Australia v India, 4th Test, Adelaide, 24-28 January, 2012

Using http://icc-cricket.yahoo.net/match_zone/test_predictor.php

India drop from Second to equal Third with Australia, 6 points behind the Second place Saffies.

Top performance by Australia. India are absolutely dreadful and will claim to have had a good tour if they win the ODI series. The more 'inexperienced' side was a class apart.

Best bowling performance this summer since TGM/tgm retired. Even Lyon finishes with a career average below 30.

Now we just need to fix our sh!t top 3.

[quote="Invader Zim"]Best bowling performance this summer since TGM/tgm retired. Even Lyon finishes with a career average below 30.

Now we just need to fix our sh!t top 3.[/quote]

Surely if we keep talking about how Clarke and Punter keep rescuing the team, the one or both need to move up the order. Surely the former soon to turn thirty-one is in his batting peak years so needs to come in at #3, despite his terrible record at #4. Marsh has to go, while Cowan seems to be a stop-gap opener. Interesting that Ganguly said on radio this morning that Warner will be sorted out by test cricket but he may be retained as an inconsistent matchwinner. Watson will probably place the dreadful Marsh.

Clarke named MOTS which was always going to be the case but probably unfortunate for the bowlers given that we expected the Indian bowlers to be shite but our bowlers probably excelled themselves against a much vaunted line-up. Well done then! Hilfhenhaus and Siddle who looked so hapless against England a year ago suddenly look like world-beaters.

Now Clarke might have captained well but to talk about the Indian team as being fantastic and praising their bowlers as really good. Come on!

As for India, two whitewashes away from home and a team which looked like it barely cared a lot of the time - where to from here?

Instructive for them is that their youngsters were the only ones who looked ready, willing and passionate.

Surely time for all of Dravid, Tendulkar and Laxman to depart and let some tougher, committed youngsters with positive body language take their team in a new direction.

Zaheer Khan again played an insipid shot to get out which has been symptomatic of much of their series.

India doesn't deserve to be equal number three, Australia is clearly a better team than it. Any side which is beaten 4-0 twice, in relatively close succession is a very poor team indeed.

Let's hope next summer we get some more competitive cricket like we saw in Hobart.

In retrospect India should have been the undercard because it barely raised a yelp all summer!

One of the more disappointing series of recent times.

taipan wrote:One of the more disappointing series of recent times.

Only if you are an Indian supporter.

Big Dog wrote:

taipan wrote:One of the more disappointing series of recent times.

Only if you are an Indian supporter.

Sage. My wife lost count of the number of times I yelled "p!ss off, yer out" at the Teev.

Big Dog wrote:

taipan wrote:One of the more disappointing series of recent times.

Only if you are an Indian supporter.

Or if you are a cricket supporter

JGK wrote:Might need to hedge with a bet on the draw....

give that man a medal...he really is up there with Zeus

I don't know what I find more sickening? That fact that we have been poo grade in tests in Aus/Eng or the way the older retired players of India are hypocritically having a field day with these overseas failures. A majority of them were mediocre and not even worthy of the soles of the shoes of the likes of Dravid/Lax/SRT. These past old f@rts forget that India has built a cult status as being poor travelers no thanks to them and forget their own contributions to the legend of our pathetic overseas record. They forget how crap they themselves were reeling from one brownwash to another and then they have the gall to point fingers at the ones who have actually achieved more test wins overseas in one decade than all these idiots did in the whole of 50 years before.

I suppose BCCI is justified in thinking there is no cause for worry. We are after all are known slow starters. If it was a 10 test match series Australia would have been in deepest trouble by now.

pretty much sums it up....

taipan wrote:

Big Dog wrote:

taipan wrote:One of the more disappointing series of recent times.

Only if you are an Indian supporter.

Or if you are a cricket supporter

How so? Australia's bowling attack has improved out of sight compared to last summer...unless you think having a weak Australia is good for cricket than you're not making much sense.

So I see India are in denial, with Dravid and Laxman ruling out retirement at this stage. I even saw a quote of Dravid's where he said something like "I'll take it series by series."

Umm, wake up and face the reality Rahul!

Henry wrote:So I see India are in denial, with Dravid and Laxman ruling out retirement at this stage. I even saw a quote of Dravid's where he said something like "I'll take it series by series."

Umm, wake up and face the reality Rahul!

