***Official*** 3rd Test at the WACA

[Gob]

****ing Bankers.

Still could go bang bang in the morning session and keep them below 400

 

[adub]

To be clear, all this doom and gloom pitch talk is hypothetical. For the most part the pitch today played really well; it's very rare that you'll get a pitch in Australia that looks anything but flat when you have a 60-over old Kookaburra.

Of course, and Bankers doesn't drop that catch it could have been a restless night for Pommy fans.

But we've seen Perth pitches. I'm hoping to be pleasantly surprised, but I'm expecting to be bored with bowlers being used as fodder to inflate some batting averages.

 

[adub]

I wonder why they couldn't get a snicko replay from the off side? You'd think that would have been the best, yet the only non-hotspot angle used was that one from third man.

Yeah that was a bad look. If they had one from the off side and a noise corresponded to the ball passing the top hand rather than picking up the hand off the bat then fine overturn. But all we really saw was a clear hotspot on the bottom hand that was well off the bat. The snicko from behind was useless in that regard.

 

[Spark]

I wonder why they couldn't get a snicko replay from the off side? You'd think that would have been the best, yet the only non-hotspot angle used was that one from third man.

Yeah that was ****ing weird. I was sure they were going to consult a few more angles, but suddenly they go on-field and it's overturned! It completely threw the commentators and broadcasters too, because after they came back from the break I wasn't sure if they were just showing replays or whether they were actually still going through the process.

 

[Second Spitter]

Yeah that was a bad look. If they had one from the off side and a noise corresponded to the ball passing the top hand rather than picking up the hand off the bat then fine overturn. But all we really saw was a clear hotspot on the bottom hand that was well off the bat. The snicko from behind was useless in that regard.

What made it worse was that the 3rd Ump (Dar?) seemed to be more worried that his meat pie was getting cold and made the decision far too hastily. I wonder if they have received some sort of directive?

 

[Starfighter]

Yeah that was a bad look. If they had one from the off side and a noise corresponded to the ball passing the top hand rather than picking up the hand off the bat then fine overturn. But all we really saw was a clear hotspot on the bottom hand that was well off the bat. The snicko from behind was useless in that regard.

The thing I saw with the snicko was that the frame before the spike you could see that the ball had already passed the bat and front hand. Then the spike came when the ball was obscured by the hand off the bat.

 

[oblongballs]

The day had pretty much everything, the predictable Cook failure, the terrible application of DRS, good bowling, better batting and a fine battle between bat and ball.

The best day of cricket in the entire series and yet it probably will not be enough to beat Australia.

 

[Gnske]

Unpopular opinion: Paine is a better keeper than Nev.

Well duh, best in Australia. You'd have to be some kind of jerk to dispute this.

Left for work just after Stoneman got out, really surprised after that tussle that it went this one-sided. Malan's drives are the absolute ***.

 

[Starfighter]

That's the really annoying thing though isn't it. The first three hours were ****ing engrossing cricket. Runs flowing, quicks bowling snorters. There are really far too few pitches where genuine quick bowling really is rewarded (as opposed to seamy green wickets where medium pacers grab a bagful or dustbowls). It was great the way the English bats were just hanging in there, but still pumping anything in the slot to the fence or edging fours over the slips etc. 4 days of that would be some of the best test cricket you could ever watch. But Perth doesn't seem to be that place anymore (was it ever really?).

The reputation of Perth is a bit funny, there was an article on the Guardian about it a few days ago. Their first test in 70/71 was on an easy paced batting track, against reputation, then it was supposedly very fast until the mid-eighties when they changed curator and apparently couldn't get the soil that was originally used. Then it became slower but would crack dramatically, especially in 1997. Then it's become slower and more batting friendly except if grassy, especially over the past decade.

The genuinely quick wicket is certainly a rarity. I can only think of three grounds which had that reputation for a long time - at Perth, Bridgetown and Kingston. All are now slower and more batting friendly, with Kingston especially tending to slow turn. Maybe Brisbane as well although people have tended to talk about the bounce there more. And possibly one or two SA pitches. Of course we're talking absolutely lightening here, other pitches have been fast at times. The similarity those three had was being absolutely rock hard clay surfaces with a tendency to crack. I've even heard of bowlers slipping over because their spikes wouldn't go in. Not much sideways movement except if uneven, green pitches which move tend to be slower as they have to be soft to keep the live grass and moisture. Possible to score very quickly but the ball would really fly through and any unevenness would produce odd things.

