Cricket

What does that mean?

Sorry doesn’t make sense. Down at the beach and sun gets in the way when typing. There is no interest for the bowlers. MCG test seems to favour batsmen too often.

The suggestion is accurate, the regulations regarding demerits only applied from 1 January 2018.

That said the ICC will probably also rate the Christchurch wicket poor as 14 wickets fell on day 1 over there.

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You won’t find anyone who doesn’t agree that the MCG wicket was not acceptable (although they’re apparantly really “trying”).

However, 50% has to rest with our bowlers, otherwise blaming 100% on a poor pitch is just an excuse.

Because the entire squad knew 12 months in advance what the ground’s pitch is like, even if there were promises to fix and it had the potential to be better today, still should’ve been equipped for the absolute flattest - which for some of our bowlers it doesn’t look like at all!

India coming into the series before Adelaide were expected to win easy and they will win easy, flat or bouncy pitches IMO.

Anyway, Boxing Day always an atmospheric treat :smile:

So how many bad ratings can the Melbourne test get before they lose the test? Fortunately last year’s won’t count, I remember it was a big song and dance about it last year but no demerits because it was a few days before the new rules. Where would host the Boxing Day Test if Melbourne did lose that spot for a year?

Strikers in the BBL were in big trouble earlier, went from 3/40 to 7/46 earlier. Currently 9/86 which is a bit more respectable but not much.

Edit: All over, all out for 88 after 17.2 overs.

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I won’t pass judgement until both sides have batted.

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This explains the demerit system.

This season they put in fewer pitches into the block and will redesign the table for next. Worth remembering that even before the drop in pitches the MCG was renowned for being less than ordinary.

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Scorchers didn’t have much trouble chasing the small target, winning by seven wickets with two overs spare.
Looks like 80% of the crowd who saw the BBL match stayed around for the WBBL clash between the Scorchers and the Heat. The Voice 2018 winner Sam Perry entertained the crowd in between the two matches, but Lisa Sthalekar had no idea who he was, just calling him a DJ.

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Probably also because The Voice was from 9, don’t want to draw attention to it!

They said on the coverage the crowd went from 40k to 15k.

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Who on earth is advising Steve Smith (and Bancroft) to be giving interviews and dredging up the ball tampering saga during the biggest match of the Aussie summer? Terrible look for themselves and the game to have this in the headlines while a fascinatingly poised series is underway.

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I don’t understand it myself. Out of the three I am surprised Warner is the one staying out of the spotlight. Is the interview on Fox or Seven with Bancroft? Because I think it is pretty poor from the network.

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Fox. With Gilchrist (who also did one with Smith). I actually don’t mind it from Fox, just because they are rights holders doesn’t mean they should not take a critical look at the game and if they’re offered those interviews they would be mad to turn them down. It’s the players I have issues with.

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No i agree I don’t mind the interviews just don’t like the timing. Could have been aired on day 3 rather than on day 1 or even on another test.

Why did all the discussion have to be about that on day 1?

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Yep fair.

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Just watching a bit of BBL right now.

I see the Melbourne Stars have a Nepalese cricketer playing tonight (Sandeep Lamichhane).

Great to see players from emerging nations in the BBL. He looks to be quite good too.

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Day 1 of the Boxing Day Test drew 73 516 at the MCG, but in Day 2, the numbers dropped significantly to 36 524. I did not know why the numbers have dropped so dramatically?

The big drop in the MCG crowd is due to today being a working day plus extremely hot weather in Melbourne.

Sandeep Lamichhane has support from two dozen Nepalese people in the stands (I think they live in Sydney and are at the game to support their countryman).

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I think he had figures of 2/3 or similar after his first over last week, he’s pretty good!

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As @JohnsonTV mentioned, it was hot and also a working day for some. But also a lot of people choose the Boxing Day itself as “their day” to go, buying tickets and then will get on with other holiday activities for the remainder of the test. Also the docile pitch probably put off a few.

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