***Official*** Australia in New Zealand 2016

[Jord]

Maybe if you were good like us you wouldn't have to worry, lol.

Let's see how good you are when you play in the subcontinent, didn't exactly go well for you against Pakistan last season.

 

[Jord]

Australia bowled in conditions that had something in it for the bowler. It was hardly unplayable as a batsman.

Pitch has been no where near as big a factor as the difference in quality between the sides has.

Guessing you didn't watch Williamson's innings and what the ball was doing then.

 

[TimAngas]

While I do think Australia are deserving of their position, irrespective of the toss, I would advocate for a revamp of the toss system in the next few years. I don't think the element of the toss is sacred to the game and there is an opportunity to breed competitiveness when there is a severe and perhaps terminal dearth of it in Test Cricket at the moment. Would the Windies suddenly start winning series? No, it's the furthest thing from a fix-all solution, but the odd series where teams have a right to feel legitimately hard done by from unlucky tosses would be eliminated.

 

[Jord]

While I do think Australia are deserving of their position, irrespective of the toss, I would advocate for a revamp of the toss system in the next few years. I don't think the element of the toss is sacred to the game and there is an opportunity to breed competitiveness when there is a severe and perhaps terminal dearth of it in Test Cricket at the moment. Would the Windies suddenly start winning series? No, it's the furthest thing from a fix-all solution, but the odd series where teams have a right to feel legitimately hard done by from unlucky tosses would be eliminated.

This. It's not going to mean that poor sides can beat great sides but it is going to mean that potentially evenly matched teams aren't incredibly disadvantaged through a series by a pitch that only does something in the first sesson, or a pitch that completely breaks apart for the final innings.

 

[Daemon]

Let's see how good you are when you play in the subcontinent, didn't exactly go well for you against Pakistan last season.

Well this is a first.

Someone from outside India using the infamous "We'll see when you come to India"

 

[Jord]

On a flat, dead wicket, we continue to feed the strengths of Voges hoping that he'll also get out like Burns and Smithers.

 

[Skyliner]

The pitch is doing plenty, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. It was doing plenty all day on day 1, it was doing plenty yesterday morning. That's why people were hitting catches to people on 40 and enjoying incredible luck in a streaky innings - because the pitch was a minefield. That's why Anderson was out treating Lyon like a part-time spinner, because the pitch was a minefield and any ball could have had his number on it. It was not possible for NZ to buckle down and get a really big total because the pitch was doing plenty, and everyone was told to throw caution to the wind. Just like in Wellington.

 

[TimAngas]

This pitch was psychologically green until Baz walked to the crease.

 

[Jord]

Well this is a first.

Someone from outside India using the infamous "We'll see when you come to India"

Australia haven't had to play on a bad batting wicket since ultimately the UAE, where they got beaten by Pakistan. Full credit to them if practically all of their middle order continue to average in the high seventies in those conditions.

 

[Jord]

This pitch was psychologically green until Baz walked to the crease.

Someone didn't watch the first session, the ball was swinging in, pitching and seaming away. The ball was moving back half a metre from the seam by the time it reached a batsman. You're saying "Well Baz just showed that it wasn't green" because you probably didn't watch the start of the match.

 

[Spark]

Australia haven't had to play on a bad batting wicket since ultimately the UAE, where they got beaten by Pakistan. Full credit to them if practically all of their middle order continue to average in the high seventies in those conditions.

????????????????

Literally no part of that statement is correct.

 

[straw man]

The Hughes incident was a massive tragedy and I think changed cricket and protection for the better but do keep in mind that it was an absolute freak accident.

I wish people would stop saying this when it is patently false. A freak accident is not predictable. It's for all intents and purposes, random. It's when you are driving a car along minding your own business and an elephant that escaped from the zoo falls off the overpass above and crushes your car. It's when a meteorite descends through the atmosphere and hits you in the head.

Hughes being hit on an exposed part of the head by a cricket ball, while batting in an environment where both cricket balls travelling at 130+ km/h and exposed flesh are native, is not unpredictable. The fact that it hit him on exactly the wrong piece of exposed flesh is not unpredictable, it's just the thin and unlucky end of the probability wedge.

I'm not thrilled to be talking about this again, but the refrain that it was a 'freak' accident is surely part of the reason behaviour hasn't changed. If batsmen want to take that risk upon themselves then I have some sympathy for that, but neither they nor the fans should delude themselves that this was a random event that couldn't happen again.

 

[_Ed_]

This is demoralising.

 

[straw man]

Lyon is an annoyingly good tail-ender.

 

[Burgey]

We'll see how you feel when you end up on the wrong side of it in a two test series, you're lucky in the sense that Australia plays enough five test series that the coin toss isn't as impactful to you guys as it has been for the unluckier nations who only get two to three test series.

That's cricket. Hilarious of you to suggest Australia hasn't fallen apart on wickets which have something in them in recent times. They do it a lot. But if NZ wants to hang its hat on winning a toss on a greenish pitch in order to win a test match, they probably need to look at the quality of the cricket they're playing, rather than lamenting being on the wrong side of a 50:50 coin toss.

Australia was also two for SFA in Wellington day one and then NZ dropped Smith and had the Voges set back. That's not the pitch's fault, that's poor cricket with regards to the catch and bad luck re the no ball. But hen Voges made 200 plus runs without NZ creating another chance from him. NZ has bowled more poorly than Australia for the most part through the series. That's been the difference here so far.

 

[Gnske]

Australia haven't had to play on a bad batting wicket since ultimately the UAE, where they got beaten by Pakistan. Full credit to them if practically all of their middle order continue to average in the high seventies in those conditions.

Denial really is ugly

 

[Jord]

Do you blame the captain, the coach, the bowling coach or the bowlers for the plans that they're currently trying? I don't recall a single session where we've gone back to the basics of tying up the batsmen with good length bowling outside off stump with a field that's set conventionally.

 

[Jord]

That's cricket. Hilarious of you to suggest Australia hasn't fallen apart on wickets which have something in them in recent times. They do it a lot. But if NZ wants to hang its hat on winning a toss on a greenish pitch in order to win a test match, they probably need to look at the quality of the cricket they're playing, rather than lamenting being on the wrong side of a 50:50 coin toss.

Australia was also two for SFA in Wellington day one and then NZ dropped Smith and had the Voges set back. That's not the pitch's fault, that's poor cricket with regards to the catch and bad luck re the no ball. But hen Voges made 200 plus runs without NZ creating another chance from him. NZ has bowled more poorly than Australia for the most part through the series. That's been the difference here so far.

Video highlights: Australia bowled out for 60, England dominate day one | Sport | Newshub

Less than six months ago.

 

[TimAngas]

Someone didn't watch the first session, the ball was swinging in, pitching and seaming away. The ball was moving back half a metre from the seam by the time it reached a batsman. You're saying "Well Baz just showed that it wasn't green" because you probably didn't watch the start of the match.

Sure, it was moving more then, than it was now, but NZ were clearly spooked by being sent in. The psychological effect of McCullum's innings cannot be underestimated IMO.

 

[straw man]

Jord you really are just whinging here.