4th Test at the Gabba, Brisbane, 15 - 19 Jan 2021

[Senile Sentry]

Which is why Australia will win the next series, in India.

That will be just the cliffhanger ending to open up another season of Good vs Evil.

 

[stephen]

That will be just the cliffhanger ending to open up another season of Good vs Evil.

Nah there's no good vs evil in sport. Just underdogs and goliaths to take down. The key is to stay the alpha dog for as long as you can before a David comes along to slay you.

That's demonstrably the worst mixed metaphor I've ever used. Fmd, my intelligence must be slipping to that of an Australian test coach.

 

[harsh.ag]

No, because I'm not explicitly tying them being fresh to them playing well. It's only adds a slight advantage if they step up and do the job, but it's not a guarantee in and of itself of someone performing well. If they didn't play well, it's probably because they are not up to it and never will be, fresh or not. The advantage they had was they weren't going to blow out at any time in the test due to the miles they had in their legs, but again, this only becomes an advantage if you're playing well enough to warrant your position in the team. The fact they played well is a credit to themselves. Being fresh at the end of a series doesn't mean you just turn up and run rings around other players who may have been a little more fatigued. Going into a game not fatigued means you are in the best place you can be when it comes to your performance, but if you think I suggested this is the only factor in their success, maybe go back and read the original post. You only quoted one line, so maybe you missed something.

Instead of fighting an imaginary battle against perceived sleights, go off and enjoy the win. It was a good one.

If you don't want people commenting on your posts in a polite way, then why post here? Keep your suggestions for me inside your arse.

Again, it's post facto reasoning: "If they didn't play well, it's probably because they are not up to it and never will be, fresh or not" - is clear post facto reasoning.

Learn to argue better.

 

[Son Of Coco]

If you don't want people commenting on your posts in a polite way, then why post here? Keep your suggestions for me inside your arse.

Again, it's post facto reasoning: "If they didn't play well, it's probably because they are not up to it and never will be, fresh or not" - is clear post facto reasoning.

Learn to argue better.

Sure, I mean winning the series and still playing the victim looks good on you.

Learn to read better.

 

[harsh.ag]

Sure, I mean winning the series and still playing the victim looks good on you.

Learn to read better.

Nice. When nothing else works, play the man

 

[h_hurricane]

Which is why Australia will win the next series, in India.

Cannot rule this out if fresh legs play every match. Do bring plenty of reserves in the touring party.

 

[Jayro]

But if they hadn't done well, you would never have brought out this line of reasoning "oh how come they didn't do well, they were fresh"

It's pure post facto reasoning

Than it would of only become Aussie mighty prowess.

 

[Jayro]

SS Contrarian view: Two different teams from India fluked their way to two wins and a draw on a flat surface. Fluke wins do happen when a lesser team for a brief while manages to punch above their weight. Like Pune win by Aus or Lords wins by India. Usually these don't get repeated in a series and the overall dominant team will invariably stamp their dominance in remaining games.

The fact that these wins happened in the space of a few weeks against same team is also a fluke. Had India repeated same team ss MCG, they probably won't have won the series.

You can say India bundled out for 36 was a fluke since they dominated the whole test match prior to it, disregarding that one or two hour of madness this scoreline was easily 3-0.

 

[Smudge49]

A factor that I thought was evident in the way the Indian side played was a hunger to perform. A desire to stay in the game at all moments. The veterans dug deep, the rookies played beyond themselves, and they all played through the various physical and emotional struggles they had to endure during the tour.

It would have been easy for them to just mentally check out at various points of this tour, and completely understandable too, but they refused to go away. Remarkable spirit. That's something Aus did not have.

Can't blame the Aussies for not having the spirit, Cummins and Co literally bowled till their feet bled and despite batting well below their best, they were defending targets of 300+ on day 5 both at Sydney & Brisbane.

What they didn't have was proper planning, Michael Clarke has made some very good points today that the rut goes way beyond Paine's leadership which is a fair assumption.

 

[Spark]

This attack in the hands of Clarke would win so many games. Beyond frustrating.

 

[honestbharani]

Honestly think Warner would make a really good captain, as long as you have the right coaches around him.

 

[Smudge49]

This attack in the hands of Clarke would win so many games. Beyond frustrating.

