Australia versus India third Test - The Liebke Ratings

Should this have been an article?

• We hate games that end in Channel 9’s Commentary Land and La La Land when Coaches and Captains get antagonistic towards one another and the game fades away to nothing…as 2 very tired teams give up on a result. They look like they are just going thru the motions knowing only Australia can win. India looked that way yesterday afternoon. This is the folly of Test Cricket. And India and Australia both could have had an extra frontline bowler to promote a result. Playing the game out to the final ball will have a completely new meaning…as you will see below. • We love results! • He hate the fact that the ICC doesn’t do enough to ensure that nations such as the Windies, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Ireland, Zimbabwe, Pakistan are encouraged with money and consolidated effort to move up to rival the 4 Big Guys. EVEN COMPETITION SHOULD BE THE OBJECT OF EVERY SPORTING NATION, AND THE PARENT BODY. WHY? SO WE CAN HAVE A 10 TEAM WORLD CRICKET LEAGUE WITH REAL TEETH. • We Australians love winning at home….but we don’t always try enough to win in India and Pakistan. We win in Sri Lanka. We win in Safrica. We won in Zimbabwe. We never go to NZ, Bangladesh, the Windies, anywhere else. We are the best credentialed cricket programme in world cricket by a mile, we have the best talent by a mile, but we are often hog tied by flat wickets, spinning wickets and the rules of the game such as No Replacements for injured players. Cricket only has 4-5 very serviceable cricket countries…..and largely the ICC are to blame. • India have been very perverse in their attempts to win in Australia. In fact they have made no attempt to win….UNLESS AUSTRALIA DECLARES AND GIVES THEM A BREAK….which Australia have rightly chosen not to do here in Melbourne…to everyone’s dismay. No one wins when Cricket Managers, Coaches and Captains get perverse…AND THAT IS PURELY BECAUSE THE ICC RULES DO NOT ENSURE THAT TEST MATCH CRICKET GETS A RESULT!!!!! The R word is the only word in sports. “ RESULTS.” India are in damage control when all out efforts should be being made to WIN every Test your team plays….and now they look like they could actually lose an un-loseable Test because they did not have enough bowlers to win. • Cricketers are millionaires every year from the money paid to them from IPL and their nations. It is incumbent on the ICC to move into the 21st Century and rid the game of its’ perversity. Cricketers do as they are told by their Country, the ICC and their Coaches and selectors. But if the Rules of Cricket do not ensure a RESULT, then the perversity will remain. • Whether the Indian Cricket Team hates Australia and vica versa is moot. If they wish to secretly admire, respect and pay homage to one another that is also moot. What is important is that a TOSS OF THE COIN does not decide Test Matches, but that a set number of overs for each team does. For the players and the spectators, I would have 4 innings of 80 overs. Shorter days. Only 4 of them. Maximum effort. Fielding rules and restriction can be designed to ensure close contests. This is the only way a Test Match should be decided. Then the ICC can schedule with complete confidence and have a result in every game and Series. • I love Test matches that go 5 days and get a result. That is the epitome of the idea of testing the players mettle. But there is too much cricket for too few players, players are getting injured, playing hurt, Selectors are not picking enough bowlers in teams, there is so much cricket these days…and these factors are hurting the game, and the players. The 2 teams were bone tired today, having played and trained ceaselessly for 4 weeks. And now they have to butter up in Sydney. THE SCHEDULING OF TEST MATCHES IS DONE PURELY FOR THE NATIONS TO MAKE AS MUCH CASH FROM BROADCAST RIGHTS AND SPECTATORS AND SPONSORS AS THEY CAN! • I love fast bowlers. I want them to last. Nations should be encouraged to keep a stable of at least 10 fast bowlers, right and left handed for their 3 forms of the game. If we play 4 X 80 over innings Test Matches, WE MUST HAVE REPLACMENT AND SUBSTITUTION LAWS. This will find the best Nation by revealing the DEPTH of the Squad they have, not just 11 blokes, more like 20-25. Cricket is a SQUAD GAME, as well as a team game. • We do nothing about the Laws of Test Cricket so that the Tragics can go to their graves remembering “how great the game is.” Well , sport down the ages has had to adjust to new eras and rules and conditions etc. Playing under lights, new thick bats, One Day Cricket, T20, smaller boundaries, new pads, gloves, balls, protectors, coloured clothing, field restrictions…I could go on and on….AND IN FACT THAT IS WHAT HAS HAPPENED. The game has gone past and the ICC and Test Cricket as it is presently played. It needs to be more relevant to Xgens and Y gens and 40 year olds than Baby Boomers….and that really is the crux of the matter. Parents are having children later in life, the number of children being born in Australia/the World is growing….AND THE GAME OF TEST CRICKET IS NOT ADAPTING TO THOSE CHANGES.

