Australian Tour of India, October 2010/11

[shripathee]

Thats not really fair. Whenever they get lively pitches they bowl well.

 

[SaiSrini]

Thats not really fair. Whenever they get lively pitches they bowl well.

I guess you are not in sync with the famous 'The Sid Pessmism'. You will get used to it.

 

[Gaurav_7]

Oh Sid, Wake up.

 

[SciD]

1st match is in Mohali. It will be good wicket for 2 days and then it will be pancake. Indian figures

Zaheer 32-0-102-2
Ishant 30-0-200-0
Harbhajan 40-6-160-2
Ojha 28-5-99-1

 

[pcfan123]

Looks like the Commonwealth Games might even be canceled, this series will be in the complete spotlight then

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-11379020

The Commonwealth Games Federation head has demanded the Indian government take immediate steps to improve conditions at the athletes' village in Delhi.

Team delegates have described the accommodation as filthy, unhygienic and unfit for human habitation.

Two days before the village officially opens to the first of 7,000 athletes and officials, New Zealand chef de mission Dave Currie suggested the Games might even be cancelled.

He said toilets in the accommodation were leaking and did not flush, and there were piles of building debris in bathrooms.

Mr Currie told New Zealand commercial radio on Tuesday: "If the village is not ready and athletes can't come, obviously the implications of that are that it's not going to happen.

"It's pretty grim really and certainly disappointing when you consider the amount of time they had to prepare."
Continue reading the main story
Analysis
Sanjoy Majumder BBC News, Delhi

The Games village - made up of several blocks of high-rise luxury flats for the athletes who are due to begin arriving on Friday - was meant to be the event's showpiece.

The chief of the organising committee, Suresh Kalmadi, had said it would be better than the village at the Beijing Olympics.

Now his words are coming back to haunt him. Advance teams have described the state of the flats as shocking.

The village itself has been built on the banks of the Yamuna river. Just outside it are pools of green, stagnant water left over from flooding after Delhi's worst monsoon in three decades.

It's a breeding ground for mosquitoes and has raised fears of disease - there have been nearly 100 cases of dengue fever over the past month.

The organisers now certainly have their work cut out.

Team Scotland said in a statement that on arrival in Delhi last week their officials found "its allocated accommodation blocks were far from finished and in their view, unsafe and unfit for human habitation"

 

[SciD]

whoever cared about that tainted games. No one will cry if it gets cancelled.

Corrupt politicians and contractors should be shot in public :cutit

 

[WubbaLubbaDubDub]

Looks like the Commonwealth Games might even be canceled, this series will be in the complete spotlight then

BBC News - Delhi Games village 'unfit for athletes'

If CWG gets cancelled then it's going to be real loss to India in the sense of money. It will be shameful to.

Why that could not be held in mumbai?

If it would be held in Mumbai then definitely it would have it's work done pretty quicker.

TBH 40% is due to corruption but rest 60% is due to floods that has caused more trouble this time.

 

[SciD]

These things were to be prepared 2 months back and floods would have done nothing. Its excuse and we the tax payers have already lost money for next 25 years. Yes when you start earning you will be paying for these corrupt guys. :

 

[angryangy]

I call BS on this. I think you are living back in the past where Harbhajan did well against Australia IN ONE SERIES. 2004 was he pretty good too, but he hardly dominated. Australia's traditional weakness has been against left arm orthodox.

Anyway, to prove my point here is a list of spinners against Australia in the last 5 years:
Australia v spin

Mishra and Rafique are the only guys to average under 30 and the only 2 with a strike rate under 65, and that's in 3 and 2 Tests respectively - hardly convincing evidence. Neither are offies.

Harris, Benn, Vettori and Harbhajan have been respected by the Aussies but none have been particularly threatening recently as seen by their awful strike rates, but decent economy. But thinking about it, Harris got a fair few wickets because he was seen as the weak bowler and was underestimated too often. That's 3 SLA and one offie.

Everyone talks about Swann bowling Ponting through the gate, but for most of the 2009 series the Aussies played him pretty easily, particularly the right handers (10 of his 14 wickets were lefties). And Murali hasn't done anything against Australia for a long time. So the 2 best offies in the last 5 years have been handled well by Australia.

vs Mishra was the most woeful performance, batsmen simply not reading the wrong'un. D grade stuff comparable with the performances that yielded North 6 wickets.

vs Harris and Benn is more interesting, more systemic. What happened there was more to do with technique. Favouring the cross bat strokes against tall spinners who don't rely on side-spin tends to mean those spinners eventually get their way.

