***Official*** Australia in India 2012/13

[Teja.]

I already have money on the Indian win pregame at 2.1.

I'd load up further but for the fact that Clarke is due for the second innings now considering he is in god mode.

 

[benchmark00]

I actually consider that a positive day for Australia. Clarke didnt contribute and they still managed to bat out the day. Turn some of those 0's into 20 odds and you've got a competitive total.

 

[pup11]

Good knock from Smith, against spin he has always been pretty good. Now the challenge is to stretch this total as much as possible, would be nice if the last three guys can hang in with Smith to give him chance of scoring his maiden test hundred.

The pitch is dusting up so if Doherty and Lyon bowl well in tandem then they might cause a few problems. Australia are now absolutely in a position where they have nothing to lose, so hopefully the guys can come out and play with a bit more freedom and see how it goes.

 

[benchmark00]

104 overs in the day. If that continues (probably unlikely) we only lose 34 overs from a full test match. Still every chance of a result.

 

[vic_orthdox]

classic example of someone who only looks at stats, never bothering to actually watch the up and coming state players they so vocally advocate and then just roll with the opinion of the bogan australian cricket fans who think t20 is a good gauge of someones ability as a test cricketer

The guy who wrote it watches every Victorian game for the Hun.

It's not that he doesn't watch, he just doesn't "get" it.

 

[vic_orthdox]

Hughes could do a lot worse than watch Steve Smith bat. Doesn't have a great technique but is positive and busy and looking for runs.

Hughes is the opposite at the moment.

What has Hughes' answer to spin ever been besides the splay-footed slog sweep over wide mid-on?

 

[Top_Cat]

Play it well enough and what more do you need? #andrewflintoffthoughts

 

[uvelocity]

will accept 310 ono
starceh to take 6

 

[silentstriker]

104 overs in the day. If that continues (probably unlikely) we only lose 34 overs from a full test match. Still every chance of a result.

Yea, no chance of that when the Aussies bowl....the # of overs was only because the Indian spinners bowled 74 overs....

 

[vic_orthdox]

But Australia won't be bowling twice...

 

[pup11]

Three reasons:

1. The quality of batting is poor
2. There are stacks of good pace bowlers around
3. Those pacemen are quite often benefiting from very helpful pitches

Not sure how the quality of batting is poor because there are atleast two or three pretty good batsmen in every side, who if nothing else should ensure that their teams don't cave in as badly as they are doing atm. Also the number of runs being made by the lower order batsmen from every side is another indication of how hard/unplayable the conditions are, especially when the ball is new and has a profound seam.

I agree there are a good number of fast bowlers around, but out of them most are either injured or on national duty, Harris, Hilfenhaus, Faulkner, Hazelwood and Coulter-Nile are possibly the only bowlers currently involved in Shield cricket who one can tag as international quality fast bowlers, but funny thing is its guys like Butterworth,Hastings, Sayers, Hopes, Sandhu, Sheridan and Putland who are taking most of the wickets, in fact it almost seems as if you bowl military meds then all you gotta do is roll your arm over and you would get a few wickets.

These sort of conditions are obviously diluting the standard of first class cricket in Australia, the structure of 6 state teams and 66 of the best cricketers in Australia going against each other was a great strength of our team, but that same strength has now become a weakness because a lot of players in the current Shield sides are either well below international standard and the good one's are getting handicapped by the conditions.

Australian cricket's general strengths over the years have been in producing fast bowlers who hit the deck hard at good speeds, batsmen who are good at playing the horizontal bat shots and hitting through the line of the ball and producing good quality wrist spinners, possibilities of producing those type of players is highly nullified in the present set of first class conditions and this is the root cause of most of Australian cricket' current problems.

 

[pup11]

What has Hughes' answer to spin ever been besides the splay-footed slog sweep over wide mid-on?

The cut, paddle sweep, back-foot on/off drive are his primary go to shots against spin, the difference is he usually had 20-30 runs under his belt before the spinners came into bowl, so he used to be set before the spinners came into bowl. Since Dhoni has blocked all his singles he has been forced to play these expansive shots before getting his eye in and that has proved to be his undoing, if you look at it, his defense against spin has been pretty good, all he needs to do is learn to use his feet to spin so he doesn't get bogged down at the start of his innings.

 

[Spikey]

Not sure how the quality of batting is poor

ahahahahahahahahahahha

qld, sa and nsw are currently sending out disgraceful batting line-ups, while WA are sending out a mostly disgusting one. david dawson still gets a game. scott henry, michael klinger and liam davis all average under 25 in their 8-10 games for the season, and their spots are completely unquestioned. peter forrest has scored 1/3 on the runs he has made in 10 matches in one innings. he made a king pair last match. he then got promoted up the order for this game.

 

[Goughy]

What has Hughes' answer to spin ever been besides the splay-footed slog sweep over wide mid-on?

I'm not the best batsman but isn't that how spinners should be treated?

 

[Tangles]

Good to see Smith make some runs. We need someone to contribute in the middle order. Is he still leg side of the ball? That's my only concern with him scoring runs and grabbing an Ashes batting slot.

 

[social]

Good to see Smith make some runs. We need someone to contribute in the middle order. Is he still leg side of the ball? That's my only concern with him scoring runs and grabbing an Ashes batting slot.

PEWS summary of his batting is reasonably spot on IMO although its not so much him being leg side of the ball as hanging the bat out there

Definite talent but I wouldnt rely on him scoring runs consistently against top quality quicks in helpful conditions until further improvements are made to his game

 

[Cabinet96]

People surprised at the way Smith has played don't follow Australian cricket properly.

But, but, isn't he a leg spin bowler who bats a bit? I mean, he was selected as a front line spinner here, right?

 

[ganeshran]

 

[Cabinet96]

WOODCRICKET - The Truth About Steve Smith - The Truth About Steve Smith

 

[silentstriker]

I'm not the best batsman but isn't that how spinners should be treated?

Only if it comes off.