General Cricket Thread (It's Come Home)

It's the whole 'punching Nazis' dilemma all over again, isn't it?  


Win the toss and... bowl?



Word of warning: if England lose this one, I don't know whether I'll be posting much more in this thread until the series is over.  I can't do the 'cynicism to compensate for partisan considerations' thing like you can, Athers.  Two whitewashes in a row, while not entirely unexpected, would be a bit much.

It's probably a bit too early to say whitewash, but England's chances of winning do seem to be going down the toilet right now. I was chatting with someone irl today and we both agreed that Gabba and Waca matches are basically auto-wins for Australia, and England are pissing this specific match, the one touted as their best chance of a win, down the gurgler right now.

I know Root's going to get a lot of flack for his decision to send his bowlers in, but I actually think it's unfair. Australia is in a dominant position partly because, at long last, they've started to bring back slow disciplined batting, but also because the English bowlers have utterly failed the team and Root. He should by all rights have been able to expect to go out there yesterday and have his strike bowlers dismantle Australia's top order, especially once the night session began. Instead they've been lacklustre and lacking any real fire. I missed the first half of the first session but apparently Anderson and Broad weren't looking happy to be bowling from the very first over.

On this wicket England's current predicament is less Root's call and more due to his bowlers utterly failing to perform in a arena they by all rights should have been extremely potent in. And now because of it the entire team is demoralised and facing a near-impossible target going into the night session against a bowling attack that will cause severe damage to the top order.


On a more positive note, one I rarely tend to sing, the selectors have been proven right this match. Marsh and Paine have both performed extremely well, Paine getting a hand injury early on and still gutting out a solid half-century, and Marsh has finally come good scoring a more-than-quality century after overturning a couple of dud LBW calls.


Looks like the end of the innings is nigh, but facing over 410 runs on this wicket I doubt in England's chances to recover. Can't say I'd blame ya for not following the series, England has a way of losing series in a deeply unappealing way when they lose them.

Let's be honest: if you're letting Shaun Marsh score consistent runs, you probably deserve a whitewash. I fully expect England to lose the last two Tests by an innings.

Honestly it's less "letting" and more complete incompetency of the bowlers attack.  I feel the first over Lyon came to the crease yesterday summed up the English bowling effort perfectly.  Here was a spin bowler with orders to hit out, and he does so executing the exact same huge shot every ball leaving his stumps wide open.  He does this every ball of the over and even does it on his first ball of the next one after Marsh switches the strike over with a single.


And how does Broad, a quickie, respond to this display of reckless incompetency with the bat?  By continuing to aim the ball at Lyon when the stumps are completely and utterly undefended in any way shape or form.  The entire over I was practically screaming internally to just send one or two at the stumps, but no, he just kept sending completely ineffectual bouncers at a man clearly trying to sky a ball.  


And so instead of getting Lyon out for a duck he instead added a dozen or so runs to the tally and allowed Australia to instead declare.  Don't get me wrong I get the idea, hoping that he'd nick it or so forth, but if a batsman is leaving their stumps unprotected constantly you send the bloody ball at them.  


Now they've all rolled over for barely half of Australia's total, proving that the pitch is perfect for bowlers.  Those who put the effort in on this wicket are rewarded.  And therein lies the reality, outside of Overton and some spirited but ultimately impotent bowling from Ali Englands bowlers aren't trying.  


Of course Lyon's antics with the ball cannot be understated, he's on absolute fire today.  That caught and bowled was absolutely fantastic stuff.  Every australian bowler has pulled their weight today, and the result is nothing short of the absolute obliteration of the English batting order.  I can see why you were saying the team is largely past their use-by date a while back, there's a distinct lack of passion on display that I suspect some newer blood with something to prove would be showing.  After the last two days you might just be right about a whitewash being on the cards.  Can't say I'm particularly happy, I was looking forward to more tight matches like the first one.

Broad and Anderson have given Englanders a headache for ages over their inability to (a) pitch it up and (b) aim at the stumps, especially with the new cherry in the first innings.  Oh well, at least Anderson and Woakes have rescued some pride, although I heartily doubt Vince et al.'s ability to chase down whatever Australia set.

