Test Cricket Prediction and Discussion Thread [self - mod]

[Minecache]

Enjoying the recent matches of the team England and India is very annoying. England lost their first wicket by 68 runs today. And losing the remaining 9 wickets, and they collected only 56 runs. I don't understand why such irregular players are consistently given a place in the squad.
The situation in India is very similar to that in England. There is no one in the team who can consistently perform well. Players must be patient and responsible before playing a Test match.

England is still a good side, I am sure they can perform well against top teams like Pakistan, NZ, India etc. In Ashes, Australia came well prepared and it seems that they have some roadmap for this series which they followed well throughout the series. England on the other hand have zero prepration for this series.

Do you really think this team from England is good? Sorry I couldn't agree with you. I watched all the matches in this series. Australia has dominated in almost all the matches. Although the fourth Test match was a draw, we have seen the dominance of Australian players in whole 5 days. I think the England team's top order needs to be redesigned. The two opener batsmen have performed poorly in almost every innings. The bowlers have performed well enough.

[eaLiTy]

England lost 5 wickets and still need 170 runs which implies that they are pretty much screwed. Looks like this series will end as 4 - 0.

The England batsman did not disappoint, they were true to their performance and they did not battle like they did in the last Test where they were able to draw and now they surrendered without much fight apart from the first wicket partnership . 

~
England is still a good side, I am sure they can perform well against top teams like Pakistan, NZ, India etc. In Ashes, Australia came well prepared and it seems that they have some roadmap for this series which they followed well throughout the series. England on the other hand have zero prepration for this series.

India recently defeated them in their home soil and hence that speculation is pointless. They have a good ODI and T20 team but in Test, they do not have a solid player in the team who could bat for a longer period of time.

I will be surprised if Joe Root is still retain the captaincy after the disappointing performance in the Ashes.

[Mamun74]

Team Australia had shown Their great performance. They were great this ashes series. England batsman didn’t battle but they are are huge talented.Austria win the Series 5 of 5( Australia win 4-0).England still all formats to favourite. I think they will be fight back again next series.

[Sithara007]

Still can't resist from saying that it would have been 5-0 instead of 4-0. The Australian captain delayed declaring during the fourth test, so that Usman Khawaja would be able to complete his century. And remember that England was down to 9 wickets and James Anderson and Stuart Broad somehow managed to avoid getting out in the end. If the Australian bowlers had a couple of overs more in their hand, then the series would have ended up as a 5-0 whitewash. I would blame Pat Cummins for this blunder. Team should always come as a higher priority compared to individual achievements.

[TheGreatPython]

Still can't resist from saying that it would have been 5-0 instead of 4-0. The Australian captain delayed declaring during the fourth test, so that Usman Khawaja would be able to complete his century. And remember that England was down to 9 wickets and James Anderson and Stuart Broad somehow managed to avoid getting out in the end. If the Australian bowlers had a couple of overs more in their hand, then the series would have ended up as a 5-0 whitewash. I would blame Pat Cummins for this blunder. Team should always come as a higher priority compared to individual achievements.

Probably you are right. Because, Australia set 388 runs as target when only 1 day and some 1 hour of game alone left for England to chase down. So, the delay had happened for the sake of Usman Khawaja's century. But, Cummins might have been confident about getting all out England with 100+ overs but 3 of England players survived for 100+ runs which might favored them to draw the match.

Moreover, Australia itself might be not minding about missing the chances of whitewash as these all do happen everywhere and they might have got used to such things.

[onecall123]

A wonderful gesture has been made!

Usman Khawaja was brought back to the center to celebrate Australia's ASHES win by Pat Cummins who stopped the champagne spraying. It is humbling to see Pay Cummins standing for everything that a leader should stand for, respecting everyone's sentiments. Khawaja is blessed and lucky to have teammates like those around him. In a subsequent twitter post, he expresses gratitude and conveys that we are moving in the right direction.

[SirLancelot]

England lost 5 wickets and still need 170 runs which implies that they are pretty much screwed. Looks like this series will end as 4 - 0.

The England batsman did not disappoint, they were true to their performance and they did not battle like they did in the last Test where they were able to draw and now they surrendered without much fight apart from the first wicket partnership .  

It's worst performance from any England side in The Ashes since 1890 but still Joe Root and Coach Silverwood insisting they are not stepping down from their roles because they are feeling it's not their failure it's all the system's failure which is correct but now ECB need to do some quick and tough decisions for having better way for their cricket in near future.

