Australia v India: 1st Test, Melbourne

First topic message reminder :

Monday, December 26, MCG
Start time: 1030 AEDT; 0500 IST; 2330 GMT

Australia:
1 David Warner, 2 Ed Cowan, 3 Shaun Marsh, 4 Ricky Ponting, 5 Michael Clarke (capt), 6 Michael Hussey,
7 Brad Haddin (wk), 8 Peter Siddle, 9 James Pattinson, 10 Nathan Lyon, 11 Ben Hilfenhaus.

India:
1 Virender Sehwag, 2 Gautam Gambhir, 3 Rahul Dravid, 4 Sachin Tendulkar, 5 VVS Laxman, 6 Virat Kohli,
7 MS Dhoni (capt, wk), 8 R Ashwin, 9 Zaheer Khan, 10 Ishant Sharma, 11 Umesh Yadav.

277/6 at stumps.

That crowd figure of 70,068 looks a little inflated to me. They must add on all the Members (irrespective of whether they were there or not) + 10,000 for good measure. There was less than 30,000 there at the end of that last session.

India's day, not by a lot though. They won the first session, the 2nd went to Australia, and despite that 7th wicket partnership, India won the third session.
But Australia, even the sessions they lost out, put up a good fight.
But at the end of the day they will be disappointed with 277-6 after choosing to bat.

The unluckiest players of the day? Mike Hussey who got a corker first up, which was too good to be edged but was given out.
And Ishant Sharma, who bowled some real rippers without anything to show for all that at the end of the day.

Tight day's play. Looks like a dodgy decision by Erasmus led to the Indian Renaissance....

Well after that day, I hope Indian fans will stop whining about umpiring in Australia. Two poor decisions in their favour and no DRS.

"Ed Cowan has reiterated Australia's calls for a uniform approach to the Decision Review System on a day when he and Michael Hussey fell to decisions that would have been overturned had they been reviewed. As a Test debutant at the age of 29, Cowan has spent longer than most men watching the game from the outside, and he believes the ICC should take the lead on the DRS"

And Ravi Shastri's comments about DRS today were a joke, I heard what he said about the umps the last time India toured Aus.

Aus could have been 300-4 today without the umps mistakes.

Hope India get some shockers too.

Always cheers me up when they get a howler against them, and you know they'd give anything to give the DRS hand signal at that given moment.

djlovesyou wrote:Hope India get some shockers too.

Always cheers me up when they get a howler against them, and you know they'd give anything to give the DRS hand signal at that given moment.

me too

Perhaps Sachin will get out to a horrendous decision on 99. That might change a few minds.

skyeman wrote:"Ed Cowan has reiterated Australia's calls for a uniform approach to the Decision Review System on a day when he and Michael Hussey fell to decisions that would have been overturned had they been reviewed. As a Test debutant at the age of 29, Cowan has spent longer than most men watching the game from the outside, and he believes the ICC should take the lead on the DRS"

And Ravi Shastri's comments about DRS today were a joke, I heard what he said about the umps the last time India toured Aus.

Aus could have been 300-4 today without the umps mistakes.

Ha ha ha.. its great to see Aussies getting taste of their own medicine. Heard that Aussies are trying to get Bucknor out of retirement. BCCI should never agree to DRS unless its satisfied with the technology.

One against the rest, surely that must tell you something?? Eventually they will be forced to tow the line, it is inevitable.

I think the BCCI stand against the DRS is questionable. I thought before the England tour, that it was a joke when the game needed less of wrong calls. But the England tour forced me to reconsider my position on the DRS. while it is not still close to the BCCI position, I think there has to be more R&D at the level of technology.
At the same time the DRS, in all its available forms, should be used in all the games. That means hot spot, Hock Eye, Tracker, whatever technology available should be used everywhere. I don't agree with the selective use of the DRS, neither do I agree with the selective use of the various technology in the process.
And before signing off on the topic, a word for supporters of other boards that only question the BCCI.
The BCCI may be at the front of the demand to halt the DRS, but on there own, they couldn't have stopped the ICC decision. The ECB, CA, UCB, as far as I know, haven't come out openly in support of the system.
Doesn't that tell you something?

