Test The Ashes Fourth Test December 26-30 1000hrs @ The MCG

[Pakenhamsaint]

Why? The series is over. Australia has won. This is all pointless now. If your team won the grand final and then they played another game a week later would you even bother to watch it? Who cares.

You bury them. That's why.

 

[mouncey2franklin]

Is this the same bigfooty cricket board which used to be full of whingers about the Aussie pitches being roads?

And now it is full of people whinging that the pitch had too much spice?

What a bunch of negative nancy sooks and complainers.

I'm more and more convinced the proportion of actual cricket fans on this board is <20%.

The rest are just here to find something to complain about because they've got nothing else going on in their lives.

This would tie in with how many people are complaining that now they have to find something else to do tomorrow.

Do these folks not go outside or have any social connections? Sad state of affairs.

 

[Yoda_]

OUT:
Weatherald, Green, Richardson, Neser

IN:
Kellaway, Webster, Cummins (c), Murphy


Head
Kellaway
Labushagne
Smith
Khawaja
Carey
Webster
Starc
Cummins (c)
Murphy
Boland

 

[cats_09]

OUT:
Weatherald, Green, Richardson, Neser

IN:
Kellaway, Webster, Cummins (c), Murphy


Head
Kellaway
Labushagne
Smith
Khawaja
Carey
Webster
Starc
Cummins (c)
Murphy
Boland

Cummins has already ruled himself out of the last 2 tests - he won't be playing in Sydney

 

[gordo2016]

Sorry if mentioned before, but just had a look at the weather forecast for the Sydney test and it looks absolutely ****house.
Day 1: Thunderstorms.
Day 2: Thunderstorms.
Days 3: Rain.
Day 4 : Tons of rain.
Day 5: Late Thunderstorms.

 

[Neese]

Nice one Sydney

 

[A Pom]

Is this the same bigfooty cricket board which used to be full of whingers about the Aussie pitches being roads?

And now it is full of people whinging that the pitch had too much spice?

What a bunch of negative nancy sooks and complainers.

I'm more and more convinced the proportion of actual cricket fans on this board is <20%.

The rest are just here to find something to complain about because they've got nothing else going on in their lives.

This would tie in with how many people are complaining that now they have to find something else to do tomorrow.

Do these folks not go outside or have any social connections? Sad state of affairs.

I think there's quite clearly a fair bit of middle ground between a road and the most bowler friendly pitch ever dished out in the country since ball tracking started.

 

[Yoda_]

Cummins has already ruled himself out of the last 2 tests - he won't be playing in Sydney

I didnt know that,

can leave Neser in then. He did take a few wickets in the 4th test

 

[Kennedy Parker]

Sorry if mentioned before, but just had a look at the weather forecast for the Sydney test and it looks absolutely ****house.
Day 1: Thunderstorms.
Day 2: Thunderstorms.
Days 3: Rain.
Day 4 : Tons of rain.
Day 5: Late Thunderstorms.

Looking like it's possible that the test could be abandoned without a ball bowled?

 

[010203]

Sorry if mentioned before, but just had a look at the weather forecast for the Sydney test and it looks absolutely ****house.
Day 1: Thunderstorms.
Day 2: Thunderstorms.
Days 3: Rain.
Day 4 : Tons of rain.
Day 5: Late Thunderstorms.

Same old Sydney, always raining.

 

[Kennedy Parker]

Even with the Ashes in hand, in a broader context, it's disappointing that we are dropping winnable home fixtures.

In this WTC cycle we play South Africa and India away, those tours are never easy.

SA and NZ both have fairly favourable fixtures this cycle and do not play each other. So we need to be banking home tests in case we don't win the SA or India tours.

 

[Stan_Darsh72]

We already see it in the micro in some cases e.g. Matt Short averages 35 with the bat in FC cricket (not great, but not woeful), but a lot of that average came from when he was just introducing himself in the team. But instead of progressively improving his red ball cricket in his 20's until his 30 years of age now, he just figured "whats the point", he's never a Test Cricketer. But since his FC debut for Victoria he's played across 5 different major T20 leagues and has become a reasonably paid professional. While unlikely Short ever would have played Test Cricketer, it's an alternate universe we'd never have found out, and there's an alternate universe where he's a middle order all-rounder selection option to replace Green in this Test had he not had the money incentive to spend the last 5 years focusing on T20 cricket. It's not about Short specifically but how there's lots of players of his type and there will be far more in the future.

But in the same position we all will do what Short does.

Earn what 80k playing shield cricket for the small chance that you can play test cricket, for the small chance that you remain in the side for a solid period of time to get money.

Or go to T20, earn good coin all year round, pay off the bills, set up your family.

