Australia v India: 2nd Test, Sydney

First topic message reminder :

Tuesday, January 3, 2011
Start time: 1030 AEDT; 0500 IST; 2330 GMT

Australia:
1 David Warner, 2 Ed Cowan, 3 Shaun Marsh, 4 Ricky Ponting, 5 Michael Clarke (C), 6 Michael Hussey,
7 Brad Haddin (wk), 8 Peter Siddle, 9 James Pattinson, 10 Nathan Lyon, 11 Ben Hilfenhaus.

India:
1 Virender Sehwag, 2 Gautam Gambhir, 3 Rahul Dravid, 4 Sachin Tendulkar, 5 VVS Laxman, 6 Virat Kohli,
7 MS Dhoni (C, wk), 8 R Ashwin, 9 Zaheer Khan, 10 Ishant Sharma, 11 Umesh Yadav.

Read a pre-match Review here courtesy of ESPN Cricinfo: India's Batsmen Hope For SCG Magic

cheers mike ive had a long day at work however gonna get a cheeky few hours in before it starts

A good few days for the old 'uns in the two tests - or at least for Ponting and Kallis. Can VVS, Tendulker or Dravid match them....?

Little bit of cloud cover at the moment but looks fairly high cloud. Clarke and Hussey should look to do what Clarke and Ponting did yesterday morning. Should they succeed Hussey won't be far off a ton, and Clarke off his triple.

Clarke looks tired (understandably).

Hussey's footwork against spin is an absolute treat to watch.

Australia are in no hurry and India doing their best to contain the runs. Amazing 16 overs in first hour !

Australia doing just what they should and grinding India down. Now Yadav is bowling some loose stuff, Ashwin looks like he'd rather be somewhere else. I think we'll see a shift in gears after lunch if these two and/or Haddin are still in.

Yadav releasing the pressure built up by the other three bowlers.

Just as I type that about Ashwin he bowls arguably his best over of the tour to Hussey.

Promising amount of skid and maybe less bounce.

Kumble would be good on here but he's long gone and India have got Sehwag on....

Hussey has made a very good century, very impressive

Good knock from Hussey.

Pitch hinting that it may start to deteriorate soon, a couple of balls bouncing and a few just skidding through. Australia will be keen to bat at least until tea.

Clarke looks a bit knackered still, and I can see him doing something a little silly soon...

MH seemed very determined to play as well as Punter and Clarke and he did exactly that.

Clarke may have the test record score at SCG but they wont name a beer after him

Australia's session again (that's 7-0 by my counting). Next objective: Clarke to 300 then probably accelerate a little. Expect a declaration either side of tea.

Ravi Shastri has just suggested Clarke will not get a better chance to break Lara's record and then leave the last hour of the day to bowl at India.

Clarke gets to the 300

There it is! Considering he came in at 3/37 with the game in the balance this has been a great knock.

300! and the 600 up too.

Glad to see Brian Lara's ground record go (memories of that epic knock which was painful from an Australian perspective) but sad to see "Tip's" 287 get overtaken... yet I'm thrilled for Michael Clarke at the same time.

This pair should open up now... keep piling them on. 300 partnership not far away now.

We could have some fireworks now the 300 has been reached.

That's not bad to be able to run a sharp 2 to long-on when you've got 315 and been batting for around 10 hours... Clarke apparently does something like 20.5 at the Beep test. He's fit all right.

Richie reckons a declaration an hour before the close of play; Tubs thinks a lead of around 500.

I like Mr Benaud's way of thinking. There should be plenty of time even if there is a spot of rain in the last two days. This pitch still looks very good for batting but surely late tomorrow and day 5 it will have deteriorated enough to favour our bowling.

300 partnership... off a misfield.

Yep, unbelievable that these two are pushing for an extra run with such good pace.
India just going through the motions now.

Nearly 600 runs now for the loss of 1 wicket

India's problem is I don't know who you bowl. If you bowl your bowlers then they'll tire and Australia will land plenty of mental blows for the rest of the series, if you bowl your batsmen then in some sense it's worse as you want your batsmen 100% for the saving effort coming up.

I would have thought Ashwin should be bowling, and Tendulkar and Kohli maybe a few (more).

