Matt79
Hall of Fame Member
Great day's play - this is why Test cricket is, and will forever be, the only real form of cricket, and anything else is a pale imitation.
Great effort by Singh with the new ball to get the ball rolling after Ponting elected to bat, and then just when Ponting and Hussey looked set to both go on and score big, the dramatic collapse - 4 wickets for 15-odd runs in half-an-hour - unheard for this team.
What followed has become an instant inclusion in my favourite bits of cricket - Symonds and Hoggy's partnership, from two players with so much to prove still in Tests, when their team desperately needed something special, and done in such a cavalier, adventurous spirit, is an instant classic. I actually missed about 45 minutes of it (stupid meeting at work meant I had to step away from the telly), and as I was walking back I was thinking "this day sucks, the Aussies are probably fielding by now, but maybe, just maybe, Symonds will still be there and have Hogg or Lee with him". When I got back it was 6/200, and I thought, you know, 200 is actually ok, it at least gives our bowlers SOMETHING to aim at. And from there it just went.
Was so stoked when Symonds got his 100 - despite his century last year, and his 50s this year, Roy still have a huge question mark hanging over him about his ability to mount a rescue mission when he wasn't given a huge platform from which to play carefree cricket, or didn't have a senior batsman at the other end to hold his hand. This innings, besides taking his batting average to the important 40 benchmark, answered that question in spades for me. I'm prepared to say now that Symonds is the genuine article as a Test cricketer. This could well turn out to be the highlight of career, and he'll obviously still have failures in the future, but to me this innings proves he has the stuff required to fill the #6 batsman slot legitimately, and that its not a compromised solution for the team.
EDIT: It's been pointed out to me that there was an obvious caught behind that Symonds received a reprieve for, which I didn't see and hence hadn't factored into the above, and didn't mention the stumping, which I actually thought the third umpire was correct in calling 'not out'. So that diminishes Symonds' effort a bit, although him making the Indians pay after 1 (IMO) let-off is still encouraging for mine.
Hogg's effort was just a joy to watch, and it was a shame that Symonds' ton making broke his concentration a bit, although he had lived by the sword in playing his shots, so sooner or later it was going to catch up with him. Still, would have loved it if he had got to triple figures as well. I was thinking that he and Lee had been having a duel about who's number 8 and who's 9 - and when he got out I concluded that Hogg had settled that issue for now, but now Lee's going well also. Hopefully Lee can mount a counter case by going on with it tomorrow morning.
I thought, having chosen to bat, par would be 400, especially given the pitch seems to have already, and will continue to get easier to bat on. The Aussies should reach that now, and how much more they get will be the big question. Just how good a first innings score that is will have to be decided once the Indian batsmen get their chance - if they declare at 5/600, it's not enough, if they get skittled for 200 again, it will be game-breaking. You'd suspect Australia will be much more frugal in the field, and that this total will be enough to put Australia in a strong position for the match, especially with Zaheer out.
The umpires continue to have an interesting series - from what I saw there seemed to be errors both ways, so here's hoping they can just get it right from here on in.
Great effort by Singh with the new ball to get the ball rolling after Ponting elected to bat, and then just when Ponting and Hussey looked set to both go on and score big, the dramatic collapse - 4 wickets for 15-odd runs in half-an-hour - unheard for this team.
What followed has become an instant inclusion in my favourite bits of cricket - Symonds and Hoggy's partnership, from two players with so much to prove still in Tests, when their team desperately needed something special, and done in such a cavalier, adventurous spirit, is an instant classic. I actually missed about 45 minutes of it (stupid meeting at work meant I had to step away from the telly), and as I was walking back I was thinking "this day sucks, the Aussies are probably fielding by now, but maybe, just maybe, Symonds will still be there and have Hogg or Lee with him". When I got back it was 6/200, and I thought, you know, 200 is actually ok, it at least gives our bowlers SOMETHING to aim at. And from there it just went.
Was so stoked when Symonds got his 100 - despite his century last year, and his 50s this year, Roy still have a huge question mark hanging over him about his ability to mount a rescue mission when he wasn't given a huge platform from which to play carefree cricket, or didn't have a senior batsman at the other end to hold his hand. This innings, besides taking his batting average to the important 40 benchmark, answered that question in spades for me. I'm prepared to say now that Symonds is the genuine article as a Test cricketer. This could well turn out to be the highlight of career, and he'll obviously still have failures in the future, but to me this innings proves he has the stuff required to fill the #6 batsman slot legitimately, and that its not a compromised solution for the team.
EDIT: It's been pointed out to me that there was an obvious caught behind that Symonds received a reprieve for, which I didn't see and hence hadn't factored into the above, and didn't mention the stumping, which I actually thought the third umpire was correct in calling 'not out'. So that diminishes Symonds' effort a bit, although him making the Indians pay after 1 (IMO) let-off is still encouraging for mine.
Hogg's effort was just a joy to watch, and it was a shame that Symonds' ton making broke his concentration a bit, although he had lived by the sword in playing his shots, so sooner or later it was going to catch up with him. Still, would have loved it if he had got to triple figures as well. I was thinking that he and Lee had been having a duel about who's number 8 and who's 9 - and when he got out I concluded that Hogg had settled that issue for now, but now Lee's going well also. Hopefully Lee can mount a counter case by going on with it tomorrow morning.
I thought, having chosen to bat, par would be 400, especially given the pitch seems to have already, and will continue to get easier to bat on. The Aussies should reach that now, and how much more they get will be the big question. Just how good a first innings score that is will have to be decided once the Indian batsmen get their chance - if they declare at 5/600, it's not enough, if they get skittled for 200 again, it will be game-breaking. You'd suspect Australia will be much more frugal in the field, and that this total will be enough to put Australia in a strong position for the match, especially with Zaheer out.
The umpires continue to have an interesting series - from what I saw there seemed to be errors both ways, so here's hoping they can just get it right from here on in.
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. Terrific knocks by Hogg and Symonds as well. Interesting to see how Indias top 7 handle the pressure of quite possibly a 450+ score when it could easily have been under 200. 
