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Rahkeem Cornwall makes it to West Indies Test squad
He is an all-rounder from the islands of Antigua and is perhaps the heaviest cricketer ever. He stands at a towering height of 6’6” and weighs around 140 kg.

Cornwall made his first-class debut in 2014 and has since become a regular for Leewards Islands, even captaining them earlier this year. He has 260 wickets from 55 first-class matches and finished as the leading bowler in the most recent regional four-day tournament.

Happens to the best of them though, Gooseberry. Australia, South Africa, England, West Indies, New Zealand... even Ireland.  

Agree with you though. I just didn't expect this Indian side to capitulate like that. I suppose one just has to write it off as an anomaly (although our guys were on song) and try and shore up the team as best as possible in the coming week.

Rather than pointing the finger (they were all responsible and they all know it) I reckon they need to take the glass half full approach and stick in some more experienced competitors... and pray that lightning won't strike twice. In a different place.

After all - they are professional cricket players, right? Heads down... and don't panic - should be their mantra for the rest of the tour.

I’d imagine it’s a straight swap between Wade and Warner for the Aussies

As for India? God knows. Obviously need to replace Kohli and Shami, and the two guys they put faith in (Shaw and Saha) had about as bad a test match as you could each, and haven’t even begun to show why they should stay in the XI. Four changes?! Gill, Rohit, Pant and Siraj maybe?

God yeah forgot Warner was coming back ...I was just thinking of the young opener who missed out with the concussion. Wade absolutely gone , burns may have done enough to retain his spot.

Even tougher for India to fight back

Gooseberry wrote:God yeah forgot Warner was coming back ...I was just thinking of the young opener who missed out with the concussion. Wade absolutely gone , burns may have done enough to retain his spot.

Even tougher for India to fight back

I think Pucovski is out of the question now after his latest concussion. Just saw Alex Carey on the subject - he's really gone out of his way to make a statement about it too. Langer is also very worried about him. I didn't realise he's had quite a few knocks as well as the bout of severe depression.
He's only 22, so it's probably best he takes care of himself first - no doubt there will be opportunities in the near future. He has to work on his ball evasion technique to avoid getting hit. It's simply not worth the risk right now even though he seems like an exciting prospect and a potential run machine.

It was a perfect display of test match bowling from Cummins and Hazlewood. India's batsmen didn't have the technique to ride it out.

Burns getting a fifty is another blow to India. He was badly out of form and, presumably, low on confidence, that will have altered now.

This was India's best chance of winning a test, now it's really difficult to see beyond 4-0, with Kohli's strangely long absence leaving a mammoth hole of experience, leadership and ability in the Indian side, while Australia will only be strengthened with Warner's return.

If it's any consolation to Indian fans, a similar fate awaits England next winter!

Duty281 wrote:It was a perfect display of test match bowling from Cummins and Hazlewood. India's batsmen didn't have the technique to ride it out.

Burns getting a fifty is another blow to India. He was badly out of form and, presumably, low on confidence, that will have altered now.

This was India's best chance of winning a test, now it's really difficult to see beyond 4-0, with Kohli's strangely long absence leaving a mammoth hole of experience, leadership and ability in the Indian side, while Australia will only be strengthened with Warner's return.

If it's any consolation to Indian fans, a similar fate awaits England next winter!

4-0 whitewash is for the taking for the Aussies.
In my very first post on this series I alluded to Indians taking the talk of
"Sport is small  in the context of big global pandemic" too seriously......and hence too soft....starting from the captain
& the result is for all to see
if you add the last 4 of India's first inning fell for 10 runs...then he last 14 wickets have gone for 46 runs

Team is mentally not shot but soft is the head and most of us here understand cricket at this level and especially test matches is  50% mental strength and only the other 50% is cricketing skills.
Coach shastri I won't be surprised is lying drunk somewhere enjoying the festive spirit.

