The only thing I can see that there seems to be an issue with his bowlers, apparently they weren’t in agreement with his plans and so bowled way too many short deliveries on the 1st day of this Test.
As to why Hazlewood, Starc and to a lesser extent Cummins and Lyon aren’t really firing is a mystery. Is there an issue between them and Paine?
As for the batsman, the majority of them aren’t really up to Test standard.
I think Paine is doing a reasonable job otherwise.
I like Paine I just don’t know if he is exactly the right one to be leading. I would like to see Lyon take on the responsibility. I don’t really understand Australia’s hesitance in making a bowler a captain.
I agree with your comment about the batsmen. There is definitely talent there but they just can’t stick it out. Head shows real promise just can’t build on his starts. Its very annoying. Marsh has been shocking.
I think it’s fair to say both Cummins and Lyon have pulled their weight this series. This SCG pitch is fairly benign (yet we’ve still managed to stuff up our batting).
Some storms firing over Sydney now which might give us a temporary reprieve. The poor weather won’t last long, though.
Possibly not - but I just don’t see anyone else in the team that would be reasonable replacement, Paine was the most stable (in terms of selection). But at the same time, I think Paine’s selection goes to show how temporary CA think the arrangement will be.
Steve Smith can’t captain the team for ANOTHER 12 months after his ban ends (so 29th March 2020).
Watch this evaporate…
Will he want to Captain again or will the public accept that evaporating?
It wouldn’t surprise me if Smith actually didn’t want to captain for a while with the way this has affected him and the way he let people down/failed in his responsibilities.
As for Paine, the team hasn’t been living up to expectations, who knows if the cheating has been going on for longer than when we were caught and at least now we know the team is playing clean. Playing clean but with our two highest run scorers out and team morale so low and everybody getting a shake up in the whole organisation has to have a serious hit on performance, which it has.
Well it is obvious the cheating was going on for longer. Warner was the ‘ball shinner’ and moved it to Bancroft because the cameras were on to him. You don’t just ‘come up’ with that idea on one day. He was probably doing sneaky things all the time. However, it is obvious from the bowling this summer that the bowling was not the problem. Losing two player that average over 50 is going to hurt. That is 100 runs a session.
Exactly.
Steve Smith claimed that was the first time they did any ball tampering.
Which I don’t believe for a minute.
I’m sure it happened during the Ashes as well as the ball was reversing when the outfield was wet! Which isn’t possible via legal means.
Which indicates that he is either being untruthful or had really poor control over his team as a captain.
Cameron Bancroft was caught by viewers putting sugar in his pocket last summer in the Ashes.
I recall he wasnt the only one either - idiots didnt think about it though, by the time you got to the middle your pocket would be a sticky mess
Ok well now I see why Lyon isn’t a captain. Why on earth did he not challenge his decision? Just given up. You can’t have a captain that would just give up. Quite a pathetic effort from Australia.
Is there a rule if the ball gets stuck in the pads? Could players just keep running until someone takes the ball out of the pad?
I think it’s deemed a dead ball when that happens.
Yep - its a dead ball under Law 23 (I googled it)
Australia had to bat again after being dismissed by 300 runs. I think that’s Australia are too slow on day 4 during cloudy conditions. The crowd at scg is quite low due to australians losing interest in the match. During tea break, all players came inside due to bad light that suspended play. The stumps were called at an earlier time.
Not sure what you expect of the tail end… handscombe again can’t go on to make a good total. I hope Australia can tough it out tomorrow and force a draw.
And India will win the series’s 2-1. Cuz there’s chance of bad light for tomorrow
It’s ridiculous how a major cricketing ground in Australia can have play delayed due to bad light. Does the SCG need to upgrade their lights?
I agree yes. These lights are well past their use by dates.