***Official*** South Africa In Australia

[Precambrian]

But India have pretty much always been awesome at home, it's the away form that they need to polish up on if they want to be considered the best side in the world.

Has not been exactly terrible atleast relatively in the last two-three years. Won series in WI and Eng. And competed well in Aus and SA, winning a test for first time in the latter. The major blip's been the SL loss though. A win in NZ, would take off some bad out of the record.

Anyway, nowhere except Australia and perhaps SA you need to have a watertight back-foot game. WI pitches have become a joke of past pitches, and NZ and Eng are anyway more swing than bounce.

 

[biased indian]

But India have pretty much always been awesome at home, it's the away form that they need to polish up on if they want to be considered the best side in the world.

and we have started to do that little bit ..and that's why we are considered almost there ...but still have to go a little bit more but we will reach there sooner than late

 

[Uppercut]

Has not been exactly terrible atleast relatively in the last two-three years. Won series in WI and Eng. And competed well in Aus and SA, winning a test for first time in the latter. The major blip's been the SL loss though. A win in NZ, would take off some bad out of the record.

Anyway, nowhere except Australia and perhaps SA you need to have a watertight back-foot game. WI pitches have become a joke of past pitches, and NZ and Eng are anyway more swing than bounce.

Depends on which ground generally. Old Trafford is one of the fastest pitches around at times. And some of the WI/NZ pitches are really bouncy, leading to the Edwards/Powell axis' traditional "5 wides over the keeper's head" manoeuvre. Needless to say, others aren't.

The bolded part is quite an Indian perspective on results. I could just as easily say India's only achievement away from home is the England series, where they were completely bailed out by rain in the first test. WI are harder to lose to and looking a bit better in defeat in SA/Aus isn't much to write home about.

 

[Precambrian]

Depends on which ground generally. Old Trafford is one of the fastest pitches around at times. And some of the WI/NZ pitches are really bouncy, leading to the Edwards/Powell axis' traditional "5 wides over the keeper's head" manoeuvre. Needless to say, others aren't.

The bolded part is quite an Indian perspective on results. I could just as easily say India's only achievement away from home is the England series, where they were completely bailed out by rain in the first test. WI are harder to lose to and looking a bit better in defeat in SA/Aus isn't much to write home about.

Trueh. Butteh better than other atleast other subcontinental sides. And only SA seems to be improving their overseas record in this timeh.

And BTW, Is that any reason why Old Trafford was not given Ashes test this year?

 

[Uppercut]

Trueh. Butteh better than other atleast other subcontinental sides. And only SA seems to be improving their overseas record in this timeh.

And BTW, Is that any reason why Old Trafford was not given Ashes test this year?

Oh god no, absolutely not. There's not a ground in England where England are more likely to win, check out their record at OT.

The sad truth of the matter is that it wasn't given a test because it's a bit of a hole. I think it should be given a test anyway- the atmosphere's always awesome, the test cricket's seemingly always fantastic, it produces results and the pitches have a bit of something for everyone. The fact that you don't stand there admiring the beauty of the place doesn't detract from the experience in the slightest for me. But the ECB disagree, and hence moved the match to Wales (somewhat bizarrely).

Also, it's right in the middle of the Realm of Eternal Rain.

 

[vic_orthdox]

ICC, or ECB, move the game?

 

[Uppercut]

ICC, or ECB, move the game?

ECB, my mistake

 

[Precambrian]

Oh god no, absolutely not. There's not a ground in England where England are more likely to win, check out their record at OT.

The sad truth of the matter is that it wasn't given a test because it's a bit of a hole. I think it should be given a test anyway- the atmosphere's always awesome, the test cricket's seemingly always fantastic, it produces results and the pitches have a bit of something for everyone. The fact that you don't stand there admiring the beauty of the place doesn't detract from the experience in the slightest for me. But the ECB disagree, and hence moved the match to Wales (somewhat bizarrely).

Also, it's right in the middle of the Realm of Eternal Rain.

Has a bit of tradition, that ground doesn't it? Lancastrians will be mighty disappointed.

