Cricket

[Pakenhamtrain]

Australia declared at lunch on 4/583.
Marsh made 182 and Voges made an unbeaten 269.
The Windies finished on 6/207. Bravo the only standout with 94.

Windies folded like a house of cards. Bowled out for 223. Australia enforced the follow on and bowled them out again for 148. A smashing of an innings and 212 runs. A

I think there is genuine sadness and pitty about the state of Windies cricket. They were cheering for Krigg to get his century.

It appears the BBL will be a bigger talking point than the international stuff. I was hoping Boxing day would get into Day 5. Then I could do the test match and BBL double.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

It is a great pity that the stand of 449 in the Test Match against the West Indies by Adam Vosges (269 not out) and Shaun Marsh (182) ended when only two runs short of the 451 made by Don Bradman and Bill Ponsford in the 1934 Test Match against England.

Adam Vosges' Test Match average is now looking quite remarkable at present.

 

[Fahad]

Australia declared at lunch on 4/583.
Marsh made 182 and Voges made an unbeaten 269.
The Windies finished on 6/207. Bravo the only standout with 94.

Windies folded like a house of cards. Bowled out for 223. Australia enforced the follow on and bowled them out again for 148. A smashing of an innings and 212 runs. A

I think there is genuine sadness and pitty about the state of Windies cricket. They were cheering for Krigg to get his century.

It appears the BBL will be a bigger talking point than the international stuff. I was hoping Boxing day would get into Day 5. Then I could do the test match and BBL double.

I hope you meant BPL

 

[Fahad]

Chris Gayle has played only 4 Tests out of 16 since January 1, 2014 and now he's hopeful of his return in 2016. Gayle is the only hope for the West Indies side now!

 

[Abdul Rehman]

Gayle is more into T20 cricket. West Indians certainly need a leader who can rebuild their team and can convert it into a solid unit with the fast bowlers, that other teams used to frown in the mid 80s. West Indies lack good fast bowlers like Stark, Anderson and Wahab that hit good line and length with good pace..

 

[Pakenhamtrain]

I hope you meant BPL

No the Big Bash League. Australia's T20 comp. BBL|05 starts tonight with the Sydney derby between the Sydney Thunder and the Sydney sixers.
The Thunder will want to get things off on the right start. Not the greatest cricket side you will see. They've won the wooden spoon 3 times.

Chris Gayle has played only 4 Tests out of 16 since January 1, 2014 and now he's hopeful of his return in 2016. Gayle is the only hope for the West Indies side now!

He won't be playing at boxing day and New Years test. He's playing in the BBL with the Melbourne Renegades.



In other news the MCG has gone stupid over security. Erecting a fence around the ground and having the bag checking and now every person gets wanded as they go through the fence.
Fair to say people right peeved off about it.

BBL|05 Game 1 is over. Sydney Thunder win thier first "Sydney Smash"
Sydney Thunder win by 36 runs
THU: 4/158
SIX: 122
Hussey MOTM with an unbeaten 80.

 

[Fahad]

Gayle is more into T20 cricket. West Indians certainly need a leader who can rebuild their team and can convert it into a solid unit with the fast bowlers, that other teams used to frown in the mid 80s. West Indies lack good fast bowlers like Stark, Anderson and Wahab that hit good line and length with good pace..

Indeed. But they also lack batsmen like H.Amla, Sangakara, Dhoni. It surely is a long way down for the West Indies.

 

[Abdul Rehman]

Indeed. But they also lack batsmen like H.Amla, Sangakara, Dhoni. It surely is a long way down for the West Indies.

West Indies do have a good batsman like Sarwan, Chanderpaul and Marlon Samuels. West Indies cricket board is struggling with politics, less money and a lot of other factors.

 

[Busaholic]

West Indies do have a good batsman like Sarwan, Chanderpaul and Marlon Samuels. West Indies cricket board is struggling with politics, less money and a lot of other factors.

Sarwan and Chanderpaul WERE good batsmen, but no longer. Samuels has real talent, but seems unable to express it very often. IMO the player WI most miss is Dwayne Bravo, a natural leader and one who'll fight to the death. Darren Bravo is overrated, a case of clutching at straws. Holder seems the right guy as captain amongst the players making themselves available but he can't be expected to do everything by himself.

 

[Pakenhamtrain]

Last nights BBL game between the Melbourne Stars and Sydney Thunder went down to the wire. Thunder won by 1 run.

Khawaja scored an unbeaten 104 and Australia's favorite cricketer Kevin Pietersen scored 76

 

[Cletus]

It was interesting hearing Pietersen miked up whilst batting.

