4th Test Border Gavaskar Trophy December 26-30 1000hrs @ the MCG

[Lunchtime]

Always pick the match winner.

There is a reason why people don't rate Kallis as highly as his stats suggest he should be.

If Lara batted like Kallis he would have finished with an average close to 60.

Recency bias probably helps Smith's cause to be the best too. Smith is still an All Time Great by the way.

But seriously, Lara was something else.

 

[theiaofseed]

Recency bias probably helps Smith's cause to be the best too. Smith is still an All Time Great by the way.

But seriously, Lara was something else.

Maybe but I think people also overlook how much harder the last 15 years have been for batters than they were during the 90's and 2000's

 

[Lunchtime]

Maybe but I think people also overlook how much harder the last 15 years have been for batters than they were during the 90's and 2000's

Not sure about that. In the 1990s up to the mid 2000s it was a golden era for Test cricket for quality in depth for fast bowlers and spinners (and batsman):

Fast bowlers
Wasim Akram
Waqar Younis
Curtly Ambrose
Courtney Walsh
Glenn McGrath
Jason Gillespie
Ian Bishop
Allan Donald
Shaun Pollock
Jacques Kallis (All-Rounder)
Shane Bond
Chaminda Vaas

Then of course you had pure speed in Shoaib Akthar and Brett Lee....two fast bowlers who bowled at 150+ km p/h and both reached the 160km p/h mark.

Spinners
Shane Warne
Muttiah Muralitheran
Anil Kumble
Stuart MacGill
Saqlain Mushtaq
Mushtaq Ahmed
Harbhajan Singh
Daniel Vettori
Paul Adams

There hasn't been that depth of fast bowlers and spinners currently or the past ten to fifteen years. Again, I emphasise depth.

And......whilst Captains are irrelevant to this discussion, in that era we had quality captains collectively: Mark Taylor, Stephen Fleming, Aruna Ranatunga, Steve Waugh. Seriously, that era of the 1990s through to the mid to late 2000s was an absolute golden era for Test cricket and it hasn't been replicated since in my opinion.

It's not a "black mark" (if thats the right word) on batsman, bowlers and captains who have played Test cricket in the past ten to fifteen years or currently, all it means is it was a better quality era of Test cricket, in my opinion in that golden era of Test cricket.

 

[revo333]

Maybe but I think people also overlook how much harder the last 15 years have been for batters than they were during the 90's and 2000's

No way has batting been harder in the last 15 years than it was in the 90's.

Without discussion about pitches. 90's cricket had longer boundaries, slower outfields , one day cricket had no power plays and the quality of the bats was considerably worse.

 

[revo333]

Smith is better than both Lara and Tendulkar

Oh boy...

 

[Lunchtime]

No way has batting been harder in the last 15 years than it was in the 90's.

Without discussion about pitches. 90's cricket had longer boundaries, slower outfields , one day cricket had no power plays and the quality of the bats was considerably worse.

Yep and see my post above.

 

[revo333]

Yep and see my post above.

If I read Smith is better than Lara and Tendulkar before that then I wouldn't have even bothered responding.

 

[Rookie]

Kohli's always played close to the line and often gone over it, but even he would probably be embarrassed by his bump on Konstas.

 

[philreich]

The reason why I rate Brian Lara so high is because of his ability to score big.

Lara scored 34 Test hundreds, 19 of them were 150+ scores. That's a staggering 55.8% of his 34 hundreds converted into 150+ scores.

He also scored nine 200+ scores. 26.4% of his 34 Test hundreds were 200+ scores.

His peak was so far ahead and not many batsman could get there. When he was on, he was really on and very difficult to get out. He batted in a strong era of Test cricket, look at the bowlers he faced. Test cricket collectively back then is better than what it is now and the past ten to fifteen years.

He also didn't play many matches against minnow teams Bangledesh and Zimbabwe. He only played two Test matches against them each. Imagine if he played more Test matches against them.

His 277 at the SCG was right up there with the best innings I've ever seen. If we hadn't affected that run out, he would have made 400 - phenomenal innings.

 

[philreich]

Finally caught up. How good is test cricket!

Don’t understand people complaining about a bat friendly pitch. God forbid a bowling side has to work hard for their wickets. It’s test cricket, it shouldn’t always be easy. Just like the batsman having to dig deep for runs in Perth and Adelaide. How can anyone have a problem seeing Konstas and Jaiswal do there thing and Smith making a nice 100?

The Vics annoy me in general and the G has been a road in the past but nothing wrong with this pitch so far. Also, is there anything better than the Aussies getting on a run during an evening session at the G?

As over the top the Konstas stuff has been. It’s so good for the game. If he’s getting the kids excited about test cricket then I’ll happily suck it up.

