3rd Test: Australia v South Africa at Perth Nov 30-Dec 4, 2012

[undertaker]

^ Quality of matches? Australia was getting smashed in the ODIs by Sri Lanka all summer, we just got lucky in the third 'best of three' series against SL to take out the series

In the ODIs, Sri Lanka > Australia, Australia > India and India > Sri Lanka. nevertheless, it was much more exciting than if we had played two 5-ODI series against those two sides

 

[Xfactor1979]

Regarding the "profit" part, this year's Boxing Day and New Year's tests at the MCG and SCG should get very good crowds. Lots of Sri Lankans in Melbourne and Sydney,

^ Yeh but the quality of cricket will be far less than the SAfrican series. I dont expect much resistance from Sri Lanka to make our cricketers look good

I would have said that rain saved them in the first test and they were fortunate that Pattinsen got injured in the second test.

Cant argue with this test but they have been very fortunate in the first 2

^ Sad to say, but 'that's just "cricket"' :x

 

[undertaker]

^ Yeh but the quality of cricket will be far less than the SAfrican series. I dont expect much resistance from Sri Lanka to make our cricketers look good

Well, don't hold your hopes up high anytime soon of playing the Saffers at MCG/SCG, as CA had to shift this test series forward and make the SL series the "marquee"series at the bigger venues because the Saffers refused to budge and wanted to play on Boxing Day in South Africa (even though test crowds have always been crap over there since their readmission to international cricket in 1991. Only the ODIs have got good crowds, and that's been contingent on certain teams playing such as Australia, England and India).

 

[Canard]

Well, don't hold your hopes up high anytime soon of playing the Saffers at MCG/SCG, as CA had to shift this test series forward and make the SL series the "marquee"series at the bigger venues because the Saffers refused to budge and wanted to play on Boxing Day in South Africa (even though test crowds have always been crap over ever since their readmission to international cricket in 1991).

And now they aren't playing Boxing Day would you believe.

The Sri Lanka test crowd will be well down on past years

 

[Xfactor1979]

Well, don't hold your hopes up high anytime soon of playing the Saffers at MCG/SCG, as CA had to shift this test series forward and make the SL series the "marquee"series at the bigger venues because the Saffers refused to budge and wanted to play on Boxing Day in South Africa (even though test crowds have always been crap over ever since their readmission to international cricket in 1991).

^ That's why the Saffers are playing a stupid T20i on Boxing Day instead

The decline of the West Indies in Test Cricket since Ambrose and Walsh retired is a real loss for competitive cricket in terms of quality teams and marquee series.

The Windies are competitive in ODis and T20s no doubt, but they are no better than Bangladesh with their 'whack whack whack' attitude to test cricket

Other than the loss of the West Indies as a dominant force in World Cricket- the ability to play test cricket in Pakistan - an elephant in the room nobody wants to talk about. Mark Taylor scored 334 not out in Peshawar, a town on the West of Pakistan that borders Afghanistan. The War on Terror has had a big say in games played there

 

[some11]

Tell you what, the past few days have really soured my view of this team.

I used to love watching cricket over the summer but this is just pathetic.

 

[Xfactor1979]

Tell you what, the past few days have really soured my view of this team.

I used to love watching cricket over the summer but this is just pathetic.

The upside is, test cricket doesnt have that many good teams to make Australia look bad

After England and South Africa, you have to play India in India for a tough series

The rest?

Sri Lanka
Pakistan?
NZ?
Windies
Bangladesh?

^ It all comes down to T20 and One Day Cricket for 'competition'

The upside is Australia will never slip below 4th place in the Test match rankings. Looking at whats below them

 

[undertaker]

^ That's why the Saffers are playing a stupid T20i on Boxing Day instead

The decline of the West Indies in Test Cricket since Ambrose and Walsh retired is a real loss for competitive cricket in terms of quality teams and marquee series.

The Windies are competitive in ODis and T20s no doubt, but they are no better than Bangladesh with their 'whack whack whack' attitude to test cricket

Other than the loss of the West Indies as a dominant force in World Cricket- the ability to play test cricket in Pakistan - an elephant in the room nobody wants to talk about. Mark Taylor scored 334 not out in Peshawar, a town on the West of Pakistan that borders Afghanistan. The War on Terror has had a big say in games played there

Yeah, West Indies decline has been sad. Remember when we used to play 5-test series against them and to many Australian fans, the Sir Frank Worrell trophy was of great significance when we were smashing the Poms and regularly retained the Ashes. To see it reduced to a 3-test series shows the Australia/Windies rivalry has become a shadow of its former self and legendary players such as Holding, Marshall, Garner, Ambrose, Walsh etc. must be shaking their head in disbelief. The straw that broke the camels back was that infamous 2000/01 series where we hammered them 5-0. It was a PR nightmare for Cricket Australia (then known as the ACB) and even worse when we won every single international that summer.

