Test Cricket Prediction and Discussion Thread [self - mod]

[JSRAW]

South Africa is in big trouble once again, exactly similar situation as Last Test Match. Where they were 3 down at 2nd day stump, it would be interesting to see if their middle order is ready to face the challenge or not?

Anyways, Sharing something, it might cheer couple of Proteas's fans here.....So turns out Temba Bavuma can see the future 


https://twitter.com/tbavuma10/status/784682892706324480

[ene1980]

You might be one of the few people in the world who actually thinks that South Africa still has a chance in this game. The only thing that can save South Africa currently is the rain and nothing else since they are already lost 3 wickets.

If i am inquiring about the declaration even after scoring 600 runs you came to a conclusion that South Africa has a chance to win the match  . The reason i was saying is because India has put enough runs on the board and they need to put pressure back to the South African players because the team members were really tired after fielding for two days and India need to exploit that rather than delaying the declaration.

[romero121]

South Africa is in big trouble once again, exactly similar situation as Last Test Match. Where they were 3 down at 2nd day stump, it would be interesting to see if their middle order is ready to face the challenge or not?

Anyways, Sharing something, it might cheer couple of Proteas's fans here.....So turns out Temba Bavuma can see the future 


https://twitter.com/tbavuma10/status/784682892706324480

Same as the first test match things were happening. In the thread discussion came across a statement Umesh Yadav's addition to the team will help India big. The initial wickets taken by him has helped the team to be more strong and collapse the middle order. India has its opening partnership good, and this has made the team score reach 600. As in the statement South Africa's innings is much much depending on the Middle order as the performance of openers is not to the necessity of the team to fight back for a win.

[Sithara007]

After their pathetic performance in the first test, I was hoping that South Africa would perform well at least in the second test. But now it looks like that is not going to happen. There is too much gap between the bigger nations such as India, England and Australia on the one side and the smaller nations such as South Africa, Sri Lanka.etc on the other side. The only solution is to have two divisions of test cricket.

My suggestion is to include India, Australia, England, New Zealand, and Pakistan in the top division and to include the other 7 teams in the second division. 80% of the test matches should be played between teams within the same division, while the remaining 20% should be matches between first division and second division teams. And this will help in reducing the incidents of one sided matches.

[onrise]

South Africa is in big trouble once again, exactly similar situation as Last Test Match. Where they were 3 down at 2nd day stump, it would be interesting to see if their middle order is ready to face the challenge or not?

Anyways, Sharing something, it might cheer couple of Proteas's fans here.....So turns out Temba Bavuma can see the future 


https://twitter.com/tbavuma10/status/784682892706324480

Same as the first test match things were happening. In the thread discussion came across a statement Umesh Yadav's addition to the team will help India big. The initial wickets taken by him has helped the team to be more strong and collapse the middle order. India has its opening partnership good, and this has made the team score reach 600. As in the statement South Africa's innings is much much depending on the Middle order as the performance of openers is not to the necessity of the team to fight back for a win.

Indian batsman and bowlers are ruling the test match with the all round performance of the team in every department is helping them to take the control of the match right from the beginning and thus due to pressure SA is losing quick wickets .

[teosanru]

After their pathetic performance in the first test, I was hoping that South Africa would perform well at least in the second test. But now it looks like that is not going to happen. There is too much gap between the bigger nations such as India, England and Australia on the one side and the smaller nations such as South Africa, Sri Lanka.etc on the other side. The only solution is to have two divisions of test cricket.

My suggestion is to include India, Australia, England, New Zealand, and Pakistan in the top division and to include the other 7 teams in the second division. 80% of the test matches should be played between teams within the same division, while the remaining 20% should be matches between first division and second division teams. And this will help in reducing the incidents of one sided matches.

