***Official Australia in India***

[NUFAN]

I have just decided to look at Michael Clarke's stats a bit closer.

I wanted to see how he performed in situations where he went out to bat with Australia on a bad score.

He's batted at 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 so it was hard to say exactly what a bad score is, however I decided on 2/50 3/75, 4/120, 5/160 and 6/190.

There has been 12 instances in his career where he's come into bat in a bad situation and in that time he has made 203 runs at an average of 16.92 with a highest score of 37.

Do you think 12 innings is too small or a slight problem for Clarke? I have to say there was an instance when the score was 4/121 [just off the criteria] and he made a score which would have helped the average a bit.

 

[SJS]

I think there is a bit of an overreaction regarding Haydos' poor form around here, of course when one turns 37 even two or three bad performances are enough to make tongue wagging, but Haydos is still a very important player for Australia, and i think he should atleast stick around till Ashes 09 as an opening combination of Katich-Jaques isn't really exciting enough to force Haydos' into retirement.

I agree. Hayden may retire but I would not take just these three innings to say "he has to".

Come on guys. By this logic Ponting should have retired in 2001. Hayden in these three innings has scored TWICE as many runs as Ponting did in the first four of that series. He scored in the entire series (for those who may have forgotten the painful/delightful memories) 0, 6, 0. 0 and 11 !!

He is just having a bad spell. I dont think it is related to age. Look at his reflexes. That catch he took to dismiss Sachin on the first day was stunning and it was after an entire day of standing there.

Yes. If he is dropped now, as he could be if he continues to fail, it will be that much more difficult for him to come back than it would have been for Ponting in 2001. Thats all the handicap of age. Dont give up on this guy. He is made of tough metal.

 

[social]

I agree. Hayden may retire but I would not take just these three innings to say "he has to".

Come on guys. By this logic Ponting should have retired in 2001. Hayden in these three innings has scored TWICE as many runs as Ponting did in the first four of that series. He scored in the entire series (for those who may have forgotten the painful/delightful memories) 0, 6, 0. 0 and 11 !!

He is just having a bad spell. I dont think it is related to age. Look at his reflexes. That catch he took to dismiss Sachin on the first day was stunning and it was after an entire day of standing there.

Yes. If he is dropped now, as he could be if he continues to fail, it will be that much more difficult for him to come back than it would have been for Ponting in 2001. Thats all the handicap of age. Dont give up on this guy. He is made of tough metal.

Reality is that Hayden came into this series short of match practice and it is showing,

However of his 3 failures in this series, TWO have been poor decisions - hardly cause for an obituary

 

[SJS]

Realistically speaking Aussies would do well to get out of this game with a draw and even for that to happen the Aussie batsmen (also read as Mike Hussey) would have to bat out of their skins from here on in though.

Where do we stand in this Test match.

India are 339 ahead and Australia have six wickets in hand.

In Bangalore at one stage, Australia were 324 ahead and India had six wickets in hand - I dont see much of a difference. And yet India went on to save the game.

I hope Australia collapse in the next half an hour, but come on, an Indian win is far far from a certainty at this stage.

 

[pup11]

Huss..... oh man that's such a big blow, we are surely are deep **** now.!!

 

[irfan]

Mr. Cricket gooooooooone!

ISharmaaaaaaa

 

[social]

Where do we stand in this Test match.

India are 339 ahead and Australia have six wickets in hand.

In Bangalore at one stage, Australia were 324 ahead and India had six wickets in hand - I dont see much of a difference. And yet India went on to save the game.

I hope Australia collapse in the next half an hour, but come on, an Indian win is far far from a certainty at this stage.

Hussey going makes it very difficult

However, if Australia avoids the follow on, a draw is certainly not out of the equation

 

[Ikki]

Looks like 200 is gonna be a good score for Australia.

 

[social]

Looks like 200 is gonna be a good score for Australia.

200 would be an extremely poor score from Australia

India have bowled very well but there is little to fear from the wicket and it is a small ground with a fast outfield

 

[duffer]

That was superb stuff to get Hussey's outside edge twice in a row. Loved the celebration too, he was fired up.

 

[duffer]

Cheers for that Rudi!

EDIT: Gah, thought that bowled Haddin.

 

[Craig]

So where do you Indian fans stand with regards that if India bowl Australia out for less then 270 about enforcing the follow-on? I would imagine Dhoni won't enforce it and look to give his bowlers a rest and give Sehwag a licenice to 'let rip' on an inexperienced Australian Test bowling line-up in Indian conditions. I would say no matter what the lead Dhoni will look to bat Australia out of the game.

 

[Briony]

I thought India were stuffed when they dropped Hussey last night as he usually gets an early reprieve and then makes the opposition pay big time.

 

[pup11]

Hussey going makes it very difficult

However, if Australia avoids the follow on, a draw is certainly not out of the equation

Well even avoiding the follow-on would be a tall order, but lets hope there is some lower-order resistance from Australia this time around, need atleast 200-225 runs in order for the Australian team to even contemplate any thoughts of saving the game.

 

[duffer]

So where do you Indian fans stand with regards that if India bowl Australia out for less then 270 about enforcing the follow-on? I would imagine Dhoni won't enforce it and look to give his bowlers a rest and give Sehwag a licenice to 'let rip' on an inexperienced Australian Test bowling line-up in Indian conditions. I would say no matter what the lead Dhoni will look to bat Australia out of the game.

Can't see them wanting to bat last on any Indian pitch. There's no rain in sight and they can make the Aussies stand around in the field for a few more sessions to soften them up for the final dig.

 

[Craig]

Can't see them wanting to bat last on any Indian pitch. There's no rain in sight and they can make the Aussies stand around in the field for a few more sessions to soften them up for the final dig.

Fair point, so with regards to that, assuming Australia is all out by tea, how long do you want to have to bowl out Australia, 4 sessions would be sufficiant?

 

[pup11]

Though the situation is really bad atm, the Australian batsmen still should look to counter-attack imo, the big negative in their batting has been they have batted a bit too defensively and at times have gone into their shell letting the bowlers dictate the terms, and due to that they haven't even made the most of the lose deliveries, i think they gotta get rid of that sort of an attitude, and put a bit of pressure on the bowlers.

 

[duffer]

Fair point, so with regards to that, assuming Australia is all out by tea, how long do you want to have to bowl out Australia, 4 sessions would be sufficiant?

4 would be minimum for mine considering that we should have set them well over 450-500 by then, making it simply a matter of having enough time.

 

[pasag]

Still think we can bat out a draw. Would like to see our side bat well under pressure though, it's great and all when we win the toss and bat first in Australia and rack up massive scores on flat tracks, but I'd like to see some proper rearguard stuff from our much vaunted batsmen.

That aside, they've gone on about this winning sessions stuff like 15 times in the past two days if not more. We get it, bloody hell.

 

[inbox24]

Situations like these are what Test cricket is all about, no amount of Twenty20 matches can replace this.

A real litmus test for our lower order, if we can get out of this hole, it will be of more benefit to us than getting saved by the same batsmen (Hussey) time and time again.