1st Test: Australia v Pakistan at Brisbane on Dec 15-19, 2016

[blaza88z]

It's so good to see a Paki team with some fight, for so long they've been associated with match fixing and all sorts of criminal activity, it's great to see a Paki team dig in and show something

 

[Bazal]

Unless Shafiq is going to score 70-80 to his 30, you're going to have to run me through your mathematics there

It's Bunniesman. The logic he uses is "I'm a spastic, so I'll just put words together and post whatever random bullshit happens to be the end result"....

 

[BunniesMan]

All time record for a 4th innings in Brisbane. Win or loss they'll go into Boxing Day with confidence

 

[undertaker]

Well, from a neutral observer POV that sucks. Would have been great to go into the last day needing only 115 odd and 3 wickets in hand.

8/382 at stumps, need another 108 for victory with 2 wickets in hand. The game is not over until its over.

In the Edgbaston 2005 test, Australia needed 107 for victory with 2 wickets in hand at stumps and fell 2 runs short. So, I'm not prepared to write Pakistan off just yet, although that Wahab Riaz wicket was huge in the context of this run chase. Australia desperately needed that. Odds would be 50/50 had that Riaz wicket not occurred and a close, nerve-racking 5th day was definitely on the cards.

If Pakistan can survive the first hour tomorrow without losing a wicket, there will be a lot of nervous faces in the Australian team. Shafiq is going to have to shoulder most of the strike if Pakistan are too pull this off and not expose Shah and Ali to the fast bowlers. Well done to Shafiq: one of the best 4th innings centuries I've seen for many years.

 

[BunniesMan]

Unless Shafiq is going to score 70-80 to his 30, you're going to have to run me through your mathematics there

Obviously I meant if he gets 30 then Shafiq is still there getting 3 quarters of the runs

 

[AlwaysGreen]

Probably not 400....but is Lyon really a 200 wicket bowler? Really?

Funky could have done 300 odd IMO.

If he was good enough to get over 300 they would have found a place for him in the team. Bowlers who take 300 plus wickets don't come by very often, even our selectors aren't stupid enough to leave out a guy like that.

Lyon is in the right place at the right time, apart from SOK who has allegedly had temperament question marks over him no spinner has stood up to displace him from the team.

 

[BunniesMan]

Lyon is mediocre. And we've had nobody better than mediocre since Warne and Macgill. Part of the problem is no shield pitch in the country consistently offers something significant for spinners.

If it was up 2 me I'd order 2 states to focus on making their pitches perfect for spinners, another 2 focus on making green tops for quicks, and another 2 focus on making flat roads (which is most of them these days). Then all of our shield players will get to play in various conditions and they'll look better when going to India and England.

 

[KeepingTheFaith]

If he was good enough to get over 300 they would have found a place for him in the team. Bowlers who take 300 plus wickets don't come by very often, even our selectors aren't stupid enough to leave out a guy like that.

Lyon is in the right place at the right time, apart from SOK who has allegedly had temperament question marks over him no spinner has stood up to displace him from the team.

Bet Stuart MacGill is cursing his luck for being born in the wrong era.

 

[Bazal]

If he was good enough to get over 300 they would have found a place for him in the team. Bowlers who take 300 plus wickets don't come by very often, even our selectors aren't stupid enough to leave out a guy like that.

Lyon is in the right place at the right time, apart from SOK who has allegedly had temperament question marks over him no spinner has stood up to displace him from the team.

It's all hypothetical so there's really not a lot of point going too far into it...But we had a 700 wicket spinner in the side already, and a legit 400-500 wicket spinner who couldn't get a run, so I'm not sure how they would have found a spot for him...

Anyway like I said it's all hypothetical. But Miller was better than Lyon

 

[undertaker]

Anyone thinking the next 2 games are a matter of turnup and win are kidding themselves, this Paki bowling attack is a solid unit and they fight they've shown here with the bat..

Won't be as easy as everyone imagined

Not to mention that if Younis and Misbah fire with the bat...both of them are capable of piling on runs, let alone have the experience. Reminds me of when Sri Lanka had Dilshan/Sangakkara/Jayawardene.

