***Official*** India in Australia 2011/12

[Briony]

Lol @ the arrogant tone of this. In case you've forgotten, NZ actually drew the Test series 1-1 & did more than simply "looking like they might bowl a side out'

It was more a crack at the marketeers and critics who always consign NZ to undercard status and India to the exalted festive season period when the England series should have been a serious warning for them of possible carnage.

Re. Hussey, his main stumbling block of late has been quality quicks, hence his struggles against SA in the last three series against them and NZ, especially on bowler-friendly pitches. He's done well against the spin. Coming in at #6 though he gets protected to some extent so will probably go on for some time now.

 

[Hurricane]

It was more a crack at the marketeers and critics who always consign NZ to undercard status and India to the exalted festive season period when the England series should have been a serious warning for them of possible carnage.

Re. Hussey, his main stumbling block of late has been quality quicks, hence his struggles against SA in the last three series against them and NZ, especially on bowler-friendly pitches. He's done well against the spin. Coming in at #6 though he gets protected to some extent so will probably go on for some time now.

He doesn't look like he should go well as I don't think of him having soft hands. But over his career his percentage of dismissals by a spinner is good compared to others.

 

[Spikey]

He was awful against Tahir and Dan ftr.

 

[NUFAN]

Really awesome day of Cricket, I spent most of it listening to the radio, can't believe they had the music to Skippy on it during a stint with Kerry and Harsha!

Superb effort from M.Clarke, I hope he achieves the highest score ever at the SCG and then a 300 would be just superb.

Hopefully there is still some life in the pitch towards the end of day 3.

 

[diteras aka.]

looks to me like Duncan Fletcher is going to maintain his ''outstanding record'' in Australia. I reckon the Aussies have him as a double agent.

 

[adub]

Does he have time for 400 - MC was talking about getting a lead of 350 and then declaring.

Plenty of time. They can bat for 5 hours tomorrow if they are able to. The less time India get to bat in the best of the conditions the better frankly.

Expecting a better performance tomorrow from the Indians tbf. Still backing Pattinson to raise the bat though.

 

[Ruckus]

Hopefully there is still some life in the pitch towards the end of day 3.

You get the feeling the India bowling really didn't get the best out of the pitch, so I wouldn't be suprised if it looks like a bit of a different game if our bowlers can stick to their lengths/lines better and keep the seam upright (which Sharma in particular failed to do).

 

[Uppercut]

Well Tendulkar cannot be dropped. Gambhir will be. Laxman should be. Dravid should maybe get until the end of the year then ease him out.

Laxman's easily the best fielder of the three, he's no worse between the wickets than the other two, he was easily your best batsman under pressure for a long time before the England series and he knocked off a monster only a few tests ago.

It's weird, you look at the three of them in the field or between the wickets and think "this is so, so dire, they can't possibly carry these guys for much longer, it's such a huge disadvantage." But then, individually, you can't really justify dropping any of them.

 

[Uppercut]

It was more a crack at the marketeers and critics who always consign NZ to undercard status and India to the exalted festive season period when the England series should have been a serious warning for them of possible carnage.

You say that as if the Aussie public would rather see a competitive series with New Zealand than a total demolition of India.

 

[Scaly piscine]

Plenty of time. They can bat for 5 hours tomorrow if they are able to. The less time India get to bat in the best of the conditions the better frankly.

Expecting a better performance tomorrow from the Indians tbf. Still backing Pattinson to raise the bat though.

Australia if they're still batting should be 500+ ahead at tea. It's virtually impossible for India to win at that stage so you're just trying to maximise your chances of winning. Even with a decent forecast you can still lose the odd hour with weather and Australia would probably score faster in a daft 100 off 10 overs type chase with Warner and other top order bats than having a declaration slog with the lower order. Whether you bat once or twice doesn't really matter.

 

[Zinzan]

Cricket is a funny game. I have a feeling that after coming out fresh & rested with plenty of hype & expectation, Clarke will be dismissed early tomorrow. Hope I'm wrong of course.

 

[KiWiNiNjA]

Cricket is a funny game. I have a feeling that after coming out fresh & rested with plenty of hype & expectation, Clarke will be dismissed early tomorrow. Hope I'm wrong of course.

Reminds me of this match.

 

[diteras aka.]

whatever way you perm it you ain't gonna make a group of batsmen who are discomforted by pace and movement into players who are capable of the application required to deal with that challenge when they hit the wrong side of thirty five.
If India are ''serious '' about Test cricket globally - which I doubt they are - then they will need to find these players. Kholi et al aren't currently up to it and if someones going to pay them millions of dollars to basically slog, then they never will be - why should they?

 

[Spark]

Cricket is a funny game. I have a feeling that after coming out fresh & rested with plenty of hype & expectation, Clarke will be dismissed early tomorrow. Hope I'm wrong of course.

Clarke starts well in the morning when going in set.

 

[Black_Warrior]

seems like India's Big 3 will get a similar send off that Wasim & Waqar received.

You mean Big Two.

Tendulkar is not getting any send off.

 

[Zinzan]

Clarke starts well in the morning when going in set.

That's effectively my point, cricket has a funny habit of biting people in the backside when you least expect it.

 

[SeamUp]

Whats the future for Australia's top 3?

We all know Watson will come back in there.

But with Warner, Hughes, Cowan, Marsh and Khawaja all struggling to nail down positions...what is the best for moving forward? Sure Cowan has just got the gig and will get a few more chances. But I have my doubts with Warner and we all know Hughes' demons.

So could Marsh possibly open with Watson and Clarke moving up to 3? Because its stupid that Australia's middle order experienced trio is constantly under pressure? Christian could then come in at 6 and be the all-rounder possibly to relieve Watson of his excessive work load on his back?

Or do you look from outside that bunch with another youngster to come in at the top?

 

[SeamUp]

Also glad for Ricky. Would hate to see him leave the game quite yet. Still has a lot to offer the Australian team.

 

[Prince EWS]

Whats the future for Australia's top 3?

We all know Watson will come back in there.

But with Warner, Hughes, Cowan, Marsh and Khawaja all struggling to nail down positions...what is the best for moving forward? Sure Cowan has just got the gig and will get a few more chances. But I have my doubts with Warner and we all know Hughes' demons.

So could Marsh possibly open with Watson and Clarke moving up to 3? Because its stupid that Australia's middle order experienced trio is constantly under pressure? Christian could then come in at 6 and be the all-rounder possibly to relieve Watson of his excessive work load on his back?

Or do you look from outside that bunch with another youngster to come in at the top?

I think that's a terrible idea. Clarke's struggled enough at four without moving him up to three, and there's no way Christian should be playing really, even if Watson isn't. Australia have more top order depth than middle order depth at the moment so moving Clarke above five would just be silly at this point, IMO.

 

[Spikey]

clarke-h getting near averaging 60 at 5 btw