Aus coming to India

First topic message reminder :

Australia squad Steven Smith (capt), David Warner, Matt Renshaw, Usman Khawaja, Shaun Marsh, Peter Handscomb, Glenn Maxwell, Matthew Wade (wk), Mitchell Marsh, Ashton Agar, Steve O'Keefe, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, Josh Hazlewood, Jackson Bird, Nathan Lyon

Aus has declared their squad and they have 4 spinners + Maxwell who can bowl spin....and smith too can


and only 3 seamers in the squad....implies they will play 2 seamers and 3 spinners

india should produces pitches like they did vs NZ and SA.....krumblers and not the types they did vs Eng

Looking good for India. Australia just 60 ahead with 5 down at tea. As an absolute minimum, they surely need another 100 runs. That's a tough ask and even then I doubt that Australia's bowlers will take 10 wickets easily. Lyon and O'Keefe, in particular, seem more suited to a containing game than quick strikes.

All in all, I'm putting Alfie's money on the home side.

Fabulous bowling performance from India there

They now just need to not bat horrifically and the series is surely theirs...

Is this the best Test series since the 2005 Ashes? Can't say I remember them all in that period but this must be up there, absolutely compelling to follow the series through all of the Tests

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:Fabulous bowling performance from India there

They now just need to not bat horrifically and the series is surely theirs...

Odds are definitely on India here.


Things are looking a bit more evenly poised in NZ - Kane Williamson's 148* leading NZ to 321/4 in reply to SA's 314 at the end of day 3. Sadly the weather has already wiped out about a day's play, and may not have finished yet.

Williamson equaled Martin Crowe's NZ record of 17 test centuries, as well as beating Crowe's record for fastest New Zealander to 5000 test runs, taking 110 innings.

I think my (or guildford's) money will be fairly safe

Hard to see Australia knocking over all ten for eighty tomorrow. Couple of wickets this evening might have set hearts fluttering ; but unless Cummins starts with a hat trick or the pitch suddenly turns into a total minefield you'd think India will get there without too much anxiety.

Compelling cricket , again. Thought Australia just about got square when they wrapped up the Indian tail once Jadeja's splendid innings ended : but once Smith got out (carelessly !) to follow Warner while still behind - well they were pushing uphill.
Magnificent bowling from Umesh and the spin twins. And some smart catching (barring a couple of surprising drops !)

Will tune in tomorrow , as this series has continued to throw up twists and turns. But I'm not really expecting any huge drama.

NZ will hoping the skies clear !

-->missed all live cricket......followed on mobile CI till the end if Indian inning..was pleased we got ahead by 32...not the 50 i would have liked.....was disappointed that Bhuvi and Kuldeep could not chip in with the bat...

BUT it could have been much worse.....we could have been down handing a lead of 20 odd....so wasn't complaining much....

-->and then I got on a plane to Cairo....4 hour flight with no internet......landed  down fearing the worst...first look at the mobile CI score-card wasn't believable ...rechecked and then it dawned that this series is all but wrapped up

I expected Aus to be bundled out cheaply...but not so cheaply....like their second inning in T2...Aus seem to have frozen....Ashwin and Jadeja restored normal services on a cracked up pitch....all accounts of the new ball show of Bhuvi / Umesh was stellar.....on a pitch which had plenty of bounce until the end.....and where  Cummins was brutal. The slow "high speed Internet" at the hotel didn't let me catch the highlights either

--> The game changer to me still was Kuldeep...plucking out 4 at a time when there was no help for spinners...with pure skill and guile...and restricted Aus to 300ish instead of 400+

If India win ( and they should)......it should be remembered that they were weary, exhausted from a long season, made the mistake of putting out a lottery pitch and lost the lottery in T1....lost 3 tosses....lost Kohli to bad form and then completely as an onfield leader.....lost Ashwin's potency.....and yet bit by  bit, inch by inch wrested the advantage in a hard fought duel of grueling test match cricket...

Critics might say it's only home seasons / series win.....fans and avid followers will see Indian seamers out-bowled their  English counterparts and were not inferior to their Aussie counterparts....and 2 of these tests were in seam friendly conditions ( Dharmsala now and Kolkata vs. NZ) 
and the India team has learnt how to play hard fought test cricket and all 15 in the squad are pulling their weight....and overseas wins should follow sooner than later.