If Australia can go up to 350, they should be happy. That should be a challenging score.

msp83 wrote:I think the BCCI stand against the DRS is questionable. I thought before the England tour, that it was a joke when the game needed less of wrong calls. But the England tour forced me to reconsider my position on the DRS. while it is not still close to the BCCI position, I think there has to be more R&D at the level of technology.
At the same time the DRS, in all its available forms, should be used in all the games. That means hot spot, Hock Eye, Tracker, whatever technology available should be used everywhere. I don't agree with the selective use of the DRS, neither do I agree with the selective use of the various technology in the process.
And before signing off on the topic, a word for supporters of other boards that only question the BCCI.
The BCCI may be at the front of the demand to halt the DRS, but on there own, they couldn't have stopped the ICC decision. The ECB, CA, UCB, as far as I know, haven't come out openly in support of the system.
Doesn't that tell you something?

But the boards that can, all use it, surely that shows the support of the system. And many of the players say it should be used. Then 100% of umpires have said they wish for it to be used in all Test matches because it helps to get more correct decisions.
Only India can not see, even if it is not 100%, it is better to have it, than to not.

Plenty of Cricket Boards support too.

The Pakistan Cricket Board wasted no time today in announcing its intention to use the full DRS complement of 'Hot Spot' and ball-tracking in their ’home’ series.
PCB spokesman Subhan Ahmad said: “We are pleased to be taking a leading role in the use of ICC-recommended technologies for international cricket.

“We hope that other partner boards will follow the example of the PCB and use the system in their respective future series. The use of the DRS system will bring added value to our forthcoming series.”

England will have no objection to the use of DRS, having long been enthusiastic advocates of the technology available to help increase the number of correct umpiring decisions.


India, a staunch opposer of the system, had refused to allow th DRS’ usage despite Cricket Australia being in favour of it. The ICC rules say that the system can be used only if both the Boards consent to ii.


And it does indeed tell me something, about the BCCI.

Bangladesh say they don't have the money, Sri Lanka can't afford Hot Spot. Same holds for New Zeland.
And, ICC decisions are not taken over internet forums or media. In the ICC executive, the other strong boards, such as ECB, CA and the UCB should take a stand in favor of the system.

https://youtu.be/9uvdpv326A4


A wise man indeed, especially his " No team should be allowed to dictate to the rest of World cricket" line.

Not a lot ECB and CA can do when Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka, WI & SA side with India on pretty much every vote. Of course most of their money comes from India so it is understandable.

Ravi Shastri is however a complete and utter hypocrite.

skyeman wrote:https://youtu.be/9uvdpv326A4


A wise man indeed, especially his " No team should be allowed to dictate to the rest of World cricket" line.

Not many who are against BCCI domination felt the same way when England and Australia had VETO and did everything in their power to gain advantage for their team. They are whining now cause the tables are turned against them.

pensacric wrote:

skyeman wrote:https://youtu.be/9uvdpv326A4


A wise man indeed, especially his " No team should be allowed to dictate to the rest of World cricket" line.

Not many who are against BCCI domination felt the same way when England and Australia had VETO and did everything in their power to gain advantage for their team. They are whining now cause the tables are turned against them.

Are you really this stupid?

Even day overall really...

Evening all,

On the cricket: honours just about even, on purely the score it's slightly India's day (350 is you feel the par first innings score on a pitch offering a little, and Aus still aren't quite there yet) but with the partnership at the end the momentum is slightly Australia's way. Anything over 350 won't be easy for India as I think the pitch will deteriorate and fairly quickly at that: Siddle and Hilfenhaus have shown in the past they can exploit up and down bounce.

For Australia, Ponting looked to me the best he's looked in a long time, that big stride was back and he was attacking the ball more than he has done recently. Warner played as Warner will, I'm not sure whether he can form a proper opening partnership with Watson. Cowan looked solid, but limited. His main scoring shots seem to be the square cut and the drive to a long half-volley outside off: if the better bowling sides cut those out I'm not sure how many runs he will score. To be brutally honest I'm not convinced he's a modern cricketer: his running between the wickets was also fairly poor, so he'll have to work on that. But clearly knows where his off-stump is.

