India win world’s biggest game of beach cricket

My Space says:

06:41am | 27/02/13

Sore loser AND poor, biased journalist!!!

The Australian’s lost this Test Match 2-months ago.

After being 2-0 up against Sri Lanka Australia could have bought O’Keefe into the Test Team to debut in Sydney in preparation for India and allowing the two spinners to bowl together.

Everyone knows that Lyon is not the best spinner in the world but since the 3rd Test Sydney it appears that little has been done to improve his technique.

The team selection was asking for trouble ..... selecting Maxwell, Smith AND Doherty for their spin bowling ..... all of whom are significantly worse than Lyon. They also selected Wade, who has shown over the last summer that he cannot keep to spin bowling.

The Australian Team didn’t travel to India together, splitting players and coaching staff. You don’t see that happen in too many sports!!! Then they treated the two warm up games like a joke.

Two days before the test the selectors announced the team with three of the best fast bowlers/seamers in the world and only one mediocre spinner. What kind of pitch did you expect to be prepared?? Did you think that India was going to serve up a WACA pitch so that they could lose two series in a row at home??

The Australians weren’t complaining too much after they had scored 380 in the 1st Innings, although Clarke was lucky given not out when he was clearly caught on 39, and had India 2/12. But then Clarke refused to bowl Pattinson effectively. Even when Tendulkar fell to a ball that Lyon managed to sturn Australia seemed comfortable with India 4/196. But the game was taken away from them ..... not by the pitch but by good batting by Dhoni and Kohli. Even still India was 7/372. Australia simply couldn’t dislodge the bunnies that so obligingly gave away their wickets last summer, and the last 3-wickets cost exactly 200 runs. And it was here that the game was lost. Clarke chose to underbowl himself and Warner with 11-overs between them. Warner was allowed to bowl his leggies around the wicket ensuring that the batsman could not be given out LBW to a ball that went straight on and kept low.

Australia collapsed in the second innings. The 241 score was inflated by the last wicket partnership of Henriques and Lyon of 66-runs, without this it could have been an innings defeat. I would like to point out that this is not the first 50-run 10th wicket Partnership that Lyon has been involved in!!! He is a tenacious No.11!!

Even with this being the case there is one overriding piece of evidence pertaining to the condition of the pitch, Henriques (a debutant) scored two half centuries .... including 81no in the 2nd Innings. Some people found a way to bat on the pitch quite comfortably.

But it would have been interesting had the last 3-wickets in the 1st Innings fell for only 100-runs, and India was chasing 150-runs.   

In the final assessment India lost 2-wickets chasing 50-runs but it could have been 4-wickets. It appears that Lyon watched the Indian bowlers technique during that 10th Wicket Partnership as his bowling significantly improved since the 1st Innings. As stated before, Wade can’t keep to spinners and in the 50 run chase he dropped two catches, and this would have been three is Sehwag’s nick through to 1st Slip had been a little finer because Wade’s gloves were nowhere near the height of the ball.

Yes. It could have been a very interesting game had the last 3-wickets in the Indian 1st Innings fell for 100-runs or even if the Australian batsmen put on 75-more runs. Who knows .... instead of whinging about the pitch we could have had a lot of biased Australian journalists telling everyone how great Clarke is as Captain .... either that or pushing Wade though the door.

anonymous says:

08:41am | 27/02/13

Ha ha , Anthony nobody wants to be somebody ....

John says:

09:23pm | 26/02/13

FEWER spinners, not less.

Anthony says:

02:26pm | 27/02/13

If you want to be a teacher John do a post grad course and get to work.

Gary T says:

08:18am | 27/02/13

Actually. The decision to use only one spin bowler was largely left to the boy genius Australian captain. Poor thing, he doesn’t have Punter to see him through anymore

anonymous says:

08:44am | 27/02/13

I agree with you . I am an Australian , indian supporting fan.

AFR says:

02:39pm | 27/02/13

I would have thought actually picking a few more guys who could play spin might have helped (Haddin?)

Ian says:

07:42pm | 26/02/13

I’m fairly certain that Australia played on the same pitch as the Indians.

Daniel says:

10:32pm | 26/02/13

The host team is entitled to taylor pitches to suit their team, it’s not cheating it’s just the way it is. I always wonder whe we don’t to more of the same when we host.

Steve says:

05:53pm | 26/02/13

No that is not quite fair.

Some Australian commentators like Mr Sharwood are being sore losers and howling at the moon that is true. And yes it is hilarious to watch them make idiots of themselves and confirm gross and erroneous generalisations held by biased Indian cricket fans.

However I take umbrage with the second assertion. I believe it has been shown without a doubt that Australian sport administrators are pussies and have been taken for a ride by Labor politicians desperate for a diversion.

But despite the “damning” report no positive tests for performance enhancing drugs have been found. No sportsperson has been stood down for anything illegal. No games have been shown to be fixed.

The actual people playing the games may well be overpaid, pampered poseurs in the case of swimming or complete dills like Essedons players, emotionally disturbed with psychological problems like Barber or pick a sport and insult it with minor examples.

