4th Test: India v Australia @ Ahmedabad Mar 9-13, 2023

[Hutty1986]

India locked in now too. Track spinning a bit now by the sounds of it, but nothing like the first 3 tests

 

[Bazal]

India locked in now too. Track spinning a bit now by the sounds of it, but nothing like the first 3 tests

I think if you land it square in the footmarks you'll get turn and variable bounce maybe 4/10 balls?

It's still a road really. The one that got Head was Day 1 turn on the previous decks and it's the first one to really spin sharply

 

[Bazal]

Uhhhh why is Haydos talking about layers of lambskin and the feel of the stick in your hands...?

 

[Eelectrica]

21 wickets in 5 days. That's a paddling.

I'm not counting Kuhnemann since he's a no. 11 and shouldn't have been given out anyway.

Actuaĺly it wasn't even that since one of India's wickets was a run out and Iyer didn't bat.

Very poor rating surely

 

[Bazal]

Surely two poor ratings in a row for the decks. This was absolute tarmac

Not that the BCCI care

 

[AlwaysGreen]

Hasn't been a complete disaster of a series, we've learnt a few things.

Khawaja has truly cemented his spot.
Head has proven he can open.
That leaves one David Andrew Warner vulnerable.

Hanscombe has leapfrogged Renshaw in the pecking order. Renshaw has a lot of work to do to get back.

Green is the real deal.

Murphy is the bald goat's hair* apparent.

Kuhnemann will be looking at the calendar to see the next time we tour the sub continent because I can't see him getting tests anywhere else.

 

[Twizzle]

if Warner had played in those first 3 tests on those pitches, he'd be gone by now

still can't believe Head was dropped for the first test, unforgivable

 

[Bazal]

if Warner had played in those first 3 tests on those pitches, he'd be gone by now

still can't believe Head was dropped for the first test, unforgivable

Let's be honest, Australian cricket has a long and storied history of seeing a perceived weakness in a player and just riding it to death. Uzi can't play spin remember?

Bevo was the best example. Couldn't play a short ball apparently despite being the greatest ODI bat ever and the leading shield run scorer of all time against the best first class bowlers on earth

 

[TheParraboy]

Standing ovation from the crowd..

 

[simmo1]

Overall a pretty decent performance from Australia, showed plenty of character to play the way they did in the final two tests and silence a few doubters. By the end of the series we were getting pretty close to India's level which is a big effort in these conditions. They will rue the poor preparation and shot selection in the 2nd test in Dehli.

Good to see that some of the younger players were the best performers - Green, Murphy, Head & Kuhnemann will all likely be back next Indian tour. Khawaja & Lyon will be hard to replace though. Would have loved to see another Smith classic this series, but hopefully he is saving them for the Ashes.

India have an ageing side too. They have a good one in Gill, but seem to be similar to Australia with not a huge amount of talent coming through yet.

 

[Twizzle]

Let's be honest, Australian cricket has a long and storied history of seeing a perceived weakness in a player and just riding it to death. Uzi can't play spin remember?

Bevo was the best example. Couldn't play a short ball apparently despite being the greatest ODI bat ever and the leading shield run scorer of all time against the best first class bowlers on earth

I give them credit for Murph and Kman but they lost any credits but not picking Head.

I just wonder if Warner was available, if they would have picked him because it would be pretty hypocritic to pick Warner and not Head, yet Head was in considerably better form in the lead up.

 

[Haffa]

Matt Hayden pick up man of the series? What a series!

 

[Fangs]

Plenty of bad and some good. Better performances in the final two tests but the series was already over. India checked out a bit and we got served up a road for the final match.

Next time, prepare better. Even if publicly they like to say their prep was amazing it was obviously totally shithouse. 5 tests next time means it only gets more challenging. Future of cricket is India/England/Australia. We need to prioritise Indian tours the same way we do the Ashes. That means no big bash bullshit the week before a tour.

Very sad for Pat Cummins who had his own private issues. Definitely affected his performance as a player and a captain.

 

[Bazal]

I don't understand why we don't make one or two of the random Shield and futures league grounds rank turners and use them a few times a year? No one f**ken watches the Shield anymore so it's not like they need to be at the test grounds

Also allows you to have prep there before flying out. Yeah it won't be the same base soil etc and it might be hard for it to be done every single summer, but at least it gives players a grounding

 

[gUt]

I don't understand why we don't make one or two of the random Shield and futures league grounds rank turners and use them a few times a year? No one f**ken watches the Shield anymore so it's not like they need to be at the test grounds

Also allows you to have prep there before flying out. Yeah it won't be the same base soil etc and it might be hard for it to be done every single summer, but at least it gives players a grounding

Yep use the MCG, it will improve that pitch

 

[TheParraboy]

I don't understand why we don't make one or two of the random Shield and futures league grounds rank turners and use them a few times a year? No one f**ken watches the Shield anymore so it's not like they need to be at the test grounds

Also allows you to have prep there before flying out. Yeah it won't be the same base soil etc and it might be hard for it to be done every single summer, but at least it gives players a grounding

With the way drop in pitches are made these days , they can prepare turners if they want to for grounds that use drop ins. So no excuses, of course the BBL cash cow would want the great ocean road replicated everywhere

Weren't they doing/making a rank turner deck in Brisbane some years back? For all sorts of levels eg academys, Aust A games, domestic games etc...

 

[Twizzle]

With the way drop in pitches are made these days , they can prepare turners if they want to for grounds that use drop ins. So no excuses, of course the BBL cash cow would want the great ocean road replicated everywhere

Weren't they doing/making a rank turner deck in Brisbane some years back? For all sorts of levels eg academys, Aust A games, domestic games etc...

they did from memory, Boof was the one behind it

I'm not sure why we need to get too obsessed with Indian pitches, there are many other types of pitches around the world rather than focusing just on Indian pitches which is why India do so poor away from home

 

[Bazal]

they did from memory, Boof was the one behind it

I'm not sure why we need to get too obsessed with Indian pitches, there are many other types of pitches around the world rather than focusing just on Indian pitches which is why India do so poor away from home

Because we have just about all of those pitches here already?

It's pretty obvious we struggle on subcontinental turning decks...

 

[TheParraboy]

they did from memory, Boof was the one behind it

I'm not sure why we need to get too obsessed with Indian pitches, there are many other types of pitches around the world rather than focusing just on Indian pitches which is why India do so poor away from home

India have beaten us 2-1, last two tours they have been here. No help from spinning decks

They drew 2-2 vs Poms in England, were the better side in the drawn test

I guess with a bit better preparation/tactics , we go close to winning over there this time around

 

[simmo1]

I think it would be a good idea to employ some Indian batting coaches/assistants to help with these tours. I suspect the BCCI probably does their best to stop this from happening, but surely there are at least a few ex-Indian players living in Australia willing to do the job.