Strange thing for you to focus on Nudge, considering you pretty much disappeared from ROAR during Australia’s tour of Sri Lanka 🙂

Great days cricket

All dues to india for a very impressive display but also a call out to England for showing some plumbs. After the mental blow of India miraculously getting a 230 run lead after being under the cosh it would have been easy to crumble for England when batting. Barring a miracle, England will still likely lose but if they go down fighting it will gain a modicum of respect

This said, a few standouts

Root was very good but he had to find a way to go on and score a decisive big score as a true batting master would have. His style was very like Michael Clarke but the great Aussie would have scored a big hundred. Root’s test record is very impressive but a stand out is his conversion rate from scores over 50 to making hundreds. He needs to be better in this regard.

Moeen Ali isnt a test batsmans bootlace. People will instantly point to his century in the first test but that was greatly aided by the very curious fields set that allowed him to score at will and keep him away from his frequent moments of madness. He polarises opinions Moeen, for he poses more questions than gives answers in all his disciplines

Stokes- it is great to be proactive with attack but playing a reverse sweep 15 minutes from stumps when your team is struggling is pretty dumb

As for India, everything emanates from the control of Jadeja and it will be interesting to see how they change their tactics away from home or will they try to maintain it by batting Ashwin at 6 to accommodate Jadeja?

Fabulous cricketer that is a key in this Indian side

Hate them with a passion, but the best side I ever saw was the Blues team of between 79-82- they were truly incredible

of the debate- Brisbane

Silly comment, despite the scoreline, some of the cricket in this series has been compelling

This is why test cricket is so compelling

Flip to yesterday, the game in the balance with India 4 down and about 100 odd behind. Rashid gets a caught and bowled chance off Kohli when he was 60 odd and grassed it,

If he caught that at that stage of the game it probably would have saw England have a lead and a chance to win.

But, in the highest form of the game, you get punished big time for mistakes by good players/teams and now England are facing the possibility of a humiliating innings loss. Particularly with the pitch supporting spin and the huge lead affording attacking fields to put the acid big time on the bats

Hats off to India for an exceptional display that was compelling in its brutality

all the commentators are so switched on- hussain, agree is exceptional

Great innings by both Vijay and Kohli

But England made a rod for their back by dropping Kohli, when Rashid spilt him when he was 60 odd. Tough caught and bowled chance but it will be the difference between a 50 run lead and 100 run deficit for England

which now sets up a one innings game that India is short odds to win b/c of the strength of their spinners. England would have to bat really well to set up a 200+ run lead and then bowl really well which is unlikely. The pitch is supporting spin and the Indian spinners perfectly suited and then the Indian bats are able against spin, particularly Vijay who is exceptional. And then the English tweekers are lacking in completeness as well as lacking support from the rest of the attack on this pitch that is giving seamers nothing

Unless the English bowling attack is able to skittle the Indian batting order – and it has not had much success attempting to do so during this series – then a draw really does seem like the likely result.

my apologies, but whoever wrote this has no clue……….

With it only day three and the pitch already supporting turn the draw is arguably the least likely result

If India can get a lead they are very able to win this, particularly if it is by over 100. Also, if the English can bowl India out and then bat well they too can set up a victory charge on what will be a very difficult pitch on day 5.

Always intrigues me how players go when the emphasis comes on them to perform by taking a more prominent role in their teams prospects.

It is my main belief why Nathan Lyon gets exposed on occasion when he is cast in a role he is not comfortable with. In this case, the stand out is the English spinners, notably Adil Rashid. The leggie has been very respectable all series but in this game where the focus has come on him to be the ‘man’ by commandeering a potential victory charge, he has come up way short. This takes away from the excellence of the Indian batting, particularly Murali Vijay, who despite his modest average is one of the few complete batsmen in the game in respect to able in all confines.

The game is still in England’s favour if they can get early wickets by improving how they bowled but it will rely heavily on the spinners stepping up to the plate and rising from their complete rubbish of today

A traditional team lacking Hobbs, V Richards, G Pollock, Warne, Marshall, Trueman……………….!

No Akram/Davo in all rounders team, also if you wanted a spinner, then why not Hugh Trumble?

Compelling days cricket

Firstly England showing more attacking mindsets to try to knock the Indian spinners out of their two tests of control. It was working brilliantly until Moeen Ali top-edged a sweep, then India fought back spearheaded by Ashwin.

With England losing three wickets quickly for not much the chances of a fatal collapse was there. Step in Stokes showing his new resolve and maturity to deal with a tricky start to get through to stumps with Buttler

The pitch is already spinning meaning if England can get to 400 it will be a decisive score and put real acid on India with pressure on them

Great innings by Jennings and perfect platform for England

Can they truly make it count?