The point Clarke made is that, that Australian cricket has gone beyond the captain and now the coach and high performance manager have more sway on things then even the skipper, Paine is the perfect captain in that regard because he isn't rigid like most natural leaders can be.

Let's not forget both Clarke and Smith were literally pushed out of their leadership roles for contrasting reasons.

 

[OverratedSanity]

This attack in the hands of Clarke would win so many games. Beyond frustrating.

Cant forget that this is the same captain under whom Australia had their best *away Ashes performance in decades. Something about India confounds them a little imo because they're one of the only teams in the world who are used to playing relatively attritional cricket.

edit: edited to add away

 

[anil1405]

Honestly think Warner would make a really good captain, as long as you have the right coaches around him.

Fair point but it has got more to do with not just coaches alone but other varying factors.

If you look at IPL, albeit a different format, he turns into a beast. Determined focussed and leads from the front.

Imo, it's got to do with culture and setup. With Australia I guess he is compelled to think that he has to be aggressive, with and without a bat in his hand, irrespective of how he or the team plays. But in an environment like IPL where Sunrisers are more calm, composed and not a renowned superpower as compared to other franchises his personality changes drastically.

 

[Smudge49]

Cant forget that this is the same captain under whom Australia had their best Ashes performance in decades. Something about India confounds them a little imo because they're one of the only teams in the world who are used to playing relatively attritional cricket.

Some of the English fans might correct me on this, but hasn't England completely shifted their focus from red ball cricket to white ball cricket since Strauss took over the management scheme of things?

Everyone from Pakistan, West Indies heck even Ireland are giving them a run for their money within their home conditions, even then this Australian side couldn't seal the deal despite playing better cricket for most of that Ashes series.

 

[Spark]

Cant forget that this is the same captain under whom Australia had their best *away Ashes performance in decades. Something about India confounds them a little imo because they're one of the only teams in the world who are used to playing relatively attritional cricket.

edit: edited to add away

That's true but honestly, Clarke did almost as well bowling-wise with much lesser resources in England in 2013 in particular, and even in 2015 the bowlers were mostly okay (although they were guilty of being seduced by the swing a bit). The main difference was that the batting in 2019 was much better, and that was almost entirely down to one man.

 

[Senile Sentry]

Fair point but it has got more to do with not just coaches alone but other varying factors.

If you look at IPL, albeit a different format, he turns into a beast. Determined focussed and leads from the front.

Imo, it's got to do with culture and setup. With Australia I guess he is compelled to think that he has to be aggressive, with and without a bat in his hand, irrespective of how he or the team plays. But in an environment like IPL where Sunrisers are more calm, composed and not a renowned superpower as compared to other franchises his personality changes drastically.

Surely leading IPL teams can't ve benchmark of Aussie test captaincy credentials?

Warner at 34 and most importantly post sandpapergate has ruled himself out of any leadership position in Aus.

Also he genuinely might have changed after the ban and introspection, plus age - which reflects in him being much calmer in IPL.

 

[Spark]

The point Clarke made is that, that Australian cricket has gone beyond the captain and now the coach and high performance manager have more sway on things then even the skipper, Paine is the perfect captain in that regard because he isn't rigid like most natural leaders can be.

Let's not forget both Clarke and Smith were literally pushed out of their leadership roles for contrasting reasons.

I mean Clarke wasn't "pushed out", he was retired because his back had basically disintegrated and he could no longer bat properly. Had he remained fully fit, he probably would have led Australia for a few more years.

 

[Smudge49]

I mean Clarke wasn't "pushed out", he was retired because his back had basically disintegrated and he could no longer bat properly. Had he remained fully fit, he probably would have led Australia for a few more years.

Clarke has said it on 60 minutes that he was literally pushed back into the team when he was recovering from his back ailment around the same time he was coping with passing of his best mate Phil Hughes, he was told he either leads the team or gets replaced.

It was all downhill from there for him, both mentally and physically.

 

[Spark]

Clarke has said it on 60 minutes that he was literally pushed back into the team when he was recovering from his back ailment around the same time he was coping with passing of his best mate Phil Hughes, he was told he either leads the team or gets replaced.

It was all downhill from there for him, both mentally and physically.

Hmm I missed that. I know he regretted coming back, but I'd always understood/heard that he'd felt obligated to do so because he was still captain, not because they basically gave him an ultimatum.

I completely agree that he was done by then, though. A shell of a player after that aside from two very emotion-driven innings.