**Official** 3rd Test @Brisbane (Ewwwww), 14th-18th December

[social]

Rain where I am at the moment. We're about 30 mins north of The Gabba though.

Offshore winds are blowing rain to the north

IF it stays this way, unlikely to have long delays as rain events are scattered and fast moving

http://www.bom.gov.au/products/IDR661.loop.shtml#skip

 

[GotSpin]

Even if India get rolled, it will still likely be a draw as Australia will probably bat again, eat up more time. However if they enforce the follow-on after ind collapse, then Aus have a chance. There's 4-6 sessions left.

Odds
Aus 3.40
Draw 1.35

IMO Australia should have declared at 350/360 and taken a couple of tired Indian wickets last night to pile on the pressure on deflated India. Then try to run through them today. Instead they have gone for the safe option and I doubt there's gonna be any result now.

Declaring at 350 would have been a terrible option

 

[morgieb]

Offshore winds are blowing rain to the north

IF it stays this way, unlikely to have long delays as rain events are scattered and fast moving

http://www.bom.gov.au/products/IDR661.loop.shtml#skip

Yeah looking at the forecast today probably won’t be too bad, next two days don’t look great though.

 

[Shady Slim]

Even if India get rolled, it will still likely be a draw as Australia will probably bat again, eat up more time. However if they enforce the follow-on after ind collapse, then Aus have a chance. There's 4-6 sessions left.

i'm normally quite pro follow on and think modern teams are soft bc of their reticence to use it but with four essentially back to back tests and australia's policy of not really resting quicks i'd be disinclined to go for it especially when the alternative is running more miles in to bumrah's legs

 

[Burgey]

Declaring at 350 would have been a terrible option

Indeed. Why wouldn't you score as many as you can as quickly as you can while you're on top rathe rhtan having to start over again in the second dig?

 

[Anthony Clayden]

Wearing down Bumrah is a net good for Aus, so bat on this morning, make him bowl another round

 

[Burgey]

If Rohit bombs this game and the MCG one too, surely his place is untenable even as soon as Sydney? Guy's bad vibes allround atm. What player wants to look up and see his captain appear as frustrated as this crusty fvk does 90% of time.

If that happened and they sacked their captain mid-tour, it would be a recipe for a pizzling wouldn't it? Very England late-80s/ early-90s areas.

Would not recommend. Play out the series and reassess.

 

[centurymaker]

i'm normally quite pro follow on and think modern teams are soft bc of their reticence to use it but with four essentially back to back tests and australia's policy of not really resting quicks i'd be disinclined to go for it especially when the alternative is running more miles in to bumrah's legs

Bumrah didn't bowl any overs in the last hour yesterday. And he only bowled 19 overs yesterday in 4 spells. India are using him sparingly. Not to mention there is a 8 day gap between this match and MCG. So putting miles in the legs will be more useful next match as MCG and SCG are back to back.

This series so far has had a 11 day gap and 6 day gap and will have 8 day gap. So tests have been significantly spaced out and matches have finished quickly with not many overs bowled still.

 

[Burgey]

And he only bowled 19 overs yesterday in 4 spells

Have to factor in it's at the **** hole though, and that makes bowling a lot harder.

 

[Jarquis]

Belting it down in the CBD aws.

 

[centurymaker]

Declaring at 350 would have been a terrible option

No downside to declaring at 350/360. Australia couldn't lose with around 5 sessions left in the match. But they could have gone hard at the tired Indian openers and had two cracks with the new ball. I wouldn't have been surprised if Australia had created a winning possibility out of that situation.

 

[centurymaker]

1-1 and India will be happy.

India hasn't lost at either MCG or SCG since 2011/12

 

[Burgey]

No downside to declaring at 350/360. Australia couldn't lose with around 5 sessions left in the match. But they could have gone hard at the tired Indian openers and had two cracks with the new ball. I wouldn't have been surprised if Australia had created a winning possibility out of that situation.

When there was 350 or so on the board there were closer to seven sessions left, three of them extended.

 

[Burgey]

1-1 and India will be happy.

India hasn't lost at either MCG or SCG since 2011/12

They've also only passed 200 once in the series so far and their highest first innings score in their last 5 tests is about 250. The absence of Pujara or a Pujara-lite was always going to be massive in this series. They need someone to bat significant time up front asap or they won't win the series. Bumrah is a genius but you can't keep bowling to 150-200 first innings scores all the time. I mean, India won the last two series here because Aus couldn't put them away with the bat and it caught up with them.

 

[morgieb]

This is going to be an awful day for batting.

 

[kyear2]

Why isn't declaration an option here?

 

[cascade]

It's an extended morning session in humid conditions. Might as well add some runs while reducing their bowling workload for the session/day.

Getting past 450 would be ideal but they might have to call it soon.

 

[centurymaker]

Good to see Bumrah only bowling 3 overs today.

Jadeja is looking trash. I doubt he'll get picked for next test.

 

[social]

Type of day where the umpires & players would suck it up and just play though it if it was as a grade game as showers will come & go regularly

 

[Burgey]

The conditions kind of militate against declaring to some extent - if it’s drizzling you have to stay out there. If you declare you don’t come back on til it stops anyway