titan_uranus

Bangladesh has just taken 10 wickets in a session to beat England and win their 8th ever Test. Great for Test cricket.

Given San Fran is probably the worst side in it this year, my main interest is in watching some of the traditionally weaker sides improve and push for playoffs - I'm thinking Jets, Jaguars and Bills.

Winning consecutive games was a big one, given how embarrassing it is that we went so long without doing it. But the fact we've gone through the season without losing any more than two games in a row is IMO the best.

2013, when we beat GWS (and only just, thanks to our best ever quarter). That's pretty sad, isn't it.

Broke a bunch of records last night that I can think of: Three wins in a row Beat Port Beat Port in Adelaide Make it through a season without 3 consecutive losses at any point (this, for mine, is as big as any of them. No losing patches. No extended drop offs in form).

Last win over them was Round 17, 2011 in Darwin - lost the last 7. Last win over them in Adelaide was Round 8, 2000 - lost the last 11 to them in Adelaide. Surprisingly, 2010. Worst losing margin in 2010 was 56. 2010, I think. With three rounds to go in 2010 we were 8-1-10. Win them all, we would have finished with 11.5 wins. Carlton finished 8th in the end on just 11 wins so I guess that means were were still in it at this point in the season.

Here's one: If we win one of the last 3 games for the year, we will finish the season having not lost 3 consecutive games at any point. We haven't done that since 1998, believe it or not.

Win 9 or more games in a year - broken (last achieved 2006).

He has one of modern football's most important traits - good running skills. He runs all day, he runs to the right spots, and he has pace. He can kick at full burst, too, also important. Really happy with his development this year.

How about some of the stats coming out of the Test: Third biggest comeback this century (117 being the third lowest first innings score from a team who's gone on to win) SL's second win over Australia ever Worst performance by an Australian opener since Mark Taylor's pair in 1994 (Warner scoring 0 and 1) Seven out of eight opening innings in the match were single digits (never has there been 8 out of 8 opening innings fail to make it to 10) Nevill's was the third slowest innings ever, the partnership being the slowest partnership ever End result is all too similar - lack of talent against quality spin. Also, Mitch Marsh is not the long-term option for us at 6, the top 5 isn't good enough for him to be batting at 6.

Weather aside, I think this is over now.

If we win it will only be because of Smith holding it together. Just saved on review as I type. The tail can bat but not against spin in Sri Lanka/India/UAE.

I can't imagine it would have been that often that we'd lose after losing the toss but bowling the opponent out for 117 in the first innings, but I think we're on track for a loss in this one. Left-arm wrist spin is the toughest spin to play and their new chinaman bowler is good at it. We only need 185 more but most of that is going to have to come from Smith and Voges.

Knocked these two out. This week we get the chance to win in Sydney for the first time since 2006, which sounds like a long time, but in fact is only a 2-game losing streak given we've only been away to Sydney twice since then (2007 and 2012, when we lost by 100 but Howe took mark of the year).

A chance to break two streaks on QBD this week: Win on Queen's Birthday - 8 game losing streak (last won on QBD in 2007). Beat the same team twice in the same season - haven't done this since 2012, haven't done it to a non-first-year-expansion-side since 2010 (Richmond).

Another one - the last time we had two more wins than losses at the end of a round - Round 22, 2006. We've had four chances to do this this year (we were 1-0, 3-2, 4-3 and 5-4 and lost our next game each time). We beat GWS twice in 2012 and GC twice in 2011, though if you don't count those then yes, Richmond in 2010 is the last time.

A couple more streaks to add to the list: Beat Port Adelaide - last win Round 17, 2011 (7 game losing streak) Win in the NT - last win Round 17, 2011 (7 game losing streak).

It's a tactic that is catching on throughout the league. McLean last week has perfected it. Tacklers need to learn and aim lower because umpires are going to keep paying frees for it. They see tackles that are making contact with the head and that is a trigger for them. I don't particularly rate anyone who does it as habitually as Mathieson did today, but he's doing the right team thing to keep drawing the frees for his team.

We've scored 100 points in four of our last five games. First time since Rounds 10-13, 2006.

In 2011, same period where we had the most recent consecutive wins before this year (beat Freo Round 13, Richmond Round 14, lost to the Dogs Round 15, then beat Port round 17 after a bye).

Well...nope. We did have a player kick 7 goals though, no idea when the last time was that happened. So does that count?

Gawn's played 45 games. He's going to be up-and-down whilst he's still learning his craft at AFL level. Tyson 56, Pedersen 57, even McDonald's only played 88. This is still relative inexperience. Today's players with over 100 games experience - Dunn, Garlett, Jones, Lumumba, Vince, Watts. How many of them played well (or at least acceptably well)? Jones? Watts? Is that it? That's the real problem.

I've never been a big fan of Dunn but I can clearly see the value he is adding to the team and to our defence. There's no obvious replacement for him on the list but even if there was I'd be picking Dunn over him right now. I've never liked his faux aggression but he's reduced that. I also didn't like how often he called for the ball in poor positions on the weekend, but that got better as the game went on (as did the rest of the team's decision making). I like statistics as evidence to back up a point but DE is a meaningless waste of space.

Another streak: we haven't had a winning record at the end of any round (other than Round 1) since Round 6 2011 (we were 3-1-2 after beating Adelaide by 96 points).

Well that would break another streak - haven't won three games in a row since Rounds 17, 18 and 19 of 2010 (beat Sydney by 73, Brisbane by 10, Richmond by 29).