1st Test Australia v Pakistan Dec 14-18 1250hrs @ Perth Stadium

[LukeParkerno1]

So instead of 8-9 rain delays durinng the Sydney test, we may only get 1 or 2.

Might be the only way we have cricket on day 5! Be thankful

 

[PhatBoy]

Can someone tell me.

Between this match and the Geelong BBL game: if the batsmen in both instances weren’t walking down the wicket, would either pitch even look close to dangerous?

At the risk of sounding like a ‘back in my day’ poster, in the days BEFORE helmets were compulsory, albeit most players aside from Richie Richardson and occasionally Carl Hooper were wearing them, but there were still maybe a dozen guys wearing just the ear guards, pitches were not considered dangerous unless the ball was genuinely posing a threat to batsmen’s safety on a regular basis and that was when they were regularly taking evasive action.

In the last week or so we’ve seen 8 overs of cricket - 4 really because it was from one end only - and maybe a day and a half at Perth, where there were a few balls going a bit up and down, a few batsmen being hit around the armpit area, and Mitch Marsh being smacked in the lid twice as he waltzed two metres down the pitch to try and pre-meditate a pull shot over mid wicket.
The guy in Geelong was not making even half an attempt to use his crease and wait for the ball, he was lunging at it

If guys actually respect the pitch and try and use the crease is it going to be that bad?

 

[frankrizzo]

Well current top aussie top 7 get hit a worrying amount, as good as they are smith marnus and head in particular cop a lot of hits on the body and helmets even on pitches that people wouldnt say are dangerous.

 

[Westend]

Can someone tell me.

Between this match and the Geelong BBL game: if the batsmen in both instances weren’t walking down the wicket, would either pitch even look close to dangerous?

At the risk of sounding like a ‘back in my day’ poster, in the days BEFORE helmets were compulsory, albeit most players aside from Richie Richardson and occasionally Carl Hooper were wearing them, but there were still maybe a dozen guys wearing just the ear guards, pitches were not considered dangerous unless the ball was genuinely posing a threat to batsmen’s safety on a regular basis and that was when they were regularly taking evasive action.

In the last week or so we’ve seen 8 overs of cricket - 4 really because it was from one end only - and maybe a day and a half at Perth, where there were a few balls going a bit up and down, a few batsmen being hit around the armpit area, and Mitch Marsh being smacked in the lid twice as he waltzed two metres down the pitch to try and pre-meditate a pull shot over mid wicket.
The guy in Geelong was not making even half an attempt to use his crease and wait for the ball, he was lunging at it

If guys actually respect the pitch and try and use the crease is it going to be that bad?

The modern Cricketer Phat as you know...is used to flat low tracks where you can play through the line and smack the crap out of it..ala t20 and ODI

Once there is a bit of variable bounce or spin they start to go sh*t

It's been funny to me listening to people talk about the pitch talking about it breaking up to early variable bounce etc ...it's fine ...it had characteristics thats what we want..bounce pace at Perth...it's part of the fabric of the game

Trust me I have seen worse pitches in my time watching cricket in the West I was there when curtly took 7 for 1 ...awesome day cricket...I have seen the massive cracks ..its all part of it for me

Give me the old days of AB batting against a 4 prong West Indian attack at Port of Spain on tricky pitches..when he made 98 not out in the first innings and 100 not out in the 2nd batting with Alderman to save the game ...that to me is still the best individual performance by an Aussie batter in the last 40 years

 

[PhatBoy]

The modern Cricketer Phat as you know...is used to flat low tracks where you can play through the line and smack the crap out of it..ala t20 and ODI

Once there is a bit of variable bounce or spin they start to go sh*t

It's been funny to me listening to people talk about the pitch talking about it breaking up to early variable bounce etc ...it's fine ...it had characteristics thats what we want..bounce pace at Perth...it's part of the fabric of the game

Trust me I have seen worse pitches in my time watching cricket in the West I was there when curtly took 7 for 1 ...awesome day cricket...I have seen the massive cracks ..its all part of it for me

Give me the old days of AB batting against a 4 prong West Indian attack at Port of Spain on tricky pitches..when he made 98 not out in the first innings and 100 not out in the 2nd batting with Alderman to save the game ...that to me is still the best individual performance by an Aussie batter in the last 40 years

Agreed.

 

[Ephemeral Hope]

**** is it going to rain all of the Boxing Day test

 

[Jim Prideaux]

Can someone tell me.

Between this match and the Geelong BBL game: if the batsmen in both instances weren’t walking down the wicket, would either pitch even look close to dangerous?

At the risk of sounding like a ‘back in my day’ poster, in the days BEFORE helmets were compulsory, albeit most players aside from Richie Richardson and occasionally Carl Hooper were wearing them, but there were still maybe a dozen guys wearing just the ear guards, pitches were not considered dangerous unless the ball was genuinely posing a threat to batsmen’s safety on a regular basis and that was when they were regularly taking evasive action.

