Australia v India: 2nd Test, Sydney

First topic message reminder :

Tuesday, January 3, 2011
Start time: 1030 AEDT; 0500 IST; 2330 GMT

Australia:
1 David Warner, 2 Ed Cowan, 3 Shaun Marsh, 4 Ricky Ponting, 5 Michael Clarke (C), 6 Michael Hussey,
7 Brad Haddin (wk), 8 Peter Siddle, 9 James Pattinson, 10 Nathan Lyon, 11 Ben Hilfenhaus.

India:
1 Virender Sehwag, 2 Gautam Gambhir, 3 Rahul Dravid, 4 Sachin Tendulkar, 5 VVS Laxman, 6 Virat Kohli,
7 MS Dhoni (C, wk), 8 R Ashwin, 9 Zaheer Khan, 10 Ishant Sharma, 11 Umesh Yadav.

Read a pre-match Review here courtesy of ESPN Cricinfo: India's Batsmen Hope For SCG Magic

I think the days of 500, 600 and 705 runs are gone... (for both sides) on this new turf. Well, at least this year anyway.

active, you never know... India could grab a few early ones tomorrow and then it's game on.

Happy new year Line.

Yes, the first session will be massive one.

The Indian attack, apart from Zaheer lacks a bite and I reckon the Aussies will get a big enough lead first up.

Linebreaker wrote:I think the days of 500, 600 and 705 runs are gone... (for both sides) on this new turf. Well, at least this year anyway.

active, you never know... India could grab a few early ones tomorrow and then it's game on.

yeh we rememebr the previous series btwn NZ-Oz, that was a low scroing one, but here in this particular match, even a lead of 75 runs could prove too much for Indians, we know they could not even score 300 to beat Oz in the Melbourne match.

They key is to get the Indian bowlers tired. Theyve done well to get the early two wickets and start fresh the next day , so no question the morning session and Pontings wicket is huge.
If Aus get over 100 without losing another wickeyt I can see Indian heads dropping, and the longer the innings goes on the more trired and frustarted them getting as happened in England. With two brittle player sand little in the way of backup from part time all rounder bowling its possible for Aus to put the game beyond India in the first innings.
But if India do get into Aus then its game on again. Still very much in the balance here.

[quote="Galted"]Quite shocked to see Siddle's already got to 100 test wickets.[/quote]

He's much improved since I saw him last year and think the same of Hilfenhaus.


300 runs and 13 wickets in the day, not bad entertainment. Oz will want a 100 run lead at least. Can Khan and Yadav stop em ?

Khan, maybe, but I fear Khan alone isn't enough. Yadav? No, nowhere near good enough to account for the likes of Ponting and Clarke. He may get them out eventually, but he just doesn't cause consistent problems, which is the minimum requirement for a frontline bowler.

Australia should look to do what England have been so adept at doing, just bat and bat, and put India out of the game. I like the look of Yadav: he may be a little raw, but he's shown he can trouble some of the world's best batsmen. India need to look after him well.

If Aus can get through the first session tomorrow without losing any wickets it will become very complicated for India to get back into it.

Dhoni fought well for india yet again, however this batting line up is underperforming badly. Didnt go past 300 against england , and are struggling here against aussies.

Yeah Dhoni fought well in his own bullish way... never looked quite settled though.

It's a hot one here today. 39 deg C in the 'burbs; maybe a 'cooler' 35 around Moore Park if there's a sea breeze. It will be like a frying pan out in the field until mid-afternoon I'd say. Then thunderstorms are forecast.

Linebreaker wrote:Yeah Dhoni fought well in his own bullish way... never looked quite settled though.

It's a hot one here today. 39 deg C in the 'burbs; maybe a 'cooler' 35 around Moore Park if there's a sea breeze. It will be like a frying pan out in the field until mid-afternoon I'd say. Then thunderstorms are forecast.

Thanks for the weather update.

Hope the storms stay away. I want to see Punter bat all day, would be great to see.

Australia should be looking to get through the first session without losing a wicket (or at most one wicket). If they do that they'll have gone a long way to winning the test.

I actually don't think Australia bowled that well yesterday, there was some fairly average stuff at times, but they produced enough wicket-taking deliveries and India obliged with some fairly ordinary batting (Gambhir, obviously, but Kohli, Shewag and Tendulkar also).

I think that last comment is pretty unfair to be honest.

Your French students must be of 'International' standard and yet they struggle against Italy and Denmark. ffs.

Just in case you missed it Mike

Pattinson 14-3-43-4-3.07
Hilfenhaus 22-9-51-3-2.31
Siddle 13.3-3-55-3-4.07

Not much wrong with those figures.

