anyone watching Australia/India

Royale with Cheese

Clarke declares with himself 70 short of the world record and ends up winning the game with a day to spare... can't help but feel he'd have given himself a shot at the record if he were in the job a few more years and had won a series or two.

Dozen Wicked Words

Very impressed with Clarke for his declaration, hate when tests just turn into a mission for records. Australia, winning a test series so convincingly is much better than an individual record. (Probably could have got both, but still think his professionalism was to be admired).

kryogen

His putting the team ahead of himself and his personal glory is extremely admirable, and very clever as it buys him some good will from the public, media etc...

He has said himself he was getting mentally fatigued also, it remains to be seen whether he could have got it, I personally think he would have, and still gone on to win the test, but fair play to him for the declaration

Washout

kryogen wrote: »

His putting the team ahead of himself and his personal glory is extremely admirable, and very clever as it buys him some good will from the public, media etc...

He has said himself he was getting mentally fatigued also, it remains to be seen whether he could have got it, I personally think he would have, and still gone on to win the test, but fair play to him for the declaration

I cant help but feel that if punter was in that same situation he would have gone on.

fair play to the aussies though...they seem to putting together a decent bowling outfit. It doesnt look like Mitchell Johnson will be making it back easily into the team which can only be a bad thing for the rest of the world test teams

As an indian fan it really is bloody frustrating watching India outside of India.
Whatever about their bowling be weak but the the batting being so bad i dont understand how they can consistently crumble.

booth70

Friday the 13th 2012....The day Indian Cricket died

RIP

dfx-

Watched the entire day, the batting was a sorry sorry sight. As much as I did like the flat track bullies getting hammered, it gets repetitive very quickly.

Hard to judge the bowling, I don't feel they did much wrong. Cowan was out once (by Hotspot) and bounced in front of Tendulkar once, Warner was nearly run out, but that was it. Vinay Kumar was demolished.

kryogen

So far so good by the Aussies, but wouldnt read a whole lot into it, I know its India, but India outside the sub continent, and India in general tbh, are a much poorer outfit.

Do the team the world of good though to be playing well and having success, build that winning mentality again

booth70

kryogen wrote: »

So far so good by the Aussies, but wouldnt read a whole lot into it, I know its India, but India outside the sub continent, and India in general tbh, are a much poorer outfit.

Agree....Australia have been quite brilliant while India have been HOPELESS

Australia under Michael Clarke are by no means a finished article and are still a very vulnerable side as evidenced by the loss to NZ and the 47 all out but if they keep winning, the next Ashes can't come soon enough:)

booth70

With f*%king morons like these in charge of the BCCI I am not holding out any hope that the quality of Indian cricket will change for the good any time in the near future..............


http://www.hindustantimes.com/Cricket/CricketNews/Playing-Ranji-thinking-IPL-in-wicked-wicket-world/Article1-799106.aspx

Its no coincidence that in that very Ranji trophy final between the two best state sides in India that this article refers to, Rajasthan are 404 for 2 after 180 overs.......such is the state of Indian pitches:mad::mad:


http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/cricket/ipl-2012/news/IPL-to-get-more-exciting/articleshow/11517725.cms

I am not blaming the IPL for all the ills of Indian cricket but no guessing where the BCCI's priorities lie right now:(

God help Indian Cricket!

kryogen

Excellent displays with the bat again from the current and former captain

Clarke went for 210 and Ponting 221,really thought Ponting was gonna break the record.

Finished the day declaring on 604-7 and had India 61-2 so a good start with the ball too I guess.

India will need to perform very well in the next few sessions to salvage a draw and avoid a whitewash

booth70

Nice to see Kohli finally getting some runs.....enjoyed watching him play:)
The sooner the Indian selectors get Rohit Sharma into the test team and stick with him as well the better

Washout

booth70 wrote: »

Nice to see Kohli finally getting some runs.....enjoyed watching him play:)
The sooner the Indian selectors get Rohit Sharma into the test team and stick with him as well the better

agreed. Laxman, Dravid, and unfortunetly Tendulkar need to be replaced ASAP.

but most importantly for me they need to try and get a program to develop young fast bowlers. send them to acadameys in england, australia and south africa.

no way will their fast bowling unit improve by bowling on indian wickets.

dfx-

Or take the Jack Charlton over-the-border approach. Find one of the miraculous Pakistan fast bowlers that come out of thin air. With an Indian grandmother.

An Aamer or Asif or Sami or Cheema or Gul from somewhere..

booth70

booth70 wrote: »

God help Indian Cricket!

As India head to another thumping I stand corrected....Not even God can help Indian cricket:mad:.....India surely must be the worst team in world cricket now

Dear Mr.Tendulkar , Dravid , Laxman

Thanks for all the memories and for all your years of wonderful service to Indian cricket but its time for all you great gentlemen to step aside and let the younger generation take Indian cricket forward

Washout

dfx- wrote: »

Or take the Jack Charlton over-the-border approach. Find one of the miraculous Pakistan fast bowlers that come out of thin air. With an Indian grandmother.

