TOPIC:

Burns looks a complete mess at the moment, a walking wicket, which is a shame as I havent minded him in the past and wanted him in before Harris (who is not up to Test Cricket standard imho) in the Ashes last year.
I would still push for Green to play (if declared fit) and maybe push Wade up to open as he is not a long term option at 6 anyway and it will only be for 1 Test with hopefully Warner & Pucovski back for Melbourne..
Starc has bowled very ordinary this summer so far but I daresay they will pick him for Adelaide but yes Pattinson & Neser will be straight in for Boxing Day if he is all over the shop again.

Whatever the opening partnership, the Indians will be salivating at the prospect of having Australia 2 for not many and getting Smith and Labuschagne in early to face the new ball. I cant see them picking Burns so it may be Wade and Harris with Green at number 6 if fit.

Now Smith has a dodgy back.....geez 4 weeks ago folk were salivating at the prospect of a top 6 of Warner, Pucovski, Labuschagne, Smith, Head and Green.....looks like it may only be Labuschagne and Head left, with Burns, Harris, Wade and Henriques as filler inners.....

Still no Aussie line up though Cameron Green has been handed a baggy green by Pat Cummins

Indian XI announced though and is

Shaw
Agarwal
Pujara
Kohli
Rahane
Vihari
Saha WK
Ashwin
Yadav
Shami
Bumrah

Aussie line up

Joe Burns, Matthew Wade, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Travis Head, Cameron Green, Tim Paine , Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood.

Aussies bowling first after losing toss.

Australia on top at the end of day 1 thanks to the 3 wickets in the last hour or so. The run out of Kohli just before the new ball was critical. He was looking good for 150 before this happened. All the bowlers did well on a pitch that didn't offer much. Cam Green was very tidy in his first test bowling effort.

First session tomorrow will set the tone for the match. If the Australians can tidy up the last 4 wickets for 50 or so they will feel confident. If India get up close to 350 they will be on top, particularly given the shaky nature of Australia's opening partnership. Hopefully Burns can regain some confidence at the crease.

I was surprised how cautious India were all day to only end up with 230 but the commentators were saying that the pitch was playing a little slow and that is why it might have been harder to score. We will find out when the Aussies bat on it I guess

Day 1 a real arm wrestle. Aussies bowled very well. Pujara channeled his inner Geoffrey Boycott scoring runs at a snails pace and frustrated our bowlers for some time. Horrible run out opened the door and Starc and Hazlewood obliged with late wickets that put us on top. Need to clean up the tale sharpish and make some runs.

The Aussie bowlers did their job in the first half hour of day two, dislodging the last 4 Indian wickets for just 11 for what I thought was a pretty mediocre score of 244. Unfortunately Australia produced an even more shambolic performance with the bat. If India had taken all their chances the final total would have been less than 150. The tone was set by the stroke less opening partnership. I thought the idea of putting Wade up the top of the order was for him to attack and put the pressure back on the bowlers, well the bowlers were obviously too good for that. Burns is just an embarrassment, he would struggle to get runs in grade cricket at the moment. Apart from Labuschagne and Paine the rest of the top 6 fell pretty meekly and it was left to the bowlers to assist the score up to 191
Despite the late wicket the Australians are now looking down the barrel at a hefty defeat as Bumrah, Shami, Yadav and Ashwin seem to be a bit too good for them. The only hope is to skittle them for under 200 tomorrow but any target over 250 will be too much for this wobbly batting group

mikeh wrote: The Aussie bowlers did their job in the first half hour of day two, dislodging the last 4 Indian wickets for just 11 for what I thought was a pretty mediocre score of 244. Unfortunately Australia produced an even more shambolic performance with the bat. If India had taken all their chances the final total would have been less than 150. The tone was set by the stroke less opening partnership. I thought the idea of putting Wade up the top of the order was for him to attack and put the pressure back on the bowlers, well the bowlers were obviously too good for that. Burns is just an embarrassment, he would struggle to get runs in grade cricket at the moment. Apart from Labuschagne and Paine the rest of the top 6 fell pretty meekly and it was left to the bowlers to assist the score up to 191
Despite the late wicket the Australians are now looking down the barrel at a hefty defeat as Bumrah, Shami, Yadav and Ashwin seem to be a bit too good for them. The only hope is to skittle them for under 200 tomorrow but any target over 250 will be too much for this wobbly batting group

The Indian bowlers did well without question but the Australian batting was horrible. Wade and Burns opening the batting is as it appears - very daft. Anyone know if S.Marsh and Harris are available for boxing day?

Ti Em wrote:

mikeh wrote: The Aussie bowlers did their job in the first half hour of day two, dislodging the last 4 Indian wickets for just 11 for what I thought was a pretty mediocre score of 244. Unfortunately Australia produced an even more shambolic performance with the bat. If India had taken all their chances the final total would have been less than 150. The tone was set by the stroke less opening partnership. I thought the idea of putting Wade up the top of the order was for him to attack and put the pressure back on the bowlers, well the bowlers were obviously too good for that. Burns is just an embarrassment, he would struggle to get runs in grade cricket at the moment. Apart from Labuschagne and Paine the rest of the top 6 fell pretty meekly and it was left to the bowlers to assist the score up to 191
Despite the late wicket the Australians are now looking down the barrel at a hefty defeat as Bumrah, Shami, Yadav and Ashwin seem to be a bit too good for them. The only hope is to skittle them for under 200 tomorrow but any target over 250 will be too much for this wobbly batting group

The Indian bowlers did well without question but the Australian batting was horrible. Wade and Burns opening the batting is as it appears - very daft. Anyone know if S.Marsh and Harris are available for boxing day?

Harris is not up to Test cricket TE he is worse than Burns whilst Wade is just a makeshift opener until Warner & Pucovski are back in hopefully in time for the Melbourne Boxing Day Test.