It may be because by the time of the 20th over, it makes little difference - batsmen are going to swing for it and runs and wickets may become more random. If you want to get the best from you best bowler, squeeze the batsment before the last hurrah.
2 I’ve no idea!
3 Batsmen have to be fully mentally prepared - batsmen have said this his is really hard because they have no idea when they will be on. So getting mentally prepared uis a major part of batting.
4 Balls getting some wear and damage is part of the game, hence in the long form, balls are not replaced for 75 over - the wear is part of the game and gives bowlers a help with spin. If a ball is badly damaged (missappen), it is replaced with another ball of a similar wear. The umpires have access to a set of used balls to choose from so they get one of a simlar usege. Ie: if a ball uis damaged at the 18th over, they will get another ball of that anount of wear.
5. 5th day tickets didn’t use to be on sale until the 5th day and priced accordingly. It was a great time for people who couldn’t normall get tickets.
Australia v India 2nd Test
India chase down the 70 runs needed for an 8 wickets win.
Not many bats of either side showed Test level application but the visitors recovered from the Adelaide fiasco to win in a canter.
Latest news is that the 3rd Test will be held in Sydney which was in doubt due to a COVID outbreak (though less than a rounding error on US figures) and if it persists there may be issues with getting the teams into Brisbane for the 4th Test.
It depends. Do you throw in your best bowler earlier and have him/her finish the match off or put it beyond the opposition or risk giving him/her little to defend in the final over. Its a captaincy choice. In
two of the last three ICC Tournament Finals, the last couple of overs decision came to the fore, in one instance England v WI in 2016, they went with the second last over for the best bowler, and in the other Eng v NZ in 2019, they went to best bowler last. The chasing team won both games FWIW.
Rarely would the dismissed batsman have anything useful to say, any instructions the incoming batsman needs would have been given to him/her by the Coach and Captain in the pavilion.
You might see it sometimes, especially in a Test when a declaration is coming and they want to send an attacking batsman ahead of a more established one who normally bats there, the former might go to the nearby nets to prep while the latter sits, the instruction is that if there is a dismissal soon the norma order will be adhered to but if its later then the attacking one will go in.
But otherwise, if you cannot play as needed from the get go, you have no business being in cricket.
Damaged or lost balls can be replaced.
It depnds on the season, the country, the ground. Many places outside England will have tickets available at the booth all days of a Test match and you can just go and buy it on the day you want. But loss of play due to weather and or early result is a risk you have to take when buying a ticket.
They do. Less commonly so do fast bowlers, Imran Khan had a faster one and so did Andy Roberts.
Just highlight the text you wish to quote, you will get a popup saying “quote” click on said pop up, it will automatically reproduce the highlighted text in the quoted form inside the reply box. Rinse, lather repeat.
In the games I’ve been to in England, tickets for the final day are generally not sold beforehand. Also, for refunds, if there’s more than 20 overs play you will not get a refund, and between 1 ball and 20 overs you will get a half refund/ That’s for rain/bad light delays, if there’s less than 20 overs expected on a final day, tickets will be very cheap anyway
This had led to some situations where there’s been a few hours in the afternoon where it’s cleared up and they’ve got out to play in front of a largely empty crowd, got 20 overs in and had to come off for bad light. Disappointing when it happens, but they do what they can, and lost days are actually pretty rare in England these days.
3rd Test Australia v India @ SCG
First day disrupted by wet weather, losing 4 hours
Half way through the extended morning session Aust is 4/264 off 82.
A total of 350 from here should be par. 400+ should be the target.
Australia picked Warner to return from injury and Pucovski to debut.
Burns and Head dropped.
It was immediately obvious that Warner wasn’t fully fit and he was dismissed early nicking off with an ill-judged drive without moving his feet, probably because he wasn’t fit.
Pucovski looked OK with a debut half century though India gifted him with Pant putting down two skied chances. The second was given but the review showed the ball was clearly on the ground before he picked it up and claimed the catch. Not sure he should get any benefit of doubt. For a guy who has been lidded in just 24 first class games more than most cop in a career Pucovski seems very willing to attack the short ball. He also goes back & across his stumps making him vulnerable to the delivery which got him plumb LBW.
Labuschagne had a century in his grasp before a lapse in concentration
Smith looks in ominous touch and India will do well to stop him scoring a big hundred from here (currently 73no)
Pucovski has been on the cusp of Test selection three times, but having to withdraw from the squad through various illnesses. First time he’s played on the SCG.
Interesting factoid. He is Australian cap #460.
The only other country with that many caps is England. #460 for England was David “Bumble” Lloyd back in 1974 who managed to get himself opening the batting when Lillee and Thompson were at their peak. He’s dined out on the story of Thompson catching him not side-on and fracturing his protector ever since.
I just read that this is the first innings in the history of international cricket with 2 partnerships of exactly 100 runs. And they were back-to-back.
Implies a loss of concentration at the milestone, but you’d take it every time.
Australia dismissed for 338, 70-100 short of what’s required.
Smith last out, run out, 131.
Warner fielding at slip to confirm he is down on mobility in the field.
I don’t have the package that carries the Aussie tests in the UK. What’s the view of Cameron Green from the cognoscenti on the board? You hear of him on podcasts and so on and it seems like he might be the Second Coming?
