2nd Test at Adelaide - 16 to 20 Dec

[Gob]

Labu hasn’t played a sub-continent test since he turned the corner. It remains to be seen but I back him to perform pretty well vs the spinners in those conditions

I'm more worried about his batting against short pitch stuff but then again if he is scoring in Australia, the only other place that could be exposed is RSA

 

[Burgey]

I think they reaaaally want it to be Buttler. But he has to actually start scoring runs (and moving his feet when keeping) for that to be a remotely viable option.

Massive workload if he’s going to keep and skipper given the amount of tests England plays. Stokes aside, not sure who else is in the frame tbh. The fact Stokes is even discussed is an indictment on the ECB, but there we go

 

[Burgey]

I mean obviously pace isn't that important but jhye was bowling under 130 for a fair bit, Cummins usually hovers between 135 and 140.

Was he? I thought he was consistently mid-130s

 

[Flem274*]

Think Aus has won 10 out of their last 12 games vs NZ with a solitary draw and a meme Bracewell spell loss. More worrying thing is that Jamieson aside, most of the core NZ players who brought them to the top of the rankings were part of it.
But there is no doubt Aust has mostly sucked balls away from home or even at home. Losing in SL 3 zip **** me that is terrible. Let's see what they can do next year to change things around. They definitely have the players to do it

What makes it more of a meme is the much better NZ sides of the late 10s lost more heavily than the Vettori and Taylor era sides, who were expected to get rolled, but actually stole a victory.

I think KW having a poor series last time round (as opposed to 2015) exposed the rest of the batting. Taylor and Watling were/are in retirement stage by then, Latham did his usual 40s thing and that was Nicholls first look at an Australian tour.

No real excuses though, it was terrible NZs best batsman was a random wicketkeeper promoted to open the batting. I keep seeing a trend of younger, newer NZ players doing well in Australia while the more experienced ones fail. It implies the NZ setup are mentally preparing all wrong for the tour.

India should be the much harder tour, yet NZ came out throwing heavy punches at Kanpur and even in Mumbai at times (iirc India tried to goober setting the target in the 3rd innings).

Anyway, about those poms

 

[Burgey]

Australia class above Pakistan my ass. Try touring for once.

They’ll beat Pakistan. Is it meant to be in Pakistan or uae? I hope it’s back in Pakistan. Been like mid-90s or so since we toured there iirc (the Taylor 334 tour).

 

[trundler]

I don't think you can really rank teams too much atm given cricket is so match up focused right now.

Australia are a case in point. Powerful in pacey and bouncey conditions (so home, South Africa, selected NZ grounds like Hagley Oval) but honestly would risk tripping over Bangladesh in Bangladesh if Australia ever toured and the main Bangladeshi players decided they wanted to play.

Australia v India gets a lot of headlines but the funniest match up is Australia and Pakistan, because neither side looks close to winning in the others backyard.

I think you can broadly put NZ, India, Australia and Pakistan in one group with England and SA in the mid-table with Sri Lanka, West Indies and Bangers not holding much hope but even then those lower tier nations can go full meme ala SL in SA.

Yeah the best example of this is the following;

West Indies brutalized England at home and then were extremely competitive in a 2-1 loss in England but then went on to look abject in SL where England have had 2 consecutive clean sweeps.

 

[Flem274*]

I wouldn't mind swapping Malan and Pope in the order. Gets Pope away from Lyon and maximises Malan's chances of getting batting conditions he likes.

I don't normally rate Malan but he is proven sneaky good in Australian conditions.

 

[trundler]

They’ll beat Pakistan. Is it meant to be in Pakistan or uae? I hope it’s back in Pakistan. Been like mid-90s or so since we toured there iirc (the Taylor 334 tour).

It's meant to be in Pakistan. I think Pakistan start the series as firm favourites because the bowling is much more settled now and Babar/Fawad/Rizwan are beasts at home. Keen to see how Smith and Cummins go here. Afridi has added a yard of pace too lately and watching him against a good side at home sounds tasty too.

 

[Flem274*]

They’ll beat Pakistan. Is it meant to be in Pakistan or uae? I hope it’s back in Pakistan. Been like mid-90s or so since we toured there iirc (the Taylor 334 tour).

I'm not sure they will. Australia was about this good the last 2 times they went to the UAE and got smoked.

It's a place where Thommo Johnson averaged 40 or something stupid in a series. Australia's favoured styles are nerfed heavily there.

A lot relies on Labuschagne joining the Smiths instead of the HTBs or even the Warners.

 

[Flem274*]

It's meant to be in Pakistan. I think Pakistan start the series as firm favourites because the bowling is much more settled now and Babar/Fawad/Rizwan are beasts at home. Keen to see how Smith and Cummins go here. Afridi has added a yard of pace too lately and watching him against a good side at home sounds tasty too.

Babar needs to actually get on with it but Fawad left here with a lot of credit despite copping that ball. He's so good.

