Macca

NSW look like winning their match to go to 29pts (thus eliminating SA from the Shield final). If there is an outright result in the WA/QLD game then the winner would progress to the final. It's almost certain that neither team can make the final if there isn't an outright result. WA look like securing 1st innings points so they have progress to 28pts (so far) Tasmania need to win outright to make the final so we can expect a sporting declaration. The Vics probably need to win outright to make the final (and host it), so we might see some fireworks on the last day. "It's all happening" Shield Table before the last round Scores in the last round (look to the right when opening this page for 'domestic scores') Edit : Just starting the 3rd day in the 3rd Test in Mohali. It's 9.00am local time - a cup of tea and some toast and then you're out there! Raining in Tassie - must be frustrating for both teams.

Well it's all said and done dl, these blokes are playing for their Country and are professional sportsmen. Regardless of whether our players are happy, sad or whatever, they've got a job to do. The bloke who is holding the bat or bowling the ball has a responsibility to himself to perform well for the Team. Same goes for fielding and catching. A captain or a coach can't make you play better once the heat is on. Prep work is vital of course but they'd be doing plenty of that. To me cricket is in a lot of ways a game of technique - like baseball, golf and tennis. Our blokes are simply lacking in that area. They're 'ok' or 'alright' but this is Test cricket. To be a great team you need great players. Role players can fit into a great team. I know it sounds harsh, but I was dissatisfied that Warner or Cowan didn't go on and make a big hundred. We may well have been 5/320 at stumps instead of 7/273. At this level you are expected to go on and make a hundred once you're well set and past 60. The blokes who failed don't get off the hook either, but there are usually one or two 'failures' even when a team posts a big score. The best players go on with it. It's interesting that the last time we had major issues with our batting (on an ongoing basis) was the mid to late 1980's. Our line-up in those days included quite a few young players in Marsh, Boon, Jones and Steve Waugh alongside the captain (Border). Taylor joined up with this crew later on, and then we turned it all around in 1989 with a 4-0 drubbing of England. We also won the World cup in '87 with a lot of these players. (looking back, that World Cup win could be viewed as a precurser) Ponting, Mark Waugh and quite a few other young batsmen kept being added and the end result was that we were no.1 in the world from 1994 to 2008/09. This is aside from the bowling, of course (which went along a similar path) Who amongst Warner, Cowan, Khawaja, Smith, Maxwell, Hughes, Watson and Henriques are going to take us back to the top (alongside Clarke). Or are there other young players who are yet to emerge who will help take us back to the top. Doolan? Maddinson? Burns? Keath? People may make complaints about the Sheffield Shield in that the competition isn't producing young star batsmen but I believe that will happen with time. The Shield is still a tried and true method and even though it can't pull a crowd, the Shield competition is still very competitive and will continue to be the life blood of our Test team.

Good start but then we struggling again. Going from 0/139 to a stumps score of 7/273 is just not good enough. We've won the toss 3 times now but it hasn't helped us. It doesn't seem that any of our batsmen can consistently get set on these tracks. We don't play spin well at all (apart from Clarke) Some of our batsmen look good for a while and then get caught at the crease. One of Cowan or Warner should have gone on and made a big one. Smith has looked ok on his return and has batted with good intent and has hit the ball well. If the tail can hang around with him he might get a decent score. The way they've talked about this track, we've missed out. At least 400+ could have been expected. It will be interesting to see how we bowl on this wicket.

