Mike, that seems to be the scenario with all test teams. How they bat depends on the time of night.
The commentators alway talk about best and worst times to bat.
Good to see Green got a bit going last night.
Surely Jake Weatherall gets a gig for the tests in Australia, has been the most consistent opener in Australia for a couple of years in my opinion
Another messy day / night of battingā¦once again Green stands tall and provides some important runs on a challenging pitchā¦when more experienced sorts flounderedā¦Konstas has had 3 tests to show somethingā¦been unlucky with the pitches he has encountered, but then again who ever said an openerās gig should ever be easy. ā¦only the truly good ones make it look easy.
Hopefully the challenge is put out to all state openers like Weathereld PH, score runs in the Ashes lead up, and pick the two with the most runsā¦probably wont happen, but Uzzie is cooked and Konstas is a tad too rawā¦
Canāt see the WI chasing down 200, but in all honesty i hope they do, because the WI quicks deserve some reward for their effortsā¦all 3 have bowled with heat at timesā¦terribly let down by their fielders and top 6 in every match so far.
Gutsy knock by Green amongst the carnage. Just needs to sort out his running between the wickets though. Another poor pitch. Think the Windies will be struggling to chase 200. Green and the tail may get them up to 250 lead. The Windies could have bowled us out in a session really had they taken all their chances. Even at the end they declined to review a caught behind off Cummins when they had 3 reviews left. As it turned out the ball touched Cummins glove and he is still there and could do more damage tomorrow
Seems a strange non decision in challenging the Cummins one with three up your sleeve.Would have thought it was worth it.
I have not seen a ball bowled, but appears to be plenty there for the quicks, especially under the lights.
Green appears to be building his confidence at 3. Konstas must be under threat to miss out all together for the Ashes.As was said the other day in the press, make it a shopot out with early runs in the Shield.Hopefully look for two totally new openers. Not go backwards with the likes of Bancroft,Harris etc.
God blimey if the Joseph boys, Seales & medium pacer Greaves can make our batsmen look like the dunces they currently are then what will the likes of Wood, Archer, Carse, Atkinson, Woakes, Tongue, Stokes & co do to these imposters this summer!
I take back my 4-0 prediction and change to 5-0 England Sydneyās shite weather included!
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Thing is Anchor, what if Harris and Bancroft are leading the way run wise, in the Shield shoot out leading up to the Ashes? Looks like McSweeney is going to ton up v Sri Lanka A in the unofficial ātestā on day 2ā¦batting at 3. Sangha made a 3 ball duckā¦and Weathereld a 50 odd.
I think Aust will be lucky to bat out the firat hour on day 3 , let alone the first session. Green needs to score the bulk and get Aust over 200ā¦though whose to say the lead already is probably enough v a very fragile WI top 6ā¦especially with 4 quality Aust quicks.
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To be fair the pitches in the West Indies have been very bowler friendly. No centuries so far and only a handful of 50s. Travis Head is the only batsman to score over 200 runs in the 3 tests although if Green can score another 16 runs he will join him. I wouldnt be making any hasty decisions on the basis of these games if I were the Aussie selectors. Wait for the Sheffield Shield early rounds where batsmen will get more of an opportunity to show their wares
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Mate thatās a tad too sensible for some folk on hereā¦always amazing how much an objective view, looks far far better than a subjectiive oneā¦keeping folks groundedā¦love ya work mikeh.
Wow the second lowest test total.
Held by the Kiwis back in 1952.
WINDIES had no hope against Starc and co on a pitch that was frankly a minefield. Greens 42 was worth 142 on a flat deck. Boland put another down payment on his statue. Canāt see too many more tests in the West Indies if they keep producing pitches like this
@mikey how is that pitch no different to the spinning mine fields that India put out there. Seems pitches have more in them these days and most tests donāt last the 5 days. There are very few draws any more unless the weather washes out a big chunk of the game and personally thatās better for viewers than a road where both teams make 500
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PH, good point, those pitches in India are not acceptable either. What I saw in the Windies was that the pitch was totally unpredictable. One ball might shoot along the ground, the next one might spit up and hit the batsman like the one that concussed Carey. To me that is a test of the batsmans courage but not their skill and is an unfair contest between bat and ball but is also dangerous. As a contrast the pitch at Lords for the England v India Match was a good wicket in that it favoured the batsmen for the first 3 days, then started to deteriorate in the last 2 and favour the bowlers which set up an exciting finish to the match on day 5
The Lordās Test was an absolute ripper and given that both sides scored 387 in the first innings, from a statistical point of view, I was hoping India would be dismissed for 192 in their second innings, giving us a third tied Test but a first when both teamsā innings were level.
