Australia's Tour Of India - 2008

[Themer]

Yeah obviously its stronger cause it has less teams but competitiveness in this years English domestic cricket has been very high in the first divisions on both the Pro40 and Fc cricket.
In terms of how strong the players, as in all of them not just the best cause we all know England win hands down in this area , are Australia's domestic wins in terms of how competitive the cricket that's been played I feel English domestic is better as we have nearly all the teams in the top div... with a chance of winning it. Not worded well but you get my meaning

 

[Mr.Cricket]

Aussie state teams will smash the county teams like guitars if they had to play against each other jk

English domestic system has too many teams and the duration is too long. I've heard many players say how they only play about 70% intensity just to make sure they can get through the whole season. Just look at all the Aussie players who absolutely dominate in English domestic cricket , most Aussie players perform much better in English domestic compared to state cricket. I think its another indication about the difference in standards.

Oh and most importantly we seem to produce much better cricketers than England.

 

[WestIndian]

It is sad to hear of the bombings in India, I am sorry for their lost, this strenghten the point that cricket and politics, well in this case maybe even religion don't mix, this is sad, because in the end, in all cases it is the people that always stand to lose, cricket fans and innocent alike.
When such actions are taken by individuals or groups their aim and purpose is solely self satisfying and with little care of others, and while I am a fan and lover of cricket, the lives of cricketers cannot be priced, nor valued to the game, more to themselves and their families, and as a result, like Pakistan if it is not safe to play then they should not, simply because these events by these individuals or groups cannot be predicted. Nevertheless, that being said, could we now, so to speak, "blacklist" India, like Pakistan as places in which cricket tours be postponed or called off because of such events? And if we do, where then does it leave the game which we have grown to love, and some of us play? Should the next event or fighting between the Tamil Tigers and Sri Lanka, put SL on the list, once a tour is to be held there?
There have to be a line drawn, a comfort zone set, if each bombing in a place or city that is or was schedule to host a match is called off or cancelled, soon enough there will only be a handful of places that cricket will be placed, I am not asking for players lives to be put on the line, cricket is not war and as such there should be no collateral lost of lives, be it players or ordinary persons alike, but there have to be some faith and confidence in the abilities of the host country, and while these groups or individual(s) does not alert where and when they are going to bring misery to peoples lives, we need to believe that these things can be combatted. I do hope that the tour will go on and the confidence in India as a host country will be maintained.

 

[angryangy]

Because pitches in English county cricket are easier for batting, on the whole.

Because of a diabolical selection error. You are not honestly suggesting that, in hindsight, Pattinson was one of the best bowlers in England at the time of his selection.

Not disagreeing about the strength of Australian domestic cricket as greater than English - in fact, I don't know enough about the former to make an educated judgement, but those two 'points' are faulty, imo.

I'd think these two points actually support the argument that the county championship is less competitive. If batting conditions are good, then there are few batsmen really taking advantage of them. I think it is probably more complicated. New ball conditions often dominate pitch quality. The Duke ball makes for somewhat unique conditions, if nothing else.

That then makes it more reasonable to see the rise of Darren Pattinson. Although Pattinson seemed an irrational selection, considering his season, I wouldn't say he is outside the top 10 county pacemen in terms of selectability, possibly in the top 5. Skills aren't really the issue though, the point is more that being able to get into Nottinghamshire appears to be easier than Victoria. There have been other examples of this, with Phil Jaques establishing himself through county cricket before becoming a regular player for NSW.

 

[Themer]

Overall Australian Domestic cricket is stronger than its English counterpart but the teams in English domestic cricket are in more competitive leagues as they are of all similar abilities is how I see it.

 

[Ayub 95]

In my eyes Aussie Domestic Cricket is much more competitive than English domestic cricket

 

[sohum]

Nathan Hauritz averages over 50 in First-Class Cricket but in his 1 and only Test match that was played in spinner friendly conditions, he took 5 wickets and ended up with an average of 20.

If you went by just that one match, Michael Clarke's average would be 1.5.

sohummisra added 8 Minutes and 14 Seconds later...

If the 2005 Ashes never happened he might be right. Maybe Katich has deleted those memories from his brain where the reverse swing of Flintoff and Jones just killed him.

Or maybe it's the fact that the last four series between the two teams has been like this:

2007: Australia 2-1 (including a controversial Sydney game)
2004: Australia 2-1 (including a rained out, balanced 5th day in I think Nagpur)
2003: Drawn 1-1
2001: India 2-1

Compared to Australia-England:

2007: Australia 5-0
2005: England 2-1
2003: Australia 4-1
2001: Australia 4-1

Basically, in the last 4 series against India, Australia has won 6, lost 5 and drawn 5. Compare that to against England, where they have won 14, lost 4 and drawn 2 and you see why Australia-India is bigger from a competitive point of view.

sohummisra added 4 Minutes and 32 Seconds later...

As for the bombings, just heard about them now. Sad to hear them happen. Apparently they are threatening to hit Mumbai next. As I understand, Australia are re-evaluating their tour, which is the correct course of action.

 

[nikhil_99]

Aus people think that touring India is safer than Pak.

http://content-ind.cricinfo.com/indvaus2008/content/current/story/369795.html

The game here is very much liked,huge amount of people come to watch. The boards also make profits by TV rights and other stuff.

