God help me - the Test Cricket thread

[Mav]

Wow, Green dismissed Azhar Ali LBW when Ali ducked a bouncer only to find it hit him around the groin as he squatted "underneath" the bouncer. Bizarrely, he discussed taking a review with his batting partner for so long he ran out of time. After he was safely ensconced in the dressing room, snicko showed the ball hit his glove on the way through! 

[Mav]

Smith dropped a pudd in slips off Cummins. Shafique has a life at 20.

[DJC]

The draw was probably a fair result.  Both teams worked their butts off but the Pakistanis have unearthed some very promising batters.

It seemed that the game was played in good spirits and that's nice to see.

[LP]

A lot of people(media / fans) slammed Cummins for not enforcing the follow on, but on that pitch it has now been justified.

I do however stand by my earlier criticism regarding the selection of roller, Cummins should have used the heavy roller before our short innings to try and further break up the pitch. Next time he'll pay more attention to what the opposition does.

[Professer E]

Need to give a break to a few of Cummo's NSW mates.

[LP]

Need to give a break to a few of Cummo's NSW mates.

Swepson doesn't / didn't look ready to me, he's far off having the control needed to be a reliable impacter of games, and he may never get it, mind you he had some bad luck and could have easily had a couple of wickets but the international teams will always make him pay a high price for each wicket.

The problem is for all the good sessions erratic bowlers have, they undo the build up of pressure at other times, Starc is the same.

Lyon isn't getting younger, and looked head and shoulders above the rest.

Without some assistance form the wicket, even Cummins looked ordinary, not enough tricks. Keep in mind his reputation is built over the last few years of COVID related cricket in regions that aren't as challenging as Pakistan or India. There is a huge difference playing against those teams at their home versus some neutral venue like Dubai.

Watching the final session last night, I had to wonder what Zampa has done wrong, and I also thought if we had Fawad Ahmed playing we might well have won! But that's a short term outlook.

[Professer E]

Other than a brief period with the reversing pill,  Starc hasn't exactly set the world on fire recently and his record in later tests within a series is poor.  I bet the next pitch is a raging turner given its zip all after 2.

Wonder if Agar isn't worth a try either.  Too many pies from Swepson amongst some good deliveries.  Without control it doesn't matter if it's spin or pace,  you can't build or exert pressure, and you can't comply with bowling plans.

[LP]

Wonder if Agar isn't worth a try either. 

Very good point about Agar, the main trouble Lyon caused was related to bounce and Agar gets that naturally courtesy of his extra height, but he is not a big turner however he has a modicum of control not exhibited by Swepson.

If only Agar was a NSWelshmen!

Not sure if you watched last night, they bang on about how much Lyon and Swepson give it a rip, then Labuschagne came on for an over and made them both look dead straight although with even less control than Swepson!

They had Smith, Head, Labuschange, and with his lack of control Swepson really looks like a luxury item. Now you've made me think I'd go Lyon, Agar and one of the other three batsmen for short spells.

[ElwoodBlues1]

Swepson did look out of his depth but so did Shane Warne when Ravi Shastri was hammering him around in his first test. Leggies take a while and while Agar will give you control and save runs I still think we need to persist with Swepson in Pakistan.
If I was playing Agar it would be in India where left arm orthodox like Jadeja and Axar dominate and the sneaky Indians fix the wickets to suit them both.
If I was teaching kids how to bat I would show them a video of Babar Azam in terms of technique, he is very textbook and organised with his footwork. Thought we lost this test due to some poor fielding especially from Smith who is normally reliable but everyone has a bad day no matter how good they are.

[capcom]

Might be time to think about calling it a day Warner ....