[Tsundoku]

Well, what a difference a wicket makes. Tendulkar gone just before stumps yesterday, which made it 3-214.

This morning Dravid gone without adding to the overnight score, then quickly followed by Laxman, Kholi, Dhoni and Sharma the nightwatchman.

The key to almost all the wickets on either side has been a good line just outside off stump on a slightly full-ish length. Sounds elementary, but hard to execute consistently. A little bit swing/reverse swing and/or some movement off the seam and voila!

Fingers crossed for the rest of the match!

[Tsundoku]

Well, what a finish! Aust struggled to a 2nd innings lead of 291 (after 2 separate 4 wicket collapses) which I thought would be handled easily by the Indian batting powerhouse.

But lo, the Indians did shit themselves and end up losing by 122!

We'll see if Sachin can keep his Sydney average of 221 intact. I'm hoping he won't, but he's a champion player and you would think the odds would be against him having another (comparitively) low-scoring Test. Then there's the rest of them - Dravid, Sehwag, Laxman, Dhoni ... odds against them screwing up in another test?

Nice to see our bowlers hitting a good line and length with pace.

[Tsundoku]

Test 2, day 1: India all out for 191. Aside from a decent 57 from Dhoni and a fluid 41 from Tendulkar that was only cut short when he chased a wide, full offside delivery from Pattinson that hit his inside edge then onto the stumps (a classic example of Shit Gets Wickets), the Indian batsmen were pretty dreadful.

Then we lost 3-37 ...

Clarke and Ponting rescued things somewhat to leave us 3-116 at stumps but I have a bad feeling about the first session tomorrow.

A feature so far in the series has been excellent pace bowling - particularly from the Aussies, but the Indian pace men have had their good patches too. Our pitches have been excellent, with a bit there for everyone and holding together well. A little TOO well, if you ask the old timers, who moan about how a 5 day pitch should deteriorate. But that's progress, and it aids batsmen as well as bowlers, but exposes weaknesses in technique. I know I always hated watching 4th and 5th day unplayable pitches.

[Tsundoku]

Well well well ...

From 3-116 to 4-481 at stumps. A very good day for us, Ponting getting a much needed century and Clarke scoring 200+ in a day to end up 251 not out. And Hussey having 50 not out along side him. Not much cheer for India, I'm afraid.

The thing is, the Indian bowlers weren't that bad. The pitch wasn't seaming as much as it was earlier, but there was still some movement and swing. I think after the first session without success the bowlers and indeed the entire Indian team got despondent and went into their shells.

Let's see what tomorrow brings.

[Tsundoku]

Day 3 - Clarke declares after making 329 not out (breaking a few records along the way), alongside Hussey with 150 not out after Ponting made 134. Aussies lead by approximately 400,000 runs after the first innings.

India 2 for 100 or so in reply so far with 2 more days to play, still needing to bat all through tomorrow just to make us bat a second time. Tendulkar and Gambhir are at the crease (bloody Haddin put down an easy catch from Gambhir, grrrr) so we'll see how they go. Looks like the pitch is flattening out so India's flat track tigers might pull off a rescue. I hope they don't though.

I've been checking out the Times of India and my goodness, Indian fans are savage!

This post has been edited by Sombra: 05 January 2012 - 03:03 PM

[Tsundoku]

Day 4 - no day 5 needed. India got to 400 but still went down by an innings and 68 runs. The public back in India are NOT happy, Jan. Yeesh.

Can't wait to see what happens in Perth on that bouncy wicket!

[Tsundoku]

Oh dear.

India struggled to 161 on a wicket with real bounce that was not quite as bouncy as pre-1995 was still better than the flat, characterless roads they've had for the last 15 years.

Then disproving the assertion that it was a deliberately pace-friendly pitch, warner went out and hit the equal 4th fastest test century ever (69 deliveries). Ed Cowan's innings was pretty rapid itself and on any other day would have gained all the plaudits, but Warner's 13 boundaries and 3 sixes was just amazing to watch. Even AFTER he copped a solid hit to the helmet. Australia 0-149 at stumps.

One part of me hopes India will get up and provide a true contest like in Melbourne, but another is sick of the BCCI's financial dominance and corruption which have been ruining the game. Add in the general Indian attitude of sheer bald-faced hypocrisy (exceptions being Laxman and Dravid, true gentlemen cricketers and sadly among the last of a dying breed), and so I mostly hope they will get utterly thrashed.

[Tsundoku]

Another innings defeat by India again, but they did it more quickly this time, in under 3 days.

The lack of Australian batting after Cowan and Warner was worrying though. Still, except for Haddin each of them had performed well at other times in the series so far.

I'd like to say let's see a 4-0 whitewash, but Adelaide is a flat track with short square boundaries, so the struggling Indian batsmen might feast on those conditions and thus prolong their careers for a bit longer when a thorough cleanout is what's required for them. Or at least get rid of a few non-performing oldies and leaving the 2 seniormost to mentor the new kids.

Hell, if they were switched on they would blood a few more youngsters in Adelaide because of the somewhat friendlier conditions to help ease them into Test cricket in a dead rubber match.

This post has been edited by Sombra: 15 January 2012 - 07:40 AM

[Tsundoku]

Congrats to India for making it to a 5th day. Just.

They still lost, and that makes it 4-0.

More runs to Ponting and Clarke (double centuries each).

Bring on the Poms!