As for 'past their use-by date', did I say that?  I've got many criticisms, but that ain't one of them.  Not regarding the batsmen anyway: if anything, they're too green.  Stoneman, Vince, Malan.  All relative newbies, all unproven, all doing not an awful lot to prove at the moment.  Re. the bowlers, then yes, maybe Jimmy's reaching his sell-by date, but I don't think he's the main problem (short of wasting the new ball as mentioned above).  That would be picking a bowling attack that is entirely RMF to RFM, plus Ali.

And that's that. Cruel behaviour, though, from Australia. To just for a day be rubbish enough to give England hope... and then to destroy them soundly the following morning. That's mean, that is. That's toying with emotions. Mental disintegration at its finest.

Anyway, might see you at the end of the series. I've got a feeling that's the closest we'll see to an England victory, and they'll just go to pieces now.

Guess who's looking likely for selection in the Perth test?


Can we PLEASE MOVE ON from the bloody Marsh Brothers already? For faffs sake.

On the bright side (as an aussie supporter anyway) it looks like Englands just going to continue infighting and making excuses, so I doubt there'll be much resistance from them. Not great for the sport though, when the ultimate series is essentially decided because of one teams own ineptitude and disunity.

Well this match's certainly going to have a conclusion!  


Either Australia's learned how to bat or the wickets a massive batsmans wicket (and those are super fun to watch too!) and this match's going to be a not-thrilling draw.  

Also Mitchel Marsh dropped a catch day 1, Handscomb on the field as a temp takes a blinder.  

Unaltered image live from the latest Ashes test!




Sorry, had to be done.  England are just that outmatched and at this point I can't help but have some fun with it.  

The sad thing is Root'll be criticised and yet it mostly isn't even his fault.  He's been given two sheet strike bowlers and an opener so far past his use-by date it's a surprise people don't catch a wiff of mouldy milk as he walks onto the field.  

I still think this could be a draw, it is a batsmens wicket after all.  That said it also gives to those who try hard enough, so England don't get to hide behind excuses.  This test has been like watching something from the old Steve Waugh era, and just like matches from that era if England lose this one expect them to be absolutely slaughtered in the next two.  

Just another typical summer of cricket.  A team comes to tour, puts up a good fight the first test, then proceeds to get more and more demoralised as the series wears on until Australia puts the boot down.

On a more positive note I'll freely eat my humble pie now, the selectors were in fact correct to put Mitchel Marsh into the squad. I honestly feel sorry for England, 549 runs and England hasn't even gotten past the batsmen yet!

Gosh that was a lame match.  While I'm not going to do what some might be tempted to do and poopoo the feats certain batsmen achieved, I am going to lambast the pitch.  I thought we'd moved past the days where we made pitches that gave bowlers so little that it was impossible to actually take wickets.  And they go and make the boxing day match with one?  What a farce.  

Cook was mighty impressive and showed why he's still in the squad, from what I've heard it was a tough pitch to actually score on (suffice to say I'm utterly unsurprised the australian team threw most of their wickets down the toilet on said pitch because of an incapability to take their time), and Smith continues to demonstrate why he's the number one batsmen currently playing.

But still poor show.  A pitch that is impossible to take wickets on helps nobody.  Any talk of a dead rubber for this match will only intensify now, as England was deprived of a real chance to take a match (and therefore the chance to play for the chance to make the final scoreline a respectable 3-2) and Australia is no longer playing for a whitewash.  I'm sure the English team will be giving it their all, if only because each player will be attempting to put on enough of a show as to avoid being made one of the inevitable scapegoats in the postmortem of this series, and Australia will likely be playing for a win to send England scurrying home with a paltry 4-0 scoreline, but as a viewer that last match left me mighty deflated.  

Suffice to say they're lucky that they aren't going to have their schedule clash with the Australian open this year, because otherwise I know what I'd be watching.  Or would like to watch, alas odds are high I won't have the time this year.