Now, they are going to West Indies where they will play 5 T20 and then 3 test matches most chances here they will do some better as West Indies is also one off worst test sides in current cricket community with many issues on and off the field. But for some better future they need to overhaul their cricketing system which is more than crap now for last few decades.

[Haunebu]

I would blame Pat Cummins for this blunder. Team should always come as a higher priority compared to individual achievements.

You are exaggerating this stuff way too much. How can you say for sure that Cummins chose to help Khawaja over his own team? He couldn't predict the future result and neither can you.

He is easily one of the best Australian captains in recent years if you ask me. I would also like to add the fact that he is smashing records regularly thanks to his consistent bowling skills.

[pakhitheboss]

England lost 5 wickets and still need 170 runs which implies that they are pretty much screwed. Looks like this series will end as 4 - 0.

The England batsman did not disappoint, they were true to their performance and they did not battle like they did in the last Test where they were able to draw and now they surrendered without much fight apart from the first wicket partnership .  

It's worst performance from any England side in The Ashes since 1890 but still Joe Root and Coach Silverwood insisting they are not stepping down from their roles because they are feeling it's not their failure it's all the system's failure which is correct but now ECB need to do some quick and tough decisions for having better way for their cricket in near future.

Now, they are going to West Indies where they will play 5 T20 and then 3 test matches most chances here they will do some better as West Indies is also one off worst test sides in current cricket community with many issues on and off the field. But for some better future they need to overhaul their cricketing system which is more than crap now for last few decades.

This test series was a disaster for the English side. Except for a few players like Root and Malan every other player were seen struggling to bat throughout the series. They were not able to chase 271 runs in the last match, then they choose to bowl first after winning the toss. I was hoping that they would be able to draw this last match if not win it but this team has disappointed me.

[JSRAW]

There should be no fuss about this 4-0, imo it's a moral victory that scorecard reads 4-0, not 5-nill at the end. This is excellent preparation for the next Ashes cycle.  Australia has no complaints as well.

Coming back to the Indian test cricket, i guess KL Rahul looks set to lead team India  , this new transition period is going to be very exciting.

Anyways Proteas fire is back so that's good news for the test cricket or SA at least.

[Sithara007]

You are exaggerating this stuff way too much. How can you say for sure that Cummins chose to help Khawaja over his own team? He couldn't predict the future result and neither can you.

He is easily one of the best Australian captains in recent years if you ask me. I would also like to add the fact that he is smashing records regularly thanks to his consistent bowling skills.

Cummins declared only when Khawaja scored the century and by then the lead was 388 runs. Ideally I would have liked them to declare at 330-340. And worse still, Khawaja slowed down considerably in the end, and was scoring at a rate of one run per 4-5 balls at this stage. Cameron Green on the other end was scoring well, but his focus was to give strike to Khawaja. IMO, Australia wasted more than one hour at this point. And in the end, this turned to be crucial as the last pair of Anderson and Broad had to survive for just one over.

[Haunebu]

Cummins declared only when Khawaja scored the century and by then the lead was 388 runs. Ideally I would have liked them to declare at 330-340. And worse still, Khawaja slowed down considerably in the end, and was scoring at a rate of one run per 4-5 balls at this stage. Cameron Green on the other end was scoring well, but his focus was to give strike to Khawaja. IMO, Australia wasted more than one hour at this point. And in the end, this turned to be crucial as the last pair of Anderson and Broad had to survive for just one over.

England barely survived in that match and deserved to lose, but were saved thanks to archaic crappy ICC rules regarding draws in tests. They even won the recent ODI World Cup thanks to those nonsensical rules.

What I am trying to state here is that Cummins never anticipated such a result and tried to make the best choice, but the ICC rules helped the match end as a draw.

[beerlover]

You are exaggerating this stuff way too much.

For hard core fans, missing out the opportunity of whitewash might be a big thing and we cannot say anything to their perception. Moreover, some gamblers might have placed bets on 5 - 0 whitewash, what if you have lost such a bet by one wicket due to captain's decision making skills (if England would not have lost up to 9 wickets then people might have taken this scenario differently).

archaic crappy ICC rules regarding draws in tests.

I am sorry, I am not aware of any significant change of rules regarding this; could you please link if me to any references if possible; thanks for your time.

[SirLancelot]

Coming back to the Indian test cricket, i guess KL Rahul looks set to lead team India  , this new transition period is going to be very exciting.

KL Rahul is confirmed? I was thinking about Rishab Pant due to his significant success as skipper in IPL matches rather than any KL Rahul's records. So, India will have Rohit for white ball cricket and Rahul for test matches. What would be the next test series for India? Because, I am as well excited to watch how India will cope up their form and dominance in test format across different skippers.