In the last week or so we’ve seen 8 overs of cricket - 4 really because it was from one end only - and maybe a day and a half at Perth, where there were a few balls going a bit up and down, a few batsmen being hit around the armpit area, and Mitch Marsh being smacked in the lid twice as he waltzed two metres down the pitch to try and pre-meditate a pull shot over mid wicket.
The guy in Geelong was not making even half an attempt to use his crease and wait for the ball, he was lunging at it

If guys actually respect the pitch and try and use the crease is it going to be that bad?

I’ll have a go. The Perth test pitch started as a quick bouncy pitch with true bounce that slowly deteriorated across 4 days, with the changes in the consistency of bounce fairly incremental. Had it begun life like that on day one, at very best it would receive a poor rating, at worst the match would have been abandoned.

The BBL pitch was a water damaged pitch with different sections of the pitch in different levels of damage. It started from ball one with very inconsistent bounce that had the potential to get even worse as the match dragged on.

One was a pitch that started as a good wicket and progressively got harder to bat on as the match progressed past the third morning. The batters involved were aware that the bounce would become less consistent whilst also having had an opportunity to see the pitch earlier. The other was a water damaged pitch that was bad from ball one, what it would do as the night went in was unclear but had the potential to get even worse. It also had sections that were in entirely different conditions and as such would likely deviate further as the night went on.

 

[Topkent]

I’ll have a go. The Perth test pitch started as a quick bouncy pitch with true bounce that slowly deteriorated across 4 days, with the changes in the consistency of bounce fairly incremental. Had it begun life like that on day one, at very best it would receive a poor rating, at worst the match would have been abandoned.

The BBL pitch was a water damaged pitch with different sections of the pitch in different levels of damage. It started from ball one with very inconsistent bounce that had the potential to get even worse as the match dragged on.

One was a pitch that started as a good wicket and progressively got harder to bat on as the match progressed past the third morning. The batters involved were aware that the bounce would become less consistent whilst also having had an opportunity to see the pitch earlier. The other was a water damaged pitch that was bad from ball one, what it would do as the night went in was unclear but had the potential to get even worse.

Am I reading this or are you saying it's a problem the pitch fell apart because that's literally what makes test cricket interesting

 

[PhatBoy]

I’ll have a go. The Perth test pitch started as a quick bouncy pitch with true bounce that slowly deteriorated across 4 days, with the changes in the consistency of bounce fairly incremental. Had it begun life like that on day one, at very best it would receive a poor rating, at worst the match would have been abandoned.

The BBL pitch was a water damaged pitch with different sections of the pitch in different levels of damage. It started from ball one with very inconsistent bounce that had the potential to get even worse as the match dragged on.

One was a pitch that started as a good wicket and progressively got harder to bat on as the match progressed past the third morning. The batters involved were aware that the bounce would become less consistent whilst also having had an opportunity to see the pitch earlier. The other was a water damaged pitch that was bad from ball one, what it would do as the night went in was unclear but had the potential to get even worse. It also had sections that were in entirely different conditions and as such would likely deviate further as the night went on.

No I get that and I understand that the water was the issue but let’s say it wasn’t water damage and it was just a spot on the pitch that sent one ball per over to do something mischievous: if the batsmen were not walking/lunging each ball and actually aiming to play with an amount of discretion would the word danger have even left anyone’s lips

 

[Jim Prideaux]

Am I reading this or are you saying it's a problem the pitch fell apart because that's literally what makes test cricket interesting

You’re reading this wrong, very wrong.

 

[Jim Prideaux]

No I get that and I understand that the water was the issue but let’s say it wasn’t water damage and it was just a spot on the pitch that sent one ball per over to do something mischievous: if the batsmen were not walking/lunging each ball and actually aiming to play with an amount of discretion would the word danger have even left anyone’s lips

Now we’re getting into weird hypotheticals. With that information you have provided I can’t really form an opinion. Sorry Phat.

 

[the_interloper]

Neither the pitch nor attendance were up to standard.

Two Tests for Melbourne next season.

Vastly increased crowds and a decent pitch.

Perth can have all their BaBeL games at home as compo. It is what they care about.

**** I'd love this, I'm always up at the beach for the Boxing Day test, haven't been in about 8 years I reckon

 

[PhatBoy]

Now we’re getting into weird hypotheticals. With that information you have provided I can’t really form an opinion. Sorry Phat.

Fair enough.

I just watch footage from the frowned upon ‘good old days’ of batsmen we fawn over ducking and weaving and occasionally hooking and pulling and the first thing I think is that the pitches would be deemed dangerous now because they wouldn’t be hooking, pulling, ducking and weaving. They would more than likely not have the know how to do it and even the most fair pitches could be made look unfair if the bowling was consistent enough

 

[Jim Prideaux]

Fair enough.

I just watch footage from the frowned upon ‘good old days’ of batsmen we fawn over ducking and weaving and occasionally hooking and pulling and the first thing I think is that the pitches would be deemed dangerous now because they wouldn’t be hooking, pulling, ducking and weaving. They would more than likely not have the know how to do it and even the most fair pitches could be made look unfair if the bowling was consistent enough

Possibly, but it’s fair to say that not many pitches were like that from ball 1, and the few that were - Sabina for example - were called off. I’m all for test pitches deteriorating across 5 days, but I can’t remember many that were super inconsistent from the first ball.

