Australia v. South Africa - Test series.
And, surprise, surprise... Not!K wrote:... Mr NickIt, Khawaja, nicks every moving ball, but the pitches are so flat he's averaged 100 this year. Sheesh...
If they made fair pitches, batters would improve their techniques. They'd have to to survive. And a bonus: bowlers would not break down all the time. Bowlers wouldn't all retire young.
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Mr NickIt, Khawaja, nicks off again, to Rabada.
Nothing special about the ball... (But better than the rubbish ball he bowled to FTB Smith last innings that Smith nicked off to with an atrocious shot, no footwork, etc...)
Wowee... I guess it's too late for Khawaja to fix it. And before this series started, he'd made almost 1000 runs this year at an average of almost 100. That shows how dead the pitches are.
It means he'll tour England for sure... But if they have normal English conditions (unlike the dead conditions the last English Ashes), he'll be nicking everything that moves. England will be thrilled.
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We'll see how flat this MCG pitch is... Still dunno. Still a worry.
Trent Copeland warned before the Test that the biggest mistake after Brissy would be to keep producing rubbish dead pitches.
We know now. Copeland was right to worry...K wrote:...
We'll see how flat this MCG pitch is... Still dunno. Still a worry.
Trent Copeland warned before the Test that the biggest mistake after Brissy would be to keep producing rubbish dead pitches.
Atrociously flat pitch.
If 2 wickets in a whole day for the WIndies wasn't enough...
Now 1 wicket by a bowler in a whole day for S. Africa.
What will the unhinged Flat Track Apologists' excuse be this time?
Do they really believe this is a bunch of Oz batting geniuses?
True, Verreynne dropped both Warner (mid-innings) and FTB (early)... Another sad day for wicket-keeping...
At lunch, which is a quarter of the way into the match, Trent Copeland was already searching the pitch for some hope for the spinners... Sheesh... Who'd wanna be a #)($*@)#(%* fast bowler?
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Good luck to Warner on his double today... but England will be as pleased to see him as Khawaja... And the wasteful run out of Marny was Warner's fault.K wrote:...
... [Khawaja]'ll tour England for sure... But if they have normal English conditions (unlike the dead conditions the last English Ashes), he'll be nicking everything that moves. England will be thrilled.
...
7/451. Carey is now 42*. Make that 7/455, with another 4 from the next ball. Carey is 46*. No, 7/459 with 3 4s in a row from Carey to take him to 50*. The lead is now 270.
A person with less restraint than I have might be inclined to observe that Warner and Smith made 285 between them and the lead is 270 - but that would unkindly tend to suggest that the pair of them are head and shoulders above every other player in this Test - and actually the difference between the two teams - and I would never do that.
Anyway, the partnerships in this Test, so far, speak for themselves:
South Africa: 29, 27, 2, 0, 9, 112, 3, 4, 0 and 3.
Australia: 21, 54, 239, 16* (Warner ret'd hurt), 33* (Green ret'd hurt), 30, 0, 5, 40 and 16*.
3 partnerships, in total, have reached 50. That's because it's such a flat wicket. That's a modern thing - there never was a wicket like this in MCG history, as this scorecard - from a Test of which I attended every minute - shows: https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/wes ... -scorecard
It's always been a surprise to me how wickets look full of terror when good bowlers are bowling to average batsmen (or even, as in that case, to Sir IVAR) but suddenly look extraordinarily "flat" when the epoch-defining players stride to the crease - and then, strangely, suddenly look difficult again after those greats are dismissed.
A person with less restraint than I have might be inclined to observe that Warner and Smith made 285 between them and the lead is 270 - but that would unkindly tend to suggest that the pair of them are head and shoulders above every other player in this Test - and actually the difference between the two teams - and I would never do that.
Anyway, the partnerships in this Test, so far, speak for themselves:
South Africa: 29, 27, 2, 0, 9, 112, 3, 4, 0 and 3.
Australia: 21, 54, 239, 16* (Warner ret'd hurt), 33* (Green ret'd hurt), 30, 0, 5, 40 and 16*.
3 partnerships, in total, have reached 50. That's because it's such a flat wicket. That's a modern thing - there never was a wicket like this in MCG history, as this scorecard - from a Test of which I attended every minute - shows: https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/wes ... -scorecard
It's always been a surprise to me how wickets look full of terror when good bowlers are bowling to average batsmen (or even, as in that case, to Sir IVAR) but suddenly look extraordinarily "flat" when the epoch-defining players stride to the crease - and then, strangely, suddenly look difficult again after those greats are dismissed.