In case of our over the hill seniors it's not a case of denial but commercial. The IPL bidding is around and right now retirement would mean losing out on a chance of securing a place in IPL for the next couple of seasons. Selfish? Yes? Practical? That too.
Unfortunately for our cricket.......

It's not like Dravid wont have a stupendously successful career post his playing days. He could be anything administrative-wise, or commentary and analysis-wise, for that matter.

And he'll still be earning 1 million+ a year.

Batman wrote:

Henry wrote:So I see India are in denial, with Dravid and Laxman ruling out retirement at this stage. I even saw a quote of Dravid's where he said something like "I'll take it series by series."

Umm, wake up and face the reality Rahul!

In case of our over the hill seniors it's not a case of denial but commercial. The IPL bidding is around and right now retirement would mean losing out on a chance of securing a place in IPL for the next couple of seasons. Selfish? Yes? Practical? That too.
Unfortunately for our cricket.......

Total crap. How many retired players are there in IPL.

No IPL team wants to pick VVS or Rahul anyway.

The Indian Test "stars" had Icon status which locked them to franchises and they were paid as much as the highest paid player in that franchise ...not sure if that still exists

< L . DLF Hawk Spit , Fence , Emma , Wags and possibly Violet had this deal

taipan wrote:

Batman wrote:

Henry wrote:So I see India are in denial, with Dravid and Laxman ruling out retirement at this stage. I even saw a quote of Dravid's where he said something like "I'll take it series by series."

Umm, wake up and face the reality Rahul!

In case of our over the hill seniors it's not a case of denial but commercial. The IPL bidding is around and right now retirement would mean losing out on a chance of securing a place in IPL for the next couple of seasons. Selfish? Yes? Practical? That too.
Unfortunately for our cricket.......

Total crap. How many retired players are there in IPL.

Retirement will take away their icon status that gave them preference over the rest. There is a classic case of how Ganguly on retirement suffered a humiliation last bidding when no one bought them. Kumble realized early after back channel discussions he was out of the picture and withdrew himself from the eve of the bidding. Lara was looked over too despite his past reputation. Anyone serving Indian team any capacity has a better chance than someone retired and given the test debacles, the retired seniors would find the going that much tough anyways. A retirement could possible kill it for them. There is only one reason why they aren't calling it a quits yet and that is the IPL contracts up for grabs. The selectors should act faster in which case. At least retired players like Warne etc brought value to their purchase and made the grade. What value can Laxman and Dravid bring in IPL presently is anyone's guess.

Henry wrote:It's not like Dravid wont have a stupendously successful career post his playing days. He could be anything administrative-wise, or commentary and analysis-wise, for that matter.

And he'll still be earning 1 million+ a year.

Are you kidding? What can he achieve working for BCCI rather than occupy a honorary post without any powers to change things? Recently Kumble who headed our National Academy quit in disgust complaining BCCI was not interested in the roadmap he had drawn up for development. We have had the likes of Ganguly, Shastri and Gavaskar heading technical committees that did nothing except exist on paper for media. We have pitch improvement committees for years who improved on adding to the number of flat pitches we could have. There is no future and use working with BCCI till it is headed by politicians and their capitalist cronies with vested interests built around IPL.

India cannot possibly have sporting pitches for domestic and international matches if they need to be alternately be flattest roads for T20s and JAMODIs.

And the funny thing is, the reaction of most of us when the IPL kicked off way back in 2008 was "this will ruin Indian cricket."



Sage.

embee wrote:The Indian Test "stars" had Icon status which locked them to franchises and they were paid as much as the highest paid player in that franchise ...not sure if that still exists

< L . DLF Hawk Spit , Fence , Emma , Wags and possibly Violet had this deal

I think this time that concept of city based icon players will probably be chucked. BCCI had promised the team owners it would be considered last IPL. Except for Mumbai Indians vis a vis Sachin, most team owners were unhappy with it as that meant getting stuck with a player they didn't want [Yuvraj Singh had trouble with his Punjab team as he wasn't wanted by them. Guys like Ganguly and Laxman got more than their worth with the icon label given he was the worst at shorter format games at that point of time]. The seniors also had a problem thinking they could get more as free players. This demand was more aggressive after the WC win. The irony is that the concept may just be chucked at a point when these players will be at their least values commercially.

skully wrote:

Big Dog wrote:

taipan wrote:One of the more disappointing series of recent times.

Only if you are an Indian supporter.

Sage. My wife lost count of the number of times I yelled "p!ss off, yer out" at the Teev.

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