1st Test Australia v Pakistan Dec 14-18 1250hrs @ Perth Stadium

[Gough]

Finally some proper cricket!
Australia from, Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Marsh, Lance Morris, Steve Smith, Mitch Starc, David Warner
Pakistan from, Shan Masood (c), Aamir Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Khurram Shahzad, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Noman Ali, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wk), Saud Shakeel and Shaheen Shah Afridi

 

[philreich]

I've really missed the red ball cricket - hopefully the visitors put up some sort of fight, as it'd be nice to see some cricket on the weekend!!!

 

[JackFlash]

With the Australian BBL a complete and utter disaster, the Tests are the only saving grace, let's hope the Pakis put up a good showing.

 

[Topkent]

With the Australian BBL a complete and utter disaster, the Tests are the only saving grace, let's hope the Pakis put up a good showing.

Lol good luck with that. Gonna be one of the all time boring test summers against crap nations.

 

[LukeParkerno1]

More interested in the tests after Warner goes but I guess it's something to watch I guess.

 

[AJ_2000]

No draw option in the poll? I love it. Maybe remove the Pakistan option too .

Love the Perth test, the original Day/Night Test match for the East Coast.

 

[the_interloper]

Pakistan are very inconsistent, they can beat anyone and lose to anyone in any given match. Their quicks are usually good so they sometimes do well.

Really wish Marnus was willing to open and they could * Warner off now and slot Green in at number 4.

 

[corbies]

Tightrope for the Australian team this summer. They actually need to win all the matches to give them the best chance of making the World Test Championship final but their fans don't want them to win by too much otherwise it's urgh booooorrrrring.

If they lose though to these minnows who don't even deserve the chance to play against the mighty Aussies, they're going to absolutely cop it so they need to make sure they win but not by too much with each member of the team performing at different times.

 

[LukeParkerno1]

Pakistan are very inconsistent, they can beat anyone and lose to anyone in any given match. Their quicks are usually good so they sometimes do well.

Really wish Marnus was willing to open and they could * Warner off now and slot Green in at number 4.

You don't move your number 3, then we have to find another 3, and don't say Smith who has been in average form for 12 months. Green at 4/5 I like but Lab stays at 3.

 

[Topkent]

Tightrope for the Australian team this summer. They actually need to win all the matches to give them the best chance of making the World Test Championship final but their fans don't want them to win by too much otherwise it's urgh booooorrrrring.

If they lose though to these minnows who don't even deserve the chance to play against the mighty Aussies, they're going to absolutely cop it so they need to make sure they win but not by too much with each member of the team performing at different times.

Course it's boring. Watching double hundreds and centuries by average players against bloke who probably never tour here again is so damn boring. Was over that by the time I was 12

 

[LukeParkerno1]

Course it's boring. Watching double hundreds and centuries by average players against bloke who probably never tour here again is so damn boring. Was over that by the time I was 12

Tend to agree, it's not helped by our placid pitches giving nothing for the bowlers either. I mean I'll watch it becuase it's on but boy I wish we had NZ, SA, India or England this summer

 

[the_interloper]

You don't move your number 3, then we have to find another 3, and don't say Smith who has been in average form for 12 months. Green at 4/5 I like but Lab stays at 3.

Yeah Smith of course, maybe moving to 3 might be a good move for him. Not much diff between 1st drop and opening, Marnus could do it and do it well no doubt, Craddock reckons he doesn't want to.

Green is more a 4 than 6 for mine and it should suit him, Head is set and forget at 5 I reckon and Marsh at 6. He could open as well I reckon, his technique is way more solid these days.

 

[Topkent]

Tend to agree, it's not helped by our placid pitches giving nothing for the bowlers either. I mean I'll watch it becuase it's on but boy I wish we had NZ, SA, India or England this summer

Yeah but you're right the pitches will be extremely dull and we will make 300 minimum in every single innings.

