World Test Championship
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India 300 for 6. Even at lunch on the first day all the comms were adamant that this game could not go the full 5 days due to the pitch. Not a criticism as such, just that it was the same ground, different pitch and apparently different soil. The point being it was a tricky surface to bat on and that 250 could be a winning score, not that it is a farcical wicket which, at 300 for 6 is evidence that it's not.
Sharma and Rahane were excellent and Pant is Pant, but it seems to be a game that will move quick because playing shots seems preferable to dead batting everything.
Never judge till both teams have batted.
So India in the box seat and playing their way back into the series.
There was a Nigel Llong moment when Rahane was given not out caught for an obvious glove touch. This time the umpire didn't play the replay long enough as Rahane missed the ball at first, then it ricocheted off his pad onto glove. Not as utterly useless as Llong but a 3rd umpire howler nevertheless. Rahane got out a few balls later and the only concession was that the authorities gave back the previously lost review.
In a maybe ironic twist, the Poms may face point deductions for slow over rate ( as Australia did) and potentially put their place in the final at risk because of that. But nobody on the team seemed to give a shit about that and they meandered along slowly despite bowling spin for 60 of the 88 overs. It seems there is no punishment worthy of speeding up over rates. Lucky the game starts at 9:30 each day.
Game on and still 3 teams in it for the June 21 final against the most gracious losers the game has ever seen 🙂
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@Siam All the England spinners were looking threatening - turning sharply on the first afternoon.
Indian comms talking up prospects for Axar Patel to bowl with speed and turn it.
I don't think it will be fun or average-enhancing, batting last!
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@Siam said in World Test Championship:
@nzzp yeah, could be one of the few follow on scenarios where it's worth doing. 2 bowlers not yet used and the ball is spitting and turning every over. Probably want to have it settled by tea though.
The pitch is only going to get worse. If no raina bout, the best chance to win is to bat again, bat for as long as possible, and leave far too many on the baord on a pitch that is exploding.
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@nzzp said in World Test Championship:
Pant's catch to Pope is magnificent. Amazing athleticism. Not a great keeper, but goddamn that is a world class catch
Pant is some cricketer. He’s an improving keeper, but his batting is something special.
Averaging 44 with more than 1100 runs in 29 innings at a SR of 70+.
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@ACT-Crusader said in World Test Championship:
@nzzp said in World Test Championship:
Pant's catch to Pope is magnificent. Amazing athleticism. Not a great keeper, but goddamn that is a world class catch
Pant is some cricketer. He’s an improving keeper, but his batting is something special.
Averaging 44 with more than 1100 runs in 29 innings at a SR of 70+.
spot on. Good description by the way - 'improving' keeping. But the batting - absolutely fearless and quite remarkable. Great to watch.
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@nzzp he’s only 23 so we have another decade of him and possibly a future captain [jinx alert]
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@ACT-Crusader said in World Test Championship:
@nzzp he’s only 23 so we have another decade of him and possibly a future captain [jinx alert]
haha, get the jinx in early.
Was it the Pakistani Akmal who was a keeper who looked a million dollars early, but just fell apart?
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@nzzp I think there were two of them - brothers.
Umar was the batsman who looked like a million dollars, Kamran was mainly a keeper who wasn't particularly great. But, cricinfo tells me Umar also kept wicket.
A similar case to Umar - who remembers Vinod Kambli? Came up through the grades with Sachin and they were supposed to be twins in talent. Poor old Vinod - dropped with a test average of 54 and never played again.
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@Siam said in World Test Championship:
@nzzp i think you're right. 2 things I'm wary of for follow ons is choosing to bat last and the pattern that the following on innings is always heaps better than their first. Always drags out longer than hoped, I reckon
Yeah - on this pitch I reckon it would be madness to enforce the follow-on.
I can't see any way it is going to get better to bat on, so the only way India loses from here is if England somehow struggles past their total and then they (India) get bowled out for 50 on a minefield.
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@Chris-B said in World Test Championship:
@nzzp I think there were two of them - brothers.
Umar was the batsman who looked like a million dollars, Kamran was mainly a keeper who wasn't particularly great. But, cricinfo tells me Umar also kept wicket.
A similar case to Umar - who remembers Vinod Kambli? Came up through the grades with Sachin and they were supposed to be twins in talent. Poor old Vinod - dropped with a test average of 54 and never played again.
I remember watching Umar Akmal get a ton on debut vs us and definitely thinking we had a new little master on the scene. From that one innings he appeared to have everything but then I see he hasn't played a test in 10 years and has a pretty unexceptional average of 35.
Vinod Kambli was a funny one, he broke all sorts of records at school with Tendulkar then followed him into the test team. You'd imagine if he actually kicked on as he should have a 3/4/5 grouping of Dravid, Tendulkar and him would have possibly been the best in test history.
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@Chris-B said in World Test Championship:
@nzzp I think there were two of them - brothers.
Umar was the batsman who looked like a million dollars, Kamran was mainly a keeper who wasn't particularly great. But, cricinfo tells me Umar also kept wicket.
A similar case to Umar - who remembers Vinod Kambli? Came up through the grades with Sachin and they were supposed to be twins in talent. Poor old Vinod - dropped with a test average of 54 and never played again.
There was a third brother who played for Pakistan who also kept I think. Might have been Adnan?
Kamran also exploded onto the scene and was a pretty effective short form batsman. Managed tons in consecutive ODIs at one point. Was a bit shaky as a keeper (as was Umar, pretty sure they said that it was the third brother that kept when they were kids).
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Just on Vinod Kambli, he still has the highest average of any Indian batsmen with 54.20 ( this really surprised me for a country that obsesses over their little masters ) and there's only been five guys in their history who have averaged over 50......( Virender Sehwag agonisingly close at 49.43 )
Our KW currently averages more than all of them god bless him.