Marsh played a drive, sliced it to point, not much to say. It was certainly in the slot and it's one of his shots, so I don't get Tony Greig's "soft dismissal" remark. What do you want him to do? Some of these commentators should remember that the point of batting is to score runs after all. Wouldn't blame Marsh except for poor execution, he should have hit it for four. Mind you, two meters either side and it was. Clarke played nicely and was undone by good bowling. Hussey got a shocker (although it was an excellent delivery). Haddin and Siddle did well, Haddin in particular is impressing me recently.

Aus will have an interesting decision to make when Watson's fit again.

For India, Sharma was for me the pick of the bowlers. I think he's a bit like Flintoff was in that he bowls his natural slightly back of a length which means he beats the bat more than he takes the edge. Gillespie was the same for a while for Australia. People say he should bowl fuller, but as we saw in England when he does that he has a tendancy to just float it up a bit. I'd stick to his length and just put up with the fact he will probably be one of those "unlucky" bowlers. Having said that he can claim a fair ammount of credit for Ponting's wicket: I think Ponting slightly relaxed when Yadav came back on.

Zaheer Khan looked short of fitness at the start of play, but bowled himself into form and looked more and more impressive as the day grew on. I think if he stays fit he'll cause the Ausies big problems on this tour. Ashwin looked fairly average on a pitch which offered him a bit. Unsure whether to attack or defend and his action looks a bit lazy to me at times, like he's just putting the ball there. I was impressed by him both in the IPL and in the West Indies, so have to say was a bit disappointed.

Onto Yadav: he seems to have the happy knack already of picking up wickets sometimes with ordinary deliveries. Reminds me a little bit of a young Mitch Johnson, slightly whippy action, all arm (fast arm mind) a hint of shape, sharp bouncer and good cricket brain. I think he'll do well if people accept they'll be the odd 2/100 in there when he gets it mainly wrong.

Kohli's fielding deserves singling out, I thought he was superb and a bundle of energy, clearly lifting the team up at times.

ON the DRS:
A few truths: it is well known that India is the ONLY board who opposes its global use. They get help in board meetings from West Indies, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka who basically can't afford it. For some strange reason the ICC declines to pay for it. It is equally well known that India's opposition is built on the misgivings of some of their senior players.

Personally I think Hotspot is great (and the new expanded version seems to be reliable to the extreme), but am unconvinced about Eagle-eye in particular. It is also not helpful to use one ball-tracking system in one country and another in another. If the ICC is serious about implementing it in all countries (and I believe they should be, it certainly eradicates the howlers) then testing and development of the optimum technology needs to be funded.

Unfortunately the way the ICC board is run means that a powerful nation can in effect "veto" anything they don't like. Decisions require a 2/3ds majority, so all India (or previously England let's not forget) need to do is bully and cajole some of the less powerful nations and they're ok. I'm ashamed to say this is sometimes done with the help of the associate nations (in return for India "looking kindly" on us I suppose...). Of course, should there be real democracy at the heart of the ICC (see governance review currently happening) then this would improve.

pensacric wrote:

Ha ha ha.. its great to see Aussies getting taste of their own medicine. Heard that Aussies are trying to get Bucknor out of retirement. BCCI should never agree to DRS unless its satisfied with the technology.[/quote]

look who's back :facepalm

I think India will be the happier side with the way in which they play Test cricket - the pitch didn't do loads and they tend to win games by outbatting teams. With a score of 277/6 they would still back themselves to dismiss Australia for 325 which should be well within the range of their batsmen against this Aussie attack.

Australia won't be too disheartened either. I was impressed by Cowan (good old-fashioned opening batsman) and was disappointed to see him miss out on a ton, particularly as with Watson maybe coming back and Warner and Marsh both having made very good starts in Test cricket he might struggle to stay in the team. My personal opinion is that the Aussies best balanced batting line-up would be Watson, Marsh, Ponting, Clarke, Hussey, Warner with Cowan in reserve as I'm not sure that Watson would benefit from dropping down the order and I think Warner could do. Ponting played well in patches and I see no reason for Australia to replace him at this point.