It's also worth applying this principle to Indian pitches. When Tendulkar made his ODI 200, South Africa in stark contrast struggled with the low bounce. AB de Villiers was the one tourist who got going; in his 114, about 100 of those runs were scored between cover and midwicket. One of the highlights of his innings was the way he punched the ball off the back foot. It's no surprise that many Indian batsmen tend to play few pull shots.

In spite of how many runs can be made on a given pitch, playing with a straight bat becomes compulsory if the ball is more likely to hit the stumps than bounce over.

 

[ZexyZahid]

What's the expected line up of Australia?

Watson
Katich
Ponting
Clarke
Mike Hussey
Paine
North
Johnson
Hauritz
Bollinger
Hilfenhaus

Is that it?

 

[sifter132]

I'd say so, but with North ahead of Paine. The reserves are all youngsters so it would be surprising if they get a spot for the first Test. The only guy close would be Steve Smith for Marcus North. Peter George and Phil Hughes would need an injury to play.

 

[Num]

Australia may have some selection headaches before the first Ashes Test. There's North, but what about Hussey? Hussey is one of my favourite players, but if he doesn't perform in India, do we persist with him based on his experience and past performances or do we risk changing up the batting line up for the Ashes (Hughes or Khawaja)?

Having Khawaja debut in the first Ashes Test would be placing a lot of pressure on him, but Hughes wasn't in great form in England for Hampshire (85 runs from 6 innings, average of 14.16).

Cricket Records | Season 2010 - Hampshire | Records | First-class matches | Most runs | Cricinfo.com

 

[sifter132]

I'm not sure, I think we need another right hander in the middle for the Ashes if possible because of Swann's record vs lefties. I showed last page that Swann only got 4 RHB wickets during all 5 Ashes Tests, the other 10 were lefties. So perhaps that would be a good time to move Watson down to the middle or be bold and introduce Smith. I'm not particularly enamored with any of the specialist middle order right handers like White, D.Hussey, Ferguson, Bailey, Klinger or Voges. So I think the best thing that could happen here in India is epic fail from Marcus, promotion for Hughes to the top and demotion for Watson to #6. Hussey? Hmm, see how he goes, but I think they'd love to keep him if his form merits it.

 

[icyman]

1st match is in Mohali. It will be good wicket for 2 days and then it will be pancake. Indian figures

Zaheer 32-0-102-2
Ishant 30-0-200-0
Harbhajan 40-6-160-2
Ojha 28-5-99-1

Are you dreaming ??? Harbhajan ,that economical and with 2 wickets !

I say kick him out.

Looks like the Commonwealth Games might even be canceled, this series will be in the complete spotlight then

No one cares bout the CWG, In India, its only cricket. If cricket were to be a part of the games, then it would have been a different story altogether. In fact, the BCCI itself would have constructed the stadium.

If CWG gets cancelled then it's going to be real loss to India in the sense of money. It will be shameful to.

Why that could not be held in mumbai?

If it would be held in Mumbai then definitely it would have it's work done pretty quicker.

TBH 40% is due to corruption but rest 60% is due to floods that has caused more trouble this time.

???
Kalmadi is from Pune. Mumbai is closer to Pune and thus corrupting them would be a lot more easier.

 

[used2bcool]

I'm not sure, I think we need another right hander in the middle for the Ashes if possible because of Swann's record vs lefties. I showed last page that Swann only got 4 RHB wickets during all 5 Ashes Tests, the other 10 were lefties. So perhaps that would be a good time to move Watson down to the middle or be bold and introduce Smith. I'm not particularly enamored with any of the specialist middle order right handers like White, D.Hussey, Ferguson, Bailey, Klinger or Voges. So I think the best thing that could happen here in India is epic fail from Marcus, promotion for Hughes to the top and demotion for Watson to #6. Hussey? Hmm, see how he goes, but I think they'd love to keep him if his form merits it.

If Hughes comes off at the top, it'll be a great move because Watson played well at 6 the last time Australia came to India for tests. At that time, Australia opened with Katich and Hayden. I'm not entirely sold on the Hughes hype, though. I think Katich has to play a crucial role, both in India and during the Ashes. I agree with your assessment about the middle-order names you suggested, in that neither of them have the kind of resume required to take a chance on them during the Ashes. If you need a righty but no young batsman is forthcoming, why not take a chance on Brad Hodge? He'd be a decent stop-gap while Ferguson/Voges develop into test-class players or Steven Smith becomes more of a batsman.

Mike Hussey = class. Form or no form. And at the moment, there aren't too many better options for Australia.