An Aamer or Asif or Sami or Cheema or Gul from somewhere..

one bowler just wont do the trick there has tro be competition between 4-5 fast bowlers.

the likes of khan and ishant sharma have no worries they can walk straight into the team even after lengthy injuries cause there is no competition for their places. thats not good.

TrueDub

booth70 wrote: »

As India head to another thumping I stand corrected....Not even God can help Indian cricket:mad:.....India surely must be the worst team in world cricket now

Dear Mr.Tendulkar , Dravid , Laxman

Thanks for all the memories and for all your years of wonderful service to Indian cricket but its time for all you great gentlemen to step aside and let the younger generation take Indian cricket forward

All well & good for them to go, it's probably time. Are there the batsmen to replace them though?

That's the problem with golden ages, they come to an end and nobody afterwards looks good by comparison.

booth70

TrueDub wrote: »

All well & good for them to go, it's probably time. Are there the batsmen to replace them though?

Well...the only way to know whether their replacements are good enough is by playing them!!....not having them sit on their back side all tour like they have done with the likes of Rohit Sharma

Thank heavens they persisted with Kohli....would have been easy to just drop him after Sydney but he played well in the last 2 matches

My only fear is India do not play their next away test match until 2013....I have a sinking feeling these ageing stars will not retire gracefully but will instead gorge themselves again on the flat pitches in India...soon all will be forgotten and the necessary changes will not have been made

dfx-

Washout wrote: »

one bowler just wont do the trick there has tro be competition between 4-5 fast bowlers.

the likes of khan and ishant sharma have no worries they can walk straight into the team even after lengthy injuries cause there is no competition for their places. thats not good.

One might be enough to get inspiration from. Right now, there's no incentive for Indians to become fast bowlers at Test Level...no point in slogging away on flat wickets that are designed for spin.

You'd have to be some bowler to budge Zaheer though, but he needs support/a challenge.

What's the bets Raina comes in ahead of Rohit for VVS :pac:

booth70

Indian media already reporting Dravid's imminent retirement.....

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/cricket/series-tournaments/india-in-australia/top-stories/Rahul-Dravid-likely-to-announce-retirement-shortly/articleshow/11652132.cms

Thanks for the memories Dravid.....hope to see you soon as a commentator

Legend:)

kryogen

Dravid really should go, it is time in fairness. Great player

Delighted to get back to winning ways in a test series, India are hopeless outside the sub continent so no need for the cricket world to start shaking in their boots yet but the signs are starting to point in a good direction for the first time in a long time

dfx-

Hard to really judge the Austraian bowlers yet, Channel9 would have you believe they're world beaters, but let Steyn, Anderson, Broad, Philander, Morkel onto the green wickets in all tests except Adelaide (including Hobart) first..

Giggsy11

kryogen wrote: »

Dravid really should go, it is time in fairness. Great player

Delighted to get back to winning ways in a test series, India are hopeless outside the sub continent so no need for the cricket world to start shaking in their boots yet but the signs are starting to point in a good direction for the first time in a long time

So are England and Australia in Sub continent. :pac: Every team is playing well at home grounds. Simple as that.

JustinDee

dfx- wrote: »

Hard to really judge the Austraian bowlers yet, Channel9 would have you believe they're world beaters, but let Steyn, Anderson, Broad, Philander, Morkel onto the green wickets in all tests except Adelaide (including Hobart) first..

The Aussie seam attack is excellent. One of the best actually. However, the downside to the Aussie bowling numbers is the spin option. Hopefully Lyon gets some stability in his position following some good form and nails it with good wicket-hauls behind him. Not until the spinner is a threat will the Aussie bowling attack be a complete number.

I like what England are doing with a double-spin attack. If they've any balls, they'll make it three-seamers and two spinners in the side. The reason they won these Ashes series is down to their bowlers.

kryogen

Giggsy11 wrote: »

So are England and Australia in Sub continent. :pac: Every team is playing well at home grounds. Simple as that.

Not actual as simple as that tbh.

Ill respond properly tomorrow if i remember

booth70

Another pounding in Sydney today:(.....just can't belive how utterly hopeless India have become in all forms of the game since the World cup win last year

kryogen

India have been excellent int he field here and have their best chance of a win today, skittled the Aussies for 131 in 19.4 overs.

Really cant stress how good they have been in the field for a change

They should win this

kryogen

India win

booth70

Another thrashing for India today.....

I don't know which team have been more hopeless recently....India or England....I'd say India by a comfortable margin;)

kryogen

India did beat England in their last series though didnt they

Both teams have been very poor alright, India on their travels have just been muck though, out and out muck!

Giggsy11

kryogen wrote: »

India did beat England in their last series though didnt they

Both teams have been very poor alright, India on their travels have just been muck though, out and out muck!

Apart from last few years we have done justice to ourselves. :pac:

No, not in positive way, we were poor away from subcontinent all years except in the last decade. WE ARE BACK :cool: