Australia v India, 3rd Test, Melbourne, 26-30 December, 2014

I still think the experts would've piled onto him if he'd made "their' call and and it had gone tits up. But that's neither here or there. If he was playing to put the series beyond doubt he managed the play well by sucking up overs and not giving a toss about the runs.

On his early end to the game. Yeah it looked wierd but as the rules allow this to happen within half an hour before close I don't think you can blame him for having had enough with only 15 minutes left.

Hass wrote:Australia's run rate was 2.7 on that final morning. Smith could have still batted India out of the game by instructing his batsmen to give it some humpty in the morning session for a few overs. Australia could have set an imposing target while still giving themselves more overs to bowl India out.

youre assuming we wouldnt have lost all the remaining wickets for sfa. one has to question the wisdom of that assumption

i dont have a problem with the declaration. only thing bugs me is calling the game at the end. given how indias previous five innings ended i would have pushed to the last ball

My only problem with the declaration was its timing. I'm a big believer in declaring at a moment that best disrupts the other team. Get them in for a few overs before lunch or fark them around by going back out after lunch for a couple of overs. Neither of which would have affected whatever strategy he was employing.