TOPIC:

Pakistan capable of getting to 317 - will be a good one

Mikeh, for the sake of the series and all the R&P doom & groomers, be good if Pakistan snuck a win here. Babar is the key, so far has received a couple of Cummins beauties, definitely due a decent score. If Aust win, then it's another easy Aust series win under R&P, against mediocre opposition, with an inexperienced WI squad up next.

Freezin wrote:

Sadly BH....one averaged 33 over 50 test matches, and the other 45 over 110 test matches....not sure Sawle's decision was an overly hard one.....though one was a good bloke and the other not so....Swampy deserved better....unfortunately his test average argued otherwise.

Yes that is true on the stats front Freeze and Warner has more natural batting ability (well certainly more shots anyway) but Marsh also had the following all time great bowlers to contend with in his career-

From WI- Marshall, Garner, Holding, Ambrose, Walsh, Patterson...
From ENG- Botham, Dilley, Malcolm, Emburey
From NZ- Hadlee, Morrison, Bracewell
From PAK- Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Imran Khan, Abdul Qadir, Mushtaq Ahmed...
From IND- Kapil Dev, Ravi Shastri, Javagal Srinath, Manoj Prabhakar....
From SL- Rumesh Ratnayake, Ravi Ratnayake, Murali, Labrooy

In comparison Warner has had Anderson & Broad to contend with who he has been completely bamboozled by especially in England and a few others from India but the WI attack has been dreadful in his time and many of the others not much better in comparison to the 80s & 90s!

If Babar gets a century, Pakistan may well get over the line here. Pitch is probably at its best for batting and only Cummins looks threatening.

Freezin wrote:

Mikeh, for the sake of the series and all the R&P doom & groomers, be good if Pakistan snuck a win here. Babar is the key, so far has received a couple of Cummins beauties, definitely due a decent score. If Aust win, then it's another easy Aust series win under R&P, against mediocre opposition, with an inexperienced WI squad up next.

An interesting stat I heard was this current Australian side is one of if not the most experienced and oldest sides to ever take the field in a Test with every player over the age of 30.
When the likes of Warner (37), Khawaja (37), Lyon (36), Smith (34), Starc (33) etc bow out in the near future we will see what the real coaching prowess of Ronnie boy is like having to actually coach and develop less experienced guys at this level instead of the current set up where the veterans all run the show!

BH, Labuschagne is 29 mate....so that stat you heard, not sure it applies to this current Aust team.....but yeah I see your point come June in 2024. Touch wood Ronnie decides to get Green back in the fold sooner rather than later.....along with Jhye to get that bowling attack average age down as well......though it seems the 20 something youngster can't stay fit, unlike his 30 + bowling colleagues

Paddy takes a 10 for......no doubt more arse then class to some....what a great test.....touch wood Pakistan can learn from their errors, and end the series with a win in Sydney......

Great Test Match Cricket.
Pakistan will be kicking themselves with those dropped chances that cost well over 100 runs but their bowlers have definitely got the capability of taking 20 Australian wickets.

for a long time Pakistan looked the goods to take it but there was some good bowling toward the end
Pakistan will be kicking themselves for botching it at crucial times

See India's African mission has been ambushed & eaten at the first fence 
again
they have serious problems in South Africa
it's a bit of a karma for doctoring pitches in their own country
they looked spooked big time and just capitulated
could be a tight contest this Test cycle

Without doubt the most competitive test match in Australia for many years. I thought that Pakistan had a sniff with Rizwan there but his contentious dismissal put paid to their chances.
I heard the Pakistan captain interviewed after the game and he was very upbeat and positive about their performance whilst ruing some of the errors they made.
Hopefully they can put up another competitive effort in Sydney where the pitch should suit them better.
Cummins is just an inspiring cricketer, talk about a captain pulling his team over the line. He is a champion and the captaincy has lifted his performances to a greater level.