So, the Ashes are over, everyone has had a week or so to either finish exulting in their teams victory or finish weeping for their teams loss, and it's time to look back on the series that was.  Right?  Or am I just talking to thin air still?  Lets find out!  Worst case scnerio I can turn this thread into my personal party-room where I post increasingly pushed anime reaction images!



So, test 1.  Things started out pretty well for England and Australia, it was a pretty back-and-forward contest between the two sides for the majority of the test with Australia just edging ahead where it counted until the last day and a half where they drove it home with a formidable bowling attack and a stunning partnership between the openers.  

The second test took a worse turn for England.  Captain Joe Root decided to bowl first, a call that I maintain was the correct one.  Adelaide has shown that a bowling side can do very big things.  Unfortunately the bowlers, specifically Broad and Anderson, the two strike bowlers, remained absent and Australia built a quality total.  Things went in Englands direction late in the match, but it was too late and Australia again romped home.  I blame a aging bowling attack and the possibility that England hadn't had enough time to detox from the loss to this match's direction.  

The third test was Australia's all the time every time.  Momentum had been built, and on top of that Australia was playing for a series win.  Combine that with the WACA conditions and this match was never really in contention.  As an aussie supporter though...



The fourth test was the biggest fizzler I've had the misfortune to watch in recent memory.  A demoralised England facing an Australia on a pitch that gave nothing to bowlers resulting in nobody getting out ever.  At this point pride was still on the line, the nature of the match was a sour one.  Whoever made that pitch, well, I hope they don't make next years.  

The fifth test. . . Was anybody watching by the time that rolled around?  I wasn't, and thus can't comment.  

The series in general, well, as an Australian fan I can't say I'm all that satisfied with the direction the team is headed.  ur batting lineup is as frail as ever, if we didn't have Smith we'd have been properly stuffed if I'm honest.  England learned how to get Bancroft out very quick, was the experiment worth the selectors destroying Renshaw and his moral?  No, no it was not.  Bancroft also needs more time in the oven, so what did we gain going forwards?  The Marsh brothers finally performed, but they can be unreliable as history has shown.  Ultimately we end the series once again desperately needing batsmen who can hold the crease with regularity.  

Still the boys won, so f*** yeah!  Ashes are ours for two years, woohoo!  

Meanwhile England weren't up to snuff.  Their bowling attack needs some desperate revitalisation as their main strike bowlers are either getting on a bit too much to handle the workload or don't seem to have the same intensity necessary for this level of play.  Their batting was also lackluster, Root found himself having an inverse to the usual effect of being made captain and never really fired, Cook fired once.  The new number 2 and 3, Vince and Stoneman were the big highlights, and from my perspective often some of the biggest threats.  


Final Rating: 6 out of 10 A decent series that started off with all the fire and competitiveness one would want from the sports biggest rivalry, but unfortunately began to lose said intensity as it wore on.  A decent enough series, better than the last Ashes, but ultimately nowhere near as exciting or engaging as the two series preceding it.

I... guess I'm back?

But my gracious that was a load of cobblers wunnit?  From England I mean.  Unless this is playing the long game to get double-Marsh into the Test squad for an extended period, in which case chapeau gents, your Machiavellian genius knows no bound(arie)s.  

You're damn right on the bowling attack.  Trouble is, when you play half your cricket in England, and most of your non-test FC cricket in Spring/September, dibbly-dobbly filth gets wickets. Result: you get a group of right-arm fast-medium bowlers who can swing the ball around corners with assistance... of which there is ball-all in Australia with the Kookaburra.  There's a deeper more ingrained problem than selection, although that's certainly faulty.

The even deeper more ingrained problem is that Australia will probably lose the Ashes straight back in two years.  End-to-end stuff where home advantage says everything.  I hope England can be the bigger cricket association and give Oz some decent warm-up sides, allowing them to practice against the swinging Duke.  Then we might have some close cricket for once.


