Australian cricket is once again on its knees against India after the most tantalising fifth-day action at the Gabba.
Rishabh Pant and Cheteshwar Pujara held the innings together with a strong middle-order partnership.
Australia was poised to take advantage of the conditions ahead of this series. The lack of pitch deterioration this series was something that caught fans of both sides scratching their heads.
Both the Gabba and SCG pitches didn’t produce any significant fifth-day cracks and turns for the spinner. Foot marks have been the only source of disturbance or markings on the pitch.
Nathan Lyon was poised to be the hero on Day 5 in Sydney but failed to make an impact and didn’t get much help from the wicket.
(Photo by PATRICK HAMILTON/AFP via Getty Images)
A carbon copy was set up for him on a Gabba wicket that had faced the harshest of conditions from torrential rain to severe heat. That set up the game for Nathan Lyon to be the deciding factor to steer Australia’s faith.
The pitches at the Gabba and the SCG were your standard wicket blocks opposed to the new norm of a drop pitch.
The new pitches are built to last in Australia to accommodate the rigorous schedule of Big Bash and Sheffield Shield with quick turnarounds and an added pressure to keep the wickets looking immaculate.
The pitches were one of the most important factors in Tim Paine winning the toss and batting first on both decks to make sure that they were bowling last and later on when the pitch was expected to break down and provide more options for the spinner.
The pitch didn’t assist the Australian pacemen of Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood or Pat Cummins with only a handful of balls providing inconsistent bounce or a deviation of movement. Most balls that deviated were drilled into the body of Pujara.
The lack of fifth-day movement was no excuse for the Aussie bowlers, but it showed a changing tide of how Australia’s pitches are becoming more of a hardened road then catalysts for swing.
Lachlan Mitchell
Roar Guru
The toss was won and bat on both surfaces hoping for 5th day or 4th day help , nothing of the sort
Lachlan Mitchell
Roar Guru
Yeah couldn't agree any more, He's just bangs it in and goes back and does it all day .
Lachlan Mitchell
Roar Guru
Made some of the Aussie bats look poor especially with Washington and Thakur's innings
Lachlan Mitchell
Roar Guru
Very True , Just not the usual wear and tear we are use to seeing on Australian surfaces
Micko
Roar Rookie
Usually the only time kiwis mention “anzac” to aussies is when you’re sucking up when you want something off us. Usually you’re just whinging about aussies like you’re usually doing.
Coss
Roar Rookie
India did take more wickets than Australia over the series. If they bowled on the 5th day in Sydney and Brisbane I imagine the gat would have been even greater.
Coss
Roar Rookie
Except India's bowlers got the bowl to swing using the old skill of keeping the seam upright. They got the ball to cut using the old method of shifting your wrist after altering your finger positioning, not just hoping the ball will hit the scrambled seam and deviate. India's bowlers seemed to have less problems with the pitch being flat, and a few of them were net bowlers never in serious contention for test selection. Were Australia batting on the last day of those test matches (Sydney and Brisbane) I am almost certain we wouldn't be talking about how easy those pitches were to bat on.
Megeng
Roar Rookie
Pitches used to be green. That worked a treat
Mukhtar
Roar Rookie
Langer persisted with the bowlers underperforming and batsmen falling to mindless slogs. Coaches, players, selectors all share the blame.
Tempo
Roar Rookie
Brisbane has always been quite a flat pitch in test matches, though this one seemed to start quite dry and as a result I think ended up playing a bit slower and less bouncy than usual. It rarely moves around or breaks up more though. India had also been in the country for 2 months and so much more used to Australian conditions - as a result it was less of a shock playing at the Gabba compared to the usual story of stepping straight off the plane onto Australia's bounciest pitch.
Tempo
Roar Rookie
Not sure how much credence I put into the PitchViz rating. By coincidence, the rating was higher whenever India bowled (primarily Days 1 and 4). I think the Indian attack just managed to get more out of the pitch - for starters they were able to get far more swing than the Australian attack, and seemed to be better at hitting the cracks too.
TRhing-me
Roar Rookie
I know there's two i's in Kiwi but didn't know there was an i in aNZac!
Peter Farrar
Roar Pro
Thanks for the article. Until a couple of seasons ago it was the MCG pitch that was under scrutiny. It was if a lane of our local freeway had been dug up and laid down for the Boxing Day test. I noticed a couple of Nathan Lyon deliveries in Brisbane appeared to hit a crack and jag away but not much other assistance. The Australians understandably believed 5th day conditions would be a factor but it just wasn't there for them.
Censored Often
Roar Rookie
Both teams "yapped" and both teams behaved badly at times to the point of smashing bails off the stumps with regularity when wickets didn't fall, both teams had shadow batsman, claimed a catch on the bounce. Only one team were held to public / media account, one team remains untouchable in that regard.
Censored Often
Roar Rookie
Best yet... So when are you replacing JL as throw down coordinator?
Censored Often
Roar Rookie
Line and length.
badmanners
Roar Rookie
Would be interesting to ask the Indian players their opinions of the pitches and how they compare to some of their home surfaces. They looked very comfortable to me.
Riccardo
Roar Rookie
:thumbdown:
Riccardo
Roar Rookie
I have noticed Australian pitches have less spice and definitely less bounce. Remeber the WACA of old? The comments suggesting Australia should resort to Waugh's implementation of mental disintegration are poor, irrelevant and dated. The fact is that while Australia has a great attack, their batting line-up is brittle. Leadership remains an issue too. I'm not sure that attack has been well-enough supported with feild placements, nor management. Paine should not be alone in the scrutiny to come; Langer should be in the spotlight too. The Selectors, it would appear, have some serious questions to ponder.
Riccardo
Roar Rookie
Better captaincy. Field placings. Attack created pressure bowling as a unit. India wanted it more...