--> Another lesson....13 home tests is 5 too many.....8 is about maximum and 7 optimal at home...
and about 5 tests away......would be the right balance in my view

So all over with no real alarms for India , except a bit of a meltdown around halfway when Vijay got out and Pujara was totally unnecessarily run out...

Rahul (Mr Consistent) and the admirable replacement skipper Rahane fittingly finished the job.
A mention for Cummins who kept on bowling his heart out.

Jadeja MotS , deservedly so
But really , this was a team effort from India...as indeed much of their extraordinary home mega-season has been . Kohli and the spin twins will have the headlines ; but Pujara , Rahul , Umesh ...and looking back to earlier series remember the roles played by others : Would they have won 4-0 over England without the efforts of Jayant ? And even Karun Nair with his one big day...

Traveling is another story ...but they can relax and celebrate for now. They've certainly earned a rest :

Will look at Australia in detail later. But for now hearty congrats to KP-f and msp as well as the on field players...

Was a fine series ; and the 2-1 was probably about the right result.

Sorry you missed the Australian collapse yesterday , KP-f...you'd have enjoyed that fiery spell from Umesh : it was exciting cricket. But I guess you'll take the win

An Aussie loss and (potentially) a NZ win in the same 24 hour spell

SA are 80/5 at stumps on day 4, 95 runs in arrears after NZ got through to 489 overnight. Faf and QDK are the not out batsman, they'll need to bat deep into tomorrow or hope the weather kicks in.

Pete C (Kiwireddevil) wrote:An Aussie loss and (potentially) a NZ win in the same 24 hour spell

SA are 80/5 at stumps on day 4, 95 runs in arrears after NZ got through to 489 overnight. Faf and QDK are the not out batsman, they'll need to bat deep into tomorrow or hope the weather kicks in.

Where the fudgecakes is this weather I've been told would come?

kingraf wrote:

Pete C (Kiwireddevil) wrote:An Aussie loss and (potentially) a NZ win in the same 24 hour spell

SA are 80/5 at stumps on day 4, 95 runs in arrears after NZ got through to 489 overnight. Faf and QDK are the not out batsman, they'll need to bat deep into tomorrow or hope the weather kicks in.

Where the fudgecakes is this weather I've been told would come?

They have lost 70 overs already (net - play's started mins early on days 2-4 so they caught up 20 overs).

Hamilton forecast for Wed 29th: Showers, chance heavy​/​thundery in the afternoon, easing evening. Light winds.

Pete C (Kiwireddevil) wrote:

kingraf wrote:

Pete C (Kiwireddevil) wrote:An Aussie loss and (potentially) a NZ win in the same 24 hour spell

SA are 80/5 at stumps on day 4, 95 runs in arrears after NZ got through to 489 overnight. Faf and QDK are the not out batsman, they'll need to bat deep into tomorrow or hope the weather kicks in.

Where the fudgecakes is this weather I've been told would come?

They have lost 70 overs already (net - play's started mins early on days 2-4 so they caught up 20 overs).

Hamilton forecast for Wed 29th: Showers, chance heavy​/​thundery in the afternoon, easing evening. Light winds.

the way I had it, we were more likely to get a pool party than a cricket game.

NZ weather service is definitely fake news

kingraf wrote:

Pete C (Kiwireddevil) wrote:

kingraf wrote:

Pete C (Kiwireddevil) wrote:An Aussie loss and (potentially) a NZ win in the same 24 hour spell

SA are 80/5 at stumps on day 4, 95 runs in arrears after NZ got through to 489 overnight. Faf and QDK are the not out batsman, they'll need to bat deep into tomorrow or hope the weather kicks in.

Where the fudgecakes is this weather I've been told would come?

They have lost 70 overs already (net - play's started mins early on days 2-4 so they caught up 20 overs).

Hamilton forecast for Wed 29th: Showers, chance heavy​/​thundery in the afternoon, easing evening. Light winds.

the way I had it, we were more likely to get a pool party than a cricket game.