The spinners didn't do much. Is that what you mean?

A bit harsh, but I thought Aus bowled better as a group at Melbourne, that's what I meant. Pattinson bowled a fantastic spell (his second) and Hilfenhaus plugged away, but I think India were playing somewhat fearfully with the first test still very much in their minds.

Australia will be pleased with that first hour though. Aside from a couple of flirts from Clarke no real alarms. India really need a wicket.

150 partnership for Clarke and Punter, and the 200 up. Clarke and Ponting are taking any chance of India from winning the series away from them.

Indian heads could soon drop.

Ponting on 94 and Clarke 93, huge 100's for both, hopefully coming up, but i can see Pontings being very emotional for him, for obvious reasons.

Clarke

Clarke first to the 100, with a glorious cover drive.

Great stuff from Clarke and Ponting, but a nervous lunch for Ponting on 97no.

Aus 236-3.

Perfect session for Australia (well I suppose Ponting could have put that straight drive away for 4, but...). Saw off the first half hour with good solid batting, and then accelerated as India's bowlers tired. No sign of reverse swing that I've seen, both these players should be looking for big ones.

A nervous lunchtime for Ponting but he should still enjoy it a lot more than India.

As I touched on the other day, I do think confidence will play an increasing part in this series.

Bed for me now. Nighty night, Skye and any other night owls.

200 partnership up and Ponting onto 99no.

100 for Ponting, with a risky single. The crowd goes wild.

A true modern great gets his 40th Test 100.

100 at last... nice dive for a quick single.

Ponting gets it with a single which was not so much red bull as a whole herd of red bulls. What a champion though! And what an important knock in the context of this game and series!

Glad to see Punter get a ton.

Mike

Did I read it right when ou mentioned Gambhir - bad batting?

I thought it was a good ball, especially to a new batsman.

Ponting eventually cut a rising delivery off Ishant to SRT at point on 134.

Clarke approaching his 250.

The wind has picked up but only a few overs to go now.

150 run partnership up.

Michael Clarke has overtaken Doug Walters' highest score of 242 to become the highest scoring Australian at this ground and he now has the 6th all-time highest score on the SCG at the moment.

I think Mr.Clarke will sleep well tonight...

At stumps on Day 2 Australia are 482/4 and have a 1st innings lead of 291 runs.

Ponting 134, Clarke 251*, Hussey 54*

A very long day in the field for India with 366 runs scored and the loss of only one wicket.

I think most Australians will, laurie.

He's actually very humble. He had no idea of the records he achieved today when asked a few questions by Mark Nicholas.

It was hot and humid today but it's just dropped about 10 degrees in the last 15 mins.

What a day for the Aussies.

Another 250 runs will be nicefor them tomorrow, although another 50 would be sufficient.

Fine effort from Australia. Ricky Ponting at last got to that ton!, after 2 years.
Fantastic knock from Michael Clarke, and he has the opportunity to go on and make it even bigger!.
Hussey too has the chance to go on and get that ton of his.
Australia should just look to bat ones and bat really big.
India's bowling? It stood apart during the first game, and even on the first day at the SCG, Zaheer Khan did, but now they've joined their batting lineup in being absolutely terrible.
The 6th one is on the way!.
Think Australia has already done enough to win by an innings, but they can completely dominate the bowling lineup, and that will help them in the rest of the series.

Just arrived at work and checked the score - something I forgot to do at home.

WOW!

Indeed wow!
It was always tthe problem India would have. If you can tire their bowlers and get set they have no plan B and no magic. Theres no real backup, the side is built for batting.

If Aus cant win this now they should be banished form test cricket forever.
Nice to see Clarke get a genuinly huge score in what should be a big win hes had a really tough time since taking on the captaincy. Ponting should have shut some of his detractors up too with the last few innings hes played.

Well say what you like about Punter, and I usually do, you have to admire his tenacity. He got two crucial fifties as it stood in the context of the game at Melbourne and now at Sydney he´s put on a vital wicket stand with Clarke to put Australia firmly in the box seat. Imagine if there was another batting collapse after India´s first day antics?! It might have been named the Battle of the Yips series. Anway, well done to Punter and Clarke because the pressure has been of them and many were calling for blood, and rightly so, with these meek capitulations. Now with their knocks, they´ve shown admirable fighting qualities to overcome batting nerves. That takes big mental discipline and you have to applaud it.

I think it´s good for test cricket to see Australia make a solid day with the bat for a change. Who knows, it might well have a positive effect on India too knowing that it is possible to bat through a day and not see wickets tumble like a washing machine. The test match may have sneaked away from India but there is still very much a chance to save it and get some much needed confidence for the rest of the series. If India collapse again in their second innings, I think that would be a great shame from a neutral perspective as this series between two sides struggling for form needs the two sides on an even keel. That was largely the case here in Melbourne. Now the Indians have to fight back to retain some sort of balance in this test. An Australian side with growing confidence is not what you want to be up against. India has to strike back or there will be no return of the jedi.

