The Australian cricket non-official thread!

Matty76 said:

A miserable, stick-in-the-mud, skeptical old bastard - who looks and sounds a lot like the author of this post! - was convinced that day/night Test cricket would never work...

How bloody wrong was I?!

In effect, it was simply Test cricket rearranged - whereby lunch took 20 minutes, tea took 40 minutes and the conditions assisted bowlers later in the day rather than earlier in it. Add to the mix a picturesque Adelaide Oval and a thrill-a-minute contest between bat and ball, I happily admit that I was wr...wr....wr.......wrong!!

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Brendan_B said:

A cracking match!

Glad Sidds not only got his 200th but hit the winning runs!

Respect for Swampy junior also, solid innings in trying circumstances.

Kiwis were a wonderful opposition it feels emptier beating them.

As for the wicket I don't think that was the issue. It was a combination of some extra movement, great swing bowling and some very poor shot selection

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bigrob2307 said:

How good are the windies going in the tour match, looking like an innings defeat to start

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Matty76 said:

......and Old Man Voges, he just keeps rollin', he just keeps rollin', he just keeps rollin' along!

It has been complete and utter plunder since the lunch break, what with pedestrian bowling, meandering fielders and defensive field placings. Voges and Marsh might well bat until tea time tomorrow at this rate.

I can't recall a more abject, half-arsed, defeatist Day One bowling and fielding performance - and this is the first day of the Test series! Good grief, you have to hope that the West Indies' batting is a damned improvement on this effort. It's no better than park level cricket.

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sportaddict said:

It sucks because now Shaun marsh will cement his place in the team which he clearly doesn't deserve although the media and the selectors love him. Why he is in the team, having made no scores against strong opposition since January 2014, instead of the likes of Michael Klinger and Nic Maddinson, who pile on the runs in Shield cricket while Marsh struggles, I will never know. Especially Klinger, who has had season after season of exceptional Shield cricket just to be denied by the selectors, seems to be hated by the panel. On another note, Adam Voges has now become the Australian batsman with the highest average apart from Bradman, overtaking Sid Barnes - a wonderful achievement for a man who thought he would never play Test cricket. Just my opinion...

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sportaddict said:

It sucks because now Shaun marsh will cement his place in the team which he clearly doesn't deserve although the media and the selectors love him. Why he is in the team, having made no scores against strong opposition since January 2014, instead of the likes of Michael Klinger and Nic Maddinson, who pile on the runs in Shield cricket while Marsh struggles, I will never know. Especially Klinger, who has had season after season of exceptional Shield cricket just to be denied by the selectors, seems to be hated by the panel. On another note, Adam Voges has now become the Australian batsman with the highest average apart from Bradman, overtaking Sid Barnes - a wonderful achievement for a man who thought he would never play Test cricket. Just my opinion...

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The Mad Hatter said:

If Marsh's 49 at Adelaide vs NZ, in the conditions, was like a 100...then this ton against WI is really a 10.

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Keatoboy said:

As much as I have been against Shaun Marsh being constantly brought in to the squad when there are others around him that deserve a chance, I can see why they do it. He has experience. The selectors are too scared to try something new. Why do you think they went with Joe Burns instead of Cameron Bancroft? Experience. Why do you think they went with Khawaja instead of Klinger? Experience. Why do you think they chose Pattinson for this test instead of Coulter-Nile? Experience. There is also the fact that his Dad was a very good cricketer, so they expect him to be able to do the same. On your point of Maddinson and Klinger piling on the runs while Marsh struggles around them, I have to disagree. Yes Maddinson and Klinger are doing very well for themselves but you can't say Marsh is struggling. There may be a few low scores in there but there is also a 186 in the Matador Cup, along with a 68 in the same competition, and a 64 and 92 in the Shield. We have to give everyone a chance David!

As you said, I have to disagree. Firstly, Shaun Marsh has been given chance after chance, and always failed. He made his debut in 2011 v Sri Lanka, scoring 140-odd, making people believe that he was the long-term replacement for Ricky Ponting. After that though, he made failure after failure until the selectors had the guts to drop him. Then, in 2014 v South Africa, he scored a marvellous century in his first test for two years, again though he made a pair and another duck in that series forcing the selector's hand. Really, this chance has been no different. Against New Zealand, on two of the most batsman-friendly wickets on Australian turf ever, he failed miserably. Then he scored 49, but realistically is scoring no 50's in 6 innings enough to keep one's place, no! And now he scores a century against the Windies, and while every century is a good century, my U14 club team could beat them, so should this count for anything. On Michael Klinger, he averages 40, while Marsh averages 38, and Klinger is in the form of his life scoring 230-odd just two weeks ago. What else can I say?? "Marsh's father was a cricketer" but Marsh's father didn't average 38 in first class cricket.
Shaun Marsh should never, never been given another chance in Test Cricket, and should be dropped with ONE more failure.

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