But to call Australian sport a sham, and by association the players cheats or worse, is not fair. You have perfectly legitimate complaints to make against imbecilic thought bubbles like Mr Sharwoods who through lack of wit or plain ignorance expose a mean spirit when beaten. Don’t gild the lily and over reach though. It is not needed.

Go to town on Mr Sharwood. He fully deserves it, just leave the many people that actually have a crack and try hard without fault alone.

JimmyMac says:

07:25pm | 26/02/13

Hilarious isn’t it.

Absolutely, gloriously hilarious. My new favourite throwaway line is “who cares, their all on drugs or taking bribes anyway - Authorised by the Federal Australian Government.”

Christ I can’t wait for the Barmy Army and the Lions Fans to turn up. The timing of that announcement was just too good.

I can hear it already “EPO, EPO, EPOOOOOOO”

JimmyMc says:

07:36pm | 26/02/13

@Steve

I love your optimistic comment but its been obvious to virtually every sports fan that isn’t Aussie that there are huge elements of Australian sport which are squalid.

You can’t have a small population, gambling as insanely hard as Aussies do on an insular Aussie run sporting fishbowl full of players who by global measures make peanuts without fingers in pies.

“It’s OK, I’ll fine you $500k but just to reiterate, you didn’t do anything wrong.” is uniquely Australian logic.

“Oh so you’re a jockey who bet on another horse in a race in which you were contesting? It’s OK, we won’t end your career.”

Australia is the sporting wild west and only Australians would be dumb enough to think it’s real.

Steve says:

06:00pm | 26/02/13

“..then next time they’re over here let’s play them on the sort of pitches we all grew up on. “

What like The Gabba, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, Hobart, The WACA and The G?

Like we always do? Are you really that silly? Did you not read what you you wrote?

You actually make the point you are ridiculing. Please, if you know as little about the subject as you obviously do, stay silent.

The pitch was fine. The test went to a fifth day. Gosh. They were better.

Clarke scored a ton. The Portugese guy got 2 fifties for crying out loud. On debut!! Siddle batted for ever in the first dig for no runs. Warner who can’t play spin got 60 odd with a dodgy hand.

How much “fairer” do you want it?

Tooves says:

06:23pm | 26/02/13

Have you watched test cricket in Australia?  That’s exactly what we do.

Vik says:

07:43pm | 26/02/13

John A, help me understand how we treat them when they come here? We are supposed to play on all sorts of pitches and not just what we have been used to. Get used to that fact! The next thing you will start complaining about is the weather was too hot and the Indians cheated by organizing matches on hot days.

Its like going to the French Open in tennis and complaining that there was no grass. There are different courts in tennis and different pitches in Cricket.

I agree with a comment above; the match went into day 5. How come Henriques (a debutante mind you) score a couple of half centuries?

Stop complaining about everything else on earth and focus on performances. Great and for that sake even good players are the ones who can adapt to circumstances and that includes weather as well.

Paul M says:

12:27am | 27/02/13

Looking forward to the antarctic test teem, who plays on 3-metre deep snow. Hey! They grew up on it!

Loomer says:

07:21pm | 26/02/13

Maybe the article needs satire?

Steve says:

06:46am | 27/02/13

What Loomer said.

A satire article should contain a teensy tiny bit of humour. I do like funny with my comedy.

This to me reeks of a high school cop out that having been caught Mr Sharwood is back peddling as fast as can and trying to find cover.

Stephen says:

08:20am | 27/02/13

Satire has a target.  It is intended to bring about change through shame.  The article appears to be satirising the groundskeepers and many commenters quite rightly see that as unfair criticism.

Perhaps you meant to say the op was merely being farcical or absurd.

Crazy Dave says:

06:16am | 27/02/13

There has been a disagreement between the BCCI and some of the media. I don’t fully understand it, but that’s why there is no coverage on TV, no coverage from ABC Grandstand…

Uttkarsh says:

09:38am | 27/02/13

Says the team who won against Kiwis by under arm bowling!

JAmes says:

10:18am | 27/02/13

iv once heard him called portugese born and that was in the comments here. i dont understand your problem, its true, he was portugese born. and australian media have been attacking england players for being south african born for years whilst apart from peterson whos motives were more likely mercenary the rest, whilst being born outside of england, moved whilst children. all this nonsense about where someone is born doesnt matter, its where you feel at home thats who should play for and anyone bringing it up only seems to do when they are beaten by those players. who cares.

Stew says:

10:23am | 27/02/13

I wouldn’t necessarily say we didn’t have the team to win this game, nor that the pitch assured the result. The only change that seems viable to me would be that Wade needs to be dropped to go and learn how to keep to spinners.
The difference between the teams was Dhoni. Dhoni played a brilliant innings that swung the game almost irreversibly in the direction of the Indians. It would have taken something special to come back from that, but another 75-100 runs from the Aussies in the second innings and who knows what could have been?

Its easy to say the pace attack was ineffective, and I’m sure they would have liked reverse swing to come into play and Starc take a bunch of wickets too, but Pattinson seems to have bowled pretty brilliantly to me.