Were Katich's tactics the biggest factor in the draw?

You can look at India's wagging tail as shifting momentum slightly but did Katich's slow crawl at the crease sound the death knell in terms of Australia's surge towards victory?

Had we scored more quickly last night it could have meant an earlier declaration, even at the end of day four and time, especially with bad light may not have been the factor it has been today.

You need an anchorman, but do you need someone who bats with extreme caution in the vein he does?

Terrible over-rates prevented a result, as ****** usual. Both captains should be banned for a Test and all Test Nations should be told that it is unacceptable for them to fail to meet the 90 overs a day minimum requirement. They should even consider raising this to 96 overs, as in English County Cricket, where the players have proved it is very easy to meet this target, sometimes doing so before the agreed close of play.

At 5 or 6 perhaps, but not as an opener.

Australia's lightning quick starts of yesteryear (Hayden/Langer) will soon be a distant memory if Katich continues opening with Hayden, especially if the latter hits poor form.

Augustus wrote:They should even consider raising this to 96 overs, as in English County Cricket, where the players have proved it is very easy to meet this target, sometimes doing so before the agreed close of play.

Many a time teams could've played on this season. Don't see how the internationals struggle most of the time.

It's pretty f*cking criminal that such a low scoring game, with slow bowlers having plenty of overs between them, that such rates can be 'achieved'.

Still, it was the Indian tail-wag that really caused the draw IMO.

Brass Monkey wrote:Still, it was the Indian tail-wag that really caused the draw IMO.

Agreed.

Katich had to ensure there was no collapse that could have given India the game.

taipan wrote:
Agreed.

Katich had to ensure there was no collapse that could have given India the game.

Yeah, it could've gone tits up. Hayden and Ponting were out pretty early and bar Hussey, the Aus middle order is hardly at it's most solid. I expect Aus will have to get over the fact they're liable to draw more Tests now.

Brass Monkey wrote:

taipan wrote:
Agreed.

Katich had to ensure there was no collapse that could have given India the game.

Yeah, it could've gone tits up. Hayden and Ponting were out pretty early and bar Hussey, the Aus middle order is hardly at it's most solid. I expect Aus will have to get over the fact they're liable to draw more Tests now.

Agree with that but in essence Katich used up a lot of time for a moderate score. If this was safety first it means we are already thinking more defensively with our recast side.

And the problem is that Aus don't seem to have a finisher to clean up the tail.

taipan wrote:And the problem is that Aus don't seem to have a finisher to clean up the tail.

We need to have more evidence to prove this though. Occasionally the opposition tail has wagged in one match but we've cleaned them up next time. Withouth Warne and McGrath the task will be much tougher now without doubt.

Red wrote:
Agree with that but in essence Katich used up a lot of time for a moderate score. If this was safety first it means we are already thinking more defensively with our recast side.

It's a double-edged sword. You cannot expect the current bowling attack to plug the runs and with a mercurial Sehwag on a dead track, who knew what could've happened. The fact is, he anchored the innings and made sure Aus didn't get into trouble they couldn't have gotten out of. Therefore, if you cannot trust your middle order to not collapse and cannot trust your bowling attack to keep the runs down in a chase you drop anchor and hope others build around you.

taipan wrote:

Brass Monkey wrote:Still, it was the Indian tail-wag that really caused the draw IMO.

Agreed.

Katich had to ensure there was no collapse that could have given India the game.

Yup.

taipan wrote:And the problem is that Aus don't seem to have a finisher to clean up the tail.

And yup.

Australia are a bit more scared of losing these days than they were 3-4 years ago.

skully wrote:

taipan wrote:And the problem is that Aus don't seem to have a finisher to clean up the tail.

And yup.

nor the tactics

The declaration today showed that Oz were anything but scared of losing . . .

Brass Monkey wrote:

Red wrote:
Agree with that but in essence Katich used up a lot of time for a moderate score. If this was safety first it means we are already thinking more defensively with our recast side.

It's a double-edged sword. You cannot expect the current bowling attack to plug the runs and with a mercurial Sehwag on a dead track, who knew what could've happened. The fact is, he anchored the innings and made sure Aus didn't get into trouble they couldn't have gotten out of. Therefore, if you cannot trust your middle order to not collapse and cannot trust your bowling attack to keep the runs down in a chase you drop anchor and hope others build around you.

Technically with White coming in at 8, the batting was longer than usual. Haddin is also more likely to stick at the crease than Gilly if it was a matter of playing out time. I think we were pretty defensive in our mindset after dictating the play for the first couple of days and a bit.

Aye. A good declaration that in another era may have paid dividends. Clearly the post-Warne era is kicking in, big time.

tac wrote:The declaration today showed that Oz were anything but scared of losing . . .

Given how slowly we scored yesterday and with it not easy to force the pace on this pitch. Also with the prospect of a truncated day, was India ever really in danger of making 300?

Apart from Sehwag, who was going to score quickly? Dhoni is unproven in tests against us.

Sehwag coming off is also a big if on the last day of a test match.

I don't think the declaration was bold at all.

