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Jan 2021
9:23am, 19 Jan 2021
72,281 posts
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swittle
"Jack's back!" 
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Jan 2021
9:37am, 19 Jan 2021
13,620 posts
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Cerrertonia
As I said a few days ago, nearly all of India's first XI unavailable for this last game. Amazing series.
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Jan 2021
9:43am, 19 Jan 2021
23,444 posts
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Nicholls595
I like to think that last night, somewhere in the sub-continent, there was a commentator saying....
"Ned Kelly, Rolf Harris, Crocodile Dundee, Merv Hughes, Mel Gibson, Eddie Jones, Kylie Minogue - we have beaten them all. We have beaten them all!
Dame Edna, can you hear me Dame Edna? Your boys took a hell of a beating."
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Jan 2021
9:50am, 19 Jan 2021
13,765 posts
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NDWDave
What’s that skippy? There trouble at the Gabba? I’ll be right there
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Jan 2021
10:20am, 19 Jan 2021
2,335 posts
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Oscar the Grouch
Top work, Nico.
I'm just off to visualise my next innings by scratching a hole in my neighbour's car #excusesbystevesmith
No doubt, all of the aussies will be lined up to say how well the oppo played. Not one will talk about 'not executing their skills'; 'luck'; 'we go again' (they don't of course)
An India win with that side - those sides - in Australia feels like a huge one to me, historically speaking
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Jan 2021
10:35am, 19 Jan 2021
13,621 posts
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Cerrertonia
India won the last series in Australia too, while Smith and Warner were banned for cheating.
If anyone is interested in the World Test Championship, the qualification scenarios are still complicated. NZ are on 70% and don't have any more tests. Any of 2-0, 3-1, 3-0 or 4-0 against England will put India above 70% and into the final. Either a 2-0 or 3-0 win against South Africa will put Australia above 70% and into the final. England can only make the final by beating Sri Lanka 2-0 and then winning 3-0 or 4-0 in India. Doesn't seem very likely.
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Jan 2021
10:47am, 19 Jan 2021
647 posts
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njosmith
I think there is a reasonable chance that Aus won't go to South Africa because of the covid situation there.
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Jan 2021
11:22am, 19 Jan 2021
12,725 posts
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rf_fozzy
England can beat anyone in England. Particularly whilst Broad and Anderson are still playing.
It used to be that English batsmen struggled abroad as they didn't know how to play the pitches, now that has been reversed somewhat because so many young players are playing hit and giggle IPL, BBL on flat wickets etc, they're not doing the old come over and play local cricket for a summer or whatever.
Just look at the county championship now- the overseas players are no longer the proliferation of australian batsmen on the verge of the test team looking for extra experience (e.g. Yorkshire having Bevan and Lehmann and even Tendulkar for that matter for India).
This means that because only New Zealand and England have conditions where the ball swings so much, some players just haven't played that before and therefore struggle against top class English fast-medium bowlers like Broad, Anderson and even Woakes.
Meanwhile, for all their faults, the ECB recognised that not enough English batsmen were getting overseas experience, so there are now lions tours, u-19 tours etc where the aim is to produce better cricketers - Root and Bairstow have talked about this giving them experience before.
I also agree with whomever said that England, Australia, India and New Zealand are all pretty similar - India probably the strongest, but then it's v close, and all probably win home series and struggle more away. The fact that India just won in Aus with a decimated side futher suggests that they are the strongest to me. But I don't doubt that some of their batters will struggle in England next summer and when they go to NZ.
Unfortunately, whilst the competition and unpredictability of current test cricket is interesting, it's likely remain that India, England and Australia will remain the dominat forces because they have so much money incoming to their boards than the rest. NZ and SA are hanging in there at the moment, but SL, PAK, WI, Bang desperately need more invtestment in their domestic games to promote the international game and Zimbabwe have been pretty much jettisoned by everyone and Ireland have a long, long, long way to catch up.
I'll finish my longer than planned post with also echoing what someone said earlier - I tire of the absolute unmitigated negativity on this thread sometimes from select contibutors. Yes. I get it. I lived through the 90s and saw the (hopefully) nadir of English cricket. But that was 25+years ago. Move on.
We won back the Ashes with the great Australians in the team, we beat the West Indies with Lara, Walsh and Ambrose, we won in Australia, and South Africa, Sri Lanka and India. We became No 1 test team. We have the fast bowler with most test wickets to his name and the one with 4th most (soon to become 3rd and probably 2nd), and we've had an all time great with the bat who became the first English player to surpass 12,000 test match runs, putting him in a *very* select club.
Yep, they're not the same team that England were about 10 years ago that looked like it was pretty much the best team we've had. But Man Utd are not the same team as they were under Ferguson. Liverpool took 30 years to win the top flight after 20 years of domination. Sport ebbs and flows and changes.
Life would be boring if nothing changed.
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Jan 2021
11:25am, 19 Jan 2021
12,726 posts
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rf_fozzy
(Oh and I missed out on the accomplishments of the past 20 years - a world T20 win and a final appearance, and both womens and mens world cup wins too)
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Jan 2021
11:28am, 19 Jan 2021
124,743 posts
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GregP
Top work Fozzers - that deserves to be somewhere other than buried in the middle of the day to day ramblings.
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