***Official*** 4th Test at the MCG

[Spark]

The Perth 2015 pitch was not a quick belter ftr. It was actually quite slow.

I'm glad that CA/the pitches are finally getting the hammering they deserve in the broader cricketing press though. They have been utterly substandard for a few years now. For the MCG, surely the warning signs should have been there a few seasons back when 400+ chases were getting run down with ease.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Greentops and rank turners suck because they make the toss more important (greentops more so) and make meh bowlers look like Marshall/Murali on roids. Pacy roads can lead to boring matches but atleast keep some kinds of bowlers in the mix of things. Up and down pitches are a guilty pleasure of mine (as long as they're not dangerous) because they can be really fun and chaotic and contrary to what people believe, there's still loads of skill involved, atleast in batting on them... still too much of a crapshoot to call them good pitches though.

However, all of the above can still lead to some terrific cricket and keeps some disciplines involved in the action, though they may be biased towards some over the other. Prefer them massively over ultra slow pitches i.e. the bane of test cricket. Any test cricket fan who suffered through the abomination that was Nagpur 2012 India vs England knows what I'm talking about. That match might still be going on if England didn't have to get on the plane home.

 

[Spark]

Yeah rank turners actually often stay roughly the same throughout, or indeed get a little easier to bat on (if the match goes on that long) because the pitch slows down. Greentops really can be "lose toss and die", e.g. Trent Bridge.

 

[Redbacks]

Some pace and carry would have really helped this game. That way you have at least the option of short pitched stuff or just general nicking them off would have been more prominent.

Not sure how much Starc would have been able to get out of the wicket, but certainly more than Bird.

 

[oblongballs]

Why all these talks about pitches being too slow and boring? have you lot not watched cricket in Australia for several years now? A lot of the pitches over there have become slower and slower. Maybe the MCG hit a new low but its the natural progression of more batsmen friendly, lifeless pitches the country has been putting on lately.

 

[Spark]

Some pace and carry would have really helped this game. That way you have at least the option of short pitched stuff or just general nicking them off would have been more prominent.

Not sure how much Starc would have been able to get out of the wicket, but certainly more than Bird.

Starc presumably would have "got more out of the wicket" by making it irrelevant, i.e. bowling 150km/h yorkers.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Horrible pitch,reminded me of Lord's in the 00's when it got flatter and flatter as the game went on. I fell asleep about 1 and woke up at 4 and just went to bed as knew it was a draw.

Steve Smith is a ****, a brilliant **** who is probably the best I have seen but a **** all the same. Probably won't get the full appreciation from some of just how good he is till he has retired and smashed all sorts of records on the way.

On to Sydney, hopefully a better pitch and no Moeen for England, as bad a selection as Crane has been for the tour he can't do any worse than Mo has done.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Starc presumably would have "got more out of the wicket" by making it irrelevant, i.e. bowling 150km/h yorkers.

Also had the series been live I have no doubt he would have played. Depending on how much they look into the future he may not play next week either which nobody can argue about given his fitness record over the years. Be interesting to see if they call up somebody else to replace Bird in the side.

 

[Bijed]

Would be unfair to drop Bird imo. I know his figures don't make for good reading, but you'd hope given a halfway-decent pitch he'd be much more effective and I'm not really a fan of only giving people one game at a time anyway.

On the other hand, though it pains me to say it as I love him, but I think Mo should be dropped. I know there's the whole injuries, finger spinners in Australia etc mitigating circumstances, but he's just not contributing at all. Now that we've avoided the whitewash I don't mind taking a punt on Crane - could well end up having a McGain of a debut of course, but lets see.

 

[vcs]

Greentops and rank turners suck because they make the toss more important (greentops more so) and make meh bowlers look like Marshall/Murali on roids. Pacy roads can lead to boring matches but atleast keep some kinds of bowlers in the mix of things. Up and down pitches are a guilty pleasure of mine (as long as they're not dangerous) because they can be really fun and chaotic and contrary to what people believe, there's still loads of skill involved, atleast in batting on them... still too much of a crapshoot to call them good pitches though.

