India vs Australia 4th test Dharamsala, the Virat Kohli Cup, March 25 - 29, 3pm AEDT

[Good Jobe Mate]

Handscomb the supposedly star player of spin made ONE score the whole series, why not lay the boots into him as well.

Simply because the Marsh brothers have been given countless opportunities and failed at every turn, unlike Handscomb. Australia were expected to get whitewashed so this is not about laying the boots into players, just into the overrated spoon fed Marsh brothers.

 

[PhatBoy]

Looking forward to the ashes I reckon get all the four gun quicks in. Wade looks like he is starting feel comfortable at the crease again at international level put him up to 6 and bank on one of Starc, Patto or Cumming to get a score each innings. Wouldn't want to he facing the four pronged pace attack on Aussie decks.

England easily beat SA in SA, a side with a more experienced and probably better pace attack. Certainly getting a combination of those players on the field helps Australia but simply naming them in the side won't be enough to automatically win.

 

[Kram]

Simply because the Marsh brothers have been given countless opportunities and failed at every turn, unlike Handscomb. Australia were expected to get whitewashed so this is not about laying the boots into players, just into the overrated spoon fed Marsh brothers.

Young Victorian Bushranger = Free pass for being absolute poo.

Got ya.

 

[Good Jobe Mate]

Lol.

Mitch, fair enough. It's universally agreed it was a stupid selection. As for Shaun, he carried us to a first innings lead in the second test and batted out basically a whole day with rough outside his off stump against Jadeja to save the third test.

This kind of frothing makes this forum unbearable. 2-1 against an Indian team that hadn't lost at home for countless summers, but no...our side is being crippled by the Marsh brothers. Jesus ******* christ.

The Mitch point is my whole point in a nutshell. They were both selected because of their surname and no other reason. What happened after that is irrelevant (Mitch stunk it up and got dropped and Shaun did OK under the circumstances.) We cannot miss the bigger point which is that they shouldn't have been picked in the first place.

And to your last point, frothing may be unbearable but if it's true you must try your best to bare it

 

[The Swans Blog]

A few new accounts in here, were some of you banned for saying ridiculous and insulting things before on the main boards? Hmm..

 

[Xtreme]

This whole series is like the original 'Superman' - great story but weak as piss ending.

Superman is a classic, even the ending.

I enjoyed the series from start to finish. Certainly will be a happy ending should India not fall in a heap today

 

[ROOTA#6]

Great effort this series somewhat wasted by a diabolical fourth test

Tis the one that got away this series. Really should have pinched it

 

[PhatBoy]

Regarding the series.

The intensity and general closeness, each-session-could-decide-the-test part of it has made it fairly classic.

On a quality scale it's been less memorable. The batting and fielding has generally been sub-par from both sides. Really sub-par.

 

[workhorse]

Young Victorian Bushranger = Free pass for being absolute poo.

Got ya.

Nah not really mate. Same reason Renshaw hasn't had the boots put into him (for the series as a whole). S.Marsh averaged 18.8 for the series, is a senior player who's been on many tours over many years, was regarded pre-tour as a good player on the subcontinent and who's been afforded plenty of opportunities. In the end he failed worse than the two young guys. Renshaw has averaged 29 and Handscomb 28.8. Both had never toured anywhere let alone India and came into the tour with 4 games experience each. No reason why they should be under the same scrutiny as Marsh, in my opinion.

FWIW, Warner averaged 24.2, Wade 32.7, Maxwell 39.8 and Smith 71.3

 

[Outshined]

The Mitch point is my whole point in a nutshell. They were both selected because of their surname and no other reason. What happened after that is irrelevant (Mitch stunk it up and got dropped and Shaun did OK under the circumstances.) We cannot miss the bigger point which is that they shouldn't have been picked in the first place.

And to your last point, frothing may be unbearable but if it's true you must try your best to bare it

Shaun was selected because he's a decent player of spin, which given how well he's batted at crucial times in testing conditions, is a fair line of reasoning. His biggest problem is that he's developed Marcus North syndrome, i.e. when he fails he doesn't even get a start or hold up an end for a while.

As I said, can't defend the MMarsh selection, completely agree it was ridiculous and based more what he could become rather than what he is. Would much rather have had Cartwright originally or Maxwell, whose done well all things considered.

It's just not necessary when overall, given the stage this team is at (basically a new top 6 outside of Warner and Smith), they've far exceeded pre-series expectations. Handscomb and Renshaw will be better for the experience, Big Show might have finally learned how to construct a test innings and Smith has done what not even Ponting could do and has proven himself in India. We're looking in a lot better shape than this time in 2011.

 

[The 747]

Nah not really mate. Same reason Renshaw hasn't had the boots put into him (for the series as a whole). S.Marsh averaged 18.8 for the series, is a senior player who's been on many tours over many years, was regarded pre-tour as a good player on the subcontinent and who's been afforded plenty of opportunities. In the end he failed worse than the two young guys. Renshaw has averaged 29 and Handscomb 28.8. Both had never toured anywhere let alone India and came into the tour with 4 games experience each. No reason why they should be under the same scrutiny as Marsh, in my opinion.