Its basic capitalism at the end of the day.

 

[threenewpadlocks]

But in the same position we all will do what Short does.

Earn what 80k playing shield cricket for the small chance that you can play test cricket, for the small chance that you remain in the side for a solid period of time to get money.

Or go to T20, earn good coin all year round, pay off the bills, set up your family.

Its basic capitalism at the end of the day.

Oh don't get me wrong, I'm not criticising the players at all, it's a economic response to reality - just speaking about the realities insofar as it impacts upon Australia's top and middle order Test batting, and has lead us to the reality we find ourselves in. Short's done nothing wrong from a human point of view, but it's more the point that he's an example of how we don't have the depth of red-ball techniques to built a talent pool from like we have always had in the past.

 

[moses]

Da sportin' capital let us all down.

Adelaide the shinning light of the test summer yet again.

 

[SC_Power]

Why? The series is over. Australia has won. This is all pointless now. If your team won the grand final and then they played another game a week later would you even bother to watch it? Who cares.

So, why did you watch?
Why did the 180k fans over the last two days bother to go?
Why didn’t the English team just fly home?
All pointless.

 

[Adelaide Hawk]

I'm serious here. If you've played in a Test which went less than 2 days, and you were in the team that lost, you should not receive any match payment.

 

[SC_Power]

Adelaide the shinning light of the test summer yet again.

Biggest test crowd this season!

 

[SC_Power]

Same old Sydney, always raining.

As long as they can keep the sandpaper dry.

 

[JimmyBC]

Adelaide the shinning light of the test summer yet again.

Well apart from a five day pitch with something for everybody you just can't replicate the festive vibe of the Adelaide Test anywhere else in the country.

 

[mouncey2franklin]

I think there's quite clearly a fair bit of middle ground between a road and the most bowler friendly pitch ever dished out in the country since ball tracking started.

It's Test cricket, not a Hollywood movie, you don't get to bank on set running times and happy endings.

Every now and then a match doesn't play out how we might like, that's part of the fun of it.

No need to complain every time a match ends in a 5-day draw or a 2-day shootout.

 

[dumb]

Is this the same bigfooty cricket board which used to be full of whingers about the Aussie pitches being roads?

And now it is full of people whinging that the pitch had too much spice?

What a bunch of negative nancy sooks and complainers.

I'm more and more convinced the proportion of actual cricket fans on this board is <20%.

The rest are just here to find something to complain about because they've got nothing else going on in their lives.

This would tie in with how many people are complaining that now they have to find something else to do tomorrow.

Do these folks not go outside or have any social connections? Sad state of affairs.

next you'll be wondering how bigfooty cricket forum posters sleep with their beds literally full of piss. don't bigfooty cricket forum posters have actual toilets to piss in?

i sleep pretty well actually. i change my sheets at stumps each day.

 

[Stan_Darsh72]

I'm serious here. If you've played in a Test which went less than 2 days, and you were in the team that lost, you should not receive any match payment.

And if I was said player I would sue my board for breach of contact, tell my board to go **** themselves after I get my money and play T20 for the rest of my life.

 

[threenewpadlocks]

it's going to be incredibly frustrating that Day 3, 4, 5 of these tests would have been even warmer beautiful sunny days that probably would have flattened out the wicket.

A bit of old-fashioned grit on a difficult wicket could have set us up for a brilliant Test with the unusual rhythms of both teams scoring 300+ in their second innings, but alas.

 

[Cainozz]

Every test matters in the context of the World Test Championship so there’s always something to play for.

Our final game before our next test in September next year. You’d have to think this is Uz’s farewell game. He did make his debut there, fittingly it was the last time England won a test here before today so it does have a full circle feel to it.

I’m a huge fan of Green but the bloke needs a spell. Get him to the scorchers again so he can practice before his IPL gig and maybe we can get him some solid FC cricket in the UK in the lead up to the South Africa tour. Webster in at no.7.

Give Weatherald another game as there’s not really much to gain in putting in a new opener unless we give Kellaway a taste of the what test cricket is like?

Murphy in for Richardson perhaps but geez we need some runs from Marnus too.

 

[western royboy]

But in the same position we all will do what Short does.

Earn what 80k playing shield cricket for the small chance that you can play test cricket, for the small chance that you remain in the side for a solid period of time to get money.

Or go to T20, earn good coin all year round, pay off the bills, set up your family.

Its basic capitalism at the end of the day.

Short is at least smart enough to know what he’s good at and doesn’t get his ambitions and abilities confused when it comes to red ball cricket. He simply doesn’t have a good enough red ball technique. Although after watching the last two days, maybe nobody does.