Brisbane Test Blog

The Australians may need name tags. For that matter, so may some of the Kiwis.

But summer is here folks! And so’s the cricket.

Anyone game to speculate on this game?

Comments

  1. Nice toss to lose I suppose. But I think the Kiwis have done the right thing to bat. Big crowd in. Haven’t seen one person in the crowd yet. But then again they sometimes close the eastern half of the ground – to save on costs.

  2. PJF, what’s Clarke’s toss record? Give us the binomial probabitiy on that.

  3. Great anthem, the Kiwi’s. Classically sung. And hits the top note. Ambitious, but pulled it off.

    On D. Vettori: is he morphing into Gideon Haigh? (Has anyone seen them in a room together?)

  4. John Butler says

    JTH

    The difference becomes obvious when they bowl.

  5. JTH,

    the jury is still out on whether Clarke is a good tosser.

  6. John Butler says

    Good toss for Clarke to lose.

    With unknown quantities opening bowling & batting it would have been hard to know what to do.

    Let Taylor worry about it.

  7. I love John Clarke’s comment about the New Zealand National Anthem ‘God Defend New Zealand’… “clearly he’s got nothing better to do”.

  8. John Butler says

    Great first session. Plenty of interest and Australia finish well on top at 4-94.

    All the new bowlers showed something. NZ will be disappointed with some of the dismissals.

    Well captained Clarke. If Punter was still in charge Lyon would have got only the last over before lunch.

  9. From the Almanac’s own meteorologist: BD Dutschke:

    Bit of rain around Gatton moving closer to Bris. Dalby has had 4mm this morning.

    http://www.weatherzone.com.au/radar/qld/brisbane/128km

    There will be a Gabba rain interruption today, most likely after lunch, in second and third sessions.
    Day 2 and 3 are looking good, virtually full days with enough sunshine to make up for today’s lost time. Day 2 will be the windiest day, good for drying out the wicket.
    Day 4 will get cloudier with a chance of a brief shower.
    Day 5 is looking a bit dicey with about a 70% chance of not-too-heavy rain.

  10. Rain coming:

    “It’s raining just north and west of Brisbane and there are a few thunderstorms about the Darling Downs. The city will get some rain later this afternoon, enough to interrupt the Gabba Test. There’s also a chance of a storm,” Weatherzone meteorologist Brett Dutschke said.

    “By tonight there will be 20 millimetres or more in some suburbs, possibly including Woolloongabba and the CBD. It is likely to be the heaviest rain since October and it’s almost certain to stop play at the Gabba. Rain and storms will move off the coast later this evening, once a gusty southerly change moves through,” Dutschke said.

    “The next few days are not looking too bad, at least for the cricket. A bit cool and breezy, particularly tomorrow, but this should help dry out the wicket. Showers heavy enough to stop play for a lengthy period are unlikely until at least day five, Monday. A surge of southeasterly winds will combine with a low pressure trough to bring a few showers. The heaviest rain should stay inland and besides, the game might be over by then.”

    This rain would have been better timed during November, which turned out to be Brisbane’s driest since 1982, when only 8.8mm fell. This November brought just 15.6mm, well below the long-term monthly average of about 100mm.

    This lack of rain also helped the city have a warmer than normal days. Brisbane averaged 10 hours of sunshine per day, one-and-a-half hours of extra sunshine than normal. The average maximum temperature was 29 degrees, a degree above the long-term norm.

    November’s nights were also warm. Minimums averaged 20 degrees, two above the long-term norm.

    “Looking ahead, summer should turn out near-or-slightly cooler than average, due to a La Nina pattern across the Pacific. This La Nina and warmer than normal waters offshore increase the chances of gaining above average rainfall during summer,” Dutschke said.