Test cricket won't die. Not in the near future anyway. Who knows 30 or 40 years down the track? T20 may enhance Test cricket much like one-day cricket has (re scoring rates). Young blokes with talent today are going to bat with more and more intent to score quickly. It stands to reason with the riches on offer in t20. What if we regularly started seeing teams score 350 - 400 a day in Test cricket? With wickets falling at regular intervals? That's a good days entertainment ... Test cricket is still very popular here and in England. South Africa being strong helps the cause but it's India that might hold the key. If they can return to being a strong nation worldwide then that's got to help. The BCCI have got to make it attractive for the public to go to the games. Doesn't help when they often only sell 5 day ticket packages. The crowds in India used to be huge. It could be that in the future we might end up playing South Africa, India and England in Test cricket over a 3 year cycle instead of a 4 year cycle. In most people's eyes the Ashes is the 'biggie' and it is a big money spinner. As it is, we're playing England home and away over a 6 month period this time around and we're back there again in mid 2015. I do share your concern a little bit, but what can you do to stop t20? The public love it, the players like playing in it and they get handsomely paid. And the TV networks pay big money for the rights (ESPN paid 900 hundred million dollars for the rights to the IPL for 10 years - that's a lot of money) Ch9 look like getting on board with the Big Bash. Edit : You've got to wonder about the disciplines, the coaching and how the players generally prepare for games in the IPL and the other Leagues. It may or may not be that professional. If it isn't that 'professional' then there may lie the problem. Clarke and Arthur may want things done a certain way and that way may clash with the other team's professionalism in the other forms of the game.(specifically the t20 team's in the various League's)

Well we've got 3 forms of the game and the one that is by far the most lucrative overall is t20. And t20 can offer far more opportunities to make top dollar. There is big big money to be made in the IPL, Big Bash, English, South African, West Indies, New Zealand and even the Bangladesh Leagues. I heard Brad Hodge say a couple of years ago that he was playing in 6 x t20 Leagues. He would no doubt be getting quite well remunerated in all or most of these League's. There's even a League in New York. People can complain about t20 but it's only going to get more popular in my opinion. I can't see it's progression being curtailed. Many may not 'like' it but it probably won't make a scrap of difference. Already the West Indies Board are struggling to find dates to play Test cricket. A lot of their players are in demand for all the t20 Leagues. It doesn't help that they get paid a pittance to represent the Islands at Test level. I don't profess to know what the solution is but it's rather difficult to contain something that is becoming widely popular the world over. I much prefer to watch Test cricket but I do find t20 to be quite 'entertaining'. However, my overall view is more an observation on what is actually happening. You've now got a version of the sport that is packaged up into a far more 'convenient' 3 hour time span. With loads of action. It's no surprise to me that it's wildly popular. As I said, I have no idea how the relevant authorities and boards are going to manage it all. One thing I do know - money talks. Michael Clarke in the last few days made mention of the IPL as if it might be an intrusion or a distraction and I don't doubt him for a minute. However, Clarke himself could be playing in the IPL this season for a figure of $400,000 (for 6 weeks work) Ponting is playing for the same amount - $400,000. M Hussey, Johnson, Watson, Henriques are all signed up on nice deals. Maxwell is getting a cool million - wow !! Nice work if you can get it Or as Rickie Lee Jones once sang - "Easy Money" ! ps ... The IPL starts in 3 weeks. Other Test players who are involved are Warner, Hughes, Haddin, Harris, Marsh, Smith, Pattinson and Hilfenhaus. Along with Clarke, Maxwell, Watson, Henriques and Johnson, that makes up a fair slice of our available Test players. Normally these players could be expected to 'freshen up' before the Ashes campaign. Not so with the changing face of cricket.

Couple of big moves involving the 49ers, Vikings, Seahawks and the Ravens ... ... NFL notebook: Boldin, Harvin are sent on new routes

Seems the English are having a good laugh at our expense ... no wonder we want to beat them so much (although they've had a bit of success against us of late!) .... Poms gloat as Australian cricket team becomes a 'global laughing stock'

