Oz tour of India. Tests & ODIs.

[Donny]

1/140.

Head 86*, Labu 44*.

125 run p'ship.

[Donny]

Head out to Axar for 90.

2/153. Labu 51*.

[Donny]

Carey drawing big accolades from Braddin, for his keeping.

[Pies4shaw]

Tea. 2/158. Bradsmith and Marnus at the crease. Australia leads by 67. 32 overs to go. Realistically, Australia need sto bat for about 20 to 25 of them to draw.

[Pies4shaw]

Australia declared at 2/175. Match drawn. Marnus 63* from 213 and Bradsmith 10* from 59.

Just 4 wickets per day fell to the bowlers (ie, run-outs aside) in this Test.

[Pies4shaw]

Series runs -

Khawaja 333
Kohli 297
Patel 264
Marnus 244
Sharma 242
Head 235

Series wickets -

Ashwin 25
Jadeja 22
Lyon 22
Murphy 14
Shami 9
Kuhnemann 9 (no-ne else took more than 3 wickets in the Series)

[Pies4shaw]

Updated Test batting averages for Australians in India (current squad):

Green 67.50
Smith 50.31
Khawaja 47.57
Head 47
Marnus 40.66
Handscomb 28.58
Starc 27.00
Warner 21.78
Renshaw 21.45
Cummins 10.42
Lyon 9.37
Carey 9.33
Murphy 9.20
Kuhnemann 4.00
Hazlewood 2.00
Boland 0.50

And a list of current Australian players who have made a Test century in India (current squad):

Smith (3)
Khawaja (1)
Green (1)

[Pies4shaw]

And a list of all Australian players who have made at least 500 Test runs in India (with averages - averages of 50 or better bolded, averages under 40 in italics):

Hayden 1,027 at 51.35
Clarke 972 at 40.50
Smith 805 at 50.31
Border 766 at 51.06
Katich 735 at 40.83
Ponting 662 at 26.48
Harvey 609 at 55.36
Hughes 594 at 59.40
Watson 523 at 31.76
Lawry 521 at 43.58

[Donny]

Loving your work, mate.

[K]

...
Journos have said it and they're right. India don't want to produce dustbowl pitches. 'Cos if it's a dustbowl shootout Oz might win. India want to produce pitches that give just enough for spinners to be dangerous. Then they just sit around and watch hopeless FTBs' defective techniques destroyed.

<snip>

Normal Indian pitches are much better for India. A 600 1st-innings pitch. Dopey England or Oz batters get 400, think they're heroes. India laugh to themselves, get 600. India bowl out Dopey England or Oz on the 5th day for 150, win by an innings and 50 runs.

But those normal Indian pitches are bad for cricket. For cricket, it's much better if the pitch is overcooked than undercooked. The shamefully flat Oz pitches are an existential threat to the game. But when Brissy has a pitch that is accidentally good for cricket, everyone squeals like pigs.

As always, I was right.

Of course, the pitch stayed so flat, Oz drew. (Like the 3rd Test of the last Indian tour.) But didn't score enough. And only got to 480 'cos of 2 batters and 2 tailenders.

And of course the 3rd Test with the overcooked pitch was much better for cricket than the 4th Test with the dead pitch!!

[Pies4shaw]

Loving your work, mate.

Thanks, Donny.

Interestingly, Hayden's and Smith's averages in India this century are higher than Tendulkar's (which was "just" 47.11 in his 60 Tests in India between 2001 and 2013).

[Donny]

Tonight. 7 pm.

Australia v. India.

First ODI.

[Donny]

" The three games will be played in six days, all of them day-night matches starting at 1.30pm local, or 7pm AEDT."

CA.

[Donny]

Oz 4/154 after 25 overs. Marsh 81.

Inglis 12*.

[Donny]

5/169. Inglis out for 26.