  11. Ipswich picked up 29mm in the last half hour. The storms is only moving very slowly east and north. Looking more certain for a rain delay in last session.

    http://www.weatherzone.com.au/warning.jsp?id=IDQ20038

  12. Must be global warming

  13. Never forget taking a few Almanackers to the Gabba Test a few years ago – some of the greatest snoring ever seen in the suburb of HIghgate Hill. First night: massive storm at 2am. (T. Adam – sitting out on the balcony of the motel taking it all in. Another Knacker the next morning: what storm?) The next evening another huge storm hit just after stumps. We were standing on the footpath at the Clarence Corner Hotel as sheets of water fell from the sky and suddenly the streets at hills’ bottoms’ were 12 inches deep and the gulping storm-water drains were roaring. Melbournians could hardly believe it. Queenslanders kept knocking back the XXXX.

  14. John Butler says

    Really imaginative idea to open with Vettori for the brief period before lunch.

    And a great first nut by Southee.

    Well played New Zealand.

  15. That was one of the better 3s I’ve seen on debut…

  16. There is always the second innings Litza……………..later on today.

  17. John Butler says

    You’d reckon the commentators have shares in Warner, the amount of cheer leading that’s going on.

  18. John Butler says

    Phantom, 2/25

    You shouldn’t joke about such things.

  19. You know I am always serious JB.

  20. Andrew Fithall says

    Courtesy of @ZaltzCricket on Twitter, Chris Roger’s 4 v India in 2007-08 is the highest score by a debuting Australian opener since Hayden’s 15 in 1993-94 bit.ly/w2Uvii

  21. John Butler says

    Only test Rogers got. Stiff.

  22. just brought up another chanceless 50 at MCG

  23. John Butler says

    Hands up who has had an absolute gut full of the Vodafone Viewer Verdict already?

  24. I’ve had a gutful of Vodafone full stop. Samuel Johnson’s voice-over on the ads aren’t helping, either.

  25. John Butler says

    That’s what Oz cricket needs, the old blokes running out the young blokes.

  26. Run out was the only way Uzzy was going to get out

  27. By the end of his career, Khawaja will have racked up more 30-somethings than e-Harmony…

  28. John Butler says

    I want to see Tony Grieg cut loose in the Android Market.

  29. Oh dear. That’s two weeks of talkback radio sorted out.

  30. John Butler says

    Re light readings,

    Why is it that rule changes designed to introduce consistency only seem to give those in charge a chance to consistently stuff it up?

  31. Peter Flynn says

    JTH,

    Clarke has won 2 tosses in 7 Test matches.

    X follows a binomial probability distribution with parameters n=7, p=0.5 and x=2 (no. of successes).

    Hence P(X=2)=0.1640

  32. Can someone explain to me why there is a light issue at a cricket ground with lights for night play?

  33. GlennB – no further comment since you asked. Obviously no-one can come up with a good explanation.

  34. Glen, I think it is an issue that has been raised by the Australian cricketer’s union – Actors Equity.

    It is sort of a work to rules with no overtime thing.

    Also if they go off for bad light then the bowling side can’t get wrapped over the knuckles for only bowling a quarter of their overs quota in the time alotted. Either way the punters are the ones who lose every day.

    Maybe they need to take the test away from Qld because they don’t have enough daylight. We could have it on Macquarie Island in early Dec. There is plenty of daylight there this time of the year. Under the Gerrymander model Qld could claim Macquarie island as soverign territory. The air corridor or sea lane gould be included in the boundary but nothing on either side would count.

  35. Phantom – there was an item on ABC radio yesterday about knitting jumpers for penguins to protect their feathers from oil spills. Apparently they received thousands after the freightered was grounded off the Bay of Plenty in NZ. The local environmentalist said the most unique were from a Tasmanian who knitted them in all AFL club colours – WITH EACH TEAM’S CAPTAINS # ON THE BACK.
    Can you please send me a dozen Darren Glass before Christmas, so I can cater for all the local relies (that’s #23 for you heathens).
    Cheque is in the mail.
    Regards – bored cricket watcher of Perth. How many days to the NAB/Coca Cola/Craven A Cup starting?

  36. Peter, apparently Glass is anticipating the inevitability another disappointing season from the Weagles and is shattered.

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