1st Test; Australia v Pakistan @ The Gabba November 21-25

[ROOTA#6]

Even better century.

One of the better domestic bats there has been in recent times...just hasn’t been able to consistently do it in the next level

 

[Kram]

People forget how good he could be because he was a bit of a clown. The 93 Ashes pretty much finished him when McDermott went home and AB flogged him, he took thirty odd wicket but that was pretty much him done.

From memory Merv's fitness left a lot to be desired, if he bothered to watch what he ate and drank a bit he would have played a lot more cricket.

 

[ROOTA#6]

From memory Merv's fitness left a lot to be desired, if he bothered to watch what he ate and drank a bit he would have played a lot more cricket.

It was such a different time..they did what they wanted off the field...also I reckon if the cash on offer these days was in offer back then blokes would have been a bit more keen to pull the off field heads in

 

[Richard Pryor]

From memory Merv's fitness left a lot to be desired, if he bothered to watch what he ate and drank a bit he would have played a lot more cricket.

There's some blog or something I can't find right now where a guy has been scanning old cricket photos from the 90's. One of them was of Merv and the caption was just "Believe it or not this is a picture of a professional sportsman".

 

[Van_Dyke]

There's some blog or something I can't find right now where a guy has been scanning old cricket photos from the 90's. One of them was of Merv and the caption was just "Believe it or not this is a picture of a professional sportsman".

Think I know the one you’re referring to, from memory it was a blog of all the old domestic one day kits, with a photo of Merv when he moved to Canberra being labeled that (the beer gut was even more prominent by then)

 

[Gough]

From memory Merv's fitness left a lot to be desired, if he bothered to watch what he ate and drank a bit he would have played a lot more cricket.

Different era, terminator Terry took 83 wickets in two Ashes series smoking forty of the sponsor's product a day.

 

[Obese Arachnid]

There's some blog or something I can't find right now where a guy has been scanning old cricket photos from the 90's. One of them was of Merv and the caption was just "Believe it or not this is a picture of a professional sportsman".

Some pro sportsman always give you hope you can make it though.

Merv &....

 

[deanc]

Some pro sportsman always give you hope you can make it though.

Merv &....

Ah, the old days when most footballers were real footballers, not athletes who could can play footy - and 'rotations' were unheard of, whereas if a player left the ground during play it was usually either by injury/stretcher or he had to be physically dragged off by a few runners...

 

[Kram]

Ah, the old days when most footballers were real footballers, not athletes who could can play footy - and 'rotations' were unheard of, whereas if a player left the ground during play it was usually either by injury/stretcher or he had to be physically dragged off by a few runners...

 

[deanc]

View attachment 785180

Yes, occasionally that can be me, dam clouds, but I do cherish the memories....

 

[prophetic1]

Honestly nobody feels a boost to the nationalistic ego anymore with regards to cricket at present. Might have been true in the 90s when India were underdogs in the truest sense and finding a place in the top 3 rankings in any format would feel like huge prestige. Now the BCCI has been ruling world cricket for sometime now and the team has been ranked either 1 or 2 in both formats for a long time now. If anything, Indians would want more test series against Pakistan just to correct the past records a bit.

You might be right if you talk about the Olympics though because India is still very much finding its feet in different sports and getting any medal is cheered. Cricket is small fry when you compare to global sports/competitions like the FIFA world cup and Olympics. It's far easier to dominate in cricket than in the other sports I mentioned.

again not quite what i was getting at... its about a collective cultural perspective...its not so much about winning or ego at all its about the neccessity they have to be appear to be invloved in many and varied sporting, artistic and technological activities that require a co operative attitude amongst nations. if India was to pursue an arrogance, as seems the case with their cricketing powers that be, with all their pursuits and adopt an approach , "that we can do it all without you, we dont need you or anybody else attidude because we are making buckets of money anyway" so to speak......... it reflects an immaturity as a nation and wouldn't that eventually lead to them taking the risk of loosing relevance in terms of the cultural and sporting collective. Power to be in isolation within any international activity is limited...

 

[corbies]

As a kid growing up Bracken was the bowler I wanted to be. Left arm with swing and control

Johnsons' Ashes was the most perfect set of tests ever for a bowler. 37 out of 100 (that England side is the only side to lose 100 wickets in a test series iirc) wickets and I would have expected another 30 or so to have fallen from the other end when he was bowling. Shame the next summer India also brought over their roads.

fu** I wish we had Harris and Bracken with good knees

It's happened 11 times in a 5 test series. All 120 wickets have fallen once in a 6 Test series.

 

[Millky95]

It's happened 11 times in a 5 test series. All 120 wickets have fallen once in a 6 Test series.

Cheers thank you. Still not an easy feat. The 06/07 ashes side didn't achieve that

 

[Adelaide Hawk]

Johnsons' Ashes was the most perfect set of tests ever for a bowler. 37 out of 100 (that England side is the only side to lose 100 wickets in a test series iirc) wickets and I would have expected another 30 or so to have fallen from the other end when he was bowling. Shame the next summer India also brought over their roads.

I've followed Test cricket since the 60s, and IMHO no Aussie quick bowler has ever bowled better than Johnson in that 2013-14 Ashes series, not even Dennis Lillee. Pity he had such an up and down career, he could have been one of the greatest of all time.

 

[Kram]

Gough put up a thread for the 2nd Test, what do you think the Chief is paying you for.

 

[rocker_oz33]

I missed the start of play and Monty wicket.

This Musa guy bowling trash.

Abba been alright.

 

[Richard Pryor]

I missed the start of play and Monty wicket.

This Musa guy bowling trash.

Abba been alright.

Missed the new thread too! https://www.bigfooty.com/forum/thre...er-29-december-3.1232797/page-8#post-63787397