NZ weather service is definitely fake news

It's rained all night and there's a lake on the covers

Excellent series.  Australia fought very hard but India ultimately were convincing winners. I had rated Jadeja highly from before the time he consistently turned in these high quality performances.

Amlas slump:

Since Jan 2015 Amlas averaged just 36.21
The previous 5 years he averaged 66.19

SA have the best front line bowling unit in test cricket but without AB as well the battings really taken a dip.

Could be a real shoot out in England this summer.

Inspite of 
--losing AB to his fits and whims of " ohh I will play, not play, play somtimes, something , some-form"....who sounded like a touchy man / woman and not anywhere like a tough leader...

 --and dip in the form of Amla....

--and the sad injuries to Steyn that's limited the extent of his greatness...by cutting out 3 or possibly 4 top years....nevertheless with his 400+ wickets in 80odd tests at 22 average and 40ish SR.....he remains great...in the league of Hadless and Lillee, Marshall in terms of speed and  statistics...

--and losing suddenly Kyle Abbot to English county

SA still remain a top side....largely because they have bowling to pick 20 wickets...

Rabada and Mahraj have made great strides and sound exviting....., and QDK has all but replaced ABDV in batting contributions...... and i am looking forward to watching them in Eng this summer

Gooseberry wrote:Amlas slump:

Since Jan 2015 Amlas averaged just 36.21
The previous 5 years he averaged 66.19

SA have the best front line bowling unit in test cricket but without AB as well the battings really taken a dip.

Could be a real shoot out in England this summer.

Amla is averaging 21 in his last 5 away series too - still doing OK in white ball cricket, and OK in home tests

Pete C (Kiwireddevil) wrote:

kingraf wrote:

Pete C (Kiwireddevil) wrote:

kingraf wrote:

Pete C (Kiwireddevil) wrote:An Aussie loss and (potentially) a NZ win in the same 24 hour spell

SA are 80/5 at stumps on day 4, 95 runs in arrears after NZ got through to 489 overnight. Faf and QDK are the not out batsman, they'll need to bat deep into tomorrow or hope the weather kicks in.

Where the fudgecakes is this weather I've been told would come?

They have lost 70 overs already (net - play's started mins early on days 2-4 so they caught up 20 overs).

Hamilton forecast for Wed 29th: Showers, chance heavy​/​thundery in the afternoon, easing evening. Light winds.

the way I had it, we were more likely to get a pool party than a cricket game.

NZ weather service is definitely fake news

It's rained all night and there's a lake on the covers

Day 5 washed out

1 (very) bad session in Wellington cost us the series (NZ was on top when rain wrecked the Hamilton test, while Dunedin was evenly poised when the rain hit)

Returning briefly to the India v Australia series.

Great contest, deservedly won narrowly by the hosts. A real team effort from the victors in line with Alfie's post.

Surprised and impressed by the quality of some of the seam bowling. Not something too often associated with India down the years, to put it mildly.

I also noticed in this last Test that India ignored the use of a night watchman and began both their innings late in the evening sessions with their regular openers. I liked that. Don't go hiding, back yourselves with the bat.

A lot of fight and perseverance from Australia but in the end that wasn't quite enough. I do believe they miss Watson. He was a long way way off being a great but he brought valuable balance to the side. As well as averaging 35 with the bat, he went at 2.75 an over and took a wicket every 73 balls in Tests. That just about equates to 1/33 off 12 overs. That stat won't win you a Test by itself but having someone available to bowl a dozen overs for that sort of return provides important support to to those who might.

KP_fan wrote:Inspite of 
--losing AB to his fits and whims of " ohh I will play, not play, play somtimes, something , some-form"....who sounded like a touchy man / woman and not anywhere like a tough leader...

 --and dip in the form of Amla....

--and the sad injuries to Steyn that's limited the extent of his greatness...by cutting out 3 or possibly 4 top years....nevertheless with his 400+ wickets in 80odd tests at 22 average and 40ish SR.....he remains great...in the league of Hadless and Lillee, Marshall in terms of speed and  statistics...

--and losing suddenly Kyle Abbot to English county

SA still remain a top side....largely because they have bowling to pick 20 wickets...