Looking forward for Australia, Bancroft was a mistake and there's naff-all bowling depth, but everything else is probably good for a few years, and should challenge South Africa who I believe they're playing soon.  For England, I'd keep Stoneman and Malan.  The next series is in New Zealand where it probably will swing, but they have to resist the urge to play Anderson/Broad/Woakes/Stokes/Moe and actually try to give some more interesting bowlers some practice.  They will, of course, play Anderson/Broad/Woakes/Stokes/Moe and not give some more interesting bowlers some practice.

The best thing about the near future is that they'll probably play James Vince at 3 in NZ.  Where, again, it swings.

Before they do that, though - there's an actually good tournament going on. It's the Cricket World Cup Qualifier, and it already looks more fun than the actual World Cup.

Scotland have won two out of two matches. The possible favourites, Afghanistan, have lost two out of two matches; including a match today that went into the final over needing four to win with one wicket left. The biggest hundred thus far has been hit by a batsman from Papua New Guinea, of all places.

Forget the World Cup, played amongst teams bloated with money. This is the tournament to watch. I guess I'm supporting Ireland and Scotland!

What a farce this series has been.  I honestly don't give two birds who started it at this point, far as I'm concerned Scorched Earth is the answer and everyone doing anything out of order should get match bans, massive fines, and severe warnings.  The SA officials involved in Maskgate should be fired for their utterly piglike conduct, the higher ups allowing the Aussies to go unchecked should also be shown the door, and an example should be made of every single person involved in this sorry state of affairs to prevent this nonsense spreading to other series.  

I honestly can't tell which team and its officials make me more disgusted at this point.  Sledging culture has degraded since the days where actual wit was used in place of insults and threats, and the South Africans seem to feel that the answer to fire is to throw a petrol bomb on the blaze.  

I can't believe I'm saying that seeing India is the summer tour team this year has me relieved given the crap Kohli was spouting last year, but that's the current extremely pathetic state of affairs right now.

Wow, just wow.  I have no words.  


Actually no, I have words.  A lot of words in fact.  

I go to bed after making a post spurred by the dismal behaviour of both teams, fury stoked over the bancroft ball tampering, only to awaken to news of Smith himself doing it and being removed as captain.  

What a world we live in.  I have to say it'll be some time before I bother following cricket again (at this level at any rate).  Smith will be rightly crucified by basically everyone in Australia, if there's one thing the people of Australia despise in sport it is cheaters (the drug doping scandal in the AFL a few years ago proved that).

But lets get one thing clear.  It isn't just Australia's conduct here that's pissed me off.  It's South Africa, and frankly I hold more anger towards them right now than Australia.  because while everyone from the public to the media to CA condemn the conduct of the team (and thus justice will see itself served) the South Africans have done the exact opposite.  I used to hold the team in the highest of esteem, they were excellent competitors and never gave in, they were everything you could want in an opposition.  

Then the last few weeks happened.  They decided they wanted to be able to sling toxic mud and hold the moral highground.  Say what you will about Australia and how poor the sledging has become in the last fifteen or so years, but speaking as someone living here if our team members and administration had pulled the stunts the South Africans have they'd have been lynched, the public and media calling for heads on metaphorical pikes until given just that.  

For proof I would point no further than Steve Smith, who is about to undergo one of the biggest (and deserved) falls we've seen.  While it's probably a bit of a stretch to say he'll be shown the door entirely, the teams batting needs him too much for that (alas), I have no doubt he will be stripped of his captaincy, his position as a member of respect, and influence.  This on top of any suspensions that will come his way.  

On a less rabid note I would be curious to hear what Smith's actual reasons are for throwing his career under the bus as hard as he has.  Was it simply ego, or the pressures to perform in an increasing stressful and vitriolic environment eroding his morals?  

And with that said I'm done.  Between the two teams conduct and the ICC's demonstration that it wants nothing to do with competently enforcing the spirit of the game I frankly want nothing to do with the sport for the foreseeable future.  Athrun888 over and out.

I can't help thinking there's a lot of overreacting going on about the ball-tampering stuff.  I mean, getting politicians involved?  Christ alive.

First, funny.  With that done, I'm going to give five reasons why I'm not even that fussed.


Reason the first: it's not even that bad a form of cheating.  It is cheating, don't get me wrong, and it comes from the top down, and getting the new boy involved is scummy, and they should have the book thrown at them.  But it's ball-tampering.  It's not match-fixing, or doping.  It is scratching the ball a bit.  The result?  A skilful bowler (and they still have to be skilful) can make the ball move more, in what is increasingly a batsman-dominated game.  It's a form of cheating that harms nobody but the opposing batsman, and arguably makes the game more fun.

Reason the second: it's not the worst thing that's happened in cricket this week.  That would be the conclusion of the World Cup Qualifier, with only two teams qualifying.  At a time where every other sport is trying to grow the game, the ICC shrunk this World Cup from the previous 14 teams to 10 teams.  The WCQ has shown that other teams are very skilful and deserve to go through.  This isn't corruption coming from the top of one team, this is corruption (and it is just that, they want more games played between the lucrative countries) coming from the top of the entire sport!

Want to get angry?  Read this and get angry.

Reason the third: it's not even the worst thing the Australian cricket team have done recently.  I'm not aware of the mud-slinging the South Africans have done, I'm afraid, bar that one fan being a twat on the steps; but Australia have a long and storied record (as you say) of being sledgers, and even if they got worse than they gave this time around, one series doesn't make them the victimised party.  You think the Saffers would have thrown a petrol bomb, however bad that is, at any other team?  Nah.  Maybe at Kohli.  Who'd deserve it.

Australia have always gone, 'oh we play cricket hard but fair, we stay behind The Line' despite being downright thuggish at times.  That's part of why there's such an outpouring about this: not the tampering, but the fact that Australia have appointed themselves arbiters of 'The Line', and used it to get away with a lot worse than this.  But this is definitely on the other side of The Line, so they finally have to choke down their defiance and admit they dun goofed.  With it, a lot of other home truths about Australian cricket culture are coming home to roost.

This has been written by Australian journalists too. It is not just bitter Brits having a chunter. Promise.

Reason the fourth: there's other cricket going on right now that's getting buried under this.  There's the aforementioned ICC Qualifier.  There's England getting wiped out in New Zealand (I can't begrudge them that, Trent Boult's great).  There's the start of the English domestic season.  There's even the Australia vs. South Africa match itself, which has got kind of lost in the mess.

And that's the fifth and final reason: it didn't help Australia one lick.  Morne Morkel got his career-best figures, and in doing so ensured England didn't even have the worst collapse this week (58 ao).  So that's nice of the Ozzies!  Who said they're cricket's bad guys?


Anyway, I trust there'll be sackings and recriminations and it'll all blow over soon.  That said, it's clear that because of this cheating, Australia's last complete series should be wiped from the record books.

The greatest of cricketing moments has come again...

...we have a new Kohli face!



Beautiful.

Aaaaaaand saved!

I think Kohli and his brilliant faces will be the only good thing about the upcoming summer of cricket here.  Lord knows it won't be anything from Australia, the team is in complete shambles, Channel 7 poached the broadcasting rights to the entire sport (for those not aware of the Australian tv channel scene it's basically, well, it's just really really bad news), and series between Australia and India always become extremely rancourous affairs anyway.  

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention before that Australia has a new broadcaster of the cricket.  Channel Nine lost the rights (ridiculous, they're the ones who basically built the sport up in the nation in the Packer era), so I suspect even if I was following the sport the Australian summer would be nigh-unwatchable.  

Channel Seven used to broadcast the Tennis (which have swapped rights to Nine), and it was the most obnoxious broadcast of sports I've ever seen.  The commentators are, well, if you dislike Shane Warne you've never had the misery of listening to has-been-never-that-great Australians harp on about what the World Number 1 Tennis Player should be doing and what they'd be doing instead, like they have any clue whatsoever about what it's like to play at that level (besides Hewitt, when Hewitt occasionally does it he at least has the experience to back it up, given he was a former World Number 1 and winner of several slams and what have you.  Not that he frequently puts things so presumptuously). And they have the Australian-trait of never shutting up (a cardinal sin for a sport like Tennis), which'd be fine if the banter was actually decent or the insights engaging, but their contributions are about as wanted as the noise of a camel farting.