Rizwan is of course the best keeper bat in Asia and will be recognised as such once he can get stuck into a glam team.

 

[Burgey]

It's meant to be in Pakistan. I think Pakistan start the series as firm favourites because the bowling is much more settled now and Babar/Fawad/Rizwan are beasts at home. Keen to see how Smith and Cummins go here. Afridi has added a yard of pace too lately and watching him against a good side at home sounds tasty too.

I’m looking forward to the series if for no other reason than watching some cricket from Pakistan after so long. Then there’s the bonus of some of the blokes you’ve mentioned.

Also, get used to seeing a lot of this in that series:

 

[Gob]

I'm not sure they will. Australia was about this good the last 2 times they went to the UAE and got smoked.

It's a place where Thommo Johnson averaged 40 or something stupid in a series. Australia's favoured styles are nerfed heavily there.

A lot relies on Labuschagne joining the Smiths instead of the HTBs or even the Warners.

Warner and Smith were missing the last time

 

[Burgey]

I'm not sure they will. Australia was about this good the last 2 times they went to the UAE and got smoked.

It's a place where Thommo Johnson averaged 40 or something stupid in a series. Australia's favoured styles are nerfed heavily there.

A lot relies on Labuschagne joining the Smiths instead of the HTBs or even the Warners.

Last time Aus toured there was the Khawaja stonewall tour wasn’t it? It’s been that long I can’t recall.

Such a strange place the UAE. Like a virtual reality country in a lot of ways, Dubai especially.

 

[trundler]

Babar needs to actually get on with it but Fawad left here with a lot of credit despite copping that ball. He's so good.

Rizwan is of course the best keeper bat in Asia and will be recognised as such once he can get stuck into a glam team.

Yeah Fawad is more accomplished as a batsman at this point in time and Babar has been meh for a while after it looked like he finally cracked test batting with a ton in Australia. I think he'll come good in a tough series at home. Been successful in two WCs in a row now. Long, long overdue for sure.

 

[Spark]

Was he? I thought he was consistently mid-130s

Yeah he was, and the batsmen consistently seemed hurried by it (as bowlers who consistently hit the seam hard and get extra bounce/seam often do). No qualms about his pace in this game, at least watching most of it in person

 

[Gob]

I’m looking forward to the series if for no other reason than watching some cricket from Pakistan after so long. Then there’s the bonus of some of the blokes you’ve mentioned.

Also, get used to seeing a lot of this in that series:

View attachment 30160

I think Aust play 3 tests in Pak, 2 in SL, 1 vs AFG in India and round it off with 4 tests in India over the next 12 months. So yeah it's going to be slow, low and turning.
I hope they come up with proper planning for attritional cricket otherwise I'll be a long 12 months

 

[Spark]

I think Aust play 3 tests in Pak, 2 in SL, 1 vs AFG in India and round it off with 4 tests in India over the next 12 months. So yeah it's going to be slow, low and turning.
I hope they come up with proper planning for attritional cricket otherwise I'll be a long 12 months

To be fair, the way they batted in this game in particular was a template for attritional cricket. Imagine a Lehmann side being willing to bat at under 3rpo for the best part of 150 overs.

Labuschagne really is the key. I think the bowlers will be okay, though there are questions about the second spinner (I’m not convinced by Swepson), but Labuschagne holds that entire batting order together right now while Smith rediscovers his rhythm. He should be fine. But “should” and “will” are very different things until he actually goes and does it.

EDIT: I also feel that Labuschagne having a good tour of Pakistan could also be enough to deter India from preparing the sort of dustbowls they rolled out against England and SA. Having Smith and Labuschagne in form would just be too big a risk to take in that regard.

 

[Nintendo]

Was he? I thought he was consistently mid-130s

Cricinfo was clocking him at mid 120's a fair amount in the middle session AFAIR

 

[Spark]

Incidentally, was this the most “normal” day/night Test so far? It feels like most previous D/N games have been tilted to the extreme one way or another; either a batting paradise or very bowling friendly, but this felt pretty even as a contest for most of it, maybe slightly batting-tilted but in a very traditional Adelaide-ish sort of way and it went deep into the 5th day, which can’t have happened often in a D/N game.

 

[Gob]

To be fair, the way they batted in this game in particular was a template for attritional cricket. Imagine a Lehmann side being willing to bat at under 3rpo for the best part of 150 overs.

Labuschagne really is the key. I think the bowlers will be okay, though there are questions about the second spinner (I’m not convinced by Swepson), but Labuschagne holds that entire batting order together right now while Smith rediscovers his rhythm. He should be fine. But “should” and “will” are very different things until he actually goes and does it.

I think Warner will go okay too. Maybe not in India since Ashwin devours left handers alive but he showed how improved he is against spin in Bangladesh. I think many seasons he spent in the IPL certainly helped
Think the real worry is spin. You may need a second spinner to support Lyon. I like Swepson and it'll be interesting to see him bowling on proper spinning pitches