FWIW, Warner averaged 24.2, Wade 32.7, Maxwell 39.8 and Smith 71.3

Those numbers bode well for the future. Wade better than expected, the young guys werent great but contributed. Warner is a problem overseas confirmed and Marsh (regardless of the debate on him) wont be part of the side for much longer. Only two Tests but great to see Maxwell perform at Test level.

 

[DT_fanatic]

Regarding the series.

The intensity and general closeness, each-session-could-decide-the-test part of it has made it fairly classic.

On a quality scale it's been less memorable. The batting and fielding has generally been sub-par from both sides. Really sub-par.

Agreed. In particular I cant believe how bad we've become against spin now. It's sposed to be an area of strength, and while O'keefe and Lyon have bowled well in patches some the ways we've lost wickets are overseas-batsmen like.

As for the fielding im pretty concerned about our slippers for when they go overseas. Got no confidence in anyone except for Rahane at first slip to spinners and at gully.

 

[Bedi]

34/1 are terrible odds for Austalia to win. Should be 500/1.
Just looking at the stats, in the past 10 years there have been 12 teams have been bowled out for 80 or less.
http://stats.espncricinfo.com/wi/content/records/145832.html

 

[smasha]

Pattinson has to come in,can actually bat at the tail.

 

[workhorse]

Pattinson has to come in,can actually bat at the tail.

Has a test batting average of 27.66! First class average of 21.68 is still very impressive for a fast-bowler of his quality. Regularly gets handy 20's and 30's down the order. However, we should still be picking our best 3 pace bowlers regardless of batting. I'm not saying Patto isn't necessarily in our best 3 bowlers - that's up for debate - however the idea that batting ability should determine which bowler is picked, I think, is a big no-no. It was an indictment that Joe Mennie was picked over Jackson Bird because he offered more with the bat. At the end of the day you still need to rely on your batsmen to score the runs.

 

[Skarrz]

If we have a team of people who have performed under pressure in the last 12 months

Renshaw
Khawaja
Smith
Handscombe
Maxwell
Wade
Lyon
Starc
Cummings
Hazlewood

Not terrible, Warner needs to fix his s**t or drop himself and we need one more middle order batsman. Shame Ferguson/Maddison didn't work

 

[Kram]

If we have a team of people who have performed under pressure in the last 12 months

Handscombe

How is making 1 score in 8 starts performing under pressure.

 

[PhatBoy]

Picking bowlers because they can bat a bit is borderline West Indies mentality. Believe me, I know.

 

[lionbear]

Think Smith will have nightmares for at least 6 months about his dismissal last night.

You have to be proud of Australia's effort, but they really have let this series slip between their two fingers, Australia have been the better team over the 20 days, but India's second innings in the 2nd test and Australia's yesterday was the difference.

Was worried when Lyon was saying after day two all the pressure was on them. Australia don't get many chances to win in India and you are not going to be ever in a better position than we were stumps day 2.

As a cricket follower cant be more proud of Australia's performance, lets remember 4-0 was the most expected result. But when India hit the winning runs in about 3 hours time I don't know of many more series which are going to hurt more than this.

ICC rankings are set up so India can be number 1 in the world as they never leave home now, but I think watching this series, if Australia played India at a neutral venue they would win.

South Africa are number 1 in the world in my book, with Australia 2 and India 3, this is a great turnaround from where Australia cricket was at after the second test in Hobart late last year.

Learn from this and lets knock them off next time we head over there.

 

[The Swans Blog]

Didn't think I'd watch a minute of the series. Have been completely engrossed.

 

[Poorman53]

Just no. Dumb idea.

You need 6 bats, you play them. Bowlers cannot and shouldn't be relied on to get runs. Cartwright or Maxwell at 6, and you leave a quick out. Won't be the first or last time a quick is unlucky, ask Andy Bichel.

India do it with Ashwin. More realible batting lineup however.

 

[Lebbo73]

Picking bowlers because they can bat a bit is borderline West Indies mentality. Believe me, I know.

We are talking quality fast bowlers, Phat. Not medium pace trundlers.

 

[LukeParkerno1]

India do it with Ashwin. More realible batting lineup however.

We are not India and we can't rely on our top order and they have a solid keeper bat.

No chance of 5 bowlers

 

[Outshined]

Our batting is clearly the biggest issue this team has and yet people are still convinced that dropping a specialist batsmen to include 4 pace bowlers is a good idea?

Cartwright or Maxwell have to fill the number 6 slot at a minimum. Keeper stays at 7 and unfortunately one of the pace quartet misses out.

 

[PhatBoy]

We are talking quality fast bowlers, Phat. Not medium pace trundlers.

Hey, ours might be inferior bowlers to yours but they're better batsmen