However, all of the above can still lead to some terrific cricket and keeps some disciplines involved in the action, though they may be biased towards some over the other. Prefer them massively over ultra slow pitches i.e. the bane of test cricket. Any test cricket fan who suffered through the abomination that was Nagpur 2012 India vs England knows what I'm talking about. That match might still be going on if England didn't have to get on the plane home.

RSA pitches are usually always good. The other boards need to poach their groundsmen.

 

[Bijed]

RSA pitches are usually always good. The other boards need to poach their groundsmen.

Given how much we do this to their players, I'm surprised this isn't already happening tbh.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Given how much we do this to their players, I'm surprised this isn't already happening tbh.

In fairness the ones from the shires are usually pretty good it is the London roads that need digging up.

 

[Debris]

Also had the series been live I have no doubt he would have played. Depending on how much they look into the future he may not play next week either which nobody can argue about given his fitness record over the years. Be interesting to see if they call up somebody else to replace Bird in the side.

Pattinson and Coulter-Nile not fit enough and Sayers and Siddle offer much the same as Bird. The selectors could go left field and pick Swepson if conditions suit and England could pick Crane. We could have a battle of the young leggies if we are really lucky.

 

[burr]

Yeah, it started well. Then it gave the most perfunctory, box-checking "this paragraph is purely so I can dishonestly point to it as me being even-handed on Twitter" wrist-slap of the English media, then it went full-Dobell complete with "look, Jackson Bird really is **** and Australia have no pace depth and if you think otherwise you're just a boor", sneakily trying to present a highly questionable cricketing argument as so unimpeachable as to question it, you must be disgracefully biased.

He's such a hack.

It pleases me that the Cricketweb community can all see through Dobell. A hack indeed. The new(ish) breed in general are pretty dire. Not a fan of those irritating Guardian over-by-over hacks who feel the need to intersperse youtube clips of Britpop songs between each over. I don't need a side of hipster with my serving of cricket, thank you very much.

What a dud pitch. Melbourne, hang your head.

 

[stephen]

Ridiculous for anyone to come on for Bird except for Starc.

Bird was as ineffective as every other 135kph merchant would have been on that pitch. It's a bit unfair to rule out a bowler based on a single match on an absolute highway.

Starc for Bird or the same attack next game. Unless it looks like a raging turner and we want to debut Holland (though he's probably injured). They were saying on the radio that Agar didn't bowl in his most recent first class matches so he's out as the 4th bowler. There is no point to picking O'Keefe either.

Steve Smith almost certainly will go up in his icc rating, which is madness.

 

[Spark]

Agar is already in the squad.

 

[Daemon]

Look, at least players here aren’t resorting to wearing masks to avoid dropping dead from air pollution.

And that wasn’t even at Chennai ffs.

After eating some proper Indian food I'd recommend they wear masks around each other for a different kind of pollution

 

[Furball]

Why all these talks about pitches being too slow and boring? have you lot not watched cricket in Australia for several years now? A lot of the pitches over there have become slower and slower. Maybe the MCG hit a new low but its the natural progression of more batsmen friendly, lifeless pitches the country has been putting on lately.

It's kind of funny how Adelaide is now the best pitch in the country.

 

[Adders]

Had an amazing day at the G yesterday despite the incredibly turgid cricket on the field.

If Burgey thinks we English are a "dreary" people then he really should have spent the day with me yesterday. A finer example you could not find of around 10,000 people making the best out of a **** situation........I'll bet every single one of them had a brilliant day out whilst the 400 odd Aussies who turned up would have gone home with their bollocks bored off despite getting to see a Steve Smith ton.

Also any MCG regular visitors here? How the **** do ****s manage to get drunk at the cricket? I spent over $80 on beer for the day and seriously, if I wasn't getting the train home I would have had no hesitation in walking out the ground and jumping in my car!! It's only mid strength beer I get that but are they watering it down too?? Amazing that you do see so many pissed people.

 

[S.Kennedy]

What is it with Australians not bothering to turn up for days 4 and 5, even when they are about to win?