comparison to the batsmen who, as a collective, seem to get a relatively easy ride from the team hierarchy. That, despite these scores in the last 4 Tests (3 in Sri Lanka, 1 in Australia)- 

 

379, 160, 106, 183, 203, 161, 244, 361 

 

How the fuck is a group of bowlers meant to consistently bowl aggressively in the search for wickets with scores like this on the board? Despite all this, Lyon has 18 wickets in those 4 Tests, albeit at an average of 39 (blown out by 0/146 in his most recent effort, including two dropped sitters and two overturned on DRS). He might be struggling a little, but being thrown under the bus by the skipper after the Sri Lankan effort (where he was far from the worst) and then used poorly in Perth can't be doing his confidence much good at all. 

 

I've always been more or less on the fence with Lyon. I like him, he's a solid player that's never had the full support of the public who still yearn for another Warne which isn't going to happen in our lifetime. It just shits me the way some of these fucking flat-track cunts can look a million dollars when the ball does fuck all, but go to water the minute conditions are anything resembling bowler-friendly. I'm looking at you, Adam Voges. Shaun Marsh has come good though, I'll give him that much! But these guys seem to rarely cop the flack they deserve. 

 

Finally on Lyon, the fact that he's the ONLY off-spinner in Australian Test history to get to or even near 200 wickets suggests it's a pretty tough gig in our conditions. And he's still 9 months shy of Swann's Test debut age. 

[s(k)aturation]

To be honest, Smith's attitude towards him in a couple of areas is really fucking me off, especially in comparison to the batsmen who, as a collective, seem to get a relatively easy ride from the team hierarchy.

But, Aussie, we have Adam Voges, who's apparently the best Australian batsmen since Bradman (going by averages - never mind of course, that that is off the back of only once out for 500 runs against the mighty West Indies).

 

Let's face it, mate, apart from that aberration against England and South Africa a couple of seasons back (when Mitch Johnson went nuts), there's a shitload wrong with Australian Cricket. A shitload.

 

We build our season around a domestic T20 tournament and then wonder why we can't bat in England. Or Asia.

[A_S]

But, Aussie, we have Adam Voges, who's apparently the best Australian batsmen since Bradman (going by averages - never mind of course, that that is off the back of only once out for 500 runs against the mighty West Indies).

 

Let's face it, mate, apart from that aberration against England and South Africa a couple of seasons back (when Mitch Johnson went nuts), there's a shitload wrong with Australian Cricket. A shitload.

 

We build our season around a domestic T20 tournament and then wonder why we can't bat in England. Or Asia.

 

Hard to argue with any of that. Even if it's ok for a bit of light entertainment, the fact that I still haven't picked a Melbourne side to follow probably tells you everything about my attitude towards the whole thing. 

[Guest Pistonbroke]

He's been a popular scapegoat ever since he started and it's currently reaching ridiculous levels. To be honest, Smith's attitude towards him in a couple of areas is really fucking me off, especially in comparison to the batsmen who, as a collective, seem to get a relatively easy ride from the team hierarchy. That, despite these scores in the last 4 Tests (3 in Sri Lanka, 1 in Australia)- 

 

379, 160, 106, 183, 203, 161, 244, 361 

 

How the fuck is a group of bowlers meant to consistently bowl aggressively in the search for wickets with scores like this on the board? Despite all this, Lyon has 18 wickets in those 4 Tests, albeit at an average of 39 (blown out by 0/146 in his most recent effort, including two dropped sitters and two overturned on DRS). He might be struggling a little, but being thrown under the bus by the skipper after the Sri Lankan effort (where he was far from the worst) and then used poorly in Perth can't be doing his confidence much good at all. 

 

I've always been more or less on the fence with Lyon. I like him, he's a solid player that's never had the full support of the public who still yearn for another Warne which isn't going to happen in our lifetime. It just shits me the way some of these fucking flat-track cunts can look a million dollars when the ball does fuck all, but go to water the minute conditions are anything resembling bowler-friendly. I'm looking at you, Adam Voges. Shaun Marsh has come good though, I'll give him that much! But these guys seem to rarely cop the flack they deserve. 

 

Finally on Lyon, the fact that he's the ONLY off-spinner in Australian Test history to get to or even near 200 wickets suggests it's a pretty tough gig in our conditions. And he's still 9 months shy of Swann's Test debut age. 

 

Thanks for the info AS.

 

I wasn't having a pop at Lyon, I'm not a massive fan of him though , just think he is way too inconsistent. I was just wandering if you had any better spinners. I don't really follow the Australian press/cricket news.  

 

I agree with John (Skaro) though, this T20 bash needs watering down a bit, it is totally in favour of the batsmen as the crowd want to see big hitting and spin bowlers get tonked a lot of the time, can't do them any favours when trying to build a test career and have to bat abroad on different wickets. I wouldn't hold your breath on anything changing on that front though, those at the top love it as it brings in the money. 

[Guest LFD]

India's home record in Tests since England's last visit in 2012: WWWWWWWDWWWWW

Highest Test scores against India in India since Nov 2013: 85 de Villiers (Bangalore '15) 80 Ronchi (Kanpur '16) 75 Williamson (Kanpur '16).
 
