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

[Son Of Coco]

One innings makes Man of the Series? Surely you jest.

Paul Collingwood got an MBE and he only played two innings.

 

[The_CricketUmpire]

Dude just stop. Labuschagne saved the last game with two excellent Innings and his first innings 60 odd under light in Adelaide was absolutely critical in setting up the launching pad for Head. Sure he had a dreadful run from the oval last year to Perth this year (there is still a match winning 90 odd in nz in that period so he hasn't been total **** lìke kohli) but there is no one outside the team who is remotely close to his quality and we've seen good signs in this series that he is getting back to his best. You also have to factor in the small matter of probably the greatest fast bowler of all time having his best series so that's obviously going to add few runs to the averages of Australian batsmen in this series. Context matters

Maybe if you drop your **** ass attitude that all current players suck compared to the blokes who retired, you might even enjoy some cricket without whinging every single game about the quality of cricket or players

My My My....triggered aren't you...

 

[social]

@Burgey will hate this but it’s the truth

The SCG is one of the most overrated sporting grounds in the world

The pitch is generally ****

It’s too small for AFL so ****

Spectators are too far away from the action in league & union so ****

Catering is expensive and the food is ****

Parking is expensive and ****

Transport connections are ****

ALP governments banned drinking outside pubs years ago so pub crawls are ****

Literally the only thing it has going for it is history and a picturesque Members & Ladies stand

Fun fact: Gabba is better & they’re going to nuke the joint

If not for the fact that my dear old Dad was given members tickets about 50 years ago, I would never go back but can’t bring myself to hand the tickets back

 

[Gob]

My My My....triggered aren't you...

From your garbage posts?

More like annoyed

 

[the big bambino]

The pitch here was just **** and if the best you can say for it is "at least it aint Melbourne that time" then there isn't much going for it.

 

[Spikey]

the "it’s too small for AFL thing" isn't true anymore. the length of the ground got expanded around the 2015 WC and it's not much different to the MCG, Gabba, etc. the problem is due to the ladies and members stand, they can't fix up the camera angles so it still looks "odd" during AFL coverage (as shown during Buddy's 1000th).

transport is good now with the tram plus if you can do it, you should do the walk to central anyway!

 

[The_CricketUmpire]

From your garbage posts?

More like annoyed

 

[social]

the "it’s too small for AFL thing" isn't true anymore. the length of the ground got expanded around the 2015 WC and it's not much different to the MCG, Gabba, etc. the problem is due to the ladies and members stand, they can't fix up the camera angles so it still looks "odd" during AFL coverage (as shown during Buddy's 1000th).

transport is good now with the tram plus if you can do it, you should do the walk to central anyway!

Dude, Central is about 5ks away

Burgey & I would drop dead from exhaustion on that trek

Trains are literally outside the MCG and Gabba

 

[morgieb]

Dude, Central is about 5ks away

Burgey & I would drop dead from exhaustion on that trek

Trains are literally outside the MCG and Gabba

I've done the walk a number of times and I'm pretty badly unfit. It's not that hard IMO.

 

[Spikey]

it's a 2k walk! but the tram is outside the ground anyway! really not a big deal imo.

but yes it'd be nice if the future metro west got extended to the SCG & Zetland and into the South-East

 

[Son Of Coco]

There's a claim that part of is that they're trying out new grass and haven't gotten in right yet but like... that doesn't speak well to their competence either.

Listening now, and Khawaja brought up the obvious point: if both teams decide slogging is better than batting properly, that's a bad pitch.

Are they laying the grass or smoking it?

 

[TheJediBrah]

So was Chuck Fleetwood-Smith

My dad liked that band

 

[Son Of Coco]

If this isn't a minefield what would you call one? If there was a bit more pace in the deck on day one it would have outright been unsafe to play on. Consistent seam movement + inconsistent bounce that got worse as the game got on and the deck quickening up on day 2 + 3.

Just took big Beau Webster to show everyone how to bat on it.

Be 2m tall and have long levers, or **** off.

 

[Son Of Coco]

The extra seam movement was great, and quite analagous to the turners in India that I also like. But the lifters and general inconsistent bounce made it too much of a lottery, and as Usman pointed out incentivised just hacking instead of actually be a test of technique.

To be fair though, Usman would have been better off just hacking in almost every innings.

 

[Redbacks]

I’ve gotten the light rail after a few A league games, it’s crowded but super easy.

 

[TheJediBrah]

Bowling strike rate is super relevant in tests. You have to take 20 wickets to win them.

True, but it's inextricable link with economy rate and average means that for bowlers with similar averages, the higher strike rate bowler isn't necessarily the one you'd prefer over a large sample. Starc showed exactly why this very game. The higher strike rate/higher economy guy can have those horror spells where they leak a bunch and get the opposition batsmen off to a start that sets them up for the rest of the game. Now this time it didn't matter because Scotty Boland the hero came in and cleaned up Starc's mess but restricting runs and buliding pressure on the batsmen is just as vital in tests as strike rate.

It's the inverse of why higher strike-rate batsman have this intrisic higher value over time than lower strike-rate. A lot of people don't realise the effect they have on the game outside of the raw numbers, particularly on the guy batting/bowling at the other end

 

[Son Of Coco]

but we'll already be up 4-0 then so it wouldn't matter tbf

And we'll win the 5th one with Starcy bowling right handed.

 

[Son Of Coco]

Kohli having a dig at sandpaper gate probably the most likeable thing he has done this series. At least we deserve that shirt-front.

How do you mime pitch doctoring?

He has the easiest mime of the two by far. Zero points for technique.

 

[Son Of Coco]

Bevan was better at his peak.

I have a square drive for 4 that says he wasn't.

 

[kevinw]

A very typical Kohli move in this fourth innings - goad the crowd with the (admittedly funny) sandpaper incident when it looked like India were in the game still. The problem is that this looks fine if your own form isn't completely rubbish.