The Indian bowlers were so/so. Zaheer looked like he was still feeling his way back from injury, Sharma and Ashwin were OK but not brilliant and Yadav was expensive even though he picked up three wickets. I would certainly be weary not to get carried away with Yadav - he bowls fast by Indian standards but not particularly by global standards and doesn't seem to do all that much with the ball. What he is is something different from Zaheer and Sharma which at least offers some variety to the attack.

I'm a big fan of the UDRS and would like to see the ICC set about finding a global sponsor to ensure it can be used in all Tests and ODIs. If this isn't possible I would change the rule from the agreement of both teams to the decision of the home team. It simply isn't acceptable for wrong decision to be made at the highest level any more. The Hussey decision would definitely have been reversed on review - I'm less sure about the Cowan one as there wasn't what I would call reasonably conclusive evidence until Snicko was shown which isn't part of UDRS.

My view is that India oppose it on the grounds that when they have used it (trial series vs SL in 2008 and a couple of occasions since) they got poor feedback from the players - the same poor feedback that England and West Indies gave after their 2009 series, on the grounds that errors were being made even with the review judgment. There is also some doubt about the reliability of Hawk Eye, particularly in the sub-continent, where a less accurate version is used than that in England, Australia and South Africa and hot-spot which has been known not to pick up some faint edges and thus lead to players being wrongly reprieved. However, I think they fail to see that the system is now working extremely well in general and it is a real shame that they can't come round to it's use.

As for the cricket, thoroughly enjoyed watching Warner give it some yesterday, unfortunately he couldn't kick on.

In fact, in the festive spirit Sainty I appointed you as the manager of my scratch Christmas XI on the cricket section thread...

Oh Corporal! You shouldn't have!

Forgot to add - Good for Cowan to get a score on debut as well, very dogged effort from the lad.

He was saying before today's play in an interview that it was harder than it looked out there... more of a 300-320 than a 350 first day pitch.

Nice bloke; he said that Haddin thought he nicked it - so if he'd walked up to him to ask for DRS he probably wouldn't have used it... and walked.

If DRS was being used of course!

Haddin goes... edges one to the Sehwag in the gully. They're just checking for a no-ball. Zac's back of heel in by not much. Out!

286/7

Interesting to see how Sehwag does on a reasonably flat, but not completely flat wicket.

I say he saves himself for something flatter and goes in the first couple of overs.

First ball to Sehwag from Hilf, one over before lunch, is a flayed drive that just gets over extra cover. He is many things, but he is great to watch!

99/2 at tea.

After the early dismissal of Gambhir, Sehwag has got things going despite a few dropped catches... Haddin's being the worst. He went on to make 67 before chopping a Pattinson delivery onto his stumps. Dravid started well but has looked a little in two minds coming up to the tea break and is on 25.

Sachin arrives at the crease to a standing ovation... we all love the Little Master!

134-2, Tendulkar looking to play his shots, moved onto 28 already. Dravid is solid on 34.

The Aussies deviated from their game plan at the end of play today by taking the wicket of Tendulkar (the apparent cunning plan being to let India bat and bat and eventually force them to retire due to exhaustion). Tough day for the Oz bowlers without much luck, Siddle the pick with Lyon looking a bit pedestrian. India should be able to take a comfortable first innings lead of 150+.

India finished the day at 214-3. Sachin Tendulkar got out just before close for a stroke filled 73, bowled by Peter Siddle, who was earlier denied Rahul Dravid's wicket as he overstepped while smashing Dravid's stumps.
India's day again. Of the top 4, 3 got half centuries, and Dravid is still out there, although he wasn't at his fluent best during the knock.
VVS Laxman and Virat Kohli along with captain Dhoni and Dravid should now look to consolidate the situation and extend the score as much as possible.
The pitch looks like a good test match wicket, and its going to provide more help to the bowlers on days 4 and 5. Therefor, a good first innings lead is going to be crucial.
If India negotiate the first session tomorrow without much damage, then they should be able to get a decisive first innings lead.
But if Australia gets a couple of early wickets, they still are in a position to fight. Although R Ashwin at 8 is a good man to have at that position, India's tail is not the strongest in the business, and early wickets should put pressure on them.
Of Australia's bowlers,James Patinson looked the most impressive, and Peter Siddle, as usual, was full of energy and effort. Hilfenhaus got an early wicket, but didn't have a serious impact thereafter. Lyon showed he has got a big heart, and is up to a challenge. But then he was playing against the best of the lot who play spin, and so will have to step up more.
Think Clarke should have more of a bowl, particularly against India, against whom he has had fair bit of success as a bowler.