After a bit of time sifting through all the 'available' facts, the punishment does seem a little heavy handed. The penalties could have been kept in house and the punishment itself could have been of a more appropriate nature. Fines, early morning 10k runs, extra training sessions and the offenders could have been made to stand up in front of the group with a please explain. And we don't have to hear about it either - there's no need. To miss a Test match is not like missing a game of footy. It's more like missing 3-4 matches of footy (as a penalty). And there is no guarantee any of them would get automatically picked in the following Test. This is not to excuse the behavior of course, but the punishment seems a bit draconian - unless the issues and behaviors within the team are really bad. None of us have seen any evidence of really bad behavior. We have heard that there have been 'other' indiscretions - none of these being of a 'serious' nature according to Pat Howard (the C.A high performance manager). It seems the indiscretions are more of an accumulative nature. The fact is that we're being badly beaten in India. And that comes down to quite a number of factors, none the least being the 'actual' available talent in home/foreign conditions. India have us well covered. We are just not that good and have only one established world class player - Clarke. As for Micky Arthur, he has a very good record as a coach and maybe the players just haven't adapted to him like they should have. Just one thing though - Arthur did come out and say that Nathan Lyon was lacking 'confidence' after the 1st Test. Not sure he should have been making these comments in public for a few reasons. Again, that sort of thing should be kept in house. As it was, Lyon himself said that he wasn't lacking confidence at all. Anyway, they've made their decisions and we just have to get on with it. We can now expect all homework to be completed and handed in on time

Expecting a fair bit of fall out over all this. Quite a few ex players have weighed in

There is an accompanying interview with Michael Clarke in the following story. It does appear that there is a fair bit more involved to this story than what we first heard. Shane Watson is coming home as his wife is about to give birth. Fair enough. Australian Test captain Michael Clarke says high standards of team have not been maintained as four players dropped

Good point TGP ... I should have put the word 'possible' in my post ! Although if we count Warner and Clarke, we could have 6 'possible' spinners in the team !

There may have been other transgressions that we haven't heard about. Although Khawaja and Pattinson are fairly new to the system. I suppose protocol is protocol and if that's the way they do things now, fair enough. (especially if the players know what the consequences are) As I started reading the story, I half expected to read about a boozy night out with some team rules broken or such like. Anyway, the team will be a bit of a hotchpotch one. If Hughes doesn't play then we will go into the game with 4 spinners. As it is, at least 3 spinners have to play (I think) It might end up making the team more competitive (albeit by default) I guess Pattinson might have been rested anyway (for this Test). The other 3 players would have been favoured to play (Johnson the least likely)

You're probably on the money again, WJ. Uncanny! Who knows what they'll do now in all honesty. The selectors are impossible to read.

Yeah, Chappelli can be a bit of a 'Back in my day' sort of commentator and writer. I remember once hearing that Keith Miller went into the Australian rooms and said something like "Don't worry about what I've written about you in tomorrow's paper, it's all for show". I've paraphrased it a bit, but that was the jist of it. By the way, would have loved to have seen Miller play. He must have been some sort of player ... Anyway, it's certainly a 'different' way of being dropped. And they used to say that it was harder to get out of the side than into it ! It could mean that Lyon, Maxwell, Smith and Doherty all play? 4 spinners! Hughes was going to be dropped but that may change. Strange days indeed ...

Big news on the eve of the 3rd Test .... on the surface of it, it does seem like a somewhat 'over the top' decision, but I guess that's the way of the modern sporting landscape ... Australian cricketers Shane Watson, Usman Khawaja, James Pattinson and Mitchell Johnson axed from third Test in Mohali

I agree but unfortunately flying in a couple of batsmen won't happen. Our top order look deficient against spin and it's hard to see anything changing in the next 2 Tests. India could play Ojha instead of their young opening bowler (Kumar) and it would make things even harder for us. Ravi Shastri described our top order as 'Sitting Ducks'. The obvious concern is our preparation for the Ashes. It will be a miracle if our top order is settled before the 1st Ashes Test. The conditions are vastly different but it would be nice to know that our top 4 had some solid runs behind them. Khawaja coming in and Clarke moving to number 4 (?) could alleviate a few of our issues. (although in an ideal world, I'd much rather Clarke bat at no.5, apart from when we're on spinning decks) Our top 7 in the next Test in India could read as follows Cowan Warner Khawaja Clarke Watson Henriques Wade/Haddin (depending on Wade's possible injury) (who knows what they'll do with the bowling) In England either Watson or Henriques should miss out and the one who stays could bat at no.6. (Watson has to bowl to stay in the side) Complicating all this, is that Watson is probably best suited as an opening batsman. Another batsman could come in and bat at no.4 or no.5 (depending on where Clarke bats). That other batsman could be Doolan, Burns or perhaps another young up and comer. Cowan and Warner aren't guarantees either but both those 2 are much better away from spinning decks. Khawaja has a nice technique but needs to learn how to convert his starts.