 

[El Diablo]

f it was up 2 me I'd order 2 states to focus on making their pitches perfect

well you can thank the AFL and drop ins for that

 

[AlwaysGreen]

If it was up 2 me I'd order 2 states to focus on making their pitches perfect for spinners, another 2 focus on making green tops for quicks, and another 2 focus on making flat roads (which is most of them these days). Then all of our shield players will get to play in various conditions and they'll look better when going to India and England.

That is possibly the stupidest thing I've ever read. But seeing it's from you it probably doesn't make your top 100 stupid posts.

 

[undertaker]

Bet Stuart MacGill is cursing his luck for being born in the wrong era.

Definitely.

1970s was the 'cursed' decade for an Australian cricketer to be born in. Their careers overlapped during Mark Taylor/Steve Waugh's captaincy. Those born in the 1960s and were solid during the Border years (Taylor/Warne/M Waugh/S Waugh/Healy) were able to cement their spot in the test team when Taylor became captain, the talent at Shield level grew and the competition for places in the squad intensified. More opportunities opened up for those born in the 1980s when they debuted during Ponting's captaincy, especially after Martyn/Langer/Warne/McGrath retired.

So many cricketers born during the 1970s who piled on thousands of runs or took a plethora of wickets in Sheffield Shield that didn't get regular opportunities until the 2000s (Martyn/Ponting/Langer/Hayden/Gilchrist/M Hussey) or only had limited opportunities when they did wear the baggy green (Lehmann/Blewett/MacGill/Bevan/Bracken/Fleming/Elliott/Kasprowicz/Bichel/Katich/Love/Hodge)

 

[Hutty1986]

That is possibly the stupidest thing I've ever read. But seeing it's from you it probably doesn't make your top 100 stupid posts.

2che

 

[El Diablo]

That is possibly the stupidest thing I've ever read. But seeing it's from you it probably doesn't make your top 100 stupid posts.

if it was up to Bunniesderp we'd still be batting at the GABBA from a few years ago

 

[undertaker]

Lyon is mediocre. And we've had nobody better than mediocre since Warne and Macgill. .

List of frontline spinners that were used since Warne retired (but debuted before Warne retired):

- Stuart MacGill (played 4 tests after Warne retired)
- Brad Hogg (played 3 tests after Warne retired)
- Nathan Hauritz (played 16 tests after Warne retired)

spinners that debuted after Warne's retirement:

- Beau Casson (1 test)
- Cameron White (4 tests)
- Jason Krejza (2 tests)
- Bryce McGrain (1 test)
- Steve Smith (47 tests. I've added him, as he started off in the test team as a front-line spinner before he was dropped)
- Xavier Doherty (4 tests)
- Michael Beer (2 tests)
- Nathan Lyon (60 tests)
- Glenn Maxwell (3 tests)
- Ashton Agar (2 tests)
- Steve O'Keefe (3 tests)
- Jon Holland (2 tests)

That's a lot of spinners used over the past 10 years.

 

[Rabbits20]

Lyon is awful. Just absolutely no idea at the moment

So is Wade.

Did well in the last test and deserved credit.

But he's back to being bad in this test. Deserved this second chance but has blown it.

Time to give Nevill a second chance.

 

[Rabbits20]

If Warne had gotten his way and Smith declared when they got to a lead of 400 it would be a little more tense out there.

Would be nice for Pakistan to cross 400 before they're all out just for the lols.

Warnie knows best.

That's exactly what I've been thinking.

Lol.

 

[Rabbits20]

Pakistan should be very proud of themselves.

We will win but they have gained confidence.

Problem for them is Misbah is out of form.

 

[Pete Cash]

Lyon is mediocre. And we've had nobody better than mediocre since Warne and Macgill. Part of the problem is no shield pitch in the country consistently offers something significant for spinners.

If it was up 2 me I'd order 2 states to focus on making their pitches perfect for spinners, another 2 focus on making green tops for quicks, and another 2 focus on making flat roads (which is most of them these days). Then all of our shield players will get to play in various conditions and they'll look better when going to India and England.

Then the teams with the greentops would win the shield every year you dill.

Cricket australia is serving up flat wickets because they lost a fortune on an indian tour 5 or 6 years ago and they dont want us to smash touring sides like we smashed india.

Notice the only fast pitches this decade were dished up for an ashes series we had to win or everyone would lose their jobs ?

Go to a shield game sometime. The pitches are way better than what is served up for a test match.