***Official*** Australia in India 2012/13

[dermo]

theres definatly going to be alot of talk between now and the next test about the need for a second spinner but honestly do we think doherty or maxwell can do a better job? Patto proved seamers can take wickets and after seeing what dhoni did to lyon you can only imagine what they would do to maxwell

[Burgey]

Originally Posted by howardj

Having said that, he does need to improve

And his career now faces another punctuation, as he is due to fly home from the Indian tour within the next week to be at his child's birth

So there's a very real chance he won't play the second test? Usman would likely come in I suppose, or Smith/ Maxwell.

They really should have taken Bailey or some other specialist bat.

[howardj]

Would rather another look at Bird than exercising the Doherty or Big Show option

[Burgey]

Originally Posted by howardj

Would rather another look at Bird than exercising the Doherty or Big Show option

Bird's flown home with a sore back. Having scans.

[howardj]

Oh dear

[howardj]

How good was Moz though

Just really mature, really solid innings'

Even spoke really well in the pressers, and just seems like he belongs

[LongHopCassidy]

Originally Posted by Burgey

BCCI only allowing Dhoni's comments to be published domestically.

[LongHopCassidy]

Didn't see that much live coverage, was anybody getting meaningful reverse swing?

Would be willing to gamble with MJ if so, instead of another spinner who'll get eaten alive. He's given terrific performances in the subcontinent to wit (see Mohali).

[social]

Originally Posted by howardj

Just looking at the live career averages of our top six:

Cowan 32
Warner 44
Hughes 34
Watson 36
Clarke 53
Wade 37

Pretty damning really, and the sad thing is that there’s no real glaring omission from the top six. There’s no batsman that you could say is genuinely unlucky not be there. Even Usman has only been modest this Summer. I would however consider bringing him ifoCowan. I think we’ve seen a big enough sample of Ed (14 Tests for an average of 32). Usman did open in the tour games, and is suited to opening. Moreover, he at least has more scope for improvement than the incumbent

With the bowling, I think it’s still our strong suit but we’ve been a little spoiled by responsive pitches – with Siddle and Starc probably being a little exposed on pitches that are not responsive. They are fine bowlers, but perhaps not quite top shelf. Pattinson is a star though, and we also at least need to have a look at O’Keefe, and certainly another look at Bird.

Talk about an overreaction

It's one test match FFS!

Last week Starc was the best young pace bowler in the world and Siddle a much improved bowler with an average that guys like Anderson could only dream about

Sure they werent great but nor were they terrible as they werent hit around and would even have taken a couple of wickets if the umpires hadnt left their seeing eye dogs at home

What's more, they were infinitely better than Lyon whose bowling should actually be suited by the conditions

[morgieb]

Player ratings....

Australia:

Cowan 4 - been harshly treated. Got a couple of starts at least.
Warner 5 - again, a couple of starts, but not real big score
Hughes 1 - was ****.
Watson 3 - couple of starts.
Clarke 9 - gun as always
Wade 1 - my nan's a better keeper, and he didn't score runs either.
Henriques 9.5 - a ton and he gets 10. Great debut.
Starc 1 - urgh. I thought he'd be good in India too.
Siddle 2.5 - pretty ineffective though it wasn't an easy wicket to bowl on.
Pattinson 9 - great first game back, stood tall.
Lyon 1 - couldn't even contain very well. Took 3 wickets but he got a lot of time to do so.

India:

Vijay 1 - recalled why exactly?
Sehwag 1 - get a stronger prescription.
Pujara 5 - useful start.
Tendulkar 8 - very strong innings after a shaky start but didn't go on.
Kohli 9 - future star of the Indian batting lineup.
Dhoni 10 - just wow.
Jadeja 6 - bowled fairly well, meh with the bat.
Ashwin 9 - used a very spin-friendly pitch and an inexperienced batting lineup to his major advantage.
Harbhajan 4 - poor in the first innings. Better in the second but had quite a bit of help.
Kumar 7 - his batting showed major balls and took the game away from Australia. Didn't get a proper chance to show his bowling ability.
Sharma 3 - meh. Not like he got a good role to play.

[Spikey]

it gets worse for Lyon - Warne's talking to him

[Dan]

I've been pretty critical of Moz for a number of years now, but full credit to him for the way he played this Test. Hopefully he'll now consistently make the most of his talent and can kick on into a good Test 6.

Can't rate his contribution over the last 5 days highly enough.

[Tangles]

Lyon plays the next test because he's the best we have. Neither Maxwell or Doherty will trouble anyone. SOK should have been in the tour party but he's not so its Lyon or bizarro selection time.

Kudos to India in taking our best asset, our quick bowling, and vastly reducing its effectiveness with the pitch. Play a 2nd spinner if you have one sure but since we barely have 1 let alone 2 just accept it and move on. Bird leaving is a blow as I could have seen him replace Starc in the next match. We could do with his economy to counter Lyons runs.

[LongHopCassidy]

Originally Posted by Spikey

it gets worse for Lyon - Warne's talking to him

"So yeah mate, if you take my advice you might get near my record in India."

[social]

Originally Posted by Tangles

Lyon plays the next test because he's the best we have. Neither Maxwell or Doherty will trouble anyone. SOK should have been in the tour party but he's not so its Lyon or bizarro selection time.

Kudos to India in taking our best asset, our quick bowling, and vastly reducing its effectiveness with the pitch. Play a 2nd spinner if you have one sure but since we barely have 1 let alone 2 just accept it and move on. Bird leaving is a blow as I could have seen him replace Starc in the next match. We could do with his economy to counter Lyons runs.

This

I dont care whether we are playing in the middle of the Sahara at the height of summer, every opposition team would prefer us to field an off-colour Lyon plus Doherty rather than any combination of our fast bowlers that you care to name