Moreover, I also expected to have Bumbrah like how CA opted Cummins as a surprise package but bowlers' frequent prone to injury must be a criteria they would have considered like how most boards do consider these days.

[eaLiTy]

~
It's worst performance from any England side in The Ashes since 1890 but still Joe Root and Coach Silverwood insisting they are not stepping down from their roles because they are feeling it's not their failure it's all the system's failure which is correct but now ECB need to do some quick and tough decisions for having better way for their cricket in near future.

The statement of the worst performance by any England side after 1890 is a big exaggerated because i have seen much worse performance by England against Australia in the Ashes during the 90s where they used to get defeated without any challenge and most of the series were one sided and used to be a white wash.
 

Coming back to the Indian test cricket, i guess KL Rahul looks set to lead team India  , this new transition period is going to be very exciting.

I am curious to see how KL Rahul leads the team with all the senior members in the team. 

[JSRAW]

Coming back to the Indian test cricket, i guess KL Rahul looks set to lead team India  , this new transition period is going to be very exciting.

KL Rahul is confirmed? I was thinking about Rishab Pant due to his significant success as skipper in IPL matches rather than any KL Rahul's records. So, India will have Rohit for white ball cricket and Rahul for test matches. What would be the next test series for India? Because, I am as well excited to watch how India will cope up their form and dominance in test format across different skippers.

Moreover, I also expected to have Bumbrah like how CA opted Cummins as a surprise package but bowlers' frequent prone to injury must be a criteria they would have considered like how most boards do consider these days.

Not confirmed per se but he seems first choice atm considering all other options are out of form, fitness issue, work management or too young to lead.

We have home season coming soon against SL (Feb-March), BAN (Away) then AUS at home. I think in red ball cricket India already peaked, competitive in White ball cricket but not at top due to lack of ICC trophies. I don't mind if bowlers leading their team.

Coming back to the Indian test cricket, i guess KL Rahul looks set to lead team India  , this new transition period is going to be very exciting.

I am curious to see how KL Rahul leads the team with all the senior members in the team. 

Depression 

[Sithara007]

Coming back to the Indian test cricket, i guess KL Rahul looks set to lead team India  , this new transition period is going to be very exciting.

I am curious to see how KL Rahul leads the team with all the senior members in the team. 

The BCCI under Sourav Ganguly has given a clear message to Virat Kohli and the other seniors in the team. They have been told that no individual is above the team. If they doesn't let go their ego, then these players will be kicked out of the team. If Kohli can be cut down to size, then none of the other players are untouchable. Neutral cricket fans have been fed up with the bias and arrogance from Kohli for the past several years. Only because of him useless players such as Hardick Pandya could find a place in the playing XI.

[blatchcorn]

The BCCI under Sourav Ganguly has given a clear message to Virat Kohli and the other seniors in the team. They have been told that no individual is above the team. If they doesn't let go their ego, then these players will be kicked out of the team. If Kohli can be cut down to size, then none of the other players are untouchable. Neutral cricket fans have been fed up with the bias and arrogance from Kohli for the past several years. Only because of him useless players such as Hardick Pandya could find a place in the playing XI.

That's a very good move from bcci chief, no player is indispensable. Due to bcci decision on controlling kohli, India may go down in performance for time being but its good in the long run for Indian cricket. Other boards must also learn this from bcci. Hardick was once backbone of Indian tial and was known for hard hitting. Today he is called a useless,  what an irony.

[Haunebu]

I am sorry, I am not aware of any significant change of rules regarding this; could you please link if me to any references if possible; thanks for your time.

I was just talking about the general test rules related to draws which should have been changed a long-time back by learning from federations like FIFA etc in this particular aspect.

I am curious to see how KL Rahul leads the team with all the senior members in the team. 

I am not excited at all since Rahul has proven the fact that he is an amazing batsman, but a mediocre captain. Someone like Ashwin would have been a better option.

Only because of him useless players such as Hardick Pandya could find a place in the playing XI.

Hardik Pandya : Useless player? I disagree. His form went down the drain recently, but he is easily one of the best all-rounders that India has ever produced in the ODI and T-20 formats.

[galambo]

Only because of him useless players such as Hardick Pandya could find a place in the playing XI.

Hardik Pandya : Useless player? I disagree. His form went down the drain recently, but he is easily one of the best all-rounders that India has ever produced in the ODI and T-20 formats.

I do agree that Pandya was once a best all rounder in Indian cricket team. He is still a strong pick in IPL despite his bad form. There are rumours that he is selected in Indian team only because of his friendship with kohli. He must take some break and try to regain his form.