As Shoudy said, it was a 9pm kickoff as dictated by World Rugby for that tournament only. Everything else is 7:30.
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Renewed my Thunder membership for the upcoming BBL season…
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Been thinking about a Melbourne Stars membership, but at the end of the day, get so much when games are at the MCG as an MCC member, so would just be more fees I don’t need.
That’s fair enough. Thunder memberships come with entry to a day at the Sydney International, Royal Easter Show, Australian Turf Club, Featherdale Wildlife Park, Wet’n’Wild Sydney, $10 cinema tickets at Event - that’s not bad.
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More like a banquet than lunch during a cricket match.
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Shifted threads
Been meaning to ask, anyone been watching the Lord’s Test?
Chris Woakes scored his maiden century, was chatting with someone at church this morning. Of which discussion on other sports also came up, including them not realising cricket will be on Seven and tennis on Nine
PS: Sorry for lack of comments, but I don’t generally talk much cricket during winter, I’m one of those people who’s like ‘footy is for winter and cricket (and tennis) are for summer’.
Fascinating series. India really battling away from home. A lack of meaningful warm-up before a 5 Match series is not ideal and Kohli is essentially carrying this team on his shoulders.
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This seems to be a theme in recent times - the away side in a series appears to struggle (sandpaper aside) - its a worrying trend IMO
That said, India have really shunned Test cricket in favour of the shorter forms of the game for financial reasons, they are no longer the formidable long-form team they were in the past
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Agreed. There’s playing in opposition conditions and then there’s conditions being manipulated to almost pre determine the result.
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India have always been one of my favourite sides to watch, when they’re in Australia they’ve had some good series. The MCG crowds (with Melbourne’s Indian population) are quite something, I went to a T20 Int’l a few years ago with them and Australia where Steve Smith put on a great performance after just being made skipper and the crowd, no kidding, had to have been 50/50 split caucasian/Indian!
India have never been a strong team away from the sub continent, for instance they have never won a Test series in Australia.
This is precisely why the series isn’t turning out as fascinating as hoped, though the 1st test was a good 'un. As others have said above, the home ground advantage is overwhelming these days, mostly due to inadequate preparation by touring sides. The sheer amount of cricket-mostly T20 cricket- played these days means that most sides don’t have months to prepare for challenging overseas tours, as in the past. The 1948 ‘Invincibles’ played a whopping 31 first class fixtures in England; the current Indian side opted for a truncated three-day affair against Essex.
Favourable surfaces, particularly in the subcontinent, do play a role in it all, but it comes back to being prepared for the conditions at the end of the day. My suggestion is to utilise emerging test playing nations such as Ireland and Afghanistan to prepare for tours to the UK and the subcontinent respectively. A fair-dinkum test match on a Galway greentop or Dubai dustbowl is a win-win- the touring side gets hard preparation; the emergents get much needed exposure to test cricket.
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I have this Test on my telly now.
I always enjoy watching the SKY Sports coverage of Test cricket on English grounds against the established cricketing countries. Even though its no Ashes. Really looking forward to see how the Aussies go over there next year.
You go to church? You know you could sleep in right?
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India have been smashed by an innings and 159 runs in the 2nd Test (all out for 107 and 130 in response to England’s 6/396 declared).
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I’m not at all surprised by that result…I predicted 5-0 to England and it looks like heading that way now.
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Rachid’s comments interesting from the Poms
India are in a dominant position in the 3rd test against England which is refreshing to see. With a lead of 292 and only 2 wickets down in their 2nd innings, it should be a lay down misere from here but odder things have happened.
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I heard that Melbourne Stars will continue their sponsorship deal with Optus for another 3 seasons of Big Bash League.
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