A bold, and dare I say stupid, declaration, was Smith against us in Sydney on the last tour here by the Saffers.

Punter did well, rotated the bowlers, set good fields, but the fact is that the pitch wasn't as bad as it appeared. If you just wanted to stay in, you could.

Red wrote:

tac wrote:The declaration today showed that Oz were anything but scared of losing . . .

Given how slowly we scored yesterday and with it not easy to force the pace on this pitch. Also with the prospect of a truncated day, was India ever really in danger of making 300?

Apart from Sehwag, who was going to score quickly? Dhoni is unproven in tests against us.

Sehwag coming off is also a big if on the last day of a test match.

I don't think the declaration was bold at all.

A bold, and dare I say stupid, declaration, was Smith against us in Sydney on the last tour here by the Saffers.

Smith's declaration was a fantatsic declaration. Everytime you open your mouth you show your ignorance . . .

tac wrote:Everytime you open your mouth you show your ignorance . . .

maybe not all the time......

tac wrote:

Red wrote:

tac wrote:The declaration today showed that Oz were anything but scared of losing . . .

Given how slowly we scored yesterday and with it not easy to force the pace on this pitch. Also with the prospect of a truncated day, was India ever really in danger of making 300?

Apart from Sehwag, who was going to score quickly? Dhoni is unproven in tests against us.

Sehwag coming off is also a big if on the last day of a test match.

I don't think the declaration was bold at all.

A bold, and dare I say stupid, declaration, was Smith against us in Sydney on the last tour here by the Saffers.

Smith's declaration was a fantatsic declaration. Everytime you open your mouth you show your ignorance . . .

Yeah so fantastic that we peeled off the runs with ease, losing on two wickets in the process and having lots of time up our sleeve. He could have gone home losing 1-0 which in a three test series in Australia is not too bad. He handed us that test.

He had lost Ntini after the Melbourne test, Langeveldt had a strained groin, Nel's foot was ******. Pollock was virtually his only fit frontline bowler. Rudolph ended up bowling a lot of overs and Botha in his first test looked anything other than a threat.

Yeah fantastic declaration!

Red wrote:

tac wrote:

Red wrote:

tac wrote:The declaration today showed that Oz were anything but scared of losing . . .

Given how slowly we scored yesterday and with it not easy to force the pace on this pitch. Also with the prospect of a truncated day, was India ever really in danger of making 300?

Apart from Sehwag, who was going to score quickly? Dhoni is unproven in tests against us.

Sehwag coming off is also a big if on the last day of a test match.

I don't think the declaration was bold at all.

A bold, and dare I say stupid, declaration, was Smith against us in Sydney on the last tour here by the Saffers.

Smith's declaration was a fantatsic declaration. Everytime you open your mouth you show your ignorance . . .

Yeah so fantastic that we peeled off the runs with ease, losing on two wickets in the process and having lots of time up our sleeve. He could have gone home losing 1-0 which in a three test series in Australia is not too bad. He handed us that test.

He had lost Ntini after the Melbourne test, Langeveldt had a strained groin, Nel's foot was ******. Pollock was virtually his only fit frontline bowler. Rudolph ended up bowling a lot of overs and Botha in his first test looked anything other than a threat.

Yeah fantastic declaration!

You really don't understand cricket at all, do you?

Red wrote:Yeah so fantastic that we peeled off the runs with ease, losing on two wickets in the process and having lots of time up our sleeve. He could have gone home losing 1-0 which in a three test series in Australia is not too bad. He handed us that test.

Some might think he was gambling on drawing the series.

tac wrote:

Red wrote:

tac wrote:

Red wrote:

tac wrote:The declaration today showed that Oz were anything but scared of losing . . .

Given how slowly we scored yesterday and with it not easy to force the pace on this pitch. Also with the prospect of a truncated day, was India ever really in danger of making 300?

Apart from Sehwag, who was going to score quickly? Dhoni is unproven in tests against us.

Sehwag coming off is also a big if on the last day of a test match.

I don't think the declaration was bold at all.

A bold, and dare I say stupid, declaration, was Smith against us in Sydney on the last tour here by the Saffers.

Smith's declaration was a fantatsic declaration. Everytime you open your mouth you show your ignorance . . .

Yeah so fantastic that we peeled off the runs with ease, losing on two wickets in the process and having lots of time up our sleeve. He could have gone home losing 1-0 which in a three test series in Australia is not too bad. He handed us that test.

He had lost Ntini after the Melbourne test, Langeveldt had a strained groin, Nel's foot was ******. Pollock was virtually his only fit frontline bowler. Rudolph ended up bowling a lot of overs and Botha in his first test looked anything other than a threat.

Yeah fantastic declaration!

You really don't understand cricket at all, do you?

Go on, fill me in, how was SA going to bowl us out on a tame pitch with one fit bowler? And that was Pollock who had been unpenetrative on our pitches all tour. I'm waiting for these pearls of wisdom for I thought at the time the declaration was foolhardy and the terrible bowling display by SA proved my suspicions correct.