***Official*** 5th Test at the SCG

[stephen]

That MCG pitch was a very bad pitch. It needed to deteriorate to make it interesting but it didn't.

The Brisbane pitch was atypical due to the cool spring with lots of rain we had in the lead up (my mango tree has yielded a bumper crop this year).

The WACA was every WACA stereotype rolled into one. Adelaide was a really good test match venue which played the same as it had in the past three years. Sydney is a little roadier than usual but is still spinning.

But the MCG - the marquis test of the summer - was a turgid and uninteresting pitch which produced uninteresting cricket in a series already decided.

Still I think that there has been a bit less posting here than usual, even in the first three test threads.

 

[TNT]

It was the MCG I was discussing, hence my ''that MCG was a terrible wicket''.

You get that in test matches, always have since I've been watching cricket. Thats what test cricket is, fortunately for england that was the only pitch that managed to close the gulf between the two teams, without it the result would have been 5-0 again.

 

[Spark]

That MCG pitch was a very bad pitch. It needed to deteriorate to make it interesting but it didn't.

The Brisbane pitch was atypical due to the cool spring with lots of rain we had in the lead up (my mango tree has yielded a bumper crop this year).

The WACA was every WACA stereotype rolled into one. Adelaide was a really good test match venue which played the same as it had in the past three years. Sydney is a little roadier than usual but is still spinning.

But the MCG - the marquis test of the summer - was a turgid and uninteresting pitch which produced uninteresting cricket in a series already decided.

Still I think that there has been a bit less posting here than usual, even in the first three test threads.

First two Test threads had very healthy post counts (~3000 in each), but it started to drop off after that, and these last two threads have been pretty dead. Even the 3rd, 4th and 5th Tests in 2013/14 had a lot more activity than this, and those didn't exactly go the distance or involve super-competitive cricket. It's just been a bit of a slog, tbh.

 

[TNT]

It's worth remembering a semi-professional club cricketer like Voges had a test average of around 100 due to the disgusting roads CA put out these days.

Aus has become a very boring place to watch cricket... on par with Dubai and Sharjah in terms of quality of pitches.

Didnt stop your full time professional cricketers from england averaging 100 now did it. They are full time professionals arent they.

 

[Cow]

this AFL shite needs to do one of two things... either get their own stadiums or disband the mickey mouse sport entirely. The drop in pitches are killing Aus cricket.

I went to an Anzac game at the MCG... I believe it was the Collingwood pigeons against the Essendon rats... good god... what a boring, lifeless spectacle it was. I've seen a better atmosphere at a funeral.

 

[TNT]

People forget Broad for instance played like a club cricketer, lacked pace and intensity, didnt work hard and just coasted along happy to only put in half the effort required. Ali is not a front line spinner, he had nothing and couldent put any pressure on the batsmen. How could you class the english bowling as anything other than poor, uninspiring and plain gutless.

 

[Spikey]

It is mostly that it's pretty easy to just follow the scoreboard on pitches like these. You kind of know exactly what's going on anyway.

yep

 

[TNT]

this AFL shite needs to do one of two things... either get their own stadiums or disband the mickey mouse sport entirely. The drop in pitches are killing Aus cricket.

I went to an Anzac game at the MCG... I believe it was the Collingwood pigeons against the Essendon rats... good god... what a boring, lifeless spectacle it was. I've seen a better atmosphere at a funeral.

Well we do like a good funeral, especially on a Friday night.

 

[Black_Warrior]

There is plenty for the bowlers, in fact four Australian bowlers took 20 wickets in the series, what you mean is they should make pitches for teams that dont have bowlers that do hard work and need conditions to suit them.

Taking 20 wickets has as much to do with calibre of bowling, quality of opposition as much to do with pitches.

When up against good batting sides like India and South Africa on these pitches, Australian attack does not take 20 wickets that often. That doesn't make the attack bad suddenly but tells you about the quality of the pitches. You will still take 20 wickets on flat pitches against weak sides like England because they are just not that good.

 

[Cow]

Well we do like a good funeral, especially on a Friday night.

evidently

 

[S.Kennedy]

People forget Broad for instance played like a club cricketer, lacked pace and intensity, didnt work hard and just coasted along happy to only put in half the effort required. Ali is not a front line spinner, he had nothing and couldent put any pressure on the batsmen. How could you class the english bowling as anything other than poor, uninspiring and plain gutless.

I do not even know why you keep going on about England to be honest considering the discussion concerns cricket as a viewer spectacle and it is basically obvious to everyone that England were ****.

 

[vcs]

In a way I agree with TNT, we might want all pitches to be like they are in SA... but as long as the Australian bowlers are taking 20 wickets on them consistently (and they are), there's no reason for the curators to change what they're doing. Visiting teams and their fans can complain about boring and attritional cricket all they want, but at the end of the day, their team is the one getting bowled out twice on these "roads".

 

[TNT]

Taking 20 wickets has as much to do with calibre of bowling, quality of opposition as much to do with pitches.

When up against good batting sides like India and South Africa on these pitches, Australian attack does not take 20 wickets that often. That doesn't make the attack bad suddenly but tells you about the quality of the pitches. You will still take 20 wickets on flat pitches against weak sides like England because they are just not that good.

So if the pitches had more in it for the bowlers then the tests would have been over in three days and england would have lost 5-0 and your batsmen would have been lucky to average half of what they did.

 

[masterawais]

5th Test Day 4 Highlights : MyCricketHighlights
England vs Australia 5th Test Day 4 Highlights ? 7 JAN 2018

 

[Burgey]

Taking 20 wickets has as much to do with calibre of bowling, quality of opposition as much to do with pitches.

When up against good batting sides like India and South Africa on these pitches, Australian attack does not take 20 wickets that often. That doesn't make the attack bad suddenly but tells you about the quality of the pitches. You will still take 20 wickets on flat pitches against weak sides like England because they are just not that good.

They’ll have no trouble taking 20 wickets against India next year. FFS it’ll be an advert for a mercy rule.

 

[TNT]

I do not even know why you keep going on about England to be honest considering the discussion concerns cricket as a viewer spectacle and it is basically obvious to everyone that England were ****.

Because that was the problem with this series, england played like crap, the matches could have been more exciting and closer if england had of put a bit more effort into the bowling and batting. If the pitches were better then england would have been flogged by more.

 

[GotSpin]

The pitches haven't helped in the slightest.

Hopefully this series will wake up Australia to the reality that their pitches are amongst the worst in world cricket.

It won't happen.

Record crowds and a 4-0 scoreline won't encourage much change.

It's been a pretty boring series anyway. England just weren't good enough and the pitches haven't been very exciting either. I really only enjoyed the Adelaide test

 

[Burgey]

Brisbane and especially Melbourne were the culprits this series. Adelaide was good, Sydney is turning and Perth had some pace in it so shot making was possible. Fmd Melbourne was awful. Smith would still be batting on it.

 

[Spark]

They’ll have no trouble taking 20 wickets against India next year. FFS it’ll be an advert for a mercy rule.

Hmm, we didn't exactly have an easy time taking 20 wickets last time around.

 

[S.Kennedy]

In a way I agree with TNT, we might want all pitches to be like they are in SA... but as long as the Australian bowlers are taking 20 wickets on them consistently (and they are), there's no reason for the curators to change what they're doing. Visiting teams and their fans can complain about boring and attritional cricket all they want, but at the end of the day, their team is the one getting bowled out twice on these "roads".

England had not commenced their second innings at Melbourne. Even in England's first, it took Australia 144 overs to bowl them out.