Ayr… Near Townsville?
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I’ll have you know there isn’t a suitable venue for international cricket in that particular metropolis 
PS: (and a genuine question) Is the Super Smash crap? I’m at a bit of a loss why Fox Sports haven’t picked up the rights
It’s okay. But not every game is televised (maybe half are). The quality of cricket is perfectly fine, but there’s no big names playing (well, apart from the brief unexpected Ben Stokes cameo - case in point he didn’t play a TV game while he was here), because the Big Bash overshadows it (more money obvs) and also the lure of the Champions League no longer exists so players don’t have a need to come down to NZ to qualify. While you don’t need big names necessarily to boost quality, it makes for a more attractive proposition to TV networks and viewers/spectators.
The other compounding factor is no one wants to play test cricket v NZ, so no window can be created for the competition where international T20s won’t overlap. They’ve tried a few different formats (big weekends with all teams playing at one venue) but it just hasn’t clicked.
I think there’s a lot of potential for it (I’d move to a BBL style format - 1 game a day, televising every game so public are more invested) but it’s being held back currently.
fair enough - when one of the best NZ players of the modern era is choosing the BBL over the SS it raises questions about quality (and probably money)
I recall NZC tried having the SS before the BBL started a few years ago - could that and maybe including the winning side in the BBL be an option?
Yeah, I’m surprised no one has tried to sign McCullum for a few SS games at the start of the season before he joins the BBL. probably out of the price range though.
That timeframe could be an option although the weather generally doesn’t stabilise until start of December so you’d probably get a few wash outs. It’d be nice to see a Kiwi team in the BBL, for sure.
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Player depth seems to be an issue and I dont think its necessarily limited to Sydney/Melbourne where there are two sides in each city
I thought that was an interesting point last night. I have no real opinion on the matter but it was refreshing to see an issue being talked about in coverage.
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Pretty poor form
Should be a gold coin to get in on day 5
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I was surprised to hear they were still charging.
Anyway, I’m off to see my annual Big Bash game today, couldn’t make it to any of the ones in Hobart this year so we’re off to UTAS Stadium for the Hurricanes game tonight. Hope it’s a good one.
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Given it was likely that there would be a full days play (minus any possible rain delays) I’m not surprised
No idea why it wasn’t.
I hope it wasn’t because Day 5 was more play than would usually be.
They spun it as “donations to a charity” as well.
If they couldn’t do gold coin then $10 would have at least been reasonable for a full day’s play.
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Big news on that MCG pitch.
Welp…
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who’d a thought worst pitch of the summer would be in the sports capital of Australia
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Point taken.
But it’s still playable, just requires a different approach and more skill.
It’s a drop in, it’d be nice if the MCG pitch was better for the bowlers.
But becauee it’s the Boxing Day Test & MCG, perhaps the criticism was dampened.
Isn’t SCG a drop-in too? Will be interesting.
Adelaide Oval currently has the best pitch IMO.
I disagree with it requiring a different approach, it was a dud deck.
Like Adelaide, but do you reckon it’s skewed by having the D/N tests? Heaps of wickets always fall at night giving the impression of an even contest. Just a thought.
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No, still a traditional pitch square for the time beimg.
Being playable isn’t the issue. A Test match is supposed to be an even contest between bat and ball. If you think that was then that’s borderline delusion.
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It’s hard to get that balance right between bat and ball.
Ideally, you’d like the pitch to give a bit of assistance to the bowlers in the first session or two, and then flatten out nicely into a good batting deck on Days 2 and 3. Then on Day 4 it starts to take spin and for pace bowlers there starts to be a bit of uneven bounce and the wicket becomes a bit two paced. So that on Day 5, the team batting last has a lowish run chase of under 200 but on an increasingly tricky surface. So there’s something for everyone there, and the toss doesn’t affect the outcome like it often does.
At least Cricket Australia and Channel 9 will be happy it went the full 5 days. If the Test was over in 3 days with no team making more than 200 in any innings, you’d see more complaints there than with this one.
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