The Australian cricket non-official thread!

Well, there's a Test done and dusted in two and a half days! God knows what's in store for the MCG on Boxing Day and at this early stage Cricket Australia must be thanking their lucky stars that the "Pink Day" is on Day one of the SCG Test and not scheduled for a day three or four.

Thankfully the Big Bash starts next week, as apart from the Adelaide Oval Test, the cricket has been pretty underwhelming so far this season. New Zealand weren't anywhere near as threatening as I thought they would be with the ball, and so far poor Jason Holder and Curtly Ambrose have been proven wrong about Australia's batting underbelly.
 
sportaddict said:
I don't agree about the fact 'that it's working', because to be honest New Zealand probably should have won both the second and third tests and would have definitely won the third if not for the DRS stuff-up with Nathan Lyon. Australia should always, always be able to beat New Zealand, wherever and whatever the conditions.
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That's cricket though. I don't think New Zealand should have won the 2nd test. That match was a very even draw. Steve Smith left the declaration a bit later than everyone thought he should have because they knew that they probably wouldn't be able to rip through New Zealand's batting line up quickly considering what they did in their first innings. Instead he decided to play the game defensively to ensure there was no chance of them winning to make sure they were out of contention for the series win, which in my opinion is a very good tactical move. The 3rd test probably should have been won by New Zealand, but umpiring is a tough job. Brendon McCullum said there were no hard feelings between the NZ cricket team and Nigel Llong which to me shows great sportsmanship to be able to understand that Cricket is adjudicated by human beings and things can and can't play in your favor.

So I still think the selectors are getting it right. We have a good team. We are winning. Whether that hinges on umpiring errors or not, we are still winning, so that's that.
 
I'm just wondering if anyone knows when the open training session will be before the SCG test this year. Any help would be greatly appreciated, so thanks in advance. Cheers
 
The Mad Hatter said:
Not technically about Australia, but cricket 2015/16, and NZ captain Brendon McCallum will retire from international cricket at the end of the 2 Test series against Australia in February.

Well done on a fine career.
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Brendon has been good for cricket world wide with his attacking cricket and positive attitude.
New Zealand cricket has come out of the dolbdums in the last couple of years under Brendon,and are now one of the best test playing countries at all forms of the game and one more thing let's hope N.Z can knock of the Aussies and send him out a winner.
He deserves it!!!
 
Another dominant day for Australia - that's a combined batting score of 7/928 in the series to date. I am delighted for Mr Burns and am glad he retained his place. I thought it would have been completely ridiculous to upset a successful and new opening partnership in order to retain a player (Shaun Marsh) who was only filling in for an injured player (Khawaja) in the first place.

If the rest of the West Indies' bowling attack possessed the same patience and accuracy as Jason Holder, they might have been able to reduce the day one damage. They looked even worse in the field today than they did in Hobart, which is remarkable given their performance in that match.

There's cricket on everywhere at the moment, with this Test series, the Big Bash, the NZ vs Sri Lanka ODI series as well as the South Africa vs England Test series which begins tonight. As Bill would say (and isn't it GREAT to have him back in the commentary box!!), it's all happening!
 
"The Cricket Monthly" section on cricinfo.com is currently doing a "Greatest Test performances in the last 50 years" countdown, whereby a panel of 25 cricketers, broadcasters, writers and statisticians are attempting to rank the performances from 1-50. It is a brilliant trip down memory lane, with numbers 1-10 to be published in the next few days.

I thought I would link the pages in this post so that the old of us can reminisce and the youngsters can learn about players from a bygone era. Enjoy! :-)

Performances 41-50
http://www.thecricketmonthly.com/story/951179

Performances 31-40
http://www.thecricketmonthly.com/story/952887

Performances 21-30
http://www.thecricketmonthly.com/story/952673

Performances 11-20
http://www.thecricketmonthly.com/story/951219
 
.....and here is the final scorecard from the game in question - yikes!!

image.jpeg
 
You could imagine the poor Arya Gurukul lads though. After being knocked over for 31 in the first innings, the captain might have said "never mind boys, a couple of early wickets and we're still in this!" :-)

I'm trying to think what would be the equivalent of scoring 1000 in other sports - any ideas or thoughts anyone?
 
Watching David Warner bat today has got me thinking - let's come up with an all-time "Bowler's Nightmare" Test XI.

Any objections to Warner and Sehwag as openers, Bradman at No. 3, Viv Richards at No. 4 and Gilchrist at No. 7?

Rightio, let's have at it! We need some big hitting tail enders too!
 
Jason Gillespie - nightwatchman; 200*; 200+ wickets.

Can't go past the Don either.

Javed Miandad was always a tough nut to crack too.

AB DeVilliers.

I'm salivating.

Oh...and that kid who just scored a 1000*! LOL!
 
1.Matthew Hayden
2.Gorden Greenidge
3.Sir Don
4.Viv Richards
5.Ricky Ponting
6.Sir Garfield Sobers
7.Adam Gilchrist
8.Keith Miller
9.Sir Richard Hadlee
10.Imran Khan
11.Mitchell Johnson
I'm sure someone else could come up with a team to match this,
I think Sir Don and Sir Garfield have to be in every team on sheer weight of runs and wickets and not to forget Sobers could bowl both spin and pace
 
Good luck to Scott Boland and Joel Paris, named to make their ODI debut tomorrow in the series opener at the WACA. It's as good a One-Day Australian squad as I think the selectors could pick, the obvious replacement being Mitchell Starc when fit for either of the two young blokes. I would like to see Nathan Lyon given a chance at some stage although maybe the selectors fear the "fatigue factor" with him, given there is no-one who can even remotely challenge him as the preferred Test spinner.

It will be nice to see top-class, combative, competitive international cricket in Australia - let's hope that the niggle factor is ratcheted up a few notches!!
 
Australia has added Nathan Lyon - @The Mad Hatter: Nathan Lyon, me old mate!! and recalled David Warner for the remaining One Day Internationals.

The 17-man squad for the upcoming T20 series vs India has also been named, with some very interesting inclusions!! The squad is:

Aaron Finch (captain)
Scott Boland
Cameron Boyce
James Faulkner
John Hastings
Travis Head - @Keatoboy, shut up now hahaha :-)
Chris Lynn
Nathan Lyon - @The Mad Hatter, they just can't keep our man down!
Glenn Maxwell
Shaun Marsh
Kane Richardson
Steve Smith
Shaun Tait
Andrew Tye
Matthew Wade
David Warner
Shane Watson
 
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