Stella wrote:
Mike

Did I read it right when ou mentioned Gambhir - bad batting?

I thought it was a good ball, especially to a new batsman.

It was a good ball. In fact I have watched some of the test again since my comment last night and was undoubtedly wrong. Gambhir, Dravid and Shewag all got out to very good balls which moved just enough to take the edge. I think my initial assessment was unfair, Australia bowled pretty well again... Certainly their efforts (on what was apart from the first hour a pretty flat pitch) have been put into context by today's play.

Could Clarke possibly have a crack at Lara's 400 Test record in the 3rd days play. He could achieve it by tea-time and still leave 7 sessions to win the match.

The weather looks fine for a few days.

Unless the weather intervenes, India will have to bat for at least the best part of 2 days to save the test. Unless rain is forecast (anyone?), Aus should look to bat until tea tomorrow and possibly a bit after.

I think today actually put India's first innings into context. Sure the pitch was doing a bit more, but not that much. Australia bowled well, and produced a lot of wicket-taking balls (India only bowled about 5 of those today in total), but India looked a bit shell-shocked, and very much still batting with Melbourne in their minds. Dravid, Laxman, even Tendulkar and to a lesser extent Shewag all got themselves bogged down.

Hats off to Ponting, Clarke and Hussey (when he came in Australia could still have collapsed to around 400, which would have given India a sniff). Short of an astonishing collapse tomorrow, India surely cannot win this test match. It will be hard work saving it, a couple of balls already threatening to keep a little low.

skyeman wrote:Could Clarke possibly have a crack at Lara's 400 Test record in the 3rd days play. He could achieve it by tea-time and still leave 7 sessions to win the match.

The weather looks fine for a few days.

I think he'll be aiming to get through to lunch with still 5 wickets in hand (at least) before worrying about any declaration or records, but agree, if he's still there at tea then there's every chance he'll be close...

Hussey could be aiming for 400 the way India bowled

It's always good to see records broken but I doubt it will happen. Clarke looked shot to pieces today and although tomorrow is a new day, those tired limbs will surface at some stage.

It such a big number - 400.

I'd be happy enough to see him surpass Lara's 277 on this ground (I remember being in a car listening to that innings on another hot day) and then he would be in reach of Reginald "Tip" Foster's 287 (made on his debut). In a way I would like to see that record stand.

Call me un-Australian but there's something special about a record which has stood for 109 years.

Also, I don't want to see him pass Bradman's 452* (in 415 minutes) for NSW v Qld in 1930 which remains the ground record.

This has been a watershed innings for Clarke. Despite his overall success as a batsman he has continually received criticism and many people werent convinced he had the toughness and determination required to be captain of Australia.

In my opinion this had a lot to do his looks, pinup status, perceived playboy lifestyle and glamorous girlfriends, cars etc. He loargely played this down and didnt really look for headlines in the social pages but they found him anyway.

In one foul swoop he has shut nearly all those critics up, shown a determination that has demanded respect and won over many new fans to Team Clarkey. Australia needs a captain who's position is certain and who players want to follow. This innings has singularly acheived that.

There will be ups and downs ahead but the future is much brighter for aussie cricket after today.

The best part of Pup's innings?

Seeing his gorgeous girlfriend applauding the milestones

Mike & Skye...

The heat has gone but cloud cover has arrived. Quite windy from the south/south-east (not good... brings moisture off the Tasman Sea) However, if the prevailing winds swing around to the north/north-west (i.e. desert), then clearer skies again. It's very unpredictable and can change quickly!

Sydney Forecast:

Thursday 19-26 chance of a late shower
Friday 19-24 clearing shower - morning?
Saturday 18-28 mostly sunny

I will be staying up to watch the cricket tonight and tomorrow therefore i will be on here


india need to get rid of the dead wood and quickly! Also they need to send their bowlers to county cricket which is the finishing school

Me too, we could well see a 300. (if not better, and dare i say it 400) from Clarke.

Then those Indian heads could well be on the floor.

dhoni's captaincy staggers me at times....no slips, and 2 men catching on the legside...bascially telling his bowler to bowl a bad balll

:facepalm

I have had half an hour's nap this afternoon in order to be in good form to see through at least the first couple of sessions this evening. Will be good to have you on here CF

I have a feeling India will put up a better fight in their second innings, but it may not be enough.

Agree with CF about Dhoni's captaincy.