Cricket

Seems far too long since proper cricket has been on!

Massive win by Australia yesterday. And Michael Clarke. Wow. Just wow.

Remember when he shouldn't have been anywhere near the test side and was the worst possible choice for captain?

Could/should have Clarke been a bit selfish and gone for Lara's record? He was only like 80 runs away...

He certainly could have. He likely would have gotten it, too. But he probably did the right thing declaring after Hussey had made his 150 and the new ball was available.

I thought he may have at least gone past 334.

Yeah. I guess if he'd got out for 395, and then India somehow had batted out for a draw, then he'd have looked like a bit of a prat. Still, would have been fascinating to see whether he would have kept his nerve.

He didnt look like getting out, India are shocking

Former PM Bob Hawke downing a beer at the cricket on Friday.

^

India have been nothing short of disappointment . The famed batting department has failed spectacularly in every innings . People are hoping that it won't be a white wash and we can get a draw in one of the remaining test matches.

Australia should just be sports and let Sachin get his 100. Then again they may have thought that when Clarke came on to bowl...

India should promote Ashwin up the batting order, he scores more runs than most of Indian batsmen put together.

Chris Chan wrote:Australia should just be sports and let Sachin get his 100. Then again they may have thought that when Clarke came on to bowl...

It wouldn't have been good for Sachin to get his 100 in that test. Not only would it have been scored in an entirely futile inning, it would have played second fiddle to Clarke's triple century.

The quicker he gets the 100, the quicker he retires and the quicker India move on. It is embarrassing watching them at the moment

True. I don't know where Gambhir found his form from. He looks totally hopeless in his first three innings of the series.

Im sure it is a one off. After that spanking India will now already be on the plane home. Expect 2 more crushing defeats

Gambhir needs to be dropped.He has temperament issues.he had a start and dropped off at most crucial point.But i am pretty sure we will see Rohit sharma in place of Virat kohli who has been totally abysmal.But than I don't even rate Sharma.

Ravneet Singh wrote:Gambhir needs to be dropped.He has temperament issues.he had a start and dropped off at most crucial point.But i am pretty sure we will see Rohit sharma in place of Virat kohli who has been totally abysmal.But than I don't even rate Sharma.

Kohli's arrogance sometimes makes me cringe. I also have to support this punk when it comes to RCB in the IPL. He is very talented but he is overhyped and I think he believes in his own hype. Needs someone to slap some sense into him. I am sure he can become a great cricketer. I can put up with some swagger once you are an established player with some records against your name. He is still young and he needs to focus on his cricket.

But the worst culprit in the whole Indian cricket team is Dhoni. His captaincy in the test matches is questionable with all the strategic decisions he makes laughable. I hope people are noticing that, but the captain has a lot of powers in the Indian cricket team when he has the selectors on his side.

I think India will get a result and I won't be surprised if it is because Dravid or Laxman find some form !!!

Is Jacques Kallis the best ever cricketer?

Has there ever been a better all-rounder?

Best all-rounder, that's for sure. Really difficult to say if he's the best cricketer.

I think he would have made the South African side for his batting or his bowling over the years. Maybe not at first, and he may have never gotten his break as a bowler. But mid career, if his batting went to pieces, I think he would have stayed in the side for his bowling. And vice versa.

Over 12,000 runs at average around 57. Over 300 wickets. Incredible.

Sir Garry Sobers? As an all rounder, his stats pretty much match up or better Kallis' except he played much less games, and not due to not playing as long, he played first class cricket for 22 years, there were just less teams to play against in his era.

And you can't just use stats anyway when comparing cricketers. When do they get those runs/wickets, in what style do they score (Sobers had a better strike rate and described, "his elegant yet powerful style marked by all the shots"), how important to their team are they, match winning innings, the competition they faced and let's not forget that it seems that it's much easier to bat nowadays on these flatter wickets than it used to be and it's much easier to bat with all the extra body protection, something that wasn't afforded years ago. Sobers also bowled in 3 different ways.

Kallis - www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/player/45789.html
Sobers - www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/player/52946.html

But I think it's probably safe to say that Kallis is the best all-rounder of the modern era and an all-time great. Comparing eras though is a bit futile, although can be fun.

When is the next Ind-Aus match starting? Just put a lot of money on Aussies thumping the Indians.

David Hogan wrote:Best all-rounder, that's for sure. Really difficult to say if he's the best cricketer.

Ooooo big call on the best all rounder there !!

Got to agree with Mario ..... Sobers would be in with a shout along side Botham, Imran Khan, Hadlee, and then you have to take into account if your looking at batting all rounders or Bowling ones.

Kallis has probably been the best in the "modern era" of the last 15 years or so though.

p.s. glad to see the board back up and running