Pant, Gill ,Rahul should be in  for Saha, Kohli and Shaw.....and Saini for Shami if the latter is unfit
Nothing to loose for Capt Rahane  ....hope they can switch themselves on....this is the brutally highest & toughest level of cricket, very uforgiving...even 90% alertness is not enuf.....it's gotta be 110%

I think I’ve reached the point where I can put Pat Cummins in the group of best Test bowlers I have seen in my lifetime. He’s up there with McGrath and Steyn for me. What a phenomenal bowler. Charges in all day with the ability to nibble it both ways off the seam at 90mph. Some of the deliveries he bowls are almost impossible to play.

I guess the final thing he needs to do is go to the sub continent, particularly India, and do the business there. But there is nothing in missing from his armoury that makes me think he wouldn’t be able too. Incredible to think that it was over five years between his first Test and secs in Test with back problems.

Well nobody saw that coming !

We were fielding in the late afternoon and an incoming batsman announced that India were 19/6 ... I thought he was winding us up in order to distract

Have only seen the actual wickets - though it seems there were not a lot of balls bowled that didn't take wickets so not missed too much
But obviously from all comments the bowling was outstanding. We knew the Australian attack could be lethal , especially at home ; and I guess some days everything just clicks for the bowling side and bats are swept aside like a herd of lemmings...still always comes as a shock.

What that collapse and the rapid loss from a seemingly strong position will do to the touring team's morale (even more so with the skipper off home now as well) is the key question. They were always facing a battle in this series , especially if they lost this Test ; and the manner of this defeat might easily lead to a rapid disintegration...I hope not as I'd always prefer to see a contest. Guess we will see in a weeks time...

Australia will rightly be over the moon over that comeback after being basically outplayed for two days. Aussie teams tend to thrive when they are full of confidence and wins like that do plenty to provide belief.
Wonder whether they will be over anxious to rush Warner back now , even if he is close to being right ? Might be smarter to keep the status quo for match two and see how the candidates for the chop fare...I am by no means convinced that a rather pressure free fifty from Burns means he is certain to prosper from here on. And dropping Wade after he had done the team thing by filling a hole would be exceedingly harsh.  I would wait and see how they fare in Melbourne , by which time Warner should be safely ready and a better idea of the relative merits of Wade , Burns , Green - even Head - could be assessed.
Agree with others above that Pucovski's expected debut should be on ice for now.

Really dont think dropping Wade would be harsh, he was fourth choice opener and at best first reserve mid order bat (thats ignoring ignoring Shaun Marsh with a steel chair), third choice keeper behind Carey. He didnt even play in the warm ups which show how far from a place he was, to get the call at all was a punt and something he wouldn't have been realistically expecting a couple of weeks back.

Sure he was a pretty well established team member but really hasnt done much with the long run of games he got and was always an obvious place filler/weak link.

Harris could even have got that opener spot ahead of him having made some decent scores in first class cricket and at least getting starts in all his warm up innings. It was really arguable he deserved the place ahead of both Wade and Burns, neither of them can exactly feel comfortable in their place and Im sure Wade would have 100% understood that no matter what he did in this game he was likely to lose his spot.

The selection of Burns in spite of his form and scores in the warm up really suggests Aus are backing him. He does have a decent test average and 4 test centuries as an opener which shows he is capable, and thats continued with an unbeaten 50 (caveats applied but still that was more than 14 consecutive Indian wickets fell for).

So if Puckowoski the young kid is still unavailable I dont see any real pressure on Burns Warner as the preferred combination for now. Everything suggests that Warner will be fine for the next test, he apparently was back into fitness training ahead of this game and stated he was making quicker than expected progress. No reason he shouldnt be fully fit and recovered by the sound of it, and the noise coming from the leadership was very much on the basis he will play if hes 100% fit not we will shoehorn him in if we can stuff him with enough painkillers which seemed to be an option leading questions ahead of the first test were pushing.

