Lou: What are they saying about the last day of the MCG Test in the shop?

The general chatter in the shop this morning is all about what happened at the MCG.

 

We tend to agree that there would have been a meeting on Monday night where Haddin, Rod Marsh and Lehmann advised Smith to bat India out of the game. That was evident in the first four overs when they only scored three runs.

 

Now, if that was Ian Chappell as captain he would have said at tea on the fourth day that he wanted to be at least 360 in front so that he could declare overnight. His secret of winning on the last day was to give the opposition a sniff. That gave his bowlers a better chance of taking wickets. He was the boss and took orders from no one.

 

If India won, well good on them. We would have had a contest and a damn good day’s cricket and the paying public would have got their money’s worth. Australians love a contest. And Sydney would have been another contest with the Trophy up for grabs.

 

The team hierarchy and CA have all got their priorities wrong. CA spend millions promoting dull and boring cricket and they let a chance like this go begging.

 

It’s just like running a fruit and vegetable shop. Give the public what they want and they will come.

Comments

  1. Harmsie, if CA were running a fruit & vegetable shop the counters would be loaded with lemons.

    On Tuesday, encouraged by the $20 general admission price tag, Management packed a cut lunch and a thermos of coffee and off we traipsed off to watch The Baggy Greens wrap up the series in style, and draw some sweet revenge for years of Sub Continental humiliation.

    What we got fell far short of what Test Cricket should be about. The result was all but in the bag after the fourth over of the morning. Whoever decided that was the way to go should be fired off on one of those South Bank rockets on NYE.

  2. 1. My memory of the Chappelli era was that there used to be a lot more draws than in recent years (20). I’d be happy to be corrected on that. Maybe people thought he was a dashing captain because of his unbuttoned shirt.

    2. I love lemons.

    3. I couldn’t understand why S Smith called the game off. There was time to win.

  3. Just because Favelli did it doesn’t make it right. And anyway, if we hadn’t grassed so many catches we would have strolled it in.

  4. IM Chappell is before my time, but this is starting to sound like a “summers were hotter in my childhood” type of argument.
    Maybe we remember the past as a better place that the present.
    Why not?
    Though there’s probably little objective evidence of this (health care, education, technology, etc etc).

    Why did Australia declare at all?
    Why not leave the Indians in the field for as long as possible (there’s another Test starting next week). Take all the pressure of SE Marsh to see how many past 30 he could get without offering a chance? Give the bowlers a rest?
    This is a series, not four isolated matches.
    The series win therefore trumps these spurious “entertainment” comments.

    Motivations of sportspeople are pretty transparent. Take the AFL tanking fiasco. Was there incentive for a team to finish last? Yes? Then a team will try to finish last.
    Yesterday, was there incentive for Australia to play for the draw? Yes? Then guess what?

  5. Malcolm Ashwood says

    Lou totally disagree on this 1 , having grown up re Chappelli his tactics would have been exactly the same as S Smith intact being honest he would not have declared at all in the end , he would have been that frustrated and angry with , Indias and
    Dhonis incompetence . Smith made two mistakes , being to funky with his field placings taking himself out of 2 nd slip the ball , Ashwin was dropped and not bowling the overs at the end , he’ll with there tail he should not have stopped till there were 3 balls to go ( yes we did create enough chances to win the game the declaration was not the problem )

  6. If we all think what we would have done, what we REALLY would have done if we were in the shoes of Smith, ignoring the glorious advantage of hindsight, and factoring in the reality that we were only playing our 2nd Test as captain, I suspect we would not have done much different regarding the declaration. It was the decision of a man who is feeling his way. It was the decision most of us would have made.

    Chappell I. made some horrible errors as captain. He refused to chase victory against the Poms at the MCG (late 1970s?) when it was entirely gettable. Choosing instead to play for a safe, boring draw. I think Smith will grow into the job. However calling the game off early was weird.

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