Well last time I saw encounter of Ind vs SA no one actually said that South Africa is a smaller cricketing nation. I think South Africa is a good team but they are still not mature enough to play on the foreign pitches and play with their strengths and the weaknesses of their opponents. I think you better decide to remove even Pakistan from your selection of top division after their recent performance against Sri Lanka. Many would say t20 and test are different but still this type of performance is really weird in any format of the game and that also when you are number 1 in the world.

[ene1980]

My suggestion is to include India, Australia, England, New Zealand, and Pakistan in the top division and to include the other 7 teams in the second division. 80% of the test matches should be played between teams within the same division, while the remaining 20% should be matches between first division and second division teams. And this will help in reducing the incidents of one sided matches.

These kind of differentiation will not help cricket simply because only a few nations play international cricket, if Pakistan is included then South Africa should be definitely included as they are a strong team in their home country and not every team can beat them in their home series. There was a time when India was only perform in their home series and now they have improved a lot, competition in domestic cricket can develop good players and India has done that and hence we are seeing the improvements and with the introduction of IPL there is a bigger pool of players for selection.

[Sithara007]

My suggestion is to include India, Australia, England, New Zealand, and Pakistan in the top division and to include the other 7 teams in the second division. 80% of the test matches should be played between teams within the same division, while the remaining 20% should be matches between first division and second division teams. And this will help in reducing the incidents of one sided matches.

These kind of differentiation will not help cricket simply because only a few nations play international cricket, if Pakistan is included then South Africa should be definitely included as they are a strong team in their home country and not every team can beat them in their home series. There was a time when India was only perform in their home series and now they have improved a lot, competition in domestic cricket can develop good players and India has done that and hence we are seeing the improvements and with the introduction of IPL there is a bigger pool of players for selection.

According to the current system, the test status is permanent. So even if the performance of a team drops to very appalling levels, their test status is not taken away. In the worst case scenario, the test status is suspended, like what happened with Zimbabwe. If we divide the test playing nations to two divisions, then the better performing second division teams can be promoted to Div 1 and the worse performing first division teams can be relegated to Div 2.

IMO, test cricket badly needs this promotion/relegation system. It will give an opportunity for new teams such as Afghanistan to move up the ladder if they perform well and it will be a warning bell to some of the old test playing nations such as West Indies, South Africa and Bangladesh. The current system actually incentivizes bad performance.

[eaLiTy]

According to the current system, the test status is permanent. So even if the performance of a team drops to very appalling levels, their test status is not taken away. In the worst case scenario, the test status is suspended, like what happened with Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe got suspended because of political reason and not because they were performing badly, yes they are not good enough to play Test cricket but the suspension is because of the political interference and it is against the ICC code of conduct as it is an independent body and can make decisions like that.

If we divide the test playing nations to two divisions, then the better performing second division teams can be promoted to Div 1 and the worse performing first division teams can be relegated to Div 2.

If four teams are playing each other for the rest of the calendar year how much interest they can have. It is impossible to have divisions as ICC have a strict rule to tour all the nations in a specific period.

IMO, test cricket badly needs this promotion/relegation system. It will give an opportunity for new teams such as Afghanistan to move up the ladder if they perform well and it will be a warning bell to some of the old test playing nations such as West Indies, South Africa and Bangladesh. The current system actually incentivizes bad performance.

If you were following cricket you should know that South Africa white washed Pakistan 3-0 in their last tour and if you are making judgement because India is dominating you should understand that India will do the same with the rest of the teams too including England and Australia .

[bryant.coleman]

Well... I am also in favor of having two divisions in test cricket. But rather than 5-7, I would like to have 6 teams in each division.

According to the latest ranking from the ICC, here is what it would look like:

Division 1:
1. India
2. New Zealand
3. South Africa
4. England
5. Australia
6. Sri Lanka

Division 2:
1. Pakistan
2. West Indies
3. Bangladesh
4. Afghanistan
5. Zimbabwe
6. Ireland

But the problem is that right now we are having a very one sided series between India and South Africa (two of the teams that would have figured in the division 1). So a lot of gap exists even within these divisions as well.