Going back to JDizzles comment I've seen the Aus seam trio described as the best they've ever had. Its a bold statement but one that has merit, the untouchables side was built on McGrath as a GOAT with some decent back up plus Warne and a formidable batting line up. There were some good seamers but never really a trio quite like this all offering something different and two genuinely quick.

I'm going to go one step further and say this is the strongest Aus team since the mid 2000's, and is only a couple of pieces away from becoming truly formidable. If Green lives up to his potential and becomes a Stokes like figure, Head continues to keep a 40+ average and they can sustain a second opener worth a spot they will go from a team reliant on a few huge individual performances to a truly scary XI. Its a pity we are unlikely to see them play much out of Aus for such an extended period, and keeping all 3 seamers fit around the world cups could be tricky.

Warner has already flown down to Melbourne... think it was on Friday.

Just in time to escape the now mandatory 14 day quarantine period for NSW travellers into Victoria due to an outbreak of about 75 new covid infections on the Northern Beaches of Sydney. Apparently it was brought in by an airline worker from the US who returned here on December 1.

There was talk of relocating the 3rd Test to Brisbane but I read today that the SCG Trust is fighting tooth and nail to keep the match here.

The only thing good about yesterday was that I couldn't watch the game live... Checked the score on cricinfo, read 26-8, and that was about it. A test match they should probably have won, was so brutally snatched away in a rain of utter humiliation! By all accounts, it seemed a terrific bowling display by the Australians. And that what highlights seemed to suggest, other than Kohli, nobody really got out chasing balls... But the captain was also right that there was no real intent with the bat... In any case, 36-9 is just far too horrible on that track. Even Joe Burns could score runs on that, and more than what the last 14 Indian wickets collectively managed at that!
I was so much reminded of Barbados 1997. The test match still haunts Sachin Tendulkar, 7 years into his retirement! This one is going to have some serious damages, probably for years to come. Will be rather surprised if its going to be anything other than 4-0.

Kohli's going home on leave, and and to add to the troubles, Mohammed Shami has joined the injury list and is set to miss the series. Shami didn't have anything to show for his efforts with the ball in the match, but it was he who really turned it around for Indian bowling in the first innings and would have had a 5for on another for much lesser effort. But here he's, no wickets in the test, got hit and broke his arm and finds himself out of the series at the end of a once in a generation disaster of a loss.
They might go for Siraj now. He has been in pretty decent form in red ball cricket in general at domestic and India A level. Saini has got pace, and on his day can probably do some special things, but with another potential spraygun around in Umesh Yadav, don't think they can go in with him now in a 4 man attack.
BTW someone had mentioned Ishant Sharma. He's out injured, couldn't recover in time to join the squad. Would have surely played ahead of Umesh otherwise. Ishant had overcome that nonsense of 'Unlucky Ishant' in recent times and was bowling like a senior pro finally. But when I read 26-8, really did think of him, not as someone who would provide a return spell that could reduce Australia to something similar, but as someone who would probably have hung in there somehow, put his body on the line, and resisted with the bat for a while at least.

India should try and pick themselves up from this calamity somehow. As for selections, think it should be Gill for Kohli, Rahul for Shaw and Pant for Saha. And Siraj for the injured Shami.

Shastri might want to continue with Shaw for one more game so that Rohit Sharma can walk back into the side after serving his quarantine period for the 3rd test.

msp83 wrote:Shastri might want to continue with Shaw for one more game so that Rohit Sharma can walk back into the side after serving his quarantine period for the 3rd test.

Shastri & Kohli make selection blunders out of stupidity, arrogance and often times believing their  own S.H.I.T hype about aggressiveness  
BUT do not have such blatant agenda as you theorize above.