Edit: also worth noting is the Phil Hughes factor- I think that made everyone rethink how the game should be played, and fair enough in my opinion.

 

[Gavin Excell]

Tests should be free.

In non supporting states like WA yes

 

[PhatBoy]

Possibly, but it’s fair to say that not many pitches were like that from ball 1, and the few that were - Sabina for example - were called off. I’m all for test pitches deteriorating across 5 days, but I can’t remember many that were super inconsistent from the first ball.

Edit: also worth noting is the Phil Hughes factor- I think that made everyone rethink how the game should be played, and fair enough in my opinion.

No one ever wants to see people suffer what happened to Phil Hughes obviously but I just can’t see a circumstance in which you can avoid it. You can make pitches out of synthetic material and recreate the conditions of all the different countries and then someone top edges a ball into the same spot Hughes got hit and you’re back to square one.

Sports have to accept two things:

1. You DO have to make them as safe as you can but within reason. Sports people are paid professionals and the reason they get paid so much is that with it comes risk as much as anything. F1 drivers get paid a lot because it’s a rich sport but also because they throw their bodies around in a tiny vehicle at 300km/h

2. You do have to accept that there will be accidents that no level of safety measure, or preparation can allow for. We see it year in year out with harmless incidents causing season and career ending ACL injuries or neck injuries in the footy codes.

I 100000 per cent understand what you’re saying and get it but you can never legislate harm out of the game and at some point when there is man-made influence on the conditions, there needs to be some onus put back on the players to accept ‘you CANNOT just stand there and swing at everything or lunge into the front foot and blame the pitch every time the ball feels like it’s going to hit you. Learn to evade it.’

I love that Mitch Marsh is playing with confidence and has changed his game but some of those shots were just silly the other day and he paid the price a few times

 

[Jim Prideaux]

No one ever wants to see people suffer what happened to Phil Hughes obviously but I just can’t see a circumstance in which you can avoid it. You can make pitches out of synthetic material and recreate the conditions of all the different countries and then someone top edges a ball into the same spot Hughes got hit and you’re back to square one.

Sports have to accept two things:

1. You DO have to make them as safe as you can but within reason. Sports people are paid professionals and the reason they get paid so much is that with it comes risk as much as anything. F1 drivers get paid a lot because it’s a rich sport but also because they throw their bodies around in a tiny vehicle at 300km/h

2. You do have to accept that there will be accidents that no level of safety measure, or preparation can allow for. We see it year in year out with harmless incidents causing season and career ending ACL injuries or neck injuries in the footy codes.

I 100000 per cent understand what you’re saying and get it but you can never legislate harm out of the game and at some point when there is man-made influence on the conditions, there needs to be some onus put back on the players to accept ‘you CANNOT just stand there and swing at everything or lunge into the front foot and blame the pitch every time the ball feels like it’s going to hit you. Learn to evade it.’

I love that Mitch Marsh is playing with confidence and has changed his game but some of those shots were just silly the other day and he paid the price a few times

Don’t disagree with that, just think it caused a rethink, similar to how Sennas crash did in F1, the D-Type incident at LeMans, the tyre through the wall at Albert park as other examples.


I do think a pitch needs to begin with consistency though, and very occasionally you’ll get a pitch that is just not up to snuff - ah well, do better next time.

 

[Gavin Excell]

30k turn up to BBL v 8K Test Match

Perth crowd has spoken

 

[JimmyBC]

30k turn up to BBL v 8K Test Match

Perth crowd has spoken

Yep they are a fast food cricket state.

 

[Cleavy]

Shahzad a significant doubt for Boxing Day Test

He has been sent for an MRI scan, but his participation in the second Test appears unlikely

www.espncricinfo.com

Injury bug is biting

 

[Kram]

Yep they are a fast food cricket state.

Enjoy the might of the West Indies mate

 

[010203]

Bald headed Richo on 7 thinks there could be as many as 80,000 turning up to the MCG on Boxing Day. Tell him he's dreaming.

 

[big_e]

30k turn up to BBL v 8K Test Match

Perth crowd has spoken

30,000 people turning up to domestic cricket is an excuse for a potshot now?

Rightio.

 

[Richard Pryor]

Fair enough.

I just watch footage from the frowned upon ‘good old days’ of batsmen we fawn over ducking and weaving and occasionally hooking and pulling and the first thing I think is that the pitches would be deemed dangerous now because they wouldn’t be hooking, pulling, ducking and weaving. They would more than likely not have the know how to do it and even the most fair pitches could be made look unfair if the bowling was consistent enough

Helmet complacency is a thing. Ideally the helmet should be there to protect players from freak occurrences, unfortunately I think it's inevitable it gives players the confidence to take on short deliveries they don't really have any business trying to play a shot to.

 

[Gough]

Helmet complacency is a thing. Ideally the helmet should be there to protect players from freak occurrences, unfortunately I think it's inevitable it gives players the confidence to take on short deliveries they don't really have any business trying to play a shot to.

Ian Chappell made that point at the time of Philip Hughes' death.