Then there's the constant stream of intrusive advertising, including but not limited to: games interrupted by CG viewscreens coming out of the court to advertise their upcoming programs.  Beacuse when you're concentrating on a tennis match what you absolutely want is games being interrupted by awful cg adverts for some of the trashiest shows ever created by man. It's be akin to them interrupting balls in overs in cricket.
 Bloody farce is what it is.

And their image quality is godawful.  I assume it's at least watchable in the city with the HD signals, but here in the country where they only broadcast in standard definition (in and of itself a crime as far as I'm concerned given the era we live in) their compression is so awful it renders it literally unwatchable (if channel nine can broadcast the cricket without turning it into pixelated crap there's zero excuse for Seven).  

So yeah, even if the national team wasn't in the worst shape it's been since before the early-Alan Border era channel seven poaching the rights all but ensures any cricket I watch in the near future is going to be paid TV, and it's going to be everybody besides Australia.

Welcome back to the thread! As a reward: Kohli in .gif form.

'Hey Virat, did you know that Ekans is "snake" backwards?'



English cricket communication is, incidentally, going to be in a similar state over the summer. I should say that I listen to the radio, because cricket isn't on free-to-air TV over here - only Sky. And I don't fancy paying Murdoch for the privilege.

Perhaps you've heard of Test Match Special, Athers? They broadcast English cricket on the radio. They're BBC, so no ads. They do have a somewhat plummy, comfy-cosy nature, and that certainly isn't for everyone, but it's nice.

This summer, it's going to TalkSport. Who do the football. With lots of ads. Yeah. Sounds like they might be the radio equivalent of 7.

Anyway basically Guerilla Cricket is going to be where it's at!

Today Alastair Cook batted his last Test innings. You may have heard of him, Athers: he basically won that one Ashes England won in Australia since pretty much the dawn of time/Botham single-battedly.

In it, he pushed his career average north of 45 (which for an opener in England is bloody good, equivalent to at least 50 in the middle order), notched his 33rd century, and became the fifth-highest run-scorer of time.

Not a bad career if you can get it. Me, I'm just intensely jealous of (a) his amazingly lack of sweatiness, when I start to drip if I so much as look at a thermometer above 20; and (b) his amazing powers of concentration, which I... oh look, a .gif of a cute cat!



Not as jealous of his terrifying smile, it must be said. Still, thanks for all the runs, Chef.

Well this was a joke of a Boxing Day I have to say. Dead pitch, and dead batsmen playing far too cautiously for the wicket they were playing on. It wasn't until Kohli came out we saw any sort of actual action.

Now I know we've got a tendency of throwing our wickets away, but I have to be blunt, if you've taken over 60 balls to get to 8 runs you're just being tedious (on this wicket anyway). There is absolutely nothing in the pitch that poses a threat to a batsman playing properly right now, you should not be on 8 after ten overs faced.

This is the second year running the Boxing Day test match has been as interesting as paint drying. It may only be the first day, but considering last years wicket was the same day five as it was on day one things are not looking good or interesting.

Only note is Cummins who somehow produced two wickets on this joke of a pitch. And the overall bowling attack, because despite how absolutely dead the pitch has been they kept trying and putting their backs into it for the entire day. A less focused team would have given India the chance for ridiculous scoring due to a waning concentration in these conditions. On this pitch it's a miracle India is only 200ish right now.

In a series that has had two exciting matches so far filled with action for the entire five day duration I expect this one to be a draw unless things change.

Trust you to only come into the thread for the mediocre one Athers. There have been two other Tests going on around the world if you want to see wickets falling!  Lots and lots of wickets...

Frankly I try to avoid Tests Kohli's in, he gets enough attention as it is.  I'd rather read Cameron Bancroft's 'apology'.  It's hilarious.



EDIT: Oops!

Before I get all doom-and-gloom I'll say one positive thing.  Channel Seven's coverage hasn't been anywhere nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be.  With how they were handling their pre-season promotional material I thought we were in for them to give it the same treatment they gave the tennis, instead it's arguably close to if not on par with channel nine's quality.  