In seriousness, Australia generally go 6 best bats, 3 best seamers, a spinner and a wicketkeeper. If you’ve found a genuine all rounder in amongst your 6 best bats, then everyone needs to watch out, as Starc, Hazelwood and Cummins will all be just that little bit fresher, if there’s a 4th bowler who is a threat helping them rest for spells. Start, Hazelwood, Cummins is already quite a tricky prospect at the best of times.
Re: tickets. I’ve my allocation for the India test at The Oval (rolled over from the game that we couldn’t attend in July - hopefully by September we might be allowed to go, vaccine willing). Teuton has the right of it for the England just about. Days 1-3 are “full price” - we sprang for good seats almost behind the bowler’s arm from one end - they’re £95 a day. Day 4 is slightly reduced - something like £60 for the day from memory (there is basically an expectation that the game is likely to finish sometime on Day 4). Tickets for Day 5 usually go on sale during the Test if it looks like it will get there - £20 for adults anywhere in the ground, £1 for under 16s and pensioners. Can be a bunfight to get the best seats if there’s a lot of play likely to be left. If it’s just knocking off the last 25 runs or getting 1 wicket, fees are usually waived.
This is a tactic that has been refined in the IPL. It comes down to this:
Over the last three seasons of the IPL, there have been 52 instances when chasing teams have had to get between ten and 24 runs with at least three wickets in hand at the end of the 18th over. Both teams in each case could be considered to have a realistic chance of a win from these situations.
So, in these situations, if the game is in the balance at the start of the 19th over, best to have your best bowler bowl that over. Why? Because if he performs well and limits the opposition, he tilts the odds in your favour. If you wait until the 20th over, the odds may already have been tilted against you by the batsmen hitting out against a worse bowler.
Of course, you can’t tell at the beginning of your innings whether the game will be in the balance at the start of the 19th over, so most teams will operate at the outset under the assumption that their best bowler will bowl the 19th over and change on the fly if you need to. But if it looks like this is going to be the situation, you want an over of Bumrah, Archer or whomever in your back pocket to use.
When Greg Chappell says he is the best batting prospect since Ponting there has got to be something in it.
He’s young (21), for a batsman he’s unusually tall at 1.98m (which puts him taller than both Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc). He also is capable of bowling high 140s seemingly without overstraining. He’s raw and needs to fill out and is learning both his crafts. He’ll be given every chance.
Saw him play in the recent tour game for Australia A v India when he scored 125 and looked class and polish. Pucovski got lidded earlier in the game which put him out of selection for Tests 1&2.
Yes, if fit and in form it looks OK on paper:
Warner
Pucovski
Lambuschagne
Smith
Head/Wade/Carey/Henriques
Green
Paine/Carey
The perennial Australian search for an allrounder since Keith Miller and Alan Davidson retired continues.
A bowling allrounder who can take the new ball and get top order wickets while capable of scoring big runs at #6. There haven’t been that many of them. Most candidates are batting allrounders who bat top order and are capable of a few tidy overs before the second new ball. Green will be more of the latter than the former.
I find this an extraordinary stat, given Australia and England started playing Tests at the same time. What’s the main reason behind it? I assume it’s mostly to do with England playing significantly more Tests than Australia prior to the modern era (say - the 70s/80s?), but no idea if that’s so. Possibly also England having more years of an unsettled team - I wouldn’t be surprised if England used about twice as many players as Australia in the 90s, for example. Still, for it to take nearly 47 years for Australia to pick their 460th player compared to when England did seems very outlandish.
England have played about 200 more Tests than Aus (1028 vs 833), but it’s over the same span of time so the number of players should, you would think, be similar. But Zak Crawley is number 695 for England - England are 235 ahead!
You can see the list of England players here:
And the Australian ones here:
A short look suggests that the trend started early - England was at 246 at the start of 1930, where Aus was only at 134. The 90s didn’t help though, Australia capped 33 players during that decade, to England’s 58 - nearly double!
Anyway, glad to see Dean Elgar get his ton in the second SL/SA match.
Aust v India @SCG Day 5
India needing an improbable 407 to win are 3/116 with Pujara and Pant at the crease. ‘Vihari is inconvenienced with an injured hand and, if he does but will come in down the order. (He should be in now)
Australia were short in the first inning but when India batted a solid bowling effort plus 3 run outs gave the hosts a substantial lead.
Aust second dig put up over 300 in a curious individual but good team effort. Both Labruschagne and Smith got out with hundreds for the taking. Needed some late innings hitting from Green to get the 400 lead on declaration without needing their bowlers to bat.
With Rahane falling to Lyon early, India might be just just two wickets from folding. But Pujara is well set and if he can get somebody to stay with him, India are not cooked.
The stat given on my broadcast is that 288 is the highest ever successful 4th innings chase at the SCG, dating back to the 1800’s. Improbable indeed. I think even a draw would be shocking,
Yeah, but the “highest total to win” is always misleading.
There are SCG Test 4th innings totals well over 350 but to lose or draw.
India can draw this, which is a good result out of this for them, with 250-300.
And a remarkable draw in the finish. Was up early so watched a bit - very tense, but the final Indian pair batted very well against some great bowling. Four dropped catches though…
India, with 3 injured players bat out four sessions losing just 5 wickets and 2 on the final day. One of those in the second over.
A 62 run partnership off 260 balls between Vihari and Ashwin was a magnificent example of discipline that got them home after Pant scored a belligerent 97.
.