T20 has changed people's perception of the game. Heaven forbid that batsmen aren't belting every ball to the boundary, or someone scores a 5 hour century. Like it or not, Tests are played over 5 days, and the pace of the game isn't everyone's cup of tea. But geez - if the first 2 days at the G haven't satisfied you, then I'd say you're bloody hard to please.

 

[The 747]

T20 has changed people's perception of the game. Heaven forbid that batsmen aren't belting every ball to the boundary, or someone scores a 5 hour century. Like it or not, Tests are played over 5 days, and the pace of the game isn't everyone's cup of tea. But geez - if the first 2 days at the G haven't satisfied you, then I'd say you're bloody hard to please.

This pitch has been great, there is seam and turn and bounce, and runs on offer if you get your eye in.

Indians batters have self destructed (Sharma, Jaiswal).

 

[philreich]

30 years tomorrow since Warne's hat trick at the MCG.

 

[Richard Pryor]

Bingo. I haven’t heard anybody else call this yet. It seems fairly obvious the guy is a narcissist, and has been enabled most his life on the back of his cricket talent, Indian fanaticism, and the rise to power of the BCCI

 

[grumbleguts]

tum svaarthee gadhe ho

He would have used the honorific "ap" not "tum"

 

[Stax on the mill]

It's all good fun and adds to the atmosphere. Kohli has earnt the right to do that.
If Konstas wants to play IPL he should respect Kohli.

No-one has earned the right to be a dickhead Aristotle. Not Kohli, nor even yourself. Hasn’t stopped either of you though unfortunately.

 

[ABAB]

Kohli's always played close to the line and often gone over it, but even he would probably be embarrassed by his bump on Konstas.

Not as embarrassing as the vision of him actioning Kontas forcibly bump into him.

 

[Johnny_Dogg4]

 

[Gough]

Problem Kohli has is he can't let his bat do the talking anymore. Reeling off century after century hides a multitude of sins.

 

[greatwhiteshark]

Maybe but I think people also overlook how much harder the last 15 years have been for batters than they were during the 90's and 2000's

Surely you jest. The last 15 years has been the era of the flat track bully. Fast bowlers graveyard the last 15 years.

 

[carltonchelsea]

Yeah, but there wasn't a run there.

FFS, yes there was, a risky one, but the call is always with the batsman, that’s the unwritten rule, I’m 55 and played lower ranked seniors as a junior, “if I hit it and call yes, you ****ing run kid”.
That’s how we were taught, that was the unwritten rule, batsman’s call.

 

[AJ_2000]

Bit of rain this afternoon on the forecast. Lets hope for minimal to none. Conveniently timed with my attendance today.

Last half hour was huge removing the set pair and getting the bonus night-watchman. Lets get day 3 MCG Boland rolling!

 

[AJ_2000]

FFS, yes there was, a risky one, but the call is always with the batsman, that’s the unwritten rule, I’m 55 and played lower ranked seniors as a junior, “if I hit it and call yes, you ****ing run kid”.
That’s how we were taught, that was the unwritten rule, batsman’s call.

Or you stick your hand up and yell "NOOOO" over turning your back after their 2/3 of the way down. Kohli wasnt running to the danger end either.

 

[Saint12]

FFS, yes there was, a risky one, but the call is always with the batsman, that’s the unwritten rule, I’m 55 and played lower ranked seniors as a junior, “if I hit it and call yes, you ****ing run kid”.
That’s how we were taught, that was the unwritten rule, batsman’s call.

100% this...and there was an easy run there if Kohli trusted his partner and ran

 

[BStaff17]

T20 has changed people's perception of the game. Heaven forbid that batsmen aren't belting every ball to the boundary, or someone scores a 5 hour century. Like it or not, Tests are played over 5 days, and the pace of the game isn't everyone's cup of tea. But geez - if the first 2 days at the G haven't satisfied you, then I'd say you're bloody hard to please.

T20 has been great and shit at the same time for the sport.

I like to know how many people actually remember T20 games or moments its just blends in with every other meaningless T20 match.

The last 20 mins of yesterday the drama and chaos could decide the series and will be talked about for years to come.

And yet there are many more test match moments each summer are remembered way more then whoever won the BBL or whatever happened in it.

Nothing will ever beat test cricket and I actually think more purists like myself are starting to despise T20 even more with the sheer volume its getting shoved down our throats.

It's not a proper format the players just use it to take the piss and get a pay check win or lose the result in the end doesn't mean as much as a test match result where it's all on the line and legacies are made

 

[Rocco sifreddi]

Rohits last 14 test innings 154 runs
Just wow.