Shaw won't play again...although i am not sure which one of Rahul or Gill will open
I saw a lot of footage of Siraj's recent bowling....and he has been bowling well recently.
Although saini is  a yard faster in 140-145kph range, Siraj himself is quite brisk in 135-140kph and has much better line.....closer to the stump, fuller and stock ball coming in....gets a lot of LBWs and clean bowled

Saini is shorter in length and lot wider and stock ball going away......less like to get wickets unless batsmen go chasing & slashing at him.
I hope they bring in a replacement for Shami and it should be Shardul Thakur

If any of the potential Indian pace replacements can actually bat it might go a long way towards winning selection

Quite seriously , I know you want your best bowlers out there ; but that awful tail needs any boost it can get , so if it is a close call...

And they surely can't play Shaw again. Will be Gill , no ? And Rahul for Kohli...plus change the keeper one week too late.

Hope they can recover enough to provide a proper contest. Easy 4-0 series are frankly a bit boring even for the winning supporters.

alfie wrote:And they surely can't play Shaw again. Will be Gill , no ? And Rahul for Kohli...plus change the keeper one week too late.

Hope they can recover enough to provide a proper contest.  Easy 4-0 series are frankly a bit boring even for the winning supporters.

Agree Alfie - especially as through the first innings, we were seeing it could shape up to be an interesting series. Hopefully it was just a blip for India in the 2nd dig...albeit I think we all fear, and maybe deep down know, it wasn't

alfie wrote:If any of the potential Indian pace replacements can actually bat it might go a long way towards winning selection  

Quite seriously , I know you want your best bowlers out there ; but that awful tail needs any boost it can get , so if it is a close call...

Saini can bat and had some decent scores in NZ
Siraj I have no idea
Shardul is a handy lower order batsman...if he were to ever ply

Mo Amir has retired from all international cricket at 28 in a strop because Pakistan didnt pick him enough. The same Amir who who got banned for match fixing.

Warner officially ruled out now so they'll probably go with the same for Boxing Day. Melbourne could possibly get two tests in row with the covid situation in Sydney lingering around. Better to keep everyone in a safe bubble there rather than complicate things.

Yes hard to see the SCG Test going ahead in the present circumstances. Get the impression the outbreak on the Northern beaches is being quite effectively controlled but with all the anxious State border restrictions and the need for advance planning might be better to make a decision sooner rather than later ?
Bit of a pain for your crowd , PJ , to miss the home Test : but if anything went wrong that Queensland Bossyboots would probably ban the teams from going to Brisbane for the fourth match too .

If we do end up with two matches here in Melbourne I do hope they get a decent pitch to play on. They reckon the problems of 2017/18 are all fixed now but I'll wait to see...

As much as I'd love to see the SCG Test go ahead I really don't mind if you get two, alfie.

You guys have had a rough and tough old year... you deserve a good feast of cricket. Also, I never get tired of looking at the MCG.  

Can feel the war of words between Gladys and Anna heating up... it's getting quite personal. Yes, I can imagine if the 4th Test goes ahead, Palascuk will probably want to ban all NSW players purely out of spite. Well, maybe not... but it sometimes seems it's like the late Weimar Republic up there!

Plenty of cricket to keep folk occupied over Christmas/New Year. Second test between Australia and India the headline event.

Sri Lanka's two test visit to South Africa also starts on Boxing Day. Might seem one-sided on paper, but it should be remembered Sri Lanka beat South Africa 2-0 in South Africa in 2019, a series best remembered for Perera's astonishing 153*...the second best test innings of 2019! Sri Lanka are pretty much at full strength for this series, with two bowlers (Kumara and Chameera) capable of exceeding 145kph. South Africa are missing Rabada, and the organisers are probably worried about bio-security.

And New Zealand's two test home series against Pakistan starts on Boxing Day as well. Pakistan are without Babar Azam, Imam-ul-Haq and Shadab Khan, so this will be a proper uphill battle for them against a full-strength (I think) Kiwi side that is formidable at home.

Surprise selection from India is Jadeja for Kholi. Obviously feel the pitch will be flatter this time and need the extra bowling. Pant taking the gloves in theory puts some batting back.