[Little Mouse]

But the problem is that right now we are having a very one sided series between India and South Africa (two of the teams that would have figured in the division 1). So a lot of gap exists even within these divisions as well.

Very much gap!
Elephant vs Cat  Kidding.
Kohli has shown his class once again. This man is incredible. Couldn't watch the match at all, wasn't active here for somedays, was busy in IRL.

[JSRAW]

South Africa is in big trouble once again, exactly similar situation as Last Test Match. Where they were 3 down at 2nd day stump, it would be interesting to see if their middle order is ready to face the challenge or not?

~edited out~

Same as the first test match things were happening. In the thread discussion came across a statement Umesh Yadav's addition to the team will help India big. The initial wickets taken by him has helped the team to be more strong and collapse the middle order. India has its opening partnership good, and this has made the team score reach 600. As in the statement South Africa's innings is much much depending on the Middle order as the performance of openers is not to the necessity of the team to fight back for a win.

Indeed, One wicket more and then South Africa is looking for follow on, then Inning defeat. Yeah i was backing Umesh Yadav inclusion turn out he did exceptionally well in dusty wickets. its looks like both teams are batting on the different track.

South Africa : 58/5

~Edited Out~
My suggestion is to include India, Australia, England, New Zealand, and Pakistan in the top division

I agree with @bryant.coleman list, its logical because it depends on current ranking of test Playing nation. If its about personal choice then I would like to choose India, Australia, England , South Africa, New Zealand for bilateral series.

~Edited out~

But the problem is that right now we are having a very one sided series between India and South Africa (two of the teams that would have figured in the division 1). So a lot of gap exists even within these divisions as well.

There is very simple solution to tackle this problem - Where home team dominates visiting team- Take away toss benefit , let visiting team decides if they want to bat or ball first. Then we are going to see very competitive games.

* South Africa team is going through some transition period after their legend players took retirement so i am willing to give them benefit of doubt. Only time will tell.

* Sri Lanka performs once a while.

* Pakistan : Current squad is one of the weakest test team in their cricket history and they don't even want to play Test format. but they perform in patches against England though.

* Bangladesh : I am losing patience when it comes to Bengali team.

[Sithara007]

South Africa trailing by a massive 530 runs, with the last recognized batting pair at crease (Faf du Plessis and Quinton de Kock). This is going to be another record-breaking loss (in terms of margin) for South Africa. No one expected South Africa to make an upset. But at the same time, few believed that they would go down without a fight. This is going to be very humiliating for the South African fans.

And the most surprising thing is that the spinners are not yet seen in the action. All the 5 wickets that have fallen so far have been taken by the pacers (Umesh got 3, while Mohammed Shami nabbed 2). Ashwin is yet to start his spell. And this time the South Africans can't even complain that the Indians have prepared a turning track. The pitch is supportive of both the pacers and the spinners.

[Avirunes]

De kock out now and only Du plessis is there at crease along with lower order. I think follow-on is likely to happen now but not sure since Du plessis has gone settled now. Don't see South Africa to win this one and also draw is very unlikely to happen as well considering we still have 2 days and 2 sessions left to play.

[onrise]

South Africa trailing by a massive 530 runs, with the last recognized batting pair at crease (Faf du Plessis and Quinton de Kock). This is going to be another record-breaking loss (in terms of margin) for South Africa. No one expected South Africa to make an upset. But at the same time, few believed that they would go down without a fight. This is going to be very humiliating for the South African fans.

And the most surprising thing is that the spinners are not yet seen in the action. All the 5 wickets that have fallen so far have been taken by the pacers (Umesh got 3, while Mohammed Shami nabbed 2). Ashwin is yet to start his spell. And this time the South Africans can't even complain that the Indians have prepared a turning track. The pitch is supportive of both the pacers and the spinners.

