***Official*** 1st Test at Brisbane

[Cow]

That hour after tea gave the colony back the momentum. Root didn't do great there.

 

[spit]

Bah. Going to have a punt on Australia. Don't see us with a chance now. My first bet since that dreaded Champions Trophy final

 

[Spark]

How appropriate do people think a Smith vs Dravid comparison is? Purely in terms of application, hunger etc

EDIT: Or indeed Kallis, since we were just talking about him.

 

[OverratedSanity]

How appropriate do people think a Smith vs Dravid comparison is? Purely in terms of application, hunger etc

I think in terms of pure quality and mental toughness, he is up there in that Dravid-Kallis-Waugh class already for me.

 

[Compton]

I don’t think I’ve watched a batsman before with the raw hunger of Steve Smith.

The guy edged the ball (along the ground) after his hundred for two and then spent 30 seconds berating himself

 

[Spark]

I think in terms of pure quality and mental toughness, he is up there in that Dravid-Kallis-Waugh class already for me.

Yeah he reminds me a lot of Waugh. Much more ruthless than Dravid or Waugh once set though, barely ever gets out between 50 and 100.

 

[Redbacks]

Draw the favourite imo.

Pitch is flat and (despite ch 9 comms trying to imply otherwise) isn’t particularly fast. Both sides I think have a lack of confidence in their side which has resulted in conservative batting.

Probably, but England were on top before this partnership

 

[quincywagstaff]

Cummins making a pretty watertight case he should be batting above Starc. Been consistently impressive in his brief Test career and just seems to be much more solid in his mindset towards batting than Starc who’s on or off in his batting.

 

[Spark]

Cummins making a pretty watertight case he should be batting above Starc. Been consistently impressive in his brief Test career and just seems to be much more solid in his mindset towards batting than Starc who’s on or off in his batting.

Starc has an amazing eye but that's about it. Mitch Johnson with a worse technique, basically.

 

[CarlsbergXpress]

I think in terms of pure quality and mental toughness, he is up there in that Dravid-Kallis-Waugh class already for me.

He'd get in our village team for sure, if he can drink obviously ?

 

[wellAlbidarned]

Starc has an amazing eye but that's about it. Mitch Johnson with a worse technique, basically.

yeah starc has the southee vibe about him

 

[adub]

I don’t think I’ve watched a batsman before with the raw hunger of Steve Smith.

The guy edged the ball (along the ground) after his hundred for two and then spent 30 seconds berating himself

There've been guys with a greater range of shots but less application, and guys with less shots and more (very slightly, maybe) determination.

But Smith combines scoring options with hunger in a way very very few ever have.

 

[Cow]

Smith may have the technique of a paraplegic.. but he is not a defensive batsmen, so I think the comparison to Dravid is slightly off. (other than mental toughness)

This innings he has been very watchful and played the situation brilliantly. But he has a test SR of 55 which is pretty good and shows he's a batsmen who always looking to score.

 

[Gnske]

Starc has an amazing eye but that's about it. Mitch Johnson with a worse technique, basically.

Has there ever been someone who batted more like a robot that desperately needed WD40 than Mitch?

 

[morgieb]

Cummins making a pretty watertight case he should be batting above Starc. Been consistently impressive in his brief Test career and just seems to be much more solid in his mindset towards batting than Starc who’s on or off in his batting.

Yep. Cummins looks like a proper batsman, Starc's basically a good slogger. Latter makes for good 9's but not 8's. Cummins (and Patto) can easily handle 8 IMO.

 

[Spark]

Cummins is better than like half our top order

 

[stephen]

The telling thing for me was in the lunchtime pre-recorded interview Smith said that he gave up his bowling so that he could get his batting up to the standard he expected from himself. Assuming that this is the standard he holds himself to he's got pretty bloody high standards.

And rightly so. He occupies the most important job in the country.

 

[91Jmay]

Aussies could be looking at 50+ lead here which would be a massive one given conditions. Cummins is so so good

 

[Spark]

Has there ever been someone who batted more like a robot that desperately needed WD40 than Mitch?

When it came off it was glorious though. **** hit the ball harder than almost anyone I've seen, was genuinely dangerous to be a close fielder when he teed off.

 

[harsh.ag]

Cummins throwing LMS into disarray. WAG.