We were talking about records being beaten on a recent thread, and some said that Lara's 400 would be the most likely to be beaten first - could be today, still a little way's off though

Declared awwwwwww

Hussey gets to 150 and that's drinks.

And Clarke declares! Wow! about half an hour before I thought he would, and still halfway to go in this test.

Australia will be looking for a couple of wickets before tea. India need to bat at least 6 sessions to save the test.

150 runs up for the Huss...

You guys are doing well to be up in the wee hours... 03:10?

Declaration made. 659/4 with Clarke 329* and Hussey 150* 468 run lead.

Linebreaker wrote:150 runs up for the Huss...

You guys are doing well to be up in the wee hours... 03:10?

Declaration made. 659/4 with Clarke 329* and Hussey 150* 468 run lead.

Slept earlier, and was hoping to see an attempt at the 400, but Clarke doing what he thinks is best for CA

Gambhir under serious pressure right now

Yes, I was a little surprised at first but he puts country before personal milestones. Maybe he will have another opportunity down the track in the years to come.

Thinking about the current situation now... it's not a bad move. Pressure will be on for 40-50 overs today hopefully. Even if they can reduce the deficit down to around 300 say (at the close of play) it's still going to be a very large mountain to climb tomorrow.

They've come out swinging...

If you guys haven't noticed, India haven't lost a wicket in 3 overs!!!!. Quite some achievement considering the wretched form of GG and the nature of the other one!.

Out! Sehwag's gone. Brilliant catch from Warner.

(aargh msp... you spoke a ball too soon.)

msp83 wrote:If you guys haven't noticed, India haven't lost a wicket in 3 overs!!!!. Quite some achievement considering the wretched form of GG and the nature of the other one!.

Spoke too soon!! lol

Good jinx msp

What a catch by Warner though, the action replay doesn't do it justice, that was travelling!

I was just travelling a bit from yesterday onwards, and nothing much has changed in between!. India haven't seen any kind of turn around!. I think it will be over pretty soon.

Some catch by Warner to snare Sehwag.

India 17-1

Not quite mike, this was always on the cards!. The only thing is that Sehwag got the better of Gambhir in the march back!.

Nice catch.

After these Test's against Aus, India next play in September, might there be one or two team changes by then ?. The next two Test's might prove a lot.

From one ranga to another... hi boomer! Julia... nice top (and pink hat before).

I was looking forward to going in tomorrow - maybe to see Sachin stretch things out. I hope India can dig in for a while.

How is the weather slated for tomorrow and the dayafter? Will it play a blinder to save India?

skyeman wrote:After these Test's against Aus, India next play in September, might there be one or two team changes by then ?. The next two Test's might prove a lot.

Has the 3 Test home series (+ 5 ODIs) v Pakistan in March been cancelled or will they play that in the UAE?

A bit iffy msp... thinnish cloud cover now but there was mention of some rain tomorrow. It doesn't feel as though there is going to be a major downpour - more like spits of rain here and there. Sun is trying to break through.

Linebreaker wrote:

skyeman wrote:After these Test's against Aus, India next play in September, might there be one or two team changes by then ?. The next two Test's might prove a lot.

Has the 3 Test home series (+ 5 ODIs) v Pakistan in March been cancelled or will they play that in the UAE?

LOL Maybe not, I did not know about them. Ravi Shastri recently said on air that India next played in September after this series.

skyeman wrote:

Linebreaker wrote:

skyeman wrote:After these Test's against Aus, India next play in September, might there be one or two team changes by then ?. The next two Test's might prove a lot.

Has the 3 Test home series (+ 5 ODIs) v Pakistan in March been cancelled or will they play that in the UAE?

LOL Maybe not, I did not know about them. Ravi Shastri recently said on air that India next played in September after this series.

I got that off an old FTP Calendar. Not sure if it's been revised since. I hope it's still happening. Always a great series India-Pakistan.

Just checked... yes, it's still there. March-April

Just checked and Shastri is correct.

The Asia Cup is in March but no Test's.

Oh...

So is this incorrect?

http://static.espncricinfo.com/db/DOWNLOAD/0000/0045/ftp_2011_2020.pdf

Linebreaker wrote:Oh...

So is this incorrect?

http://static.espncricinfo.com/db/DOWNLOAD/0000/0045/ftp_2011_2020.pdf

Might have been made before the ban, but it looks like India don't play Test's again until September.