 

[Busaholic]

It is a great pity that the stand of 449 in the Test Match against the West Indies by Adam Vosges (269 not out) and Shaun Marsh (182) ended when only two runs short of the 451 made by Don Bradman and Bill Ponsford in the 1934 Test Match against England.

Adam Vosges' Test Match average is now looking quite remarkable at present.

I respectfully have to disagree with you there, Paul. Virtually all records are there to be broken, but when a long-held one gets broken, I like to look at the circumstances and the opponents. If the Windies had had a Wes Hall, Garry Sobers, Michael Holding or Malcolm Marshall in their bowling line-up, then fair play, but I'm glad they didn't break it (see, I'm an old conservative at heart

When Mark Taylor reached the score of 334 against Pakistan,he declared the innings so that he only equalled, and did not beat, Bradman's same record score. Of course, Hayden then went on to bludgeon poor Zimbabwe for 380 but does anyone think that was a better innings than Bradman's or Taylor's?

 

[Cletus]

# Jimmy Anderson possibly to miss 1st test starting Boxing Day.

# Brendon McCullum retiring from all NZ international cricket in February. He's currently on 99 consecutive tests played since his debut. Plus, he's signed for Middlesex to play one-day cricket next year.

 

[Busaholic]

#

# Brendon McCullum retiring from all NZ international cricket in February. He's currently on 99 consecutive tests played since his debut. Plus, he's signed for Middlesex to play one-day cricket next year.

Rumours that he's going to form a new double act with Chris Cairns can be discounted.

 

[Pakenhamtrain]

Sixers pinched a win against the Renegades Wednesday night. 170 odd did look very total by the Renegades but a couple of expensive overs changed the tide.
Same game I dropped a crowd catch. I'm still copping it today.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

First Test Match

England 12-1 (6.1 overs)

Cook c Edgar b Steyn 0

 

[Pakenhamtrain]

In the traditional Boxing day test it was a strange old day. Arriving at the MCG today you wouldn't of thought play was miles away. Suprisingly we got all 90 overs in. The rain cleared up by 11:30 and The Windies won the toss on a deceiving wicket. Looked like it had a good helping of grass but underneath was still a rock hard surface.
The Windies were one again poor.
At stumps on day 1(which was at 6:55PM mind you) Australia are 3/345
Warner got things going with a T20 style innings with 23. Burns was dismissed on 128 and Khawaja was dismissed for 144. Both centuries came within 2 balls of each other.

First Test Match

England 12-1 (6.1 overs)

Cook c Edgar b Steyn 0

Another quality Cook innings I see.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

First Test Match

England 12-1 (6.1 overs)

Cook c Edgar b Steyn 0

A recent update....

England 55-3 (21 overs)

Hales c de Villiers b Steyn 10

Root lbw b Pledt 24
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---


Another update.....

England 152-3 (56.1 overs)

A century stand between Compton (50 not out) and Taylor (61 not out)
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

In the traditional Boxing day test it was a strange old day. Arriving at the MCG today you wouldn't of thought play was miles away. Suprisingly we got all 90 overs in. The rain cleared up by 11:30 and The Windies won the toss on a deceiving wicket. Looked like it had a good helping of grass but underneath was still a rock hard surface.
The Windies were one again poor.At stumps on day 1(which was at 6:55PM mind you) Australia are 3/345

The only West Indies bowler to end with a creditable bowling return was Holder with figures of 18 - 6 - 35 - 0 to help to keep the scoring rate down. An economy rate of only 1.94 runs per over when two batsmen are well set is worthy of note.

 

[Pakenhamtrain]

The only West Indies bowler to end with a creditable bowling return was Holder with figures of 18 - 6 - 35 - 0 to help to keep the scoring rate down. An economy rate of only 1.94 runs per over when two batsmen are well set is worthy of note.

He was the only decent bowler. Everyone else was just bowling trash.

You can just tell there are major problems in WI cricket. People like Marlon Samuels is one. He looks like he couldn't of given a stuff out there when they were in the field. Looked the same when batting.

He set such a bad example it isn't funny.

Stumps has been called on Day 2.
Australia declared on 3/551. Smith went on to make 136. Voges made 106.
Windies batting. Well 6/91.
Siddle was on a hat-trick late in the day.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

West Indies must have thought that they had made some early batting inroads when they reached 50-1, but to end the second day on 91-6, with three batsmen out for a duck, shows a total lack of application when replying the score made by Australia in their first innings.

Not all "middle order collapses" are the prerogative of the English Test Match team...

 

[Pakenhamtrain]

West Indies must have thought that they had made some early batting inroads when they reached 50-1, but to end the second day on 91-6, with three batsmen out for a duck, shows a total lack of application when replying the score made by Australia in their first innings.

