***Official*** Pakistan in Australia 2016/17

[Jono]

Shafiq is such a gun.

Think the criticism of him not shielding Wahab is slightly unfair too. The thinking may have been that they'd much rather lose Wahab this evening than Shafiq. This atleast keeps them, however remotely, in the match.

No that's not true because he was shielding Wahab in the previous over.

 

[Burgey]

It's not necessarily arrogance, but someone is going to chase it down and it'll happen pretty soon. Tests move so quickly these days and players score faster. Look at this game - into the fourth innings by third session day three on a flat deck.

The Gabba is almost a perfect deck for the sort of scenario to play out where a side chases 500 odd. It flattens out into just about a perfect batting track with even bounce and it doesn't break up on day five.

Certainly not a crazy declaration but it is potentially a dangerous one on this deck against a line up capable of batting serious time. I'd have batted to a 550 plus or so lead, but that's easy for me to say from the sidelines.

 

[Black_Warrior]

I just wish Smith was an aggressive and fearless captain and set Pakistan 400 runs to chase. This sort of negative tactics is what holds test cricket back.

 

[Black_Warrior]

Saker wahhing about the extra 30 mins seemingly blaming the umpires.

So he's still a complete clown then.

Australia assistant coach David Saker unhappy with extra half hour | Cricket | ESPN Cricinfo

"I know the umpires and Steve were talking out there. I haven't had the chance to talk to Steve about what happened. Obviously they've just given them the half hour extra, which is allowable. I suppose with an "in" batter in, that probably wasn't the right decision. But a lot of people wanted the game to finish today, and the umpires are probably one of those."

Besides the luck and tight ones that went in their favour, yeah let's block out that Smith got pretty much everything they wanted in this game..Got the ball changed when they wanted, got the extra time when they wanted but yeah I didn't really talk to my captain..it must be the umpires who wanted a day off.

 

[stephen]

I called for another 50 runs before the declaration but really 490 should well and truly be enough. Even now.

If Australia lost this they would only have themselves to blame for their dire catching and foot-off-the-gas bowling in the second innings. They really looked tired and out of ideas by the end of the night last night.

Still, we should be able to take two tail end wickets quickly this morning.

 

[Black_Warrior]

Good knock. Exposed Wahab selfishly though so dropped for MCG you'd have to say

Well guess they need Kohli has captain now..to clean the 'personal milestone' out of their system

 

[Jono]

 

[SteveNZ]

Pakistan to win and shut Channel 9's 'declaration obsessed' syndrome forever.

Haha, if anything it'd further fuel it I reckon.

 

[centurymaker]

In these kinds of huge run chases, teams batting last have nothing to lose..., so they tend to go out there & bat with freedom.. but as soon as they get close & there's reasonable chance of pulling it off, it tends to affect them & their approach somehow and they end up collapsing or falling short of the mark.
Basically it's the "hope" that gets you!

If Pakistan got real close Today, the same will probably happen again- the pressure/the hope will probably be too much. At least thats what the long history of Test cricket suggests.

 

[Spark]

In these kinds of huge run chases, teams batting last have nothing to lose..., so they tend to go out there & bat with freedom.. but as soon as they get close & there's reasonable chance of pulling it off, it tends to affect them & their approach somehow and they end up collapsing or falling short of the mark.
Basically it's the "hope" that gets you!

If Pakistan got real close Today, the same will probably happen again- the pressure/the hope will probably be too much. At least thats what the long history of Test cricket suggests.

Yeah I've seen exactly this happen so many times.

 

[quincywagstaff]

Re: the declaration I think Smith was trying to have his cake and eat it too. By declaring fairly early he was trying to show his side being aggressive but if they really wanted to be aggressive, wouldn’t they have enforced the follow-on?

I think the biggest argument against following on is the Gabba pitch which breaks up less than most and is usually still a very good batting surface in Days 4/5. Even if Pakistan made this same score following-on they would still have only a hundred run lead and while potentially tricky if it got to 150 or so on the Day 4 pitch we saw yesterday it really shouldn’t be difficult at all.

 

[Spark]

Re: the declaration I think Smith was trying to have his cake and eat it too. By declaring fairly early he was trying to show his side being aggressive but if they really wanted to be aggressive, wouldn’t they have enforced the follow-on?

I think the biggest argument against following on is the Gabba pitch which breaks up less than most and is usually still a very good batting surface in Days 4/5. Even if Pakistan made this same score following-on they would still have only a hundred run lead and while potentially tricky if it got to 150 or so on the Day 4 pitch we saw yesterday it really shouldn’t be difficult at all.

The biggest argument against following on is surely that the Gabba is a taxing place to bowl at the best of times and with three Tests in about as many weeks, the bowlers could use a rest.

 

[stephen]

It's absurd to think declaring 490 runs ahead is "aggressive". The declaration was all about trying to give the bowlers the best conditions for bowling the other team out.

 

[Midwinter]

One of the reasons for picking Maddinson was

"we need wickets from the top order" ie need batsmen who can also bowl.

In this Pak innings Maddinson has only bowled 3 overs while the rest of the bowlers have bowled at least 26 each.

Why has he bowled so few overs ?

Thought he would have been given 3 x 3 over spells at least.

 

[Burgey]

The biggest argument against following on is surely that the Gabba is a taxing place to bowl at the best of times and with three Tests in about as many weeks, the bowlers could use a rest.

There's a fair bit to be said for this, however, they only had about two or three hours off the park.

 

[Nate]

I daresay that even with Nic Maddinson in the team, a total of over 400 would be safe.

 

[social]

One of the reasons for picking Maddinson was

"we need wickets from the top order" ie need batsmen who can also bowl.

In this Pak innings Maddinson has only bowled 3 overs while the rest of the bowlers have bowled at least 26 each.

Why has he bowled so few overs ?

Thought he would have been given 3 x 3 over spells at least.

1. He's an ordinary part timer

2. See 1

 

[Burgey]

How bad is Marsh's finger? He may as well have it cut off if it's taking this long to heal. Long gone are the days of TOTAB making his captaincy debut with a broken thumb against the Windies, or scoring 196 at Lord's with a broken thumb.

It feels like Marsh has been out of the side for bloody ages with this injury. Not his fault, obviously, as it's a contact injury and not due to lack of conditioning, but still very frustrating.

 

[honestbharani]

I reckon the declaration is becoming massively overstated. 490 runs, for a team who were out for less than 200 just 2 days ago is still 490...i.e. Australia shouldn't be in the position where they are having sweaty palms. The reason for this is simple, Pakistan rolled up their sleeves and went to work. They fought it out. Hard as nails.

Yes.. coz its not like there are two teams playing or anything. If Pakistan wants to win, they will win, sure.

 

[Black_Warrior]

Yes.. coz its not like there are two teams playing or anything. If Pakistan wants to win, they will win, sure.

Strange post that from you HB. They did roll up their sleeves and they did put up a fight. Not sure what you're disputing?