It is incredible and a little sad to think that Kohli, Pujara and co have never played a Test against Pakistan.
some rare footage of them when they did meet
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It is incredible and a little sad to think that Kohli, Pujara and co have never played a Test against Pakistan.
If they'd played back then, England v Ireland could have got a bit lairy. Mind you it would also have been mostly Proddies playing cricket.It is incredible and a little sad to think that Kohli, Pujara and co have never played a Test against Pakistan.
The product has always been strong.
Test cricket is still dying because no one wants to go to the games.
It is not a product, It is a sport. If anything T20 is a product for our sport of cricket. Just because there are not a lot of strong teams now does not mean it is dying. People love to goto extremes. either something is greatest ever or it is dying. Please, give this superficial thinking a rest. Test cricket been in a trough, yes, but that is all. The game and sport goes on.
Yes, there have been many periods in Test cricket history where the game was in the doldrums. I recall hearing about how dull the game was in the late 1950s, and then along came the West Indies and woke everyone up. As a lad I began watching Test cricket in the mid 1960s and loved it. Little did I realise in the mid-late 1960s, Test cricket wasn't all that good. The Windies were getting old, the Indians and Pakistan cricketers weren't up to standard, we didn't even play New Zealand because they weren't much chop, the South Africans were about to be banned, Sri Lanka wasn't even a Test nation, it was all about Australia v England, that was the only thing keeping Test cricket alive.
Then as if by magic, along came the Chappell brothers, Marsh, Lillee, etc, and Test cricket was suddenly extremely popular. World Series Cricket gave the game the boost it needed, and the West Indies set a standard nobody could match. Then by the mid 80s, the game began to wane once more when along came Shane Warne and Adam Gilchrist, two absolute freaks.
Test cricket has always had it's ups and downs, and now with the Windies showing great improvement against England, the Sri Lankans knocking off South Africa, you just get the feeling a new era of Test cricket is on the horizon. I look forward to what the next few years may bring.
Australia will thrash the Kiwis next time they play.
I was exaggerating a bit trying to get a bite.Any particular reason? Not trying to start a debate but in their past 5 tests in Australia they’ve won 1, drawn one, and lost another by 3 wickets that in all probability was a match they’d have won but for one of the most bizarre DRS decisions ever made (Nathan Lyon sweeping).
The sides they fielded in those series (and the loss in NZ for that matter) were nowhere near as strong as what they’ve got now.
I was exaggerating a bit trying to get a bite.
I think with the best players back though it will be pretty difficult for the Kiwis to beat Australia here even with how much they have improved.
What a farce the domestic four-day game has become.
Half of that WA line up should still be wrapping up their 3 month Contiki tour. It's Richardson, NCN, Turner, Behrendorff, Stoinis and Short who should be plying their craft here pushing for Ashes selection.
Instead they wrap up one T20 domestic comp, fly over to India for a meaningless t20/ODI series and come back for a brief cameo before the seasons wrapped up.
Imagine like, playing half a dozen matches and getting 12 innings to build form before something really important like an away Ashes series?
Nahhhhhh
You don’t rate the World Cup as an important tournament to try to win?
Any particular reason? Not trying to start a debate but in their past 5 tests in Australia they’ve won 1, drawn one, and lost another by 3 wickets that in all probability was a match they’d have won but for one of the most bizarre DRS decisions ever made (Nathan Lyon sweeping).
The sides they fielded in those series (and the loss in NZ for that matter) were nowhere near as strong as what they’ve got now.
It is incredible and a little sad to think that Kohli, Pujara and co have never played a Test against Pakistan.
If I had to pick one I'd rather we win the Ashes in England which we haven't done since 2001. The World Cup is good spectacle and all but a 5 Test series is a far better showcase of who is the better team compared to a One Day tournament where it basically all comes down to how the team goes in literally 2-3 50 over games. It doesn't hold much weight for me and with how they've trimmed it down it's really just another Champions Trophy with a bigger name behind it.
I'm of the opinion we don't need to rush Warner/Smith back for the event, let them re-enter the set up through Aus A/County Cricket so they have solid game time before The Ashes. Let them join the limited overs teams after the Ashes as if Cricket Australia wanted them to be a part of our World Cup squad they shouldn't have made the short sighted decision of banning them for 12 months.
That being said I wouldn't mind us rejigging the schedule as we shouldn't be playing Ashes series in the same year as a World Cup as it leads to this issue where we're lacking in preparation one way or the other.
It's weird, because the whole point of playing back to back Ashes in 2013/14 was to avoid England having to go straight from an Ashes into a World Cup, but it's led to Australia having to do the opposite!