Anyone for cricket?

[Lexinator 1,715]

Can you watch the T20 WC anywhere? Can't find it on Kayo.

[Macca 17,032]

6 hours ago, Lexinator said:

Can you watch the T20 WC anywhere? Can't find it on Kayo.

Amazon/Prime only but they are offering the first month free as a trial

And the final is set for June 30th so if you can be bothered signing up and then immediately cancelling, Lex, go for it!

I've heard Prime have the exclusive rights to the next ODI World Cup and the next Test Championship final so it's a worrying trend (the money grab by sporting bodies) 

Edited June 6 by Macca

[Lexinator 1,715]

13 hours ago, Macca said:

Amazon/Prime only but they are offering the first month free as a trial

And the final is set for June 30th so if you can be bothered signing up and then immediately cancelling, Lex, go for it!

I've heard Prime have the exclusive rights to the next ODI World Cup and the next Test Championship final so it's a worrying trend (the money grab by sporting bodies) 

So frustrating. I've only gotten Kayo last season to start watch non-televised Dees games. Like you said, just more and more of a money grab now! Thanks for letting me know, @Macca! 😊

[Sir Why You Little 37,125]

Anyone else watching Tonight’s game?

[Macca 17,032]

The consequences for England in producing flat wickets for 'bazball' is that the opposition can tee-off on those same decks ... West Indies closed at 5/351 off 84 overs on day 2 of the 2nd Test last night

You have to wonder how the Windies would have fared on the traditional seaming wickets.  Or how the Aussies would have fared last year if we were faced with traditional green-tops

[MadAsHell 4,215]

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.foxsports.com.au/cricket/love-seeing-him-at-no4-aussie-teammates-call-as-smith-open-to-abandoning-opener-switch/news-story/47edb47db2b6f5c5372f0362d348004c

With the potential talk of Steve Smith returning to the no 4 position, it begs the question what Australia are going to do about their opening slots?

The way I see it, they could either try Head as an opener which I know he's had some success at in the subcontinent. Or the more radical option IMO would be to drop Carey and replace him with Sam Whiteman to both keep and open the batting. That would allow our 4-7 to read Smith, Head, Green, Marsh. The prospect of an opener/keeper is pretty unlikely I know. But didn't Graham Yallop do it with some success back in a previous era?

[Macca 17,032]

13 hours ago, MadAsHell said:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.foxsports.com.au/cricket/love-seeing-him-at-no4-aussie-teammates-call-as-smith-open-to-abandoning-opener-switch/news-story/47edb47db2b6f5c5372f0362d348004c

With the potential talk of Steve Smith returning to the no 4 position, it begs the question what Australia are going to do about their opening slots?

The way I see it, they could either try Head as an opener which I know he's had some success at in the subcontinent. Or the more radical option IMO would be to drop Carey and replace him with Sam Whiteman to both keep and open the batting. That would allow our 4-7 to read Smith, Head, Green, Marsh. The prospect of an opener/keeper is pretty unlikely I know. But didn't Graham Yallop do it with some success back in a previous era?

I can recall Yallop keeping occasionally when injury intervened but keeper/batsman Wayne Phillips played 27 tests for Australia 

He had the gloves most of the time but not always ... and he did open the batting for Australia but again, he didn't always open the batting

I'll ask a mate who might know or someone here might know for sure, TD

And apart from Whiteman, Cameron Bancroft was a specialist keeper who also, of course, is an opening batsman (but he seems to be on the outer with regards to selection) 

[DEE fence 5,039]

On 29/01/2024 at 18:03, DEE fence said:

@Macca poor Smith for sure he will be ruing that 4th ball, lets not kick him too much while he is down, but bloody hell... I wanted to us to win, fiercely, but we got done fair and square, unlike the footy, where there is a lot more scope for dissent with the rulings, not so with this test. And to me that is Cricket, my religion, my father easily put 10,000 hours into me and my brothers, (for not much result sadly). Play bloody hard, cop the result, but not with a win at all cost mentality. So I care, but happily acknowledge an extraordinary performance, hell even the whinging Poms acknowledge Warne's Ball of the Century. 

I also think we are not as good as we think we are, All cricket teams have guns (talking batters here, not bowlers, our pace attack is fierce), ours frequently go missing and a middle order collapse surprises precisely no-one. Where we rock is fielding, (just quietly I think Cummins should get credit for this along with the coaches), we do the little things well and it is these fine margins that have resulted in recent success. I am also sick of our batters coasting on the back of the best pace attack going around. Hopefully we see some more tinkering with the list.

I am also a bit nostalgic for when the Windies were good, to quote FDR "I ask you to judge me by the enemies I have made." '95 was the series that made Steve Waugh historic. Am sick of playing the Poms who sook about everything, or the Indians with their BS test decks. Give me the Windies, Super Cat, Whispering Death, Master Blaster, Big Bird, Sir Curtly, Walsh, Marshall, and the Prince. If this new crew can find even 50% of the grace and power of those greats, test cricket will be just fine.

And seriously the ACB should bank roll the Windies to visit, the Windies tours made fortunes for the ACB in the 70s80s/90s. 

Sorry to quote myself, but wanted to link it to this article in the Age which I think is a really good step forward.

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/cricket/australia-drive-multimillion-dollar-fund-to-save-test-cricket-20240822-p5k4ef.html

[DEE fence 5,039]

White Ball Ashes coming up, keen to atone for that T20 misstep - was definitely looking forward to some banter with foreign mates, if we had carried the Test championship, retained the Ashes, the Limited Overs AND the T20, a quadrella to stand for a long time. I don't feel like the current team gets quite enough love, in some ways they are still operating under the shadow of the Ponting era - Warne, Gilchrist, Hayden, McGrath etc. We are actually still in a very rich vein of form.

[At Least I Saw a Flag 5,274]

Good effort by Australian bowlers.

Pathetic effort by Australian batsmen.

[Macca 17,032]

6 hours ago, At Least I Saw a Flag said:

Good effort by Australian bowlers.

Pathetic effort by Australian batsmen.

And now the bowlers are copping a mauling

[Macca 17,032]

Looks like India are the new/old West Indies.  A production line of quality batsmen, World class spin bowlers & dynamic fast bowlers 

Missing from this Test are Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gil, Jadeja, Ashwin & Mohammed Shami with probably another 40 or 50 high standard cricketers that could play test cricket at a high level

Identifying and harnessing talent was always a problem for India, but not any more

Oddly enough, the IPL has opened up the pathways for young Indian cricketers.  Their batsmen are playing in front of huge crowds against premier bowling - in every match

So they'll win this test and unless we can miraculously bounce back and win in Adelaide, the Border/Gavaskar trophy will remain with India

i.e.   If there is a result in every Test, (win or loss) the Aussies would need to win 3 of the remaining 4 tests to wrest back the trophy

Right now, that's a huge ask even though I can still see the Aussies winning a Test or 2

We've been thoroughly outplayed in this Test

[Macca 17,032]

Most Runs Sheffield Shield 2024/2025

[MadAsHell 4,215]

This loss was coming I feel. There's been danger signs around our top order for awhile and we ignored it because we kept finding ways to win, despite getting less and less convincing over last summers series.

 

Khawaja is 38, nearly 39 and he's been in a steady decline since the 1st 2023 Ashes Test, Marnus is horribly out of form, so to is Smith. Head and Marsh play an inconsistent brand of cricket and to top it all off, we threw a kid to the Wolves in a debut test as an opener when he doesn't open, and only averages 37 in First Class Cricket anyway.

The cherry ontop of all of this is that our World Class bowling line up is ageing and will probably have 3 if our 4 bowlers retire by the end of the 2026/27 summer.

Here's a novice idea. How about picking an opening batsman to open the batting? Sam Konstas was so obviously worth giving a go instead of McSweeney, or even going back to Harris temporarily. At least he can face the new ball. And further when Hazlewood is out of the squad with injury,instead of going with a 32 year old battler in Sean Abbott, how about going with some young talent like Jhye Richardson who is just back from injury or the young talented 23 year old Fergus O'Neal who is killing it at Shield level.

I feel the selectors have set up poor old McSweeney to fail and are setting the team up for years of pain unless they start to transition some of the older players out of the team for the right younger ones.

[Macca 17,032]

The Aussies won all 3 sessions but it still doesn't feel like we have any sort of advantage

We probably need to make 300+ in our first innings to have a clear advantage and that is a fair way off

Still, Marnus & McSweeney battled very hard to get through to stumps so kudos to those 2

We bowled well and we look right up for the contest but a big score in the first innings is required

[At Least I Saw a Flag 5,274]

Good fightback by Aussies ...

Looks like the series will be levelled at 1-1.

[Demonstone 22,815]

First day of the Test, first session, first over, first ball ... Starc gets Jaiswal LBW.  Wicket!!!

The Australian reserves come out to the huddle with drinks.  I mean, really?  After one delivery?

[MadAsHell 4,215]

An odd series so far. Two dominating wins by each team. Seems they're both very good front runners.

I still have the same concerns around the Aussies heading into Brisbane as I did Adelaide. And with the BBL about to start, I don't think there's likely to be any changes to the squad outside injury enforced ones.

[MadAsHell 4,215]

Another odd Test Match. Australia dominate the best part of 4 days, however because of weather intervention I feel India come out of that Test match feeling the better.

 

Australia bungled that test at the selection table, by playing a clearly not fit Josh Hazlewood, plus an all rounder not fit for bowling in Mitch Marsh. How Marsh only bowled 2 overs on Day 4 when Hazlewood couldn't bowl is laughably incompetent from an increasingly hubris selection/team committee.

 

For Boxing Day Boland comes in for Hazlewood and Webster needs to come in. I don't care if it's for Marsh, McSweeney, Marnus or Usman, but he needs to come in for one of them. The three that survive can make up our top 3.

 

Fingers crossed Head will be fit, otherwise we're in all sorts of trouble. Either way I feel that this era of Australian Cricket is just hanging on for dear life.

Edited Wednesday at 20:20 by MadAsHell