The Cricket Season of 2018/19

[AndyP]

Mitch Marsh will save the day in the second innings.

[Steve57]

Mitch Marsh will save the day in the second innings.

Says no one!

[pt73]

Yep, classy shot to get out.

[Steve57]

He learnt heaps by going back to the domestic comp for the first two tests!
They need to drop the selectors!

[pt73]

Unlikely, they’re all busy looking for excuses.

BTW, nice 70 from 35 balls by Handscomb last night, I was at the game and he was hitting it so purely.

[3Puttpete]

Lifeless pitch is a joke. We’ll probably make 600

[pt73]

Cummins on fire, 4 for 0 in eight balls.

[Webster]

junk time wickets

[AndyP]

I take a break from paying attention to the game, and mow the lawn and look what happens. If only we had guys who could bat.

[Yossarian]

Finch has to go at series end and not return.I think my thoughts mitch marsh are clear enough but i understand why he is in the mix. Can't be considered a top six option though. Batting order is really deckchair shuffling and probably the result of killing shield cricket and youth focus.

[jimandr]

Lifeless pitch is a joke. We’ll probably make 600

I didn't see the Australian innings. What happened? I've seen the replay of the wickets, but nothing else. 15 wickets fell on an allegedly dead pitch. I saw the Indian innings. Some of their wickets (the 3 caught down leg side) were a bit lucky.

Was it pure batting incompetence, good bowling, or a pitch that has started to wear?

For what my opinion is worth, I don't see much wrong with a pitch that is easy for two days, then starts to wear. I may change my opinion if it starts rolling along the ground tomorrow, though.

[Yossarian]

Not seeing has not stopped you delivering judgment before jim!

[Grumpy8]

I take a break from paying attention to the game, and mow the lawn and look what happens. If only we had guys who could bat.

Maybe you should mow your lawn more often

[3Puttpete]

I didn't see the Australian innings. What happened? I've seen the replay of the wickets, but nothing else. 15 wickets fell on an allegedly dead pitch. I saw the Indian innings. Some of their wickets (the 3 caught down leg side) were a bit lucky.

Was it pure batting incompetence, good bowling, or a pitch that has started to wear?

For what my opinion is worth, I don't see much wrong with a pitch that is easy for two days, then starts to wear. I may change my opinion if it starts rolling along the ground tomorrow, though.

I’ve only seen bits and pieces but from India’s first innings at 3/299 it’s been 19/350 combined

[Ron Burgundy]

I think there are some reasonable points here.

https://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2018-...?section=sport

[Stuart]

For what my opinion is worth, I don't see much wrong with a pitch that is easy for two days, then starts to wear.

So long as you win the toss and bat first of course. This is exactly why I used to hate the Adelaide Oval pitch - it would offer the bowlers absolutely nothing for a few days, and then start deteriorating. The team that won the toss had a massive advantage in both getting the best batting conditions first and then the best bowling conditions last.

[Stuart]

I think there are some reasonable points here. https://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2018-...?section=sport

Yep - well thought out and logical suggestions. Sadly, it looks very unlikely to happen.

[Webster]

All the talk about the wicket being a road was nonsense. India knuckled down to make a big score, Aust bowled poorly in the first innings (too short/wide), with Pujara and Kholi showing their class to bat for long periods. Australias batting is inexperienced and mostly rubbish.. When you have two openers have less than a dozen Tests between them (one of which is no good), your number three is worried about what his terrorist brother might next be getting up to, Head who has some ability but no patience, and two Marshtard brothers who have underperformed for the entirety of their "careers', then its no surprise they were skittled for less than 200.

India will declare before lunch tomorrow with a 400 lead and Aust will be done by stumps. Take the $1.22 India while you can - it's a gift.

[Stuart]

Ed Cowan made some good comments on how poor techniques are often shown up more on low dead tracks than bouncy ones. I am only going off the online commentary, but it looks like a number of the Australian batsmen got themselves out by not playing straight (e.g. Finch and Head both playing across the line) - compare this to how the Indian batsmen operated on day 1.

[Webster]

Not 1 Aust batsman could blame the pitch for their dismissal.

[Stuart]

Not 1 Aust batsman could blame the pitch for their dismissal.

I haven’t seen any of them, but that sound very accurate. It would appear that India bowled straight and Australia’s batsmen couldn’t show enough patience or technique to continue playing straight and not swiping wildly after not scoring for a few balls.

[TheNuclearOne]

Not 1 Aust batsman could blame the pitch for their dismissal.

I'd go so far as to say only Kwaka's and SOS's were overly good dibs per the top order. Kwaka's got a nice ball that pitched in the rough and Marsh was all at sea against a pretty good slower ball.

[TheNuclearOne]

I haven’t seen any of them, but that sound very accurate. It would appear that India bowled straight and Australia’s batsmen couldn’t show enough patience or technique to continue playing straight and not swiping wildly after not scoring for a few balls.

India have bowled well again. They bowl well to plans and are patient which is altogether too much for us. They seem to get a bit more out of the wicket than our lot on the whole and it's happened a few times now. They are an impressive lot.

[3Puttpete]

your number three is worried about what his terrorist brother might next be getting up to

This pretty much invalidates any reasonable points you may have made in the rest of the post

[Webster]

I'd go so far as to say only Kwaka's and SOS's were overly good dibs per the top order. Kwaka's got a nice ball that pitched in the rough and Marsh was all at sea against a pretty good slower ball.

Khawaja still plays the spinners too hard and in front of his pads - a recipe for small scores and short innings. Marshtard the older just isn't very good and got sucked in badly to a modest slower ball.