SA could not survive the Indian bowlers attack and as a result giving up the quick wickets. De Kock and Duplessis tried to stay on the wicket for some time but Ashwin got kock out and the game again belongs to India now. They would now like to wrap up SA innings quickly and give them follow on it seems.

[Vishnu.Reang]

SA could not survive the Indian bowlers attack and as a result giving up the quick wickets. De Kock and Duplessis tried to stay on the wicket for some time but Ashwin got kock out and the game again belongs to India now. They would now like to wrap up SA innings quickly and give them follow on it seems.

As long as de Kock was there, South Africa had a chance of setting up a respectable total and even a distant chance of avoiding the follow on. But since he is gone, I think that now a follow on, and later an innings defeat looks like a surety for South Africa. Senuran Muthusamy batted well during the first test. Let's see how good he is in the second test.

[eaLiTy]

There is very simple solution to tackle this problem - Where home team dominates visiting team- Take away toss benefit , let visiting team decides if they want to bat or ball first. Then we are going to see very competitive games.

That is impossible to have a fair game, a good captain must have the luck to win toss as winning the toss will make a huge difference in the outcome of a match, if it is a green track no team will bat first but if it is a turning track all the team will prefer to bat first because it will be difficult to bat in the final two days. West Indies was dominating world cricket for a period of time and then Australia was dominating and now India is dominating in Test cricket.

South Africa is struggling and it looks like an innings defeat and not even rain can help them.

[Sithara007]

That is impossible to have a fair game, a good captain must have the luck to win toss as winning the toss will make a huge difference in the outcome of a match, if it is a green track no team will bat first but if it is a turning track all the team will prefer to bat first because it will be difficult to bat in the final two days. West Indies was dominating world cricket for a period of time and then Australia was dominating and now India is dominating in Test cricket.

South Africa is struggling and it looks like an innings defeat and not even rain can help them.

Forget about the rain. I really doubt whether even the god can help them. And trust me, there are 61 overs remaining for today's play. I would say that there is a very real chance that the match would get over by today itself. And just now the South Africans have lost their 7th wicket, as Senuran Muthusamy has been trapped leg before the wicket by Ravindra Jadeja. The score stands at 139/7, and I think that South Africa will be bowled out even before they could get past 150. I am not sure whether the Indians are going to enforce the follow on or not. They may decide to bat for another 50-60 overs, in order to enhance the batting stats of their players. They can do that, as a lot of time is remaining in this match.

[Avirunes]

I am not sure whether the Indians are going to enforce the follow on or not. They may decide to bat for another 50-60 overs, in order to enhance the batting stats of their players. They can do that, as a lot of time is remaining in this match.

They will give South Africa the follow-on obviously. It will be easy road for India for victory. They still trail by good amount of runs. By giving them follow it will be easy for India to chase down the runs for victory.

Impressive bowling from speedsters- Yadav and Shami. Now spinners are piling up the rest. India totally dominating the game. Apart from De Kock and Du Plessis there is no batsman in their team. Now I think India will win the rest of the matches in the series as well if there is any (haven't checked the schedule).

[JSRAW]

^^ I am expecting follow on as well, Fast bowlers are still fresh and spinners can bowl long spell so no excuse for Kohli this time.

There is very simple solution to tackle this problem - Where home team dominates visiting team- Take away toss benefit , let visiting team decides if they want to bat or ball first. Then we are going to see very competitive games.

That is impossible to have a fair game, a good captain must have the luck to win toss as winning the toss will make a huge difference in the outcome of a match, if it is a green track no team will bat first but if it is a turning track all the team will prefer to bat first because it will be difficult to bat in the final two days. West Indies was dominating world cricket for a period of time and then Australia was dominating and now India is dominating in Test cricket.

~edited out~

I get carried away when i said "simple solution" This discussion is long-controversial and it has its pro-cons just like any another solution, Will try to write more on this topic if it ever comes in core discussion or when i got some free time.