This was mockery of the journo rather than the Australian team.
There’s plenty of mockery to be shared around, by the byline, by the bucket, by the barrel
My prediction is that this match will be done by tea today.
India win by 259, a drubbing, especially with a first innings lead of less than 50. Does this mean England stand a chance in the Ashes next year? Probably not.
The Aussies have started the mental games. I’m now pulling for Root to score a thousand runs in the Ashes.
Obviously it won’t happen, but just for fun I looked up the records for most runs in a series by an individual. It’s 974, by Bradman in 1930 (in England, no less) - in just 7 innings. It was the series in egich he got his highest ever test score of 334.
Second place is Wally Hammond with 905 (albeit from 9 innings) in Australia the previous year. It slightly surprised me to see Mark Taylor in third place, with 839 (albeit from 11 innings) in England in 1989.
Looks like the only thing in Root’s favour is that it’s an advantage to be on tour! Of course on most pitches he’d run out of partners in the current England team before getting the required runs anyway.
That was f’ckn ugly wasn’t it? 
The current Australian XI is coming to the end of a successful period (and likely much faster than expectations). Their signature has been a top notch bowling attack and a line-up fragile and inconsistent batters, usually just one in good nick, who just get enough done. Scoring 300 just needs a ton, a 50 in support and modest contribution from the rest.
The problem is the batting are collectively long term out of form. The top 6 have one Test 50 between then in the last 10 Tests. They haven’t played red ball since March. They have eschewed playing 1st class to find match fitness and form. They are pretty much known quantities to opposing bowlers. Aging legs don’t get the weight transfer and body into position as well as they once did.
The irony is that IND will likely make three changes to improve from Perth, Australia a likely to name an unchanged squad, 'cause the cupboard is bare and there isn’t a top order bat in form in the country ATM.
What was up with the outfield grass at Perth? I was watching the shortened replay of the 2nd Australia innings, and it looked like some solidly hit balls were not reaching the boundary. I’m pretty sure Head and Smith could’ve scored 5 on a ball that stopped just short, had they run harder.
The new(ish) Perth Stadium does have a slow(ish) outfield, as a consequence of being a AFL ground in the winter, but I am confident it wasn’t a significant factor in a 300 run loss inside 4 days.
Wait, they weren’t playing at the WACA?
Haven’t for a couple of years, last Test at the WACA was in 2017.
Venue is now the Perth Stadium (currently Optus Stadium) in Burswood.
Oh dear. How embarrassing.
Also a bit sad. I think of the WACA as one of the great cricket grounds, even though it’s younger than me(!).
My father once mourned the Brabourne Stadium in Bombay after it was eclipsed by the Wankhede. I couldn’t understand his feeling at the time. But now 50 years later, I’ve seen the Bourda in Guyana and Old Rec in Antigua fall by the wayside. And now the WACA.
The WACA might have been once one of the better and distinctive playing surfaces of world cricket, but as a place to watch it was shizenhouzen. Poor spectator facilities. No shelter. Blindingly hot. Crap access. No better for players or broadcasters. Build it and they will come … because there was no alternative.
And Perth Test attendances lapsed accordingly.
I see.
It looked good on TV if you were a fan of fast bowling in the 1970s and 80s.
The world was bigger in those days. Kid in Pakistan wasn’t up on all the details.
In the current day, Kane Williamson is making rather serene progress on his return.
Meanwhile England seem to taking a very relaxed approach to the over-rate. Entered the last hour with 27 overs to bowl.
Is there a real penalty for this?
They have thunked out that a corrollary of Bazball is that it gives the opposition much more time to bat and draw parity.
If they can take out of the game the overs “saved” through higher scoring rates they think they can force the opposition to play Bazball too.
Staying up to follow the cricket this evening, although it’s on Talksport 2 and I’m not really a fan of their coverage. But NZ are effectively 4/6 after a 171 from Brook and some really poor fielding (Brook was reportedly dropped 7 times), and we may well wrap this up before lunch.
Three tests going on simultaneously, much to the dismay of my employer and my wife!
Yes, tonight I can start watching England vs NZ at 10pm my time, the finish of which will overlap by an hour or so with the 4am start of Oz vs India; an hour or so before tea in that match I will have the option to switch over to SA vs SL which starts at 8am., finishing my cricket-watching stint at c. 3pm. Then simply sleep for 7 hours and start all over again.
I mean I can. I won’t. But I can.
After all why not etc.