 

[Uppercut]

I'm mighty disappointed, it means i have to trek to Headingley and back on the train if i want to see test cricket this year. It's a pain because London gets three out of the seven tests every year and Manchester gets none (it's the third biggest city in the UK). We all had a good moan about it when it was announced.

 

[silentstriker]

The bolded part is quite an Indian perspective on results.

You can't just separate recent results from what went on before. India didn't win a single Test overseas from 1986-2000. Forget a series, not even a Test. So yea, it's obviously an Indian perspective.

With that said, you also have to do it comparatively, who has traveled better in recent times in World Cricket except SA and Australia? So India are third in that department too, and it doesn't take much more than a slight improvement to challenge either.

 

[silentstriker]

I could just as easily say India's only achievement away from home is the England series, where they were completely bailed out by rain in the first test.

Well, you can't do that though, or I could say India would have beaten Australia if umpires didn't intervene in Sydney. Fact is, India lost to Australia, and India won against England. In the end, that's what matter.

/Sorry for the thread hijack

 

[Uppercut]

You can't just separate recent results from what went on before. India didn't win a single Test overseas from 1986-2000. Forget a series, not even a Test. So yea, it's obviously an Indian perspective.

With that said, you also have to do it comparatively, who has traveled better in recent times in World Cricket except SA and Australia? So India are third in that department too, and it doesn't take much more than a slight improvement to challenge either.

I was just pointing out that it was written in such a way as to maximise the credit India get for their results. You can say something like, "India were unlucky in the 2nd test in Australia, and could easily have come away with a draw from that series. They went 1-0 up in SA and performed fantastically in the first test. They also won in England and the West Indies. The only real blip in their performance was in SL, and i doubt many teams would win there." It's all technically correct. You can also say something like, "India haven't won any recent away series against a decent side except in England, where they were would have been 1-0 down if it weren't for the rain saving their ass just in time. That's a really poor record." and again, there's nothing incorrect about that.

As for the part regarding India's away record, England's most-recent-series away record consists of victories in Pakistan, West Indies, New Zealand and South Africa. That's better than India's.

 

[Uppercut]

Well, you can't do that though, or I could say India would have beaten Australia if umpires didn't intervene in Sydney. Fact is, India lost to Australia, and India won against England. In the end, that's what matter.

/Sorry for the thread hijack

That's exactly the point though- i thought Precambrian's description of India away from home gave one side of the story but not the other, so my reply just gave the other.

 

[Nate]

Back on topic -

Excellent that Bracken and Clarke are back and that Hauritz has been dropped. Devo that after Botha's dominance this seires, we're not playing a specialist spinner, but hopefully the Perth deck helps us out.

 

[Precambrian]

Back on topic -

Excellent that Bracken and Clarke are back and that Hauritz has been dropped. Devo that after Botha's dominance this seires, we're not playing a specialist spinner, but hopefully the Perth deck helps us out.

Clarke back does not exactly inspire me. But Bracken more than evens it out.

 

[four_or_six]

Back on topic -

Excellent that Bracken and Clarke are back and that Hauritz has been dropped. Devo that after Botha's dominance this seires, we're not playing a specialist spinner, but hopefully the Perth deck helps us out.

With Clarke in, the spinning is vastly improved anyway. The side looks a lot better with those two back.

 

[Nate]

With Clarke in, the spinning is vastly improved anyway. The side looks a lot better with those two back.

Was pretty much saying bring in Heal. But yeah, I will be very surprised if we don't get up on Friday.

EDIT: Actually, I guess it's possible that if Heal puts in a good performance tomorrow, he could make the squad. Here's hoping.

 

[four_or_six]

Was pretty much saying bring in Heal. But yeah, I will be very surprised if we don't get up on Friday.

Are you actually Heal in disguise?

 

[pup11]

Are you actually Heal in disguise?

Yeah very possible....

 

[howardj]

Haddin is in a serious comfort zone.

It seems he has six poor knocks for every good knock.

Granted, he's just come into the side, but he's hardly an inexperienced cricketer.