Would be fantastic if they spiced the pitches up but we'd never dare lose a game

 

[Slysh]

Course it's boring. Watching double hundreds and centuries by average players against bloke who probably never tour here again is so damn boring. Was over that by the time I was 12

By average players? Marnus, Smith, Uzzie, Head are average?

 

[LukeParkerno1]

Yeah Smith of course, maybe moving to 3 might be a good move for him. Not much diff between 1st drop and opening, Marnus could do it and do it well no doubt, Craddock reckons he doesn't want to.

Green is more a 4 than 6 for mine and it should suit him, Head is set and forget at 5 I reckon and Marsh at 6. He could open as well I reckon, his technique is way more solid these days.

Then heavy pass, Smith might have been passable as a 3 in his prime he is so far past his prime on form. I'd actually take a calculated gamble on Green at the top. I'm warming to taking a gamble there and seeing if it works. Smith isn't in great form the last 12 months, he's getting by on toughing out ugly runs, can you name his last fluent innings? It's been years.

 

[Slysh]

Tend to agree, it's not helped by our placid pitches giving nothing for the bowlers either. I mean I'll watch it becuase it's on but boy I wish we had NZ, SA, India or England this summer

We saw this same discussion last year and plenty of years previous and it is just as ridiculous this year.

England and New Zealand are almost never competitive here, yet people don't whine when we play them. Yet if we play Pakistan or the Windies people have an issue with it.

 

[LukeParkerno1]

Yeah but you're right the pitches will be extremely dull and we will make 300 minimum in every single innings.

Would be fantastic if they spiced the pitches up but we'd never dare lose a game

We sort of know how this works...we get 400 odd, they might get 280 as the pitch is a flat road, and we win by 120+ every test. It will get worse against the West Indies too.

 

[Topkent]

By average players? Marnus, Smith, Uzzie, Head are average?

Smith has been average lately yeah but he will cash in this summer. Warner scored massive last summer against a dead opposition. Marsh, Green and the keeper likely to as well

 

[LukeParkerno1]

We saw this same discussion last year and plenty of years previous and it is just as ridiculous this year.

England and New Zealand are almost never competitive here, yet people don't whine when we play them. Yet if we play Pakistan or the Windies people have an issue with it.

To be fair to NZ this NZ is a stackload better than the last one that was here, and they were competitive last time anyway. If we are going to flog a team I'd take smacking England senseless

 

[Topkent]

We saw this same discussion last year and plenty of years previous and it is just as ridiculous this year.

England and New Zealand are almost never competitive here, yet people don't whine when we play them. Yet if we play Pakistan or the Windies people have an issue with it.

Exactly. Now imagine how s**t Pakistan and the windies are gonna be

 

[corbies]

Course it's boring. Watching double hundreds and centuries by average players against bloke who probably never tour here again is so damn boring. Was over that by the time I was 12

Agreed. That's why when my Swans lead by 50 I always start cheering on the opposition to make it a close game. You'd be the same with the Dees I assume?

 

[LukeParkerno1]

Smith has been average lately yeah but he will cash in this summer. Warner scored massive last summer against a dead opposition. Marsh, Green and the keeper likely to as well

Warner had one innings last summer lets not say otehrwise, can't wait till we don't have him opening, still feel these 3 tests are a useless waste of time having him open.

 

[Young Redleg]

Lol good luck with that. Gonna be one of the all time boring test summers against crap nations.

Our test summers at home are only interesting when we're playing against India.

 

[LukeParkerno1]

Exactly. Now imagine how s**t Pakistan and the windies are gonna be

I really worry about that batting lineup when Buckingham looked ultra dangerous against them. It does seem Babar, their opener and not much else.

 

[Slysh]

To be fair to NZ this NZ is a stackload better than the last one that was here, and they were competitive last time anyway. If we are going to flog a team I'd take smacking England senseless

We won the series 3-0 and we won by 296 runs, 247 runs and 279 runs and they did not take 20 wickets in any of those games. That is not competitive.

Why though? I would much prefer to play other nations. Give me Pakistan, Windies, South Africa. I enjoy watching other countries com out. Not every series is going to be a belter it happens.