 

[WORLD CHAMPIONS]

Aus people think that touring India is safer than Pak.

http://content-ind.cricinfo.com/indvaus2008/content/current/story/369795.html

The game here is very much liked,huge amount of people come to watch. The boards also make profits by TV rights and other stuff.

Its true that India is safer than Pakistan and the security is much more tightened .

 

[sifter132]

If you went by just that one match, Michael Clarke's average would be 1.5.

sohummisra added 8 Minutes and 14 Seconds later...


Or maybe it's the fact that the last four series between the two teams has been like this:

2007: Australia 2-1 (including a controversial Sydney game)
2004: Australia 2-1 (including a rained out, balanced 5th day in I think Nagpur)
2003: Drawn 1-1
2001: India 2-1

Compared to Australia-England:

2007: Australia 5-0
2005: England 2-1
2003: Australia 4-1
2001: Australia 4-1

Basically, in the last 4 series against India, Australia has won 6, lost 5 and drawn 5. Compare that to against England, where they have won 14, lost 4 and drawn 2 and you see why Australia-India is bigger from a competitive point of view.

sohummisra added 4 Minutes and 32 Seconds later...

As for the bombings, just heard about them now. Sad to hear them happen. Apparently they are threatening to hit Mumbai next. As I understand, Australia are re-evaluating their tour, which is the correct course of action.

I realise the Australia-India series have been much closer than the Ashes, but that is only one part of the issue.

My main point is Australia would rather have the Ashes in their cabinet than the Border-Gavaskar trophy. Just because the Ashes haven't been close doesn't mean they aren't important or that they aren't our biggest rivalry.

Towards the end of the 90s, early 2000s you could have argued that the Ashes had lost their meaning, but I think that 2005 proved that England can beat Australia and it breathed live back into the rivalry which instantly gave it credibility again. IMO the Indians are BECOMING great rivals, but England have been our main rivals for 130 years and it would take many continued close series against India to make them a great rival. That may be unfair, but history dictates rivalries, not how close your last couple of series have been.

Take the West Indies for example. Right now, Australia wouldn't rate the Frank Worrell trophy as a priority, but if West Indies happened to win the next series by playing great cricket, that rivalry would ramp up instantly given our great history of contests with the Windies.

Or perhaps think about this hypothetical situation: When are the selectors more likely to ring Shane Warne for help? Is it when India leads us 1-0 or when England leads us 1-0? India is an important series, but until England gets smashed for the next 3 Ashes they deserve the top billing IMO.

 

[SaiSrini]

To be honest, I don't see why Australia shouldn't start favourites in this series.

Sure, we don't have Warne & McGrath anymore but our batting lineup is head and shoulders above the Indian's. Tendulkar & Laxman are the big wickets, Dravid isn't nearly half as good as what he used to be and the rest of the Indian batting lineup isn't much to ride home about.

I wouldn't say that India's bowling lineup is any better then ours either. I'd back McGain to have more success then Harbhajan or Kumble in this series and our pace attack is far superior to India's, even if you include Mitchell Johnson.

Stuart Clark is one to watch out for I feel. Used to hate him and think that he didn't deserve to be the Australian side but truth be told he is an absolute gun. I feel he will prove allot of doubts wrong in this series and prove that he can have success on subcontient wickets with his tidy lengths and superb variation.

On bowling, I feel we're better. If Lee is fast, then Ishant Sharma is almost equally fast enough, added to his height factor. Zaheer is as experienced enough as Lee, and can bowl close to the consistency of Clark. If these two are fit and play all test matches along with Harbhajan and Kumble, our bowling attack beats yours. Plus we have backup options in RP Singh, Sreesanth and Irfan Pathan all of whom have played against Australia (Sree played the ODI's though).

saisrini80 added 2 Minutes and 10 Seconds later...

"India tour is bigger than the Ashes.The 2001 Kolkata Test has triggered this rivalary"says Simon Katich

I would say that series brought a lot of hype to India-Australia contests. But the rivalry started actually when India proved that they could do well in Australia too (in 2003).

 

[SaiSrini]

As for the bombings, just heard about them now. Sad to hear them happen. Apparently they are threatening to hit Mumbai next. As I understand, Australia are re-evaluating their tour, which is the correct course of action.

Oh come on! I am hoping for a repeat of the 2001 series classic!!! I guess the tour will go on. Getting assurance from India is more easier, and the Aussies will tour India for the money.

 

[m_vaughan]

Getting assurance from India is more easier, and the Aussies will tour India for the money.

That is just disgusting. Money over player safety?

 

[nikhil_99]

Everybody is saying that India is having edge,but they should not be carried away with that,players who are touring are Ponting,M Clarke,S Clark,Hussey,these are very good players,Watson,so they should not concentrate on what's going in media,rather see to it how to tackle each individual and win series.

 

[apesnani]

the little respect I have for aussie players is gone.

I had my thoughts but now I am 100% convinced they did not want to tour Pakistan as it interefered with their participating in the IPL.

Money talks, and Cricket Australia or any Aussie player does not have the balls to tell BCCI it will not show up.

shame on you Aussies.