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***Official*** Australia in India 2017

social

Well-known member
Indias 3rd spinner and Ishant were passengers. Both could be switched out I feel. Batting did look short for India but getting rolled twice makes you want more batting.

I expect the response will be pitches more suited to batting but if they are too roady I would back Aus for the draw.
We dont do draws
 

adub

Well-known member
Don't forget that England had a captain who was quite poor which lead to his axing and you picked spinners who average 40 + domestically.

Basically cricket is tougher in India when you don't a team all on the same page and your spinners leak runs and are largely unproven.
I certainly genuinely didn't believe we'd win a test, but I did think we'd not be as embarrassing as previous visits. I had enormous faith that Smith would be good, a reasonable hope that Renshaw would thrive, confidence that Haze and Starceh would get important wickets. But most of all I felt so long as we didn't do something stupid like drop Lyon or O'Keefe for a hail mary on Agar or Swepson that we were playing spinners who wouldn't just be centre practice for Indian batsmen weaned on spin.

And that's the thing about SOKKY. Most people outside of the obsessives would have got their impression of him from the likes of Warne and so are surprised to find he can take wickets. But O'Keefe has been putting up incredible figures in probably the toughest comp for finger spinners in the world for years. He know his game. Lyon is also obviously a quality spinner when he's got his line right, so Australia weren't playing the 'oh he bowls spin, he'll go alright in India' game that always loses.

Add that to a tough Captain who will leave no stone unturned to win and generally has a great instinct on field and we're a tough proposition. We did way better than I thought we would, and India were much much worse than I thought they could be (I can't remember them being so dire in a Test in Australia for a loooong time, even when we whitewashed them). I'm not confident that both sides will continue to play to such extremes for the duration, but whatever happens it's game on bitches. Australia will take 2-2 without question, India is the toughest place to tour, but you don't want to give Smith a sniff. That **** is hard to stop once you let him get going. Dropping him so often could really come back to bite India hard. One thing he does better than almost anyone I've ever seen is adapt. The longer you let him get his head around the conditions and the plans against him, the more he is gonna unleash the hurt.

Whatever happens fingers crossed for a classic series.
 

adub

Well-known member
Indias 3rd spinner and Ishant were passengers. Both could be switched out I feel. Batting did look short for India but getting rolled twice makes you want more batting.

I expect the response will be pitches more suited to batting but if they are too roady I would back Aus for the draw.
Ishant would be pointless even if the test was in Perth surely. Giant wasn't great but I think there could be a lot worse selections. India would love a guy like Gangles about now who could bowl a bit of seam up but was a genuine top 6 bat. Someone like that in for Ishant would just about have their balance perfect, with a second pacer whose name isn't Ishant to come in for Giant on greener decks.
 

adub

Well-known member
Was just waiting for for the "Drop Lyon" after the Marsh brothers and Wade failed with the bat.

And it is already happening !

Can rely on it.

:)
The point really is that unless we're playing SC or the SCG we can only play one spinner. Unlike with Marshes or Wade, Lyon does't have to be terribad to get dropped, he only needs to be seen as a lesser choice to SOK to find himself back with the Bl00s when summer comes around again. Tough on him, but certainly no tougher on him than the crap hand that O'Keefe has been dealt up until now.
 

adub

Well-known member
Ganguly's bowling was rubbish. I have no idea why he got bowled so much
Yeah, but they don't need a seamer for a lot of overs or wickets. In a test like Pune he probably would have bowled as much as Marsh.

But if he could come on and bowl a few overs here and there to rest a guy or change up the pace and maybe buy a wicket and break a partnership he would offer about 10 000x times more than a team full of Ishants.
 

TheJediBrah

Well-known member
Yeah, but they don't need a seamer for a lot of overs or wickets. In a test like Pune he probably would have bowled as much as Marsh.

But if he could come on and bowl a few overs here and there to rest a guy or change up the pace and maybe buy a wicket and break a partnership he would offer about 10 000x times more than a team full of Ishants.
Virat could probably do that himself
 

Starfighter

Well-known member
In all this excitement nobody seems to have remembered that O'Keefe's figures were the same in both innings - 6/35 - That's absolutely remarkable. I wonder what the (likely previous) best repeated bowling figures in a match is? Has it even happened for a significant performance?
 

Prince EWS

Global Moderator
Ganguly's bowling was rubbish. I have no idea why he got bowled so much
Yeah, but they don't need a seamer for a lot of overs or wickets. In a test like Pune he probably would have bowled as much as Marsh.

But if he could come on and bowl a few overs here and there to rest a guy or change up the pace and maybe buy a wicket and break a partnership he would offer about 10 000x times more than a team full of Ishants.
Ganguly was actually really effective in domestic cricket, and he did okay at times in ODIs as well. Aesthetically he was terrible but he had a bit of the Stuart Clark/Shaun Pollock wobble seam going and could get it to randomly jag a bit even on really dead wickets, and he was always a bit quicker than he looked too.

Realistically we're talking about someone who bowled less than five overs per Test on average and averaged 52. Given they just used him to change the pace up a bit I don't think that seems like over-bowling, particularly given his domestic record was actually quite decent (82 wickets @ 27 for Bengal, including four five wicket hauls).
 

mr_mister

Well-known member
Was just waiting for for the "Drop Lyon" after the Marsh brothers and Wade failed with the bat.

And it is already happening !

Can rely on it.

:)

I've been shitting on Wade and the Marshes too mate... but yeah my point was that SOK proved himself as our best spinner this test and we don't normally play 2 spinners

bit of a daft post by you im afraid
 

indiaholic

Well-known member
Think I would wait a bit before proclaiming that SOK has proved himself to be the best. Our batsmen played him horribly especially in the first innings. Wait and watch for the rest of the series. Mind you as adub has said, he has exceptional numbers for a guy who plays domestic cricket in Australia, so he is almost certainly that good but I would wait for a couple more matches before being certain that he is number one.
 

Burgey

Well-known member
The point really is that unless we're playing SC or the SCG we can only play one spinner. Unlike with Marshes or Wade, Lyon does't have to be terribad to get dropped, he only needs to be seen as a lesser choice to SOK to find himself back with the Bl00s when summer comes around again. Tough on him, but certainly no tougher on him than the crap hand that O'Keefe has been dealt up until now.
Tbf he's been injured half of the time too, which has sucked balls for him and for Aus
 
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Spikey

Well-known member
Think I would wait a bit before proclaiming that SOK has proved himself to be the best. Our batsmen played him horribly especially in the first innings. Wait and watch for the rest of the series. Mind you as adub has said, he has exceptional numbers for a guy who plays domestic cricket in Australia, so he is almost certainly that good but I would wait for a couple more matches before being certain that he is number one.
nah eat ****. he's the best there is, the best there was and the best there ever will be
 
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