Aus by steel chair. Merry Christmas!


As for SA ...they are very vulnerable even to an awful SL side. The squads been hugely disrupted by covid isolations due to exposure, its still not clear who will be available for them and further complicated by the need to keep on top of transformation targets. Also SA are notoriously bad against spinners, even englands tin of custard ran through them. Obvipusly still favourites but if you can get odds based on a full strength SA worth a punt on SL if say Duty.

New Zealand at home is ridiculous and Pakistan are just there for the money. That should be the biggest mismatch, anything but a comfortable NZ win would be a big shock to me.

Ind has included Gill, Siraj and Pant for Shaw, Shami and Saha..as expected
Jadeja coming in exudes confusion in seleection
Confusion arising because as I wrote before Jadeja would have been first choice spinner in T1 if he was fit.

Ashwin played in absence of jadeja and did well and tour selectors find it hard to drop him ...so they are trying to fit in both Ashwin and jadeja and trying to justify it as

"Ohh we ar playing 5 bowlers"

Yeah but bowing wasn't the weak link in T1....4 bowlers were more than enuf to bundle Aus for sub 200 in first inning.
And you don't need 2 spinners in games outside subcontinent unless pitch is so docile that 450 expected to be the par first inning score.

The right decisions would have been to replace Ashwin with Jadeja and play Rahul instead of Kohli.
However The wrong decision may NOT cost India very dearly though

Think they are assuming it'll be a flater wicket and they can't overbowl the seamers, especially with a new cap coming in. Picking a fourth seamer would mean including the fifth choice and an even longer tail.
If they had Stokes or Cameron Green fine...but they don't.

If it turns out to be another par 250 test then sure it was a mistake, but if its a 5 day test only having 4 front line bowlers could cripple them for the series with the short turnarounds.

Think they are assuming it'll be a flater wicket and they can't overbowl the seamers, especially with a new cap coming in. Picking a fourth seamer would mean including the fifth choice and an even longer tail.
If they had Stokes or Cameron Green fine...but they don't.

If it turns out to be another par 250 test then sure it was a mistake, but if its a 5 day test only having 4 front line bowlers could cripple them for the series with the short turnarounds.

Gooseberry wrote:Think they are assuming it'll be a flater wicket and they can't overbowl the seamers, especially with a new cap coming in. Picking a fourth seamer would mean including the fifth choice and an even longer tail.
If they had Stokes or Cameron Green fine...but they don't.

If it turns out to be another par 250 test then sure it was a mistake, but if its a 5 day test only having 4 front line bowlers could cripple them for the series with the short turnarounds.

Is it a flat pitch at Melbourne?
like a 400+ first inning type?

Not much specific about the pitch ...guess that's because the pundits haven't been wandering around inspecting it closely as normal. But Rahane said he expects it to "play very well" and it certainly shouldn't be as fruity as the previous test.

Forecast is hot for the first two days which might also have factored into Indias thinking on 5 bowlers.

Either way if they don't win the toss they are surely screwed.

Lord knows what an MCG pitch will turn out like...

But if it does end up as one of those flat decks we have seen so often recently then India might be wise to have selected the extra bowler - and a spinner plays to their strengths . Trouble they have is the batting which looks rather thin. Questionable openers , no Kohhli , a lot on Pujara and Rahane.

Hoping for a good match anyway.

Pakistan put NZ into bat on a very green wicket. Abbas and Shaheen have bowled superbly with the new ball to leave the home side 19/2 after 13 overs. Ball's doing all sorts...Kiwis fortunate not to be more than two down.

Aussies won the toss and the test chose to bat first. Sensing a big score from them this time and at least one of Smith or Labuschagne to deliver.

Aus win a good toss and by the look of first four overs....it's not a seaming pitch.
The right length is just a bit short of goodlength.....not a very full length.