Generally agree with msp's summary , though I am not sure that the pitch will actually help the bowlers that much over the last two days. We aren't getting any really hot weather to bake it and I suspect it will play fairly true to the end , just a bit lower. May not be all that good for quick scoring (it hasn't really been too easy for strokeplay over these first two days , witness the average rate of just under 3 per over and the failure of any batsman to pass 70 so far).

Even so , a big lead with a lot of time left would put a lot of pressure on a largely inexperienced batting list.

If I were to stick my neck out I'd suggest that unless Australia bag at least three wickets in the first session India will be batting through the day ... at which point it will be game over...

Ashwin was getting some turn on the first day itself. As the game goes on, I think he'll come more into the picture, particularly if India manage to bat most of tomorrow.
The track may not act like a typical spinner's pitch, but there will be more for the spinner on days 4 and 5.

Yes I'll agree Ashwin will be a key element over the later stages , but I don't expect him to coax any extravagant misbehaviour from this pitch.

Will be more a case of patience and scoreboard pressure.

Incidentally , msp , what did you think of Ashwin's bowling in the first innings?

I must admit I was a little disappointed with him early on , but I thought he bowled better in the final session , and he certainly did a good job of wrapping up the tail this morning.

Alfie,
Harbhajan's best in Australia is 3-101. Ashwin has already done better.
But yes, he offered far too many easy runs yesterday, and couldn't hit a consistent length, bowling too short at times. Yet, he didn't turn all defensive, firing it in ball after ball. He managed to turn the odd ball, created enough doubt with his drift and variation. And he did a good job with the tail as well today morning.
All in all, Not a bad first out for Ashwin, but he could have done a bit better with the consistency. That is particularly important in Australian conditions, where he won't be encountering many spinning tracks.

Yes. Australia is not a particularly friendly place for finger spinners. But I think Ashwin has something about him , and I fancy him to do pretty well on this trip.

(He will have to take a fair few wickets if India are to actually win the series : although Zaheer showed signs of getting back into his rhythm and Ishant Sharma bowled very well without any luck , I cannot see them running through even this rather fragile Australian lineup unless the pitches for the remaining Tests are uncharacteristically helpful to seam bowling.)

India on top, sachin fall short yet again.

I thought apart from the first 40 minutes after lunch Australia bowled well without much luck. Shewag could have been out about 8 times but that's how he played. Dravid looked edgy in periods but gutsed it out nicely. Tendulkar played very well indeed.

Pattinson bowled a couple of really good spells, the one just before tea was the best of the match for mine, and Siddle bowled a good spell at the end. Lyon did ok, but India play spin well, I think it'll be more the up and down bounce that will cause them problems later on. Hilfenhaus looks pedestrian still apart from with the new ball, but Aus don't have that many options: Starc is too raw and 3 bowlers are out injured.

India are on top, but will want at least 400 as they'll be batting last on a wearing pitch (remember last time?). Australia will want to pick Sharma early and one other before the new ball (15 overs), then get some wickets with that.

Another absorbing day awaits.

the aussie bowling attack lacks serious penetration!

We await a blow by blow account from Alfie.....

looking forward to that :P

The wicket as expected has flattened out from the first day. Best way for india to win is to go big, at least 550 and make Australia have to fight for a draw. early wickets when play resumes and things could get really interesting.

Michael clarke must be ripping his hair out at some of his bowlers

the wicket hasnt completely flattened out, there is enough in it for the bowlers, however only pattinson bowled with real control..

Nice start... Hilfy gets Dravid with a peach of a delivery. Hint of reverse swing there.
214/4

VVS edges one to Haddin off Siddle now... he's gone for 2.
221/5