Rabada and Mahraj have made great strides and sound exviting....., and QDK has all but replaced ABDV in batting contributions...... and i am looking forward to watching them in Eng this summer

IMO Steyn is finished as a test bowler. I forget the exact stats but he's basically broken down in every test series he's played in the last 3 years or so. Still a very good limited overs bowler.

QDK looks like the new Gilchrist though. And even without Steyn & Abbot they've still got plenty of handy bowling.

ABDV is sadly a bit burnt out (12 years leading SA's batting) and needs to reduce his workload. I'm gutted that he's opted out of test cricket but you can't blame him for opting to go down the money T20 route to secure his family's future. Especially given how little SA can afford to pay

guildfordbat wrote:Returning briefly to the India v Australia series.

Great contest, deservedly won narrowly by the hosts. A real team effort from the victors in line with Alfie's post.

Surprised and impressed by the quality of some of the seam bowling. Not something too often associated with India down the years, to put it mildly.

I also noticed in this last Test that India ignored the use of a night watchman and began both their innings late in the evening sessions with their regular openers. I liked that. Don't go hiding, back yourselves with the bat.

A lot of fight and perseverance from Australia but in the end that wasn't quite enough. I do believe they miss Watson. He was a long way way off being a great but he brought valuable balance to the side. As well as averaging 35 with the bat, he went at 2.75 an over and took a wicket every 73 balls in Tests. That just about equates to 1/33 off 12 overs. That stat won't win you a Test by itself but having someone available to bowl a dozen overs for that sort of return provides important support to to those who might.

Well said.

Watson also had a real knack of picking up key wickets - usually from bad balls, but they all go in the book.

An excellent series for the neutral

Pete ... the home tests series was boosted massively by England's visit where he really bucked the trend and made a lot of runs. Otherwise it's been barely better than his away form.

That said facing largely the same attack in similar conditions this summer could be his last chance to get his career back on track. It's hard to write off a guy like that.


As for Watson ...I'm not sure how useful his bowling would have been in India, but there's no question Australia miss a genuine batsman who can bowl a but and a genuine bowler who can bat a bit ( or ideally a proper allrounder).

Pete C (Kiwireddevil) wrote:

KP_fan wrote:Inspite of 
--losing AB to his fits and whims of " ohh I will play, not play, play somtimes, something , some-form"....who sounded like a touchy man / woman and not anywhere like a tough leader...

 --and dip in the form of Amla....

--and the sad injuries to Steyn that's limited the extent of his greatness...by cutting out 3 or possibly 4 top years....nevertheless with his 400+ wickets in 80odd tests at 22 average and 40ish SR.....he remains great...in the league of Hadless and Lillee, Marshall in terms of speed and  statistics...

--and losing suddenly Kyle Abbot to English county

SA still remain a top side....largely because they have bowling to pick 20 wickets...

Rabada and Mahraj have made great strides and sound exviting....., and QDK has all but replaced ABDV in batting contributions...... and i am looking forward to watching them in Eng this summer

IMO Steyn is finished as a test bowler. I forget the exact stats but he's basically broken down in every test series he's played in the last 3 years or so. Still a very good limited overs bowler.

QDK looks like the new Gilchrist though. And even without Steyn & Abbot they've still got plenty of handy bowling.

ABDV is sadly a bit burnt out (12 years leading SA's batting) and needs to reduce his workload. I'm gutted that he's opted out of test cricket but you can't blame him for opting to go down the money T20 route to secure his family's future. Especially given how little SA can afford to pay

The guy makes $3-4 million a year. He'a hardly living above the breadline

I'll now be commenting on the two recently completed series.

Aus vs India

I thought it was a brilliant series. Both on and off the pitch. Proper grudge match stuff. No one saw Australia competing this hard, and heading into the final two innings, with Kohli out, and India having only picked specialist batsmen, I thought a lead of only 30 was all but a death knell for them. India however as champion teams so often do, found a way. A brilliant victory. Steve Smith was superlatively good, but he'll maybe be disappointed with his performances in the second innings of this and the second Test, where I thought conditions where still good enough to chase 190. For India, Jadeja burst out of Ashwin's shadow, raising questions once again about Ashwin when conditions arent stacked in his favour. Yadav as well, bowled magnificently.

