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2nd Test at the MCG, Melbourne, 26 Dec - 30 Dec 2020
- Thread starter Spark
- Start date
OverratedSanity
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Wade literally tried that in the first innings.
stephen
Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Not really. He played a premeditated shot over mid wicket that wasn't really on and he didn't really need to play. If you're going to dance down the pitch to spinners you play straight.
Anyway, I was talking more about pace bowlers. There's no reason a batsman shouldn't cover drive after facing 20 or 30 balls. But there were so few cover drives in the Australian innings, and certainly no lofted ones that I'm almost certain they're being told they can't play them.
Senile Sentry
International Debutant
A lot of this slow scoring has to also do with Smith getting dismissed cheaply early on. In the 2nd innings, Head and Labu got to a decent momentum. Labu even took Ashwin for some runs initially but also got lulled into poking at that excellent delivery. Once Labu and subsequently Smith got dismissed, the momentum was completely stalled. Aus also lacks a player Pant or Jadeja down the order who can potentially change the momentum in a session if he clicks.One of the main reasons India won in 2018 is down to Pujara's batting.
His scores and strike rates in those tests:
Batting records | Test matches | Cricinfo Statsguru | ESPNcricinfo.com
stats.espncricinfo.com
71@35
123@50
4@36
24@23
0@0
106@33
193@52
He was still scoring at a strike rate of 35 or more over the course of his innings and doing so absolutely suited his style of batting. But up the other end he had Rahul, Vijay, Kohli, Rahane, Sharma and Pant all scoring at rates of 40-60 and chipping in with valuable contributions. So despite Pujara batting slowly, the scoreboard ticked over and even when it didn't, the Australian 4 man bowling attack tired itself out.
These tests India are bringing 5 bowlers, including two spinners. Batting slowly isn't going to tire them out. And if every batsman is doing it then it keeps India in the game, even if they are bowling all day (which they're not, I might add).
This go slow isn't working at all. It's letting the Indian side rotate their bowlers as they see fit, it's hindering scoring opportunities and it's letting India get the second new ball while Australia only have 150 runs on the board, which is giving Bumrah opportunities to bowl with the new ball to the tail with no runs in the bank.
Arachnodouche
International Captain
Every spinner worth his salt wants to see the batsman in an attacking frame of mind, especially when they're bowling well and have the right fields set. Creates more avenues for a wicket: beat them in flight, bring fielders in the deep into play, etc. If the current trend of Indian spin continues and Aus try to hit them off their game, they'll simply get bowled out in half the overs. If it's rotating strike we're talking about, it's hard to do off middle and leg when you have four fielders plugging the legside.
stephen
Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Ok I've been looking over Head's stats. He's a bigger minnow basher than Burns.
Since mid 2019 he's played 11 tests and averaged 30 batting at the easiest spot in the batting order. In that time he's played 17 innings and only had 3 scores greater than 50, with only one of them being a century. Of those three scores, the 50 he made in England was sandwiched between Smith and Wade both hitting hundreds, the 50 in Perth was in a team total of over 400 and the hundred, while important, was made against New Zealand on the MCG. In only one of those innings was he coming in under any real pressure (3-75 in England). The other two he came to the crease with over 200 runs on the board.
And it's not like he's getting low scores not out either, he's only had a single not out in that time. How can we keep a player batting at 5 and 6 who can't make runs after early collapses, can't bat with the tail and is averaging 30 over their last 11 tests?
I think he has to go. No point keeping such a low altitude flyer in the team. I'd honestly rather keep Burns opening and drop Wade back down to the middle order when Warner returns than let Head continue. I'm full on TJBing this now. I hadn't realised just how bad this had gotten.
Splitting his stats by opposition:
vs England ave 27.3
vs India ave 29.9
vs New Zealand ave 42.6
vs Pakistan ave 29
vs Sri Lanka ave 152
He's been cashing in against two sides while failing against our most important opposition.
Since mid 2019 he's played 11 tests and averaged 30 batting at the easiest spot in the batting order. In that time he's played 17 innings and only had 3 scores greater than 50, with only one of them being a century. Of those three scores, the 50 he made in England was sandwiched between Smith and Wade both hitting hundreds, the 50 in Perth was in a team total of over 400 and the hundred, while important, was made against New Zealand on the MCG. In only one of those innings was he coming in under any real pressure (3-75 in England). The other two he came to the crease with over 200 runs on the board.
And it's not like he's getting low scores not out either, he's only had a single not out in that time. How can we keep a player batting at 5 and 6 who can't make runs after early collapses, can't bat with the tail and is averaging 30 over their last 11 tests?
I think he has to go. No point keeping such a low altitude flyer in the team. I'd honestly rather keep Burns opening and drop Wade back down to the middle order when Warner returns than let Head continue. I'm full on TJBing this now. I hadn't realised just how bad this had gotten.
Splitting his stats by opposition:
vs England ave 27.3
vs India ave 29.9
vs New Zealand ave 42.6
vs Pakistan ave 29
vs Sri Lanka ave 152
He's been cashing in against two sides while failing against our most important opposition.
OverratedSanity
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Depends on the surface imo. If it turns like it did this game (which for an Australian pitch was a decent amount) then I can see the spinners getting a bag of wickets. Otherwise, #intent will 100% work no matter how well they bowl imo.
stephen
Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
It only really spun on day 1. Which is a strange thing to say, but I'm sure it's got to do with the grass coverage they left on the pitch. The pitch got flatter and spun less the longer the test went on.
Arachnodouche
International Captain
Ashwin was getting his carrom ball to go like a leg break on day 4. It was spinning alright.
cnerd123
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#intent without #abilities = #lollapses. Spinners have wrecked attacking batting lineups in unhelpful conditions a ton of times throughout history. It's just a meme that persists. It's the same reason crappy seam attacks can take bag full of wickets bowling half trackers against batsmen who have #intent but are thoroughly clueless about how to play the short ball.
Spin is real bowling guys
cnerd123
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he bowls it so nicely, why does he bother with the legbreak variation at all.
Daemon
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Yeah but it did spin way more Day 1 and even Day 2 tbf. Lyon and Ashwin both had at least one pitching outside off and going down leg for 4 byes iirc.
Arachnodouche
International Captain
The big brain between his ears. I was worried every time he bowled one that he was going to slip into old habits and start experimenting every other ball. He didn't though to his credit.
_00_deathscar
International Regular
Spark
Global Moderator
yeah in australia, attacking batting vs finger spin basically results in the finger spinner returning figures of 2/100.
cnerd123
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not when Lyon's the fingerspinner
Arachnodouche
International Captain
This might be true historically and when you have a group of batsmen inclined to attack or who have been reared to do so as part of overall strategy. But if what stephen's been saying about the emphasis on grind in the nets is true, you're simply liable to confuse your batsmen even more by asking them to suddenly "express themselves" in the middle of a tough series.