They are huge favourites and it still annoys me Hameed is making his debut in this tough series when he should have played the last one instead of Ballance.
 

England's youngest Test players: Brian Close 18y 149d, Jack Crawford 19y 32d, Denis Compton 19y 83d, Ben Hollioake 19y 269d, Hameed 19y 297d

 
If England have any chance, then Cook and Root have to have brilliant series.  Both are capable of it, both are fine players of spin, they'll need support.  
 
So is Duckett going to bat at four?

 

Guess with Duckett getting the nod over Buttler we'll see Bairstow batting low down at around 7 again.  He's our top scorer in 2016, he needs to be in the top five.

 

Finn surely gets dropped. 0 runs & 0 wickets in the last match, which he should never have got picked for.

[Guest LFD]

He's been a popular scapegoat ever since he started and it's currently reaching ridiculous levels. To be honest, Smith's attitude towards him in a couple of areas is really fucking me off, especially in comparison to the batsmen who, as a collective, seem to get a relatively easy ride from the team hierarchy. That, despite these scores in the last 4 Tests (3 in Sri Lanka, 1 in Australia)- 

 

379, 160, 106, 183, 203, 161, 244, 361 

 

How the fuck is a group of bowlers meant to consistently bowl aggressively in the search for wickets with scores like this on the board? Despite all this, Lyon has 18 wickets in those 4 Tests, albeit at an average of 39 (blown out by 0/146 in his most recent effort, including two dropped sitters and two overturned on DRS). He might be struggling a little, but being thrown under the bus by the skipper after the Sri Lankan effort (where he was far from the worst) and then used poorly in Perth can't be doing his confidence much good at all. 

 

I've always been more or less on the fence with Lyon. I like him, he's a solid player that's never had the full support of the public who still yearn for another Warne which isn't going to happen in our lifetime. It just shits me the way some of these fucking flat-track cunts can look a million dollars when the ball does fuck all, but go to water the minute conditions are anything resembling bowler-friendly. I'm looking at you, Adam Voges. Shaun Marsh has come good though, I'll give him that much! But these guys seem to rarely cop the flack they deserve. 

 

Finally on Lyon, the fact that he's the ONLY off-spinner in Australian Test history to get to or even near 200 wickets suggests it's a pretty tough gig in our conditions. And he's still 9 months shy of Swann's Test debut age.

 

I like him, he'd walk into the England side - probably a few others as well.

 

His problem is he isn't Warne or MacGill.

[Jairzinho]

MacGill was shite. He never recovered from the twatting I gave him at Tiverton Heathcoat.

 

Seriously though, he's only 45. Can't they just play him now?

[Ian Sea]

Looking forward to the India series, despite the fact that I think we'll lose 5 nil. I'm heading out to Mumbai for the 4th Test so it'd be nice if the series was still alive at that point but I doubt it will be.

[Yozzer]

Looking forward to the India series, despite the fact that I think we'll lose 5 nil. I'm heading out to Mumbai for the 4th Test so it'd be nice if the series was still alive at that point but I doubt it will be.

Nice one. Did you plan that or was it just fortunate that you went on holiday at the same time?

[Ian Sea]

Nice one. Did you plan that or was it just fortunate that you went on holiday at the same time?

Nah, planned it mate. I'm in Abu Dhabi so it's only a couple of hours away. I went over in March for the T20 game against South Africa so wanted to go somewhere else this time but couldn't make any other Test due to prior commitments. Happy to be going back to Mumbai though, it's a great city.

 

Heading to Bangalore in March as well for India v the Aussies, en route back from Goa.

[Guest Pistonbroke]

I'm going to set my alarm for the start of tomorrows test. If India are batting first I'll roll over and get up a few hours later. If we bat first I#ll jump out of bed. 

[A_S]

Nah, planned it mate. I'm in Abu Dhabi so it's only a couple of hours away. I went over in March for the T20 game against South Africa so wanted to go somewhere else this time but couldn't make any other Test due to prior commitments. Happy to be going back to Mumbai though, it's a great city.

 

Heading to Bangalore in March as well for India v the Aussies, en route back from Goa.

 

So you'll be seeing at least one Indian win then? 

[A_S]

Thanks for the info AS.

 

I wasn't having a pop at Lyon, I'm not a massive fan of him though , just think he is way too inconsistent. I was just wandering if you had any better spinners. I don't really follow the Australian press/cricket news.  

 

I agree with John (Skaro) though, this T20 bash needs watering down a bit, it is totally in favour of the batsmen as the crowd want to see big hitting and spin bowlers get tonked a lot of the time, can't do them any favours when trying to build a test career and have to bat abroad on different wickets. I wouldn't hold your breath on anything changing on that front though, those at the top love it as it brings in the money. 

 

Nah, all good mate. I was referring more to the Australian cricket fans on FB and cricinfo leaving shite comments about him constantly, wanting him dropped because of one innings where his figures are bad (though he was a tad unlucky, as I mentioned earlier. Now Shane Warne may talk lots of rubbish nowadays, but occasionally when he decides to focus on cricket, he can be well worth listening to, especially regarding spinners. As a rule, he's a big Steve Smith fan, so when he is openly critical of his use of Lyon, it's fair to captain and spinner are not quite on the same page right now and it's helping neither of them.