International cricket thread

Only catching bits of this match but Pakistan did well to restrict Australia to 318 but rather typically have struggled with the bat, 193/6 with little or nothing from their middle and lower order.

Play delayed restarting after lunch as 3rd umpire Richard Illingworth stuck in a lift coming back from lunch.

just when you think the sport can’t be suffer any more delays….

the non stop run ins for ‘fitness’ issues, equipment changes, side screen changes, close in fielders calling for pads, helmets, other PPE …Now an umpire stuck in a lift !

🤪

great start with the ball from Pakistan.. Aussies looking ropey at 11/2

And straight after the delay Warner chops on.

Really disappointing display by India today. Match in the balance this morning and they end the day with an innings defeat.

Two match series so India's hunt for a series win in South Africa has to go on. Sri Lanka remain the only Asian team to win there.

Rohit Sharma their captain faced 22 deliveries over both innings scoring 5 runs…

SA score 408 runs which condemns India to an innings defeat.

15 of the 22 Indian batting innings saw their batsmen only score single digit scores.

Australia will be hoping for a 300+ lead tomorrow. 60 more runs with 4 wickets left will be touch and go. Be interesting..

Great to see South Africa returning to the top of the game it seems after a bit of a struggle in the past number of years. Their run to a World Cup semi-final was a little bit under the radar and now they seem to be unearthing some quality players, in particular Jansen and Coetzee.

Their batting is still a bit of a concern as it has been a weak middle-order for some time, but great to see David Bedingham finally get a chance at international cricket after scoring a boatload of runs for Durham over the years. Still questions over Bavuma and whether he deserves his spot in the side, but a great few days for South Africa.

As said above they haven't played a whole lot of test cricket with this being only their 3rd test match of 2023 and that New Zealand tour will be intriguing as a barometer of where both sides are.

Nice to see a bit of fight from Pakistan on Day 3. Test matches in Australia have been incredibly dull over the past number of years due to their dominance. Still expect Australia to win with a bit to spare, but hopefully Pakistan can continue to push them.

Facile enough victory for Australia in the end, Pakistan just can't put enough runs on the board, they had moments in this game when they had Australia under pressure but couldn't sustain it.

South Africa name their squad for New Zealand and it's worse than I thought it would be. Haven't heard of most of them. The captain will be a debutant. Only first teamers I recognise are Bedingham and Keegan Petersen. Duane Olivier was a good bowler but wouldn't get a look in anymore.

Something very wrong when your domestic competition is being prioritised over international games.

Did you ever think you’d see the day, when a fella making his international cricket test debut, is captaining the team, that’s just nuts. The sport is eating itself..

India have SA at 55/9 in the second test with Siraj taking 6 wickets. SA are so inconsistent..

Pure madness in the last few minutes has South Africa back in it. Four down to all out for no runs. Ngidi and Rabada and with a run out as well.

Could we see a two day reduction here? SA still 36 behind with three wickets down.

That was somd defeat for SA a bizarre test. Apparently the shortest test match on record, 107 overes!

The pitch in the South Africa-India game was a disgrace. Uneven bounce all game with one ball going over the wicket and then the next keeping low. Markram getting a century on it was one of the best test knocks I've seen in recent time even if you required a lot of luck that a ball didn't have your name on it. Pity, because I was looking forward to a good 5-day test match between the two and it's all over in no time.

Pakistan had a super chance on the first day to get a huge score on what was a belter of a pitch. Australia have struggled to get away but that seems to be their modus operandi this days as their top order wears down the bowlers and then Head and Marsh take control. Pakistan doing ok considering the inexperience of their bowling line-up. Steve Smith is due a big one after a pretty barren spell in recent times by his unbelievably high standards.

Yeah a shame for the neutral, was going to try pull an all nighter and watch the days play but the Aussies have this in the bag. Not much point..

Rizwan is a very handy batsman but Jamal, Ali & Hamza are all unlikely to last two sessions between them…. Best case another 60 - 70 or so runs might get added… leaving maybe around 145 for Australia to chase…. Fourth innings or not Australia will chase that off fairly handily.

313 all out first innings to possibly being bowled out for a very meagre score, maybe even sub 100… scorecard as it is from a Pakistani point of view is pathetic….

So that’s bye bye to David Warner. Great in Australia, so so away. In England it was all about when Stuart Broad would get him. Always controversial, it’s a long time ago now when he hit little baby faced Joe Root in a bar. Sandpaper gate while he wasn’t innocent, he was an easy target to pin the outrage on. Hopefully the full story comes out in his book one day.