**Official** 5th Test at Sydney, 3-7 Jan 2025

[Prince EWS]

Reckon so

If not then maybe he should be.

 

[Zinzan]

Smith's final average will not be an indicator of how utterly dominant he was at his peak. He literally had multiple years in a row averaging between 70 and 110.

TBF both have amazing records over the last 10 years;

 

[social]

Yeah 94 was just an epic choke job

 

[TheJediBrah]

Smith's final average will not be an indicator of how utterly dominant he was at his peak. He literally had multiple years in a row averaging between 70 and 110.

Could say the same about a lot of players, like most of them

 

[social]

Head also with the best strike rate of the series. Two are related I think with these bowling lineups and pitches.

Head is also one of the more technically correct batsmen in this series

 

[The_CricketUmpire]

its pretty average. he has peaked his career - several years ago. if he fails in SL then hes under pressure to get picked for the Ashes. He doesnt play spin well at all nowadays. issue is there is no one in the Shield cricket banging down the door to replace these guys, Aus bound to fall down the rankings with Eng and SAF likely to the top of the rankings in the next several years - SAF have some youngsters coming up and Eng as well(e.g. Brook who averages 58 in tests). Aus have pretty much no one coming up- Konstas is a T20 kid trying to play tests , dont see him with more than a 30 average in his career!

Re here, its game on 91 runs is quite a lot on this track, 7 wickets but a lot of tail enders/lower order players.

It's been a weak era in Australian cricket currently and past 10 to 15 years. The depth hasn't been strong like it used to be.

 

[Daemon]

What's officially going on with Bumrah?

Recovering with a 4-5 over spell in the nets

 

[Prince EWS]

Recovering with a 4-5 over spell in the nets

@silentstriker

 

[Spark]

Head is also one of the more technically correct batsmen in this series

"Technically correct" is not how I would describe Travis Head

 

[stephen]

Smith's 50 tests between his 138* in 2013 and before the South Africa tour resulting in his ban yielded 5437 runs at an average of 73.47.

That's over 100 runs per test over five years in some of the more bowler friendly conditions in recent times. His hundred at the gabba probably one of the most memorable innings ever.

 

[Prince EWS]

TBF both have amazing records over the last 10 years;

View attachment 44103

I enjoyed how @PlayerComparisons liked this because you were comparing two players.

 

[Niall]

Recovering with a 4-5 over spell in the nets

Supposedly it was his childhood dream to play in the Big Bash so he might have got a gig with the Thunder?

 

[slowfinger]

I always thought Khawaja was 1 or 2 bad series away from getting the chop when he came back in 2017 but some how he's managed to actually become a mainstay of the team - way overperformed his potential IMO

 

[subshakerz]

Injured.

I reckon they knew it yesterday but didn't want to give Australia a lift by officially announcing he won't be there.

 

[social]

"Technically correct" is not how I would describe Travis Head

It’s all relative

Nobody should coach anyone to bat like current Uzi, Marnus or Smith

 

[Spark]

I always thought Khawaja was 1 or 2 bad series away from getting the chop when he came back in 2017 but some how he's managed to actually become a mainstay of the team - way overperformed his potential IMO

Haha I totally disagree with this tbh - he's underperformed his potential if anything, with how he was rated coming in he really should have gotten >20 Test hundreds over 100 Tests

 

[stephen]

It's been a weak era in Australian cricket currently and past 10 to 15 years. The depth hasn't been strong like it used to be.

A weak era by comparison to an era with Hayden, Ponting, Waugh, Gilchrist, Warne and McGrath perhaps. We still have a win/loss ratio of over 1.7 since 2010.

 

[Spark]

It’s all relative

Nobody should coach anyone to bat like current Uzi, Marnus or Smith

Yeah no Head still doesn't stand out as technically correct relative to those three.

 

[Spark]

A weak era by comparison to an era with Hayden, Ponting, Waugh, Gilchrist, Warne and McGrath perhaps. We still have a win/loss ratio of over 1.7 since 2010.

Don't even bother tbh, he makes the same post once a day every summer and won't entertain arguments otherwise.

 

[slowfinger]

Haha I totally disagree with this tbh - he's underperformed his potential if anything, with how he was rated coming in he really should have gotten >20 Test hundreds over 100 Tests

he's only 77 tests in though and definitely on course for that if he plays a while longer

but his retirement is imminent surely

edit: i think my opinion just comes from his batting style - feels as though he is a walking wicket with how languid he plays the ball especially with a moving ball but he some how sticks around