Edit: I've been watching test now cricket for only seven or eight years, and that mostly in Australia. Can anyone think of any really, genuinely quick wickets, something closer what Perth supposedly was, over the past decade in Australia and elsewhere? 13/14 was perhaps fastish but quite docile when England were bowling.

 

[Gnske]

Edit: I've been watching test now cricket for only seven or eight years, and that mostly in Australia. Can anyone think of any really, genuinely quick wickets, something closer what Perth supposedly was, over the past decade in Australia and elsewhere? 13/14 was perhaps fastish but quite docile when England were bowling.

Nothing that overtly stands out to my memory. This doesn't count but Johnson had a habit of making pitches in that GOAT period of his look much quicker than they were. Centurion, Adelaide and Brisbane come to mind.

 

[Mrpiggy]

Clear as daylight. He GLOVED / skimmed the ball with his top hand and it was caught behind. Clear hotspot blemish on the glove. End of matter. Dropped catches have come back to bite us in the a$$.
Just want to batter the England filth now. Get a bouncer into Broads face. Might improve his looks a tad. Root looked like he was going to cry after the last test. Little boy.

 

[S.Kennedy]

Woah, wait up, I'm Australian and was very much supporting Australia. It was analogous. I thought Bangalore was actually the worse pitch by the end of the match. O'Keefe cleaned up with a whole bunch of typical non-turners which was ****ing hilarious and made Warne absolutely taste it (not that he noticed).

Remember, O'Keefe came ''round the wicket''.

 

[Daemon]

Clear as daylight. He GLOVED / skimmed the ball with his top hand and it was caught behind. Clear hotspot blemish on the glove. End of matter. Dropped catches have come back to bite us in the a$$.
Just want to batter the England filth now. Get a bouncer into Broads face. Might improve his looks a tad. Root looked like he was going to cry after the last test. Little boy.

Good effort but too blatant

 

[LegionOfBrad]

The reputation of Perth is a bit funny, there was an article on the Guardian about it a few days ago. Their first test in 70/71 was on an easy paced batting track, against reputation, then it was supposedly very fast until the mid-eighties when they changed curator and apparently couldn't get the soil that was originally used. Then it became slower but would crack dramatically, especially in 1997. Then it's become slower and more batting friendly except if grassy, especially over the past decade.

The genuinely quick wicket is certainly a rarity. I can only think of three grounds which had that reputation for a long time - at Perth, Bridgetown and Kingston. All are now slower and more batting friendly, with Kingston especially tending to slow turn. Maybe Brisbane as well although people have tended to talk about the bounce there more. And possibly one or two SA pitches. Of course we're talking absolutely lightening here, other pitches have been fast at times. The similarity those three had was being absolutely rock hard clay surfaces with a tendency to crack. I've even heard of bowlers slipping over because their spikes wouldn't go in. Not much sideways movement except if uneven, green pitches which move tend to be slower as they have to be soft to keep the live grass and moisture. Possible to score very quickly but the ball would really fly through and any unevenness would produce odd things.

Edit: I've been watching test now cricket for only seven or eight years, and that mostly in Australia. Can anyone think of any really, genuinely quick wickets, something closer what Perth supposedly was, over the past decade in Australia and elsewhere? 13/14 was perhaps fastish but quite docile when England were bowling.

Not the last decade but the Oval and Old Trafford (before rotation) used to be fast. Neither have been (or any English pitch for that matter) for many years. It is part of the reason we struggle in Aussie conditions.

 

[Gnske]

Remember, O'Keefe came ''round the wicket''.

I'd wiped Warne's taking of the credit completely from my mind, thanks for reminding me of the horror.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Remember, O'Keefe came ''round the wicket''.

It was #ChangeOfEnds iirc

 

[Cabinet96]

One good partnership and suddenly the pitch isn't considered quick as **** lol.

 

[andruid]

Not the last decade but the Oval and Old Trafford (before rotation) used to be fast. Neither have been (or any English pitch for that matter) for many years. It is part of the reason we struggle in Aussie conditions.

I always thought Old Trafford was more a spin friendly wicket

 

[S.Kennedy]

I always thought Old Trafford was more a spin friendly wicket

Traditionally: Laker's 19 wickets and the Gatting Ball/Ball of the Century.

 

[LegionOfBrad]

I always thought Old Trafford was more a spin friendly wicket

It is. It also used to have pace and bounce to start then crumble. The two aren't mutually exclusive.