However, it wasnāt to be as England held their nerve, but Iām looking forward to the Fourth Test (and hopefully an Indian victory to keep the series alive) at Old Trafford.
What an amazing performance by Mitch Starc and Scott Boland at Sabina Park.
It would be many a year since thereās been such a bowler-dominated series as the one thatās just concluded in the Caribbean.
Forgive my statistical indulgence, but just 2262 runs were scored across the three Tests at an average of 18.85 runs per wicket.
The match aggregate of 516 runs at Sabina Park is the seventh-lowest in 2595 Tests and the lowest since 423 at Headingley in 1907 (a bit before our time).
Brandon Kingās 75 was the highest score for the series, but he was the only West Indian to score a half-century (Australia registered seven half-centuries by four players).
The highest score
I am not sure, but I think this test against the Windies, was the first pink ball test payed in the Windies. If not that, then the first played at the ground.There was a thought that the lights might not be ready in time to start.
With that in mind, both teams were being left in the dark as to how ther wicket would play.Or how the pink ball would behave.It certainly had the power over the batsmen from both teams.
Was it the ball, or was it the wicket.I am only guessing here ,but, wasnāt the movement of the ball more in the air than off the wicket!Maybe the Dukes ball was the devil in the equation,and not the actual wicket.
It must have been mayhem watching the Windies collapse. It is hard to believe that with their riches of batsmen in the past , that they are so bereft of batting skills.
Something drastically wrong with WI cricket.
Just as an aside, what is the story that I keep seeing where some are saying that Sharmar Joseph, is in trouble with the law.
Only FB bits and pieces, but I have not seen anything in the media.
After a disastrous series, I would hope that CA keep a close eye on Sam Konstas. I would think the young man is in a very fragile state of mind right now.
I am sure the players have taken him under their wing and giving him the right advice.
The young man will be and has been under bucket loads of pressure from all sides of the game.
I hope he gets back to Australia and works his butt off to find his place back in the team.
Carnage with a capital Cā¦obviously a feeding frenzy for both bowling attacksā¦and an average killer for the batsmen. No one expected that 4th innings total of the WI, was thinking they may fall short 50 -80 odd runsā¦kudos to Starc on his 100 th test and 400 test wicketsā¦hardly ever injured and continues to hit the 140 - 150 markā¦absolute beast of a bowlerā¦as for Scotty Bā¦well if only eh? Consummate team playerā¦
Another series win for Ronald and Pattyā¦maybe their last, but for now they must have a very positive win to loss ratioā¦yeah a few here say their comeuppance will comeā¦and yes it willā¦but for nowā¦ winners are grinners
Bolandā¦ another time, another placeā¦ who knows how good he could have been at the test level.
Starc has been amazing .Maybe it took the kick from Warnie to get him fired up all those years ago Freezin.
19 of the west indies wickets fell during the day (or during day time sessions) so hard to blame pink balls under lights. Me just thinks the wicket was hard to bat on and batters didnāt commit to staying out there.
In years gone by a side would have tried to bat all day and score 250, but not now. Seems the batters throw their hands at everything with a theory along the lines of ill get out here so may as well try to score as many as possible.
I donāt remember people complaining to hard when the Gabba had a pink ball test and the saffers were knocked over easily in both innings.
Do agree with the above comments about Boland, i think he is better option that Hazlewood purely because he isnāt as tall so he attacks the stumps more regularly.
Freezin, I went back and looked at the test records since Mcdonald became head coach in 2022. Under him, Australia have played 39 tests against all the major nations. They have won 23 of these games, lost 8 and drawn 8. Thats a win rate of close to 60%. There have been 12 series in his time and Australia have won 8 of them, drawn 3 and only lost 1 (2-1 on the Indian Dustbowls). As well as this the team has won an ICC world test championship and 50 over World Cup on his watch.
I donāt know about you but that record seems to indicate that he has been doing something right and the players have been responding to him. Sure some of the people he has been managing are all time legends of the game but they still have to be developed into a team that are all pulling in the same direction. Pakistan are a classic example of a team of talented cricketers who collectively play like a rabble. I think this record stacks up against any coach and proves you donāt have to be a great champion of the game to be an effective coach.
McDonalds big test is to come as he tries to rebuild a team that is going to lose a lot of legendary figures in the next few years but I think he and his coaching staff should be given credit for what they have achieved in the last 3 years