Cricket

No surprise there.

Yes the right decision for me, 15 months on and it's time to move on.

The cricketing authorities having in effect already banned him from twelve England matches including the pinnacle for any English cricketer, the Ashes, plus taking the vice captaincy away, have given him an extremely harsh cricketing sanction.

Some on social media seem to confuse the cricket authorities with the civil authorities and a trial in a civil court, some of the comments are quite ludicrous in their ignorance.

Whatever they think of his treatment by the civil courts and police, and granted some thought he escaped with a not guilty verdict of affray, the cricketing authorities aren't a sort of second higher civil court which some seemed to expect them to be, they can't pass civil sentences, he can't be imprisoned - unbelievably some even thought that.

What happened in Bristol was awful. I know he was cleared in court but he knows he should not have put himself in that position, being out in the street at 2.30am. Nothing good can happen at that time of night and the players had to grow up and be smarter.

It was right he missed the prestigious Ashes and the ECB waited for the exact civil charges from the police in January before picking him again. There was no way he could go to Australia with that hanging over his head but now is not the time to ban him from more games. Let’s all move on
 
Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli ground the tiring Australian bowlers down in a partnership of 71 runs and despite Kohli's late dismissal to Nathan Lyon, have put India in a dominant position to bat Australia out of the match.

At 151-3, 166 ahead they've possibly got more than enough already, as the bans have exposed and Australia repeatedly shown since, just how lacking in depth their batting resources really are, it must be a huge worry for this series.

Credit to the openers too, especially KL Rahul for setting the tone up front with a very useful 63 opening stand, Rahul falling just short of a half century.

In a truncated morning session some late runs from number ten Nathan Lyon 24* in 28 balls got Australia within 15 of parity but this third innings has established a stranglehold on the game and given India an opportunity to ignore history and take a massive step to winning their first ever series on Australian soil.

On the prospects for the rest of the series...

243, 239, 255, 107, 221, 119, 202,
362-8, 155, 164, 235 are Australia's batting totals since sandpaper-gate, with the exception of their second innings heroics in Dubai there's a striking similarity to them. They're all below 260 and nowhere near enough for their bowlers to have anything to play with, no matter how formidable their attack is.

This is a marvellous chance for India as almost any top side would fancy their chances right now, even in Australia, and more especially without any Brisbane test at fortress Australia.

It would be a very notable achievement for India given their absolutely abysmal record over there but it's one they absolutely have to and should now take, to not do so would be a huge opportunity missed. Australia's batting without Smith and Warner has no stability or permanence, is extremely brittle and falls apart at the drop of a hat.

If Australia's depth of batting resources really is as astonishingly thin as they've repeatedly shown, then I can't see any way back for them from here, and a one sided humiliation could well be on the cards.
 
India didn't make as many as I thought they would due to their long tail being skittled for nothing, but the damage was done and chasing 323 is well beyond the compass of this Australian side.

As I've said on more than a few occasions, the Aussie batting without their suspended trio is well below par, so I fully expect them to collapse as soon as and India to finish it off tomorrow morning.

(Overnight score Australia need another 219 runs and are 104-4.)

It must be disappointing to see there looks to be about 17 people there in this 50,000 stadium - it's just a sea of empty seats.

So why the sparsely supported test matches and almost complete disinterest from the Australian public?...

We wouldn't see an English ground, first test of the summer, with empty seats like this on a weekend day.

India would be a headline series, but not even the first shorter series; Sri Lanka, West Indies etc would be like this.

While we in this country are far more likely to support a side who are going through a tough period, the Aussies as a rule just won't. They've hardly mentioned cricket or more specifically how the team is playing since the ban, other than about the ban itself, it's almost as if it doesn't exist. I have a good friend who lives in Melbourne and a cricket fanatic and he was astonished at their indifference. The only time it was news was when the possibility of the ban being lifted was mooted.

The Ashes is a completely different case and has a far higher profile, the Gabba on the first day is always packed as would be Adelaide, the WACA, the MCG and SCG but unless it's England it largely depends on their own teams prospects.

The Aussies detest losers and the Aussie public have had this team's number for months now, they'll only be bothered about cricket again with the ashes when their talismen are back and they can compete properly again.

Lose this and its five defeats in their last six, and some by massively heavy and humiliating margins too, it's little wonder a so called iconic series hardly registers with a public who much prefer winners, other sports will hog their attention until next August.

Their only draw was a quite heroic backs to the wall drawn test too, it could so easily could have been six defeats on the spin.

They just see a never ending series of defeats and won't support losers.

Some Indians on cricinfo are trying to compare this Aussie Indian series to the ashes and doing their level best to convince themselves that they are somehow both of the same level or as prestigious as each other.....too ridiculous for words tbh, they are only about a level or sixty seven apart lol
 
"He (Jason Roy) has an unbelievable talent and big ambitions to play Test cricket. If he gets that backing you watch him work hard and try and get into the XI, he will bat wherever and not moan about it"

Although the quote is from Surrey coach Alec Stewart, Ed Smith the selectors and coaching staff are known to be very keen on getting Jason Roy into the England set up as soon as possible, he toured the UAE with the Lions and is very likely to be the only headline change when the touring squad for the series in the West Indies is named tomorrow. Joe Denly and possibly Ollie Pope may miss out.

The first test is in middle to late January i think

Over in Adelaide, the collapse has begun, Head out edging a short lifter from ishant, it won't last very long tonight.

Off to bed, work tomorrow - all over anyway.
 

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