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

[Spikey]

the real reason why Clarke should have batted on is to get his average at 5 above 60. It was within touching distance...

 

[Spark]

He's about three good knocks away from getting his Test average to 50, isn't he? Bumped it up by close to three points yesterday.

 

[benchmark00]

SS, you've summed it up by saying it's a cultural change that needs to take place, but look at the Indian batting order and you'll see that the players playing were brought up in an era of Indian cricket where typically the fielding was poor etc.

This will not change until the older players move on and their replacements who have been brought up on a diet of OD and T20 cricket take their place. Until then you have to grin and bear it.

Kohli is head and shoulders above everyone in the team in the field and running between wickets, however he's looking like he's not up to test match cricket with his main role at the moment.

 

[benchmark00]

And Allan Border would be too divisive for Indian cricket and wouldn't last.

See: Greg Chappell who some of you may of heard of by reading his name on Indian donkeys.

 

[Spark]

And Allan Border would be too divisive for Indian cricket and wouldn't last.

See: Greg Chappell.

Yeah that's why I added the "if given free rein" bit, which was supposed to be interpreted as "this obviously won't happen, but"

 

[benchmark00]

Yeah that's why I added the "if given free rein" bit, which was supposed to be interpreted as "this obviously won't happen, but"

Edit your post so it quotes my edit ****.

 

[Spark]

nah ****

 

[benchmark00]

nah ****

 

[chicane]

Well done Australia. Looking a good unit with the renewed bowling and a return to batting form. However save for Micheal Clarke, bashing the Indian attack in this game would not really serve as assurance that the batting problems are sorted out.

India, sigh. When this batting line-up is so consistently and completely misfiring, we're ****ed. The bowling is hit and miss but even when they fire they rely on back up runs.

 

[KungFu_Kallis]

I've gone from being dissapointed to simply demoralized. I can handle losing by an innings, but I'm a little ashamed that in this age of professionalism, a Test team can just give up like this.

India need an 'Allan Border moment'. Make it a requirement that you need to be a good fielder to make into the Test side. If you stop running and diving at the end of the day, or because you're down 400 runs, you won't be selected. If you don't keep yourself fit by working out and eating right - you will be dropped, whether you're Sehwag or Rohit Sharma or Zaheer Khan. The replacement might be worse but you can't have people coasting by thinking they're too valuable to drop and they don't have to care about working out or eating right. You may lose more in the short term but it'll send a message all through the levels about what they need to do to earn the Test cap. The body language was depressing - it was the 90s all over again and while I don't think it'll ever get that bad, it's pretty pathetic to see. Makes me embarrassed to call myself a fan of this team. I don't know why Indians keep watching - I am not sure why I do. It's a culture change that's needed.

People who read my posts know that I don't usually get very upset with losses - dissapointed surely but not demoralized. I'm used to dissapointing and they're part of the game. I can accept a bad team and I can accept a team that's always an underdog, but in 2012, I shouldn't have to accept a lazy team. You can't control whether you have the ability to bat like Bradman, but you sure as hell control how many cheeseburgers you stuff down your fat disgusting throat. You can't control when you break your arm, but you sure as hell can control your ability to take those quick singles after being out in the field for 50 overs.

You'd drop them? I do agree with having these standards though... but the Alan Border moment can only come after the legends have gone... by which time of course the next generation of IPL mega stars may also be too big for their boots and hard to control... bottom line for me is that IPL + ODI's just seem to have more weight in India than other places and so it's hard for them to truly prioritize things like Tests, basic skills, fitness and fielding... Atm I'd be more worried about Australia heading down that same path... hopefully BBL doesn't suck the talent out of the system and there will always be players who will still grow up wanting to play for the joy and love of Test cricket. /endromanticrant

 

[benchmark00]

I'm convinced Ricky Ponting's technical issues are improving like I thought they would itbt.

 

[Spark]

IPL and ODIs, if anything, should help with the fielding - the shorter the format, the more important fielding beyond just mere catching becomes.

 

[KungFu_Kallis]

Think it was a ridiculous declaration personally. He should've have bowled on with him until he snapped in half.