Also, the crowds in the West Indies is another issue. I remember watching some highlights of the famous 1999 test series and it's really hard to believe that not so long ago the folk in the Carribean not only turned out in full force for ODIs, but also test matches. Day 5 at Bridgetown in that famous 3rd test where Lara singlehandedly took the game from Australia's grasp was packed to the rafters. Now, the games there just seem to be played in near empty stadiums

 

[some11]

Not long now.

 

[Canard]

Tell you what, the past few days have really soured my view of this team.

I used to love watching cricket over the summer but this is just pathetic.

Been a good summer till Day 2 of this test for mine.

 

[undertaker]

Other than the loss of the West Indies as a dominant force in World Cricket- the ability to play test cricket in Pakistan - an elephant in the room nobody wants to talk about. Mark Taylor scored 334 not out in Peshawar, a town on the West of Pakistan that borders Afghanistan. The War on Terror has had a big say in games played there

So, do you expect teams to play games in Pakistan again after what happened to the SL team not so long ago? As much as it'd be great for the Pakistani fans to see cricket back in the backyard again, it won't be happening for many years. In the meantime, UAE (Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi) will be their de-facto home ground. I do like the new stadiums over there in Dubai and Abu Dhabi and hope we get to play some tests there. Love to see the revival of the famous India/Pakistan test series (one of the marquee test series, alongside the Ashes) played there.

If you wanna talk about elephants in the room that nobody wants to talk about, what about Zimbabwe? They had a very good side in the '90s (made the Super 6 phase of the World Cup twice in '99 and '03), regularly caused upsets and were starting to become a force until the Mugabe regime interfered with their selection policies, and they never recovered from that once the exodus of high-profiled players subsequently began.

 

[Xfactor1979]

Yeah, West Indies decline has been sad.

The problem is, being so close to the U.S, West Indian (Trinidad, Grenada, Jamaica, Bahamas, Antilles etc) athletes were lured by the $$$ and glamour of 1. American sports (NBA Basketball, Football (MLS has taken off thanks to David Beckham and also Dwight Yorke), NFL Football, and also MLB Baseball) & 2. Track and Field Athletics - the West Indies is dominating World Track athletics in the form of Usain Bolt, Yohan Blake, and Asafa Powell

 

[undertaker]

The problem is, being so close to the U.S, West Indian (Trinidad, Grenada, Jamaica, Bahamas, Antilles etc) athletes were lured by the $$$ and glamour of 1. American sports (NBA Basketball, Football (MLS has taken off thanks to David Beckham and also Dwight Yorke), NFL Football, and also MLB Baseball) & 2. Track and Field Athletics - the West Indies is dominating World Track athletics in the form of Usain Bolt, Yohan Blake, and Asafa Powell

Do you think cricket has potential in the U.S.? I remember reading that during the 2011 WC, USA had the 2nd highest viewing market outside of India. Do you think cricket will take off in China or U.S. (two large markets)?

 

[Xfactor1979]

So, do you expect teams to play games in Pakistan again after what happened to the SL team not so long ago? As much as it'd be great for the Pakistani fans to see cricket back in the backyard again, it won't be happening for many years. In the meantime, UAE (Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi) will be their de-facto home ground. I do like the new stadiums over there in Dubai and Abu Dhabi and hope we get to play some tests there. Love to see the revival of the famous India/Pakistan test series (one of the marquee test series, alongside the Ashes) played there.

If you wanna talk about elephants in the room that nobody wants to talk about, what about Zimbabwe? They had a very good side in the '90s (made the Super 6 phase of the World Cup twice in '99 and '03), regularly caused upsets and were starting to become a force until the Mugabe regime interfered with their selection policies, and they never recovered from that once the exodus of high-profiled players subsequently began.

^ Southern Africa was such a good heartland for cricketers, the other country which had a competitive ODI cricket team: Kenya, and Namibia also played in an ODi World Cup. and countries such as Uganda and also Rwanda hold cricket very highly as a prominent national sport

Unfortunately the political situations in that part of the world is always volatile :roll:

 

[Canard]

No to be honest they already have a bat and ball summer code and there is no money in it.

Much more chance of American sports becoming bigger overseas than they other way around.

 

[some11]

And then there was one..

Crowd has gone silent.

 

[Xfactor1979]

Do you think cricket has potential in the U.S.? I remember reading that during the 2011 WC, USA had the 2nd highest viewing market outside of India. Do you think cricket will take off in China or U.S. (two large markets)?

USA is in love with their own sports (MLB, NBA, NFL, Athletics, Nascar) too much

China has a complicated system which tends to not let sports flourish that much

 

[Xfactor1979]

Much more chance of American sports becoming bigger overseas than they other way around.

^ Cept the NBL (Basketball) and that farsical soulless game they play called Gridiron :lol:

An 'extra point' that's guaranteed?

 

[Hutty1986]

Truly embarrassing day for aussie cricket

 

[TheParraboy]

And then there was one..

Crowd has gone silent.

Is there anyone actually around?