Stands out like dogs balls what Shami means to India. Without him, they lack so much threat as well as the glue that binds their attack.

The fields once more are ridiculous, it is as if you are watching the 20-35 overs in an ODI where batsmen are permitted to tap singles at will.

Great session by England that would have been near perfect if not for a loose shot by Cook.

Aided massively by Kohli’s fields and his reluctance to bowl Jadeja until 20 minutes before lunch

As already cited by ‘atgm’, Jadeja has looked very dangerous

Be interesting to see how the English deal with his threat after lunch

Shami is a huge out for india, vastly under rated fast man that is in the best 5 quicks in the game

the aside already bemoaned by Sunny is the lack of a Mumbaite in the 11, made me instantly reminisce of a famous riot at the old Brabourne stadium in the 60’s because a Mumbai player missed out

Kohli is already astounding all with his very curious ( being polite ) fields

i am making the comment from an ignorant viewpoint for havent watched an ODI since the concklusion of the 96 WC. Find them a tired and outdated form of the game

But always associated Aussies with loving seeing batsmen jump from facing quickmen

Many come to see the tearaway quicks

Just look at the hysteria Thommo caused, or i am showing my age, Frank ‘Typhoon’ Tyson

The aside to this which I am struggling with is the ‘corporate consideration’

In the lead up to this ODI series, Lehmann said as an aside ‘ He must play both Starc/Hazelwood….’

I think he did this with CA whispering in his ear about the need for stars to turn out with crowds in mind.

Cummins is Box office in this regard

As for his present/future, he needs to be primed for next years Ashes, work up to Grade games and Shield in the new year and after play in a few A-Games.

I must admit never respected Smith as a batsman until that innings. i never labelled him a flat track bully but saw him as a front runner where if the game was in Australia’s favour he would plunder. Never seen many back to the wall innings or prevailing in the face of intense pressure

that Hobart innings didn’t fully change my mind on him but it certainly garnered a great deal more respect for him

Going forward, I think his real test will be in India for I think he, despite the reputation of being a great player of spin is very average against him. Herath in SL certainly made him look very out of his depth and I think he might get exposed once more by the Indian tweekers, particularly Jadeja

Oh, I thought he was fit to play.

On this premise, wholly agree with you

Very unfair on Marsh who has been in top form

But, you can support it with them plumping for youth

I would take the gloves off Bairstow, give them to Foakes and fix the middle order issues by batting Bairstow at 4. as for Butler, not sold on his test calibre

agree with both you and James that Adelaide is perfect, just being selfish as a ‘Rabid Melbournite’

Thankyou Vincent, the irony of Smith for I is the fact that I have seen most if not all of his test innings but I define his greatest batting effort in the recent unbeaten 48 in Hobart

An innings of real skill and grit in trying conditions that perfectly suited a very skilful RSA attack

When I think of Cummins, three other names from the past enter my thoughts- Miller, Lindwall and Davidson

In reference to the bowling trio that Cummins could complete in test cricket for Australia

Think of him spearheading the attack with Starc, and Hazelwood cast in the change role. In handling him, you could manage his workload with another exceptionally talented but injury prone quick in Pattinson

Outrageously exceptional attack!

The sad, and curious/f..king frustrating aspect is he is being wasted in meaningless ODI matches rather than set the timeline to be primed to be unleased on next years Ashes

Putting his figures aside, the stand out of Smith for I is he an old style type of Aussie in respect to letting his actions speak for him, rather that the predominant characteristic of the current crop who are too willing to whine to the press.

He has had every reason too as well with how he was virtually thrown to the wolves before he was ready as ‘the next warney’ and recently where he was hung out to dry with the lack of support he was given to his captaincy. Highlighted in SL, where he was an inexperienced leader operating in foreign confines after many old heads had left the team taking the support to him they represented.

As a batsman, i view him as a fine player but a fair way off what I would define as truly great. In saying this, he has every chance to achieve this acclaim in his present/future

Forget emotive terms like ‘Revenge’ or ‘Redemption’, it is more about ‘Credibility’

a factor sadly lacking in a team flogged by SL and pantsed by RSA. Fans point to the Adelaide result but the context was it was a dead rubber which takes the gloss of it somewhat. I do not mean to diminish the performance by raising this but one has to concede it was a factor with many viewing the RSA players ‘having a foot on the plane’ after the series sealer in Hobart, thus lacking the intensity/focus they had in the series.

in a live game against a very able Pakistan team, lets see how the new look Aussies go.

Their bowling is and always has been superlative but their batting still has huge question marks against it