 

[Ruckus]

I'd assume, given he'd just scored 300+, Ponting 100+, and Hussey 150, that Clarke thought the pitch wasn't too difficult to bat on and that he'd prefer more time to get India out. India were never going to set Australia a target given how they'd gone so far, and if they did then it'd take so long it would've been a draw anyway. As far as I see it, the declaration did give Australia the maximum chance of victory. Racking up a win on the afternoon of day 4 is far better than going into the last session on the last day needing 3-4 wickets to win and the pressure slowly being applied to the bowlers to get wickets.

We won by an innings and a bit...I have no idea why the timing of the declaration is even an issue. Given we've been in a decent position after the first innings a few times over the past few years and then failed to bowl a team out, I can understand why they gave themselves so much time. If India were going to set us a target to try to win the match, they needed to take risks. Maybe giving them a hint of being able to do so with the extra time meant more chances for the bowlers...as Benchy said, if you don't back your bowlers in with a 400+ lead then you never will.

Yeah, excellent post. The bolded part could well be true, I was thinking that as well. The declaration put India in an awkward position of having just enough time to intially consider trying to get a lead, but being too long to consider batting for a draw right from the start of the innings. If he declared much later, India would have been content with trying to play out a draw right from the onset.

 

[Burgey]

I'm convinced Ricky Ponting's technical issues are improving like I thought they would itbt.

The way he practiced the day before the game, was all about minimizing his trigger movements. It was bloody interesting to watch how he worked on it.

 

[KungFu_Kallis]

IPL and ODIs, if anything, should help with the fielding - the shorter the format, the more important fielding beyond just mere catching becomes.

Theoretically yes... but how often do T20 teams actually get selected on this? would you drop someone like Chris Gayle from your T20 team if he can score 100 off 50 balls but don't care much about da fielding mon? Do the public really care either?

 

[smash84]

I've gone from being dissapointed to simply demoralized. I can handle losing by an innings, but I'm a little ashamed that in this age of professionalism, a Test team can just give up like this.

India need an 'Allan Border moment'. Make it a requirement that you need to be a good fielder to make into the Test side. If you stop running and diving at the end of the day, or because you're down 400 runs, you won't be selected. If you don't keep yourself fit by working out and eating right - you will be dropped, whether you're Sehwag or Rohit Sharma or Zaheer Khan. The replacement might be worse but you can't have people coasting by thinking they're too valuable to drop and they don't have to care about working out or eating right. You may lose more in the short term but it'll send a message all through the levels about what they need to do to earn the Test cap. The body language was depressing - it was the 90s all over again and while I don't think it'll ever get that bad, it's pretty pathetic to see. Makes me embarrassed to call myself a fan of this team. I don't know why Indians keep watching - I am not sure why I do. It's a culture change that's needed.

People who read my posts know that I don't usually get very upset with losses - dissapointed surely but not demoralized. I'm used to dissapointing and they're part of the game. I can accept a bad team and I can accept a team that's always an underdog, but in 2012, I shouldn't have to accept a lazy team. You can't control whether you have the ability to bat like Bradman, but you sure as hell control how many cheeseburgers you stuff down your fat disgusting throat. You can't control when you break your arm, but you sure as hell can control your ability to take those quick singles after being out in the field for 50 overs.

A wonderfully well written post.

Seems to be a SC thing.

Even in Pakistan it is not so much losing as the way the side loses that matters.

This time around even though the team lost to India in the SF they were still welcomed because it did seem that everybody tried their best (except for dropping Sachin 5 times in the WC SF of course )

 

[benchmark00]

The way he practiced the day before the game, was all about minimizing his trigger movements. It was bloody interesting to watch how he worked on it.

I was sinking schooners at the KB and you were at the nets.

Worst ****.

 

[benchmark00]

The way he practiced the day before the game, was all about minimizing his trigger movements. It was bloody interesting to watch how he worked on it.

On that though, he acknowledged the other day that he was getting himself in ****ing horrible positions before the bowler had even released the ball. So true.

 

[Burgey]

I was sinking schooners at the KB and you were at the nets.

Worst ****.

Working hard on my game tbf