Not all "middle order collapses" are the prerogative of the English Test Match team...

Even though they got going you felt they weren't too far away from falling apart.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Test Match...Day 2 of 5

England 303 all out

Useful runs by Bairstow (41) and Broad (32 not out)
Steyn 4-70 and Morkel 4-76 were the main wicket-takers.

South Africa 137-4

Elgar 67 not out
Broad 3-16

Match at an interesting stage.

 

[Cletus]

Enjoyable day of cricket. Hopefully tomorrow will be the same.

As mentioned WI were appalling again and Sri Lanka aren't so good at the moment, struggling against NZ.

 

[Abdul Rehman]

Sarwan and Chanderpaul WERE good batsmen, but no longer. Samuels has real talent, but seems unable to express it very often. IMO the player WI most miss is Dwayne Bravo, a natural leader and one who'll fight to the death. Darren Bravo is overrated, a case of clutching at straws. Holder seems the right guy as captain amongst the players making themselves available but he can't be expected to do everything by himself.

I will agree, but West Indies do lack quality test batsmen like Joe Root, AB or Steve Smith. Dwayne bravo, Sammy or pollard are more of a T20 players.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Test Match.....Day 3 of 5.

South Africa (1st innings)...214 all out
Elgar 118 not out
Broad 4-25 and Moeen 4-69 were the main wicket-takers

England (2nd innings)...172-3
Root 60 not out
England now leading by 261 runs.

 

[Busaholic]

A couple of observations from the Durban test:-
1) At the end of the first day, Nick Compton was on 63 not out, the score that will from now on be always associated with Phillip Hughes's last innings. Compton in an interview in the current edition of the Cricket Paper mentions the effect Hughes's death had had on him, as they'd roomed together with Middlesex and become mates, so I thought that score would not have been lost on him.
2) Not having seen any of Dean Elgar's century in which he carried his bat, I can't say whether it was a case of
Elgar's Unfinished Symphony or not.

Finally, having been critical of Darren Bravo in a recent thread, full marks to him for his bravura batting contribution in the current test, though almost certain not to save WI from a colossal defeat. What a state Windies cricket is in, and all genuine cricket lovers will be sad at that. Politics has played a huge part of course, and maybe the structure is now irreparable.

 

[Arglwydd Golau]

. What a state Windies cricket is in, and all genuine cricket lovers will be sad at that. Politics has played a huge part of course, and maybe the structure is now irreparable.

I entirely agree. I remember the excitement that was generated in this country prior to the arrival of the 1966 West Indian team, obviously before the days of continuous television and before the stars of that team had played any county cricket. It was the first touring team that I saw and I immediately fell in love with their good natured and humourous supporters. Of course, after a slight dip they got better and better for the next couple of decades and so to observe their current position is, as you say, so sad.

 

[Fahad]

England (2nd innings) ... 326 all out!

South Africa require another 359 runs to win with 9 wickets in hand (Day 4 - Session 2)
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

A couple of observations from the Durban test:-
1) At the end of the first day, Nick Compton was on 63 not out, the score that will from now on be always associated with Phillip Hughes's last innings. Compton in an interview in the current edition of the Cricket Paper mentions the effect Hughes's death had had on him, as they'd roomed together with Middlesex and become mates, so I thought that score would not have been lost on him.
2) Not having seen any of Dean Elgar's century in which he carried his bat, I can't say whether it was a case of
Elgar's Unfinished Symphony or not.

Finally, having been critical of Darren Bravo in a recent thread, full marks to him for his bravura batting contribution in the current test, though almost certain not to save WI from a colossal defeat. What a state Windies cricket is in, and all genuine cricket lovers will be sad at that. Politics has played a huge part of course, and maybe the structure is now irreparable.

Couldn't agree more! Watching West Indies playing used to be a delight but not anymore. If the situation remains the same for another year or two, they will also suffer greatly in the T20 format.

 

[Busaholic]

England (2nd innings) ... 326 all out!

South Africa require another 359 runs to win with 9 wickets in hand (Day 4 - Session 2)
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---


Couldn't agree more! Watching West Indies playing used to be a delight but not anymore. If the situation remains the same for another year or two, they will also suffer greatly in the T20 format.

If I were to choose two XIs of the great players I've seen over almost sixty years, on the basis of them playing to the best of their ability and in the style that I appreciated, then I would certainly be picking at least eight West Indians among them, but, regrettably, probably only Lara from the current century.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

South Africa require another 359 runs to win with 9 wickets in hand (Day 4 - Session 2)

Day 4 ended with South Africa on 136-4 from 47 overs, still needing 280 runs to win on the final day.

Finn 8-3-27-3.