Firstly any suggestions that Smith captained the side poorly in this last test because of a question mark about when he declared is just plain ridiculous. Seems to me declarations are always tricky affairs. Some are seen to declare too early and lose the match. Others still cant get the other team out with a huge amount of time remaining. In this test I think, because Australia already had the cup, it was decided to allow Shaun Marsh an opportunity to score a ton, given his vulnerable position. Nothing was being lost. And in the end it was only the tough resistance of a tail ender, for the first time in this series from India, that denied Australia the win. It was a calculated gamble and on this occasion it didnt work. But it may not have worked if he had declared 2-3 hours earlier. If Australia were one up in the test series, Smith may well have taken another option. Good on him for his efforts. On the field he looked like he was in control. As for Maxwell, I also think its justified to keep him in the loop. He is only 26, has a first class average of 40.39 and has improved in general significantly in the recent two years. Still makes judgement errors but he's far better than two of our present batsmen in the test side. His time will come but keeping his name at the forefront is important. Mentioning Bailey though Dan is just being mischievous.

I love how you have to include Maxwell in every article you write. Makes me laugh every time

Exactly.

"Secondly, at no point did he succumb to the habit of calling cricket balls ‘cherries’, ‘nuts’, ‘pills’, ‘rocks’, ‘tomatoes’, ‘Mogwais’ or whatever it is that James Brayshaw is calling them these days. This is brilliant.

Do you reckon the time has come for Maxwell to invent a new shot, the likes of which has never been seen before? I think it will be dubbed "The reverse leave".

Glenn Maxwell was warming us up the other night - get ready for the first ball century. He will bend time and space - he is that special...

Brilliant.

nice work again dan. im going to print this out at put on my wall at work. should keep me smiling for most of the year. Alternatively, India might have taken the game into their own hands and attempted to snare three more wickets. (Ha, no. I’m kidding, of course.) The wording annoying me the most is batters. Ponting started it and now Clarke is spreading it out into the world. Its batsman its always been batsman. Brayshaw is so annoying I nearly cant sit through one of his sessions. When he and Mark Nicholas are on together I feel like the world is going to end. How come the English left him here after the ashes, or is he part of the prize you win. Maybe we should lose the next ashes so they keep him.

I'm far from convinced so far guys. Last year he averaged mid 30s as per his average. Its only this season in 2 Shield innings, an Under 23s match and two test innings out of 11 innings that has has looked the goods. The other eight innings he averaged less than 20. Like I said, he's improved over the past few months (not the past year) and when he usually gets past 20 he seems to do well. But its far too early to say whether he's turned the corner in my opinion. But then he has to start somewhere and hopefully this recent form isnt just another of his purple patches where he falls back into a succession of single figure scores.

Well said on the declaration. Why was the debate focused on how hard Australia (2-0) were pushing for a win, and not on how hard India (0-2) were pushing to knock over 9-11 and an under pressure Marsh? And the debate raged on during the run chase regarding the timing of the declaration, and no one seemed to question why India didn't go after the target and risk going 0-3 for the chance to go 1-2?

Mostly agree...Harris could have said he played a good knock and Brayshaw, I think, would make his own Father, a better player and superior journo, vomit!

You can't really blame Harris though, he's not going to say on camera, "yeah Shaun is mediocre player who produced a good innings". Imagine walking into the dressing room after that comment! On another note though, it seems as though the only commentators that are willing to be truthful about players position, form etc. are Chappelli, Lawry & the ABC radio team. The rest (channel 9) seem to think every Aussie batsmen is the world best, and James Bradshaw's commentary when S Watson is batting is now becoming inappropriate, I almost vomit everytime now there is that much of a bro crush going on.

"which Australian player Clarke didn’t introduce as “a great team man” Anyone keen to have a go at listing the ones that didn't get the "Great team man" introduction.

I think Marsh has turned his life and his cricket around in the last year. He will still have the occasional early innings failures as even the best will have. We shouldn't get too excited about his last innings but we shouldn't jump on him after his next failure either. I am glad he was given the opportunity to bat on, the only criticism I have is that the declaration should have been made as soon as he went out.

By the way, did anybody hear Ryan Harris call S Marsh a "great player" in his after match interview? I can't believe that. With an average in the mid 30s after 15 blessed years at first class level I should think mediocre would be more accurate. Ponting, G Chappell, Border were great players. Bradman was on his own in the phenomel class. Park cricketers get recognised for 30s in the local rag. It hardly calls for a rating as great. It also annoyed me watching the field settings on the last day. The minute the over rate went to 10 the field should have crowded the bat. They waited until it topped 20 and there were less than a dozen before belatedly moving them in. It was a very uninspiring, un-Australian effort by our boys yesterday.

How old is Shaun Marsh? What about Dan Marsh? Do they have kids? They must be knocking on the door of selection. Get them in there with Uncle Mitch ASAP. -- Comment from The Roar's iPhone app.