Re SA NZ
We played pretty sub par cricket, deficits in the first and third Tests as well being 94/6 in the middle frame. But hey, we won. Only one Test loss since the horror show at the Wanderers last year, that too a dead rubber, against seven wins, and four straight series wins. We genuinely cant bat, so I suspect that the Tests in England will be a bowling shootout. I'll back Steyn-Philander-Rabada to win one though

All,
So a fabulous end to India's home series with a terrific series win, the hardest of the season, and the last test, a new Chinaman and the seamers leading the bowling party and giving the spin twins a bit of a break.
My Windows found it all a bit too much to take and so I couldn't be here as regularly as I would have wanted. Now normal services restored with the laptop.......
After the terrific series win, India have a lot to celebrate. But there is no better time to plan for the futire, like when you are on top. And there are areas to be looked into.
Murali Vijay scored 3 hundreds in this home series. But the closest he looked on top of his game was during the 2nd hundred against England and the 91 against Australia. But there have been far too many failures for a player of his ability. Mukund has many technical issues with his game and Dhawan got dropped after he spend every credit he had in the bank. So either they have to look at the domestic game for another backup opener. Mukund, with Ranji season rightly earned his call, and Vijay rightly should stay on, but if he continues to be hit and miss on a regular basis, then something has to be done. Mumbai's Akhil Herwadkar is promising, and Gujarat's Priyank Panchal, who topped the Ranji run charts in the season finished needs to be looked at by someone like Rahul Dravid more closely. Punjab's Jiwanjot Singh seems to have dropped off a bit.

The greatest reason I was happy about Karun Nair's 300 was that we might afterall, a find a way away from the Mumbai Wonder! But Nair proved to be more of a replica. A big score, lots of hopes for the future, and then absolutely nothing. And like the man he replaced, kept making the same misteakes agains and again, and found terrible ways to get out without accounting for the match situation.
Shreyas Iyer has a fine domestic record. Think its time he gets a crack. With Saha earning a few more chances, the likes of Rishabh Pant should be allowed to develop his wicketkeeping skills rather being picked as a batsman. And someone like Manish Pandy, despite making a mess of the limited overs chances he got in recent times, should be in the test frame.
KPF, no Wonderboy please!

Kohli out for several weeks of IPL due to shoulder injury.........

Ashwin out of the entire IPL...due to a sports hernia picked up around the 4th test vs Eng.

Rahul out of IPL due to a shoulder injury......

and Vijay out due to a shoulder and wrist injury.....

Indian team is walking wounded...and hats off to the fitness of Umesh Yadav.....played 12 tests and was bowling at 90 mph + until the end....

openers' fitness is a concern and Dhawan may get a re-look....else Panchaal..

Rohit walks in hands down...for the show he did vs. NZ

if not a near defeat vs Aus...the IPL devoid of top Indian stars should be a lesson for BCCI  to manage the length of home seasons

The BCCI experimented with a proper home season this time, sure they'll learn from the experience. I would prefer a 9 or 10 test season. 3 series of 3 tests, or 2 of 4 and 1 of 2 tests when the likes of the pathetic West Indies have to be suffered.

7 home tests ( 3 +4) or 8 max...... and 5 overs seas tests per year

and Umesh and Jadeja the strong-men have also fallen.....injured and cannot play IPL

KP_fan wrote:7 home tests ( 3 +4) or 8 max...... and 5 overs seas tests per year

On average a team should play the same # home & away

Nathaniel Jacobs wrote:So where are all the Nathan Lyon fan boys hiding today? As I said in my previous posts, Lyon only gets wickets when batsmen are donating them to him. Once again in the backend of a match Lyon went missing in the second innings. He doesn't have the ability or talent to get good batsmen out. Truly dreadful bowler

guildfordbat wrote:

Nathaniel Jacobs wrote:So where are all the Nathan Lyon fan boys hiding today? As I said in my previous posts, Lyon only gets wickets when batsmen are donating them to him. Once again in the backend of a match Lyon went missing in the second innings. He doesn't have the ability or talent to get good batsmen out. Truly dreadful bowler