Contrasting Test matches

Down Under :

Australia declare with a lead of 375 with SAfs given 3 and a half sessions to try and sweep Aussies 3-0. An interesting Test match in line with no Smith and no spinner in Aussie ranks. Hussey and Katich slow down the pace. Ponting and Haydos fall for speeding up the things. I feel Hayden should continue his career. They don’t need another rookie in Saf in February. Punter declaration a perfect example of Test cricket, how it should be. No liking for milestones and whatever. Just try to play for lost pride and revive some reputation by winning a dead rubber Test match.

In the days when Aussies would have their luck, they would have won MCG and WACA test. And today rather than fighting to avoid 0-3 defeat, they would have been glaring for a 3-0 series win over the SAfs. Game of cricket is a great leveler. Just last year, the Aussies were on a rampage killing the spirits of the game in the same venue by appealing against everything and anything. Of course the recipients were Indians and the umps were Benson and Bucknor.

I have been an Aussie follower since the 1991 days when India toured them and the commentary, quality of grounds almost took me by surprise. Since then after India, I have been following them. And I want them to win the Test and go for a kill in South Africa. Perhaps all they need to do is remind the Safs of the WC 99 and 07 defeats.

Saf opening with Morkel proved to be disastrous. They should remember that there is no Smith this time. Perhaps selfish Kallis holds the key as he also needs few runs to get past 10k runs.

Neighborhood :

Updates : Sri Lanka won by 475 runs -- fifth highest margin ever. Yet another record, yet another milestone against poor cricketing nations all set to loose their Test status. Guess what follows next ? A tri-series against BD and Zim...Needless to say how many more records would tumble......

SL lead Bangladesh by 620+ runs and yet are batting on and on. Perhaps waiting for Kapugedra 100 and Vass 50. Inexplicable tactics this. They just play for records and figures. They feast on minnows. They boost their batting and bowling averages against the likes of BD and Zim. When they would find no other team to tour, they would happily tour BD and Zim. Set milestones and then listen the MJ blabber that they found out lot of positives and build upon the team. Only to loose against the good teams. This team for sure kills the spirits of the game. No wonder this team holds most of highest batting score records in T20, ODIs and Tests, yet don’t look to be the top on the rankings.

Perhaps 421 BD scored would have scared the insecure SL skipper. What are they going to achieve out of this ? Simple record of victory by highest margin. Few useless 100s and cheap wickets. Or rather wikats. Here are some of the reactions out of SL fans :

Anika: "Surely, 623 runs is about 150 runs past where they probably should have declared. What happens if it rains or some bad light interferes. Mahela is only increasing the chances of a draw."

Hamish: "Mahela should take a leaf out of Ricky Ponting's book and make a sporting declaration. And you wonder why people are defecting to the 20/20 version of the game."

Anandha: "Mahela is a different captain. He may wants his batsmen to have some good batting practice because there will be a few back-to-back to cricket ahead for SL. I don't blame on him giving opportunities to his batsmen to have a go with the bat."

SL fans are used to the negativity their team propogates. I remember the 952 they scored against us in 1997. That was a torture. Indians lost their wkts for fast scoring rate. SL went on batting and batting and batting. Even Vaas scored 71 and MJ debuted in that test match. Attapattu was the only one to have missed out as he was bowled first ball to Nilesh Kulkarni. What was the usage ? Just batting records. 2^nd innings, Murali and Mendis would run through the hapless Bangaladeshis and then they would celebrate the rise in rankings.

Disgusting and irritating to see this Lankans bat and play…………Perhaps they should take a leaf out of Ponting’s book.