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***Official*** Commonwealth Bank Tri-Series 2007-08

Jono

Jono

Virat Kohli (c)
Matt79 said:
Went along yesterday - wish I hadn't. I mainly dragged myself along to see Gilly one more time in the flesh, and Rudi sorted that out for me. Normally bag out people who complain about ODIs that aren't run-fests, but that was one of the more boring games of cricket I've ever sat through - made worse by the fact it was bloody freezing (despite me wearing jeans, a long sleave shirt, a jacket and a hat. Seeing Tendulkar play some beautiful strokes, and the ten over period where it looked like the Aussies might somehow defend the total were the redeeming features, but I have to say, I think its harder to appreciate good bowling when you're down at ground level, and not behind the bowler's arm. You simply can't see what they're doing with the ball - a problem made worse by the MCG scoreboard only showing the same dodgy 45 degree to the pitch angle on most of their replays. I couldn't believe R. Sharma or Dhoni didn't get a knick in the period when they first came together - never seen so many play and misses in such a short period, coupled with a few knicks that didn't carry, without a wicket eventually falling.

Was also (probably unreasonably) annoyed with the fact that Ponting ended up not bowling Lee's last over. Once they got to within 10 runs, our only hope was for someone to take two or three wickets in an over, and Symonds wasn't going to do that.
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Haha, don't take offense from this because I'm hardly suggesting the only reason you didn't enjoy yesterday's game was this, but it is a lot harder to enjoy a game of cricket (particularly when at the ground) when your team plays absolutely poorly or for much of the game doesn't look like it has a chance.

I guess Australian supporters in the last decade have experienced this less, but I've been to games when India have been pulverised (1st Final in 2003/04 sticks out) barring some Agarkar resistance, and I heard people say how awesome the Aussie bowling performance was, and it probably was, but when you travel all the way to the ground and put up with the dickheads there to watch your team, you hope that they'll perform.

Its also particularly disheartening when you only really see your team live once or twice ever every four years.
 
pasag

pasag

RTDAS
Matt79 said:
Went along yesterday - wish I hadn't. I mainly dragged myself along to see Gilly one more time in the flesh, and Rudi sorted that out for me. Normally bag out people who complain about ODIs that aren't run-fests, but that was one of the more boring games of cricket I've ever sat through - made worse by the fact it was bloody freezing (despite me wearing jeans, a long sleave shirt, a jacket and a hat. Seeing Tendulkar play some beautiful strokes, and the ten over period where it looked like the Aussies might somehow defend the total were the redeeming features, but I have to say, I think its harder to appreciate good bowling when you're down at ground level, and not behind the bowler's arm. You simply can't see what they're doing with the ball - a problem made worse by the MCG scoreboard only showing the same dodgy 45 degree to the pitch angle on most of their replays. I couldn't believe R. Sharma or Dhoni didn't get a knick in the period when they first came together - never seen so many play and misses in such a short period, coupled with a few knicks that didn't carry, without a wicket eventually falling.

Was also (probably unreasonably) annoyed with the fact that Ponting ended up not bowling Lee's last over. Once they got to within 10 runs, our only hope was for someone to take two or three wickets in an over, and Symonds wasn't going to do that.
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The worst seats for the cricket at the MCG are at the ground level. I'll never sit there again if I can help it. I sat in the Northern Stand on the highest level at the front and the view was brilliant. Could see everything and clearly as well. Sat around there at a domestic game recently and have determined I'm never going back down the bottom.

Yeah was pretty chilly, was only wearing a T-shirt and looked especially foolish since I'd told my mates to bring jumpers as it'd get pretty cold. Thought it was a lot of fun fwiw, especially at 5-100 where we were in with the slightest of chances, it was very exciting.
 
Matt79

Matt79

Hall of Fame Member
Yeah, you're probably right Jono. As much as we try to be fair-minded and even handed in talking about it here, you do like to see your team do well, and as I said, I was particularly disappointed Gilly didn't make any runs. That, plus the cold, plus the poor view, plus the slow over-rates, and the fact that I knew I had spent the last day of my holiday at the game and would have to front up to work the next morning, probably all combined to give me the ****s.