And with that minor shred of positivity out of the way let the doom-and-gloom commence!  Because hoo boy 2019 is only four days old and already this year has become a shitshow.  It's bad enough that Doctor Who is dead, that Star Wars is dying, and that the MCU might be about to falter (only time will tell if they make the mistake Lucasfilm and the BBC have with their respective franchises or if Captain Marvel either turns out to be actually good or a blip on a radar).  But it gets worse, because now the Australian cricket team is at a historic low with no way that I can see of them recovering in the short or medium term!  

I was, thankfully, asleep for the entire day today.  I honestly forgot the test was on, and remained blissfully ignorant of this fact until nine in the evening when I figured I'd check the scorecard.  I expected India to have the match in control following the first day, they've run a disciplined and quality showing that has managed to avoid the pitfalls that getting complacent can create.  

I did not expect to see a thumping that will go down in history as one of Australia's all-time worst home losses.  

This news today actually and genuinely angers me.  Not because we're losing, in fact I have nothing but praise for India and their impressive display of skill this entire series.  No, I'm angry because everything that is happening could have been avoided, and has been looming for over six years.  

For over six years we've had systemic issues with how we were handling and raising our batsmen.  Emphasis has been eroded from the 4-day shefield shield matches and placed on T/20, and our selectors have shown utter incompetence at finding and grooming Test batsmen at every turn (one only has to look at the Ashton Agar to see how we have treated promising talent that needs support and grooming to succeed, they all but absolutely destroyed the young man's potential career in one of the most horrifying shitcannings of true talent I've ever seen).  

I'm sure we'll get the usual excuses trotted out over the current failings of our team to perform in any capacity with the bat.  They're a new side, they're inexperienced, ect ect ect.  This will completely ignore the fact that our batting has essentially been amataur hour for six years and we should be well past the point where they are inexperienced.  We clung on all those years because Smith and Warner were just that good and our bowling attack was capable of picking up the rest of the battings slack.  Coupled with the fact that the Australian media and general public only pays attention to home games and you've got an acceptance of medicority for many years.  

We should not be sitting here with an inexperienced side right now.  We should have groomed them into a decent side over a year ago.  

And so the predictable has happened.  You take away two of the only three people in our national side who can bat at a Test level and suddenly we're getting absolutely decimated by a far superior and disciplined side.  

Now I'm sure some would say "well Athrun, they haven't batted yet, we're losing because our bowling failed to deliver today!"  Yes, that is true.  However one has to look at why our bowling is failing right now.  We've been stomped flat two out of the last three tests, India has done to the team what we used to do to touring sides, slowly eroding the endurance and positivity from the side.  One simply has to look at the last test where our bowlers spent days in the field bowling their hearts out and receiving quite literally nothing for their efforts to understand why they are unable to perform now.  They will also be bowling with the knowledge that even if they do perform the batting will simply let all those efforts go to waste.  

Our problems right now are many, and they trace back to over six years of bureaucracy and complacent procrastination.  I have deep concerns that the issues that plague the side now are so entrenched, and the people running the show so incompetent, that out test team might never recover.  Instead they will simply place even more focus on the cash-cow that is the Bush Bash League, and give up on the form of the sport that the public is losing interest in because of the consistent mediocrity have been churning out.  

2019 is a hard year to stomach so far.  To see so many enduring things from ones your childhood fade to dust as ruthlessly as if Thanos had snapped his fingers is genuinely depressing to witness.

Change allegiance to NZ, you'll be happier! Everyone loves NZ.

More seriously, who's the third one who can bat? Khawaja? I've been pleasantly surprised at how well Paine wields the willow. He's also pretty good behind the stumps, top #bantz without being needless aggressive.

You've also got to remember how much of an effect the toss has. England just whitewashed SL in SL because they won all three tosses. Check how the results of the matches in this Aus/India series line up with the tosses: I think it's a 100% success rate. It's getting a bit silly.

Athers I know you don't care much about teams outside Oz, but - go on, have a look at England's score for today. It'll make you feel warm and fuzzy inside.