Dig it in.....hit the pitch hard type of bowling needed and all 3 Indian seamers are cut out in that mould.
there is bounce that Ashwin will enjoy
he should relish the new hardish ball

Umesh needs to gte his length back half a yard and line on the of stump instead of outside

Bumrah going well

and ashwin gets the "chancing arm" Wade.
To me Wade is at best a pinch hitter....who someone high up in Australian cricket is determined to "somehow get in" to compensate for either some great services done by him
Or as a compensation for some perceived injustice meted out to him

Excellent first hour for India...Jadeja really is a splendid fielder , did so well to hold the catch despite Gill nearly knocking him over then...

Wade had been batting pretty well so they'll be glad to see him gone and at 35/2 anything can happen. Labuschagne struggling so far : just hasn't looked the same player yet in this series.

That should ensure him a hundred today

alfie wrote:Excellent first hour for India...Jadeja really is a splendid fielder , did so well to hold the catch despite Gill nearly knocking him over then...

Wade had been batting pretty well so they'll be glad to see him gone and at 35/2 anything can happen. Labuschagne struggling so far : just hasn't looked the same player yet in this series.

That should ensure him a hundred today

Gill showing the nerves of s debutant...trying hard to impress and have his imprint on the game early on
almost cost a wicket

Wow.

Smith gone for a duck ...and Ashwin is getting massive turn and bounce early in this game. Suggests the two spinner pick might be a great selection from India.

Aussies under a lot of pressure right now.

As I expected ashwin relishes the newish ball on hard surfaces.

Bumrah is all over the batsmen at present...that lbw review was a bit of a "hopeful" try , always looked high to me ; but Labuschagne still looks as if he could come out any minute...
If these two can make it to lunch they'll have done well so the next half hour is pretty important for this match.

i would bring in jadeja for bumrah after this over

Guess that is the benefit of three reviews - means you can be a bit speculative. Especially in that case when it is Marnus and you have them three down already.

KP_fan wrote:i would bring in jadeja for bumrah after this over

They heard you !

Agree it might be a good move.

alfie wrote:

KP_fan wrote:i would bring in jadeja for bumrah after this over

They heard you !

Agree it might be a good move.

Aus under pressure are merely pushing and plodding with feet rooted to crease
and in suhc situation Jadeja will immediately hit the right line, lenthg control and likely to eek out an lbw or bat pad

Labuschagne's luck continues as he's reprieved by drs ...I thought that was out live.
India will be pretty happy with three for 65 in that session , though perhaps a little disappointed not to have got one of those two late on...neither have looked at all comfortable.

Will be interesting to see if we get more of the same after lunch

India's session....although Aus should feel good about the 30 odd run partnership for the 4th wicket...although it came close to being 4 down a number of times.

The folly in Aus's approach is that they are trying to play horizontal bat slogs against the spinning / bouncing ball...and hence a wicket looks like coming any time

And I see NZ are making a good if rather slow recovery , with their main pair Williamson and Taylor now at 74/2 off 39.
Given Pakistan's batting frailties , I think they need to get a couple more wickets pretty soon or that useful early success will end up counting for nothing.

Very lively session. Like watching a fifth-dayer in India with two spinners on and fielders surrounding the bat. Though Labuschagne got the merest of touches on that 'dismissal', so justice was done in my view.

Wade should be dropped for that absolutely criminal shot he played. Imagine playing shots like that on the first morning of a test?! Should be dropped for someone more sensible, like...erm...Warner. Labuschagne nearly got out in a similar fashion, actually; someone with a test average of 60 should know better.

alfie wrote:And I see NZ are making a good if rather slow recovery , with their main pair Williamson and Taylor now at 74/2 off 39.
Given Pakistan's batting frailties , I think they need to get a couple more wickets pretty soon or that useful early success will end up counting for nothing.

Problem for pak, that their 3rd and 4th seamers weren't seaming the ball as much they could have given the assitance in the pitch, in first two hours
Their openning bowlers exploited the movement well