I've always liked being down by the fence so you can see the players close up, have a chat with the guy at fine-leg (had some fun with Johnson - the bloke behind me out of the blue (when the score was about 5/110 and Johnson was in the middle of a great spell) yelled at him at one point "Jeez you're tall Mitch. Are you 6'2" or 6'3"?", and Johnson turned around totally mystified. But it was annoying last night not having a good view of the bowling.

Also annoying as this was one of the two days AT the cricket I was able to get leave from both work and baby-sitting duties to go along to.

EDIT: By the way, I'm not taking anything away from the Indian bowlers - they obviously bowled very well, especially Sharma (apart from his second over), and India deserved the win, although they made heavier going of it with the chase than they would have liked.
 
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Matt79

Matt79

Hall of Fame Member
That's a fair bit. As Vic_Orthdox said, its not that Manuka is small, but the MCG is quite big.
 
Matt79

Matt79

Hall of Fame Member
pasag said:
Thought Hussey batted pretty poorly with the tail as well, taking early singles and exposing them for the rest of the over. Was a far cry from his tailend work here with a few years back. Good innings nonetheless. Smart batting from Dhoni and Sharma at the end as well - waiting to see off the rest of the bowlers and then going after the part-timers. Kept their cool very well.
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Agree with this as well - was going crook to my brothers at the ground about it.
 
Top_Cat

Top_Cat

Request Your Custom Title Now!
silentstriker said:
You just gave most Indian fans a heart attack, you realize that, right? I really hope that for his sake, he doesn't get overhyped, like Pathan the next coming of Wasim Akram did.

But for the first time in a long time, I'll admit this kid has potential and perhaps he can keep from falling by the wayside unlike so so many of others in Indian history.
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Yeah but I never really saw the comparisons between Akram and Pathan. They're both lefties and Pathan's action is a little similar but aside from that, the comparisons end. Akram was lethally fast and had that hooping in-swing and hit the seam really well. Pathan was predominantly a leftie out-swing bowler to the right-handers and, whilst good at it, didn't do it at pace like Akram did.

As for Sharma and Waqar, Sharma has a hooping in-swinger like Waqar but he's a bit different again in that he has a pretty sharp leg-cutter plus hits the seam more than Waqar ever did. I believe he's been more closely compared to Ntini with his wide-on-the-crease attack.

As I've said before, he has all the tools and plenty of ability to go with it. Let's see what he does with it because there are countless of examples of blokes who have all the tricks but end up mediocre. One thing's for certain, he's bowling well. Not just 'for a 19-year-old' either but in his own right.
 
Matt79

Matt79

Hall of Fame Member
He did well to come back from his horror second over as well. You might have expected a 19 year old to go into his shell a bit and bowl poorly after that, but he seems to have a bit of bouncebackability.
 
Nate

Nate

You'll Never Walk Alone
Matt79 said:
Agree with this as well - was going crook to my brothers at the ground about it.
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Johnson and Bracken are more than capable with the bat. They just played two of the worst shots in their careers. Bracken loves the straight drive over mid-off and you could tell he was looking for it from ball one. Should've hit it along the ground and waited for a fuller one. Was so annoying. :(
 
Matt79

Matt79

Hall of Fame Member
But they were both obviously struggling. Hussey was the set batsman, and he should have taken the responsibility. Given we ended up only getting one or two from each over where he did take the early single that was offered, I'd have thought it would be better to take at least three balls of the over and then try and get down the other end. As it turned up the extra 10 runs we could have got if we'd batted the full 50, even at a RR of 1.5-2 per over might have been really handy.
 
Matt79

Matt79

Hall of Fame Member
Sachin was off-strike for a hell of a lot of the time when he was batting with Gambhir, that was also annoying - he was just good enough to get a stress free single almost every ball he faced, whereas the G train wasn't.
 
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