Cricket 2013

[ants]

Man, he is killing it. Unbelievable how he has simply come out of nowhere. These are the times where I wished I had access to follow the South African state leagues and stuff like that, he must have absolutely terrorised batsman, because that is exactly what he has done in his first three test matches. With Steyn and Morkel in tha bowling attack, and if pitches are going to continue to have a lot in them for bowlers, South Africa are going to be very hard to beat for a long time to come. Oh and did I mention they have Smith, Kallis, Amla and Devilliers in their top 6 batsman. Yeah, good luck rest of the world.

 

[Troy]

His First Class record is fantastic with a strike rate of around 45 so he has done the job at the domestic level. If he can stay fit then South Africa have an awesome team. With that team they should easily be the number one team in the world but they need to sort out their mental issues which have haunted them for decades.

Just watching the Big Bash at the moment and Warne is showing that he hasn't lost it. Bowled McCullum around his legs before and what is even more impressive is the fact that he told the commentators that he was going to bowl that exact delivery and he correctly predicted the shot McCullum played. Shows how good a thinker he was as a bowler. Still can't believe that he is with Liz Hurley, she looks stunning!

 

[Troy]

The starting XI for the Boxing Day test and Cowan will make his debut since Watson still isn't fit. Marsh is fit and will bat at 3 with Dan Christian missing out on debuting. In a left field move Hilfenhaus is in the team for Starc, I agree that Starc should be dropped but I definitely didnt think that Hilfy would be the replacement. Hopefully he finds some of the form that got him into the test team in the first test and isn't the tame bowler that he was against England in the Ashes.

Cowan
Warner
Marsh
Ponting
Clarke
Hussey
Haddin
Siddle
Pattinson
Lyon
Hilfenhaus

It is only a small thing but Lyon moving to 10 is something I am happy about as well. He has shown that he values his wicket and can defend as well as score a few runs so he doesn't deserve to be 11 all the time.

 

[Troy]

Clarke won the toss and Australia batted first. Warner started strongly but was out for 37 and then Marsh followed with a duck. Cowan and Ponting have steadied the ship and have now put on 94 runs. Ponting is 52* and Cowan on debut is 46*. Both are looking good and I hope that Cowan can get at least fifty on debut.

 

[Troy]

The century partnership is up and Cowan has his 50. Excellent start so far and hopefully these two can continue for the rest of the day.

152/2 Ponting 60* Cowan 50*

 

[Troy]

Ponting just got out for 62. Yadav has taken all three wickets to fall so far and is really the only threatening bowler. Sharma has had a couple of good overs but other than that the bowling attack is pretty weak. Hopefully Clarke can get some runs today.

 

[Troy]

Clarke looks good so far. He has been an all or nothing type of batter since getting the captaincy so this should mean a big score for him. It is really nice seeing a batsman like Cowan do what he does, he isn't in a rush a realises that he is there for a day or two and can take his time batting. He reminds me a bit of Langer in that aspect but he looks a lot more stylish that Langer.

183/3 Cowan 59* Clarke 19*

 

[Troy]

Clarke chops it on again to one that was too close to him.

Hussey then comes in and is given out even though he didn't hit it. Because India don't want things to be 100% there is no DRS this series which is ridiculous since Hussey would still be there since he got nowhere near it.

 

[Troy]

Cowan out for 68 but live it didn't look like he hit it be interesting to see Hotspot and Snicko for that decision.

**** Just showed Snicko and there was nothing. Two incorrect decisions in a row.

Ridiculous that BCCI are allowed to bully the rest of the world when everyone else wants DRS. Should be 4 down and not 215/6. If this happened in India and Tendulkar and Dhoni were given out incorrectly then India would leave the field and the crowd would riot.

Horrible to watch when we are getting screwed. Hopefully we get the same amount of look.

 

[Troy]

333 was the score in the end. Siddle scored 41 and the other bowlers chipped in with some late runs as well to make the total a bit more respectable.

In reply India are 98/2 With Dravid and Tendulkar in. Sehwag was on fire before but Pattinson bowled him for 67. Haddin dropped Sehwag a couple of times and one was an absolute sitter. Dravid has played and missed a lot of times so the chances are there.

 

[Heisenberg]

Was watching the test match on TV between Australia and India earlier today, I didn't end up watching it for long as it started to bore me very quick. Not a big fan of cricket.

 

[Troy]

Crazy day today.

Australia's bowlers were brilliant bowling India out for 282 after they started the day at 214/3. Hilfenhaus took 5 for after returning to the test team for the first time in over a year. Then our batsmen collapsed and it was only Ponting and Hussey that showed some spine. Cowan was unlucky since it wasn't hitting the stumps and a review would have saved him again. Ponting got 60 again and Hussey is still there at the end with Pattinson. Clarke continues to play like Marcus North, either a big score or nothing. Haddin played some dumb cricket trying to hit sixes when we were five down for about 150, he really needs to concentrate but I doubt the selectors will drop him even if Wade is looking good with bat and gloves.

179/8 with a lead of 230. Need to get at least another 50 runs. It is disappointing that once again the bowlers have been let down, they keep putting us in winning positions and then the batsmen let them down.

 

[ants]

Yeh I agree we definitely need a lead of around 280 plus. Preferably 300 just because of the mental thing that it brings. But having said that, a team with a batting line-up as strong as theres should be able to chase down 300 runs in 5 sessions of cricket. But it never seems to work like that. Hussey is batting well, and Pattinson is the type of batsman that will hang around with him whilst he pushes the runs up. Hopefully he gets a ton.

 

[PHIL DUNPHY'S MOUSTACHE]

If Hussey doesn't throw his wicket away trying to quickly score runs, he could knock up a century and get sound support from Patto and Hilfy to leave a target of around 300.

300 to chase on a 4th day pitch with some cracks developing, a pressure situation of a run chase, and a bowling attack that actually has venom in it, will make it a very tough chase for the Indians.

In other games, how about Sri Lanka's performance in the first innings against the Proteas. Incredible to witness, and good on them mounting a comeback after being thumped in the first test.

 

[ants]

Great win by the Aussies. And by Sri Lanka.

I think Australia's series win against Sri Lanka over there was seriously underestimated if they have gone over and beaten an almost full strength South African test side. And when I say almost full strength, they were only missing Philander, who was replaced by a debutant taking 7 wickets in the first innings. Sri Lanka are proving that there is a future for them after Vaas and Murali, Herath is bowling really well, and not to mention the strength of their batting, Sangakarra, Dilshan and Jayawardene are three of the best in the world when they're on.

Test Cricket is definitely not dead, it's just all beginning again!