God help me - the Test Cricket thread

[DJC]

I’m not paying as much attention as I should but have we gone in with only four bowlers?

[Gointocarlton]

Warner Marnus Smith Head = 45 runs. Deplorable.
I dont want to mozz him but Uzy looks headed for a ton.

Warner Marnus Smith Head Carey Murphy = 45 runs. Deplorable.

[ElwoodBlues1]

Tough to win in India, doctored pitches, umpires under pressure due to the Indian crowds and the fact they now control world cricket due to the coin they throw at the game in all formats.
Throw in the fact they are a good team with a massive cricket infrastructure churning out players all waiting keenly to make it at international level and share in the spoils and it takes a very good innovative cricket team to beat them.
Our key weapons which are our pace bowlers are injured in the main and also are rendered more docile on their wickets, our spinners are not really at their level due to lack of exposure in our domestic game where we struggle to produce spinner friendly wickets and its very hard for the average Aus team to compete given we dont have quality like Ponting, Gilchrist, Warne, McGrath etc who can overcome the other barriers.

[DJC]

Pretty good knock from Handscomb but, as Bill Lawry would say, “He’s a Victorian!”

Bad luck the selectors couldn’t fit more Victorians into the eleven.

Seriously though, what’s the story with one fast bowler and three spinners?  Green would be handy as would Boland stifling the scoring.

[Gointocarlton]

Pretty good knock from Handscomb but, as Bill Lawry would say, “He’s a Victorian!”

Bad luck the selectors couldn’t fit more Victorians into the eleven.

Seriously though, what’s the story with one fast bowler and three spinners?  Green would be handy as would Boland stifling the scoring.

Ill show my lack of knowledge here but they showed the pitch with decent cracks in it before the start of the game. If Hazlewood and Starc were fit surely their express bowling would have caused chaos on that pitch? Could Boland have done some damage on it? Their quick got the most wickets, the two spinners shared the rest. The young fella Murphy will be under immense pressure to back up his first test performance. Then again the majority of our batsmen just can't put scores on the board.

[LP]

Ill show my lack of knowledge here but they showed the pitch with decent cracks in it before the start of the game.

Australia bat first, and magically those cracks seem to have closed up by day two. ;D

If you want to see Aussie cricket politics at work, watch today and ask yourself how can it be the bloke who got 7 wickets last test hasn't been bowled yet, it's like a puzzle wrapped in an enigma. Maybe Murphy is a coal miner! :o

[bricky]

1-61 to all out for 113 including 4-0, bloody hell

[DJC]

1-61 to all out for 113 including 4-0, bloody hell

Batting is obviously difficult but what's with the sweep shots?  Cummins had clearly decided to sweep before the ball was bowled and that at a time when protecting wickets was paramount.

[LP]

Batting is obviously difficult but what's with the sweep shots?  Cummins had clearly decided to sweep before the ball was bowled and that at a time when protecting wickets was paramount.

The sweep shots are fine, and in fact very useful when conditions suit in India, but doing it mindlessly is the problem.

Some real naivety on display, not good enough from Smith, Cummins or other experienced players!

[Gointocarlton]

Very lazy batting, no thought put into the shots whatsoever, Smith in particular.