Some more classic Aussie rock from the 70's Jo Jo Zep and the Falcons with "Shape I'm In" and "Hit and Run" Macca 12.6 ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipqiMn965_c

From 'The Times of London' ... Shoddy England given lesson by New Zealand Beautiful !

What's the name of that French city ..... ????????

Bobby Hebb with .... "Sunny". "Sunny" has an interesting and quite tragic story behind it ... Sunny (the song) Macca's jazz 5.9

The experts (Vegas??) have the Lakers making the playoffs at the expense of Utah (based on strength of scheduling) That's gotta bring a smile to pantaloons face. I hope they get there. Not sure the Spurs or OKC would relish facing L.A straight up but either series would be definitely worth looking at. C'mon Lakers Meanwhile, over in the East, the Heat are on a 15 game winning streak. They look in Championship form don't they? Wade had a big night against the Timberwolves the other night. LeBron is just sublime.

If you look at it closely, we've sent some great teams to India who couldn't get it done. The conditions are probably the harshest for our team in some ways. You need to able to play spin really well on spinning decks, and you need good spinners in your team to have any chance. England defeated India 2-1 in Nov/Dec but they have 2 world class spinners in Swann and Panesar. England in England will be a different story but our batsmen will need to fire. We're screaming out for a young gun batsmen. Greg Chappell, Border, S.Waugh, Ponting, Clarke - who's next?

Is this thread still going TD? The fun was in the picking. More than half my team are either injured, out of form, have never played Test cricket, can't get a game or verging on retirement. (still a great team though )

The brutal truth is that we haven't got enough very good or great players. Clarke is our only great player. Pattinson, Cummins and Starc could be very good or better but that's it. The rest haven't shown enough. The selectors just need to keep giving new players a go until we start unearthing a few gems. It used to be that a new player was given a couple of Tests to show something and I still believe that tried and true method is the best way. We need an all rounder in the team so it's Watson, Henriques or Maxwell - but only one of them should play. I don't believe giving a player an extended run is necessarily the answer although I think in some cases it's warranted. (especially if that player has very good technique or has a bit of an X factor) As a general rule I reckon it's good to keep a player hungry and gifting players with games is fraught with danger. What's wrong with a player being under pressure to keep his spot? That pressure can bring the best out of people. We're not restricted with lists like we are in footy and other sports. They can pluck a player from anywhere and we've sometimes done that with some success. Warne, Walters, Ponting, Clarke and many other players were picked when they were very young. Often these young players had not had a huge amount of 1st class experience or were hugely successful at Shield level. A lot will point at Mr Cricket and the fact that he was 30 years old when he debuted. My counter argument is that he could have been played from the age of 22 or 23. We had a fairly good batting line-up that stopped this from happening but he could have had a 16-17 year career. If a young player is at or just below the level of a veteran then I'd pick the young player. There are a number of young players in Shield ranks that might be worth a punt. Doolan, Keath, Maddinson, Handscomb and Burns are possibilities. Khawaja will get his chance in India you'd reckon. Our fast bowling is not a major problem although we need to manage them well. Hopefully Ahmed can solve our spinning woes. Let's face it, only one spinner is usually needed. Wade is probably safe for now but Paine is an excellent gloveman (and he can bat)

At least our fast bowling stocks still look promising All we can hope for is that the team pulls out all stops in the next 2 Tests. A few of the batsmen will get 2 more Tests to prove themselves and make amends. The only batsman who could come into the team is Khawaja (although Smith might be given a chance) It's fair enough given the circumstances. I wonder if he'll go as high as 3? Our top 4 are really struggling and when you consider that the 1st drop is most probably going to be confronted with spin then he could jump 2 spots. Happy to change my mind on that one. Not entirely sure about England though. Maybe no.4 ? It will be a miracle if we've sorted out our batting before the 1st Ashes Test.