Cricket thread

[one-eyed]

South Africa 152 all out.

Lyon 3/14, Starc 3/41, Boland 2/28, Cummins 2/35.

Yes, the pitch is slightly green  .

[one-eyed]

Stumps Day 1.

SA 152

Aussies 5/145 ..... Warner 0, Khawaja 11, Labuschagne 11, Smith 36, Bolland 0, Head 78*.

Smith and nightwatchman Bolland out in the last 7 balls of the day.

[Andyy]

Better than the WI match.

Good decision to bowl first with the pitch so green. Will make it easier for us to bat later me thinks.

Head is in hot form. Warner should retire. Ussie getting on too need to bring some youngsters in

[one-eyed]

SA 99 all out. Would have been even worse if their last pairing didn't make 30 for the last wicket.

Cummins 5/42, Boland 2/14, Starc reaching his 300th career wicket had 2/26 and Lyon 1/17.

Aussies need 34 runs to win.

[one-eyed]

Aussies win by 6 wickets.

Only the second test in Australia to finish inside two days.

South Africa  152 & 99

Aussies 218 & 4/35 ..... Extras 19 ..... Khawaja 2, Warner 3, Smith 6, Head 0, Labuschagne 5*, Green 0*.

[Damo]

Absolutely disgraceful
The curator should be sacked or the GABBA given a 12 month ban

We all get fired up about the Pakistan and Indian dust bowls .. this pitch was worse .. not only does it make for terrible cricket , but it’s also extremely dangerous

Embarrassing

[WilliamPowell]

Absolutely disgraceful
The curator should be sacked or the GABBA given a 12 month ban

We all get fired up about the Pakistan and Indian dust bowls .. this pitch was worse .. not only does it make for terrible cricket , but it’s also extremely dangerous

Embarrassing

Totally agree

[Andyy]

Found it entertaining at least but would have liked another day or two haha. Runs sure were hard to come by

[Damo]

Found it entertaining at least but would have liked another day or two haha. Runs sure were hard to come by

Would you think it was entertaining if you had to bat on it against pace ?
Think not

[Andyy]

Found it entertaining at least but would have liked another day or two haha. Runs sure were hard to come by

Would you think it was entertaining if you had to bat on it against pace ?
Think not

Nope, but if I had a choice between a pitch favouring bat or ball I would choose ball every day.

Makes an innings like Head's first all the more impressive. I hate it when the batters are lining up for easy centuries.

[JP Tiger]

Found it entertaining at least but would have liked another day or two haha. Runs sure were hard to come by

Would you think it was entertaining if you had to bat on it against pace ?
Think not

Nope, but if I had a choice between a pitch favouring bat or ball I would choose ball every day.

Makes an innings like Head's first all the more impressive. I hate it when the batters are lining up for easy centuries.

I agree Andyy, runs on a dead pitch don't prove much.  Of course they still go on the scoreboard & into the record books, but really ... shooting fish in a barrel is only so much fun.  May as well bowl with a tennis ball ...   
I'd much rather have a spicy green top than a flat brown road.  It was great to see batsmen jumping around while playing & missing rather than racking up endless tons. 
Test cricket is about dealing with the conditions, the team who reads the conditions best & adapts to them the best wins.  I don't think the pitch was actually dangerous to the batters, I don't recall anybody being hit & injured by the ball.  It was a challenging wicket that required good technique against quality fast bowling with a seaming ball, but runs were there if you were good enough (Head).  Lyon also got some big turn & took wickets, so it wasn't only a fast bowlers' pitch.  Lively pitch = lively game.     

[Andyy]

Agree JP although I have to say there was a lot of bounce and it wouldn't have surprised me if someone copped a head strike.

That Nortje was awesome to watch. Bowling 150km and huge bounce. Great young talent.

[one-eyed]

The Brisbane pitch that produced a two-day result in the first Test between Australia and South Africa has officially been rated below average by the ICC.

ICC match referee Richie Richardson was tasked with the rating and with the below average finding handed down, the Gabba earns its first demerit point.

Demerit points remain active for five years and when a venue accrues five or more demerit points across that period, it will be suspended from hosting any international cricket for 12 months.

Richardson said his rating was decided on because the pitch couldn’t produce “an even contest between bat and ball”.

“Overall, the Gabba pitch for this Test match was too much in favour of the bowlers,” Richardson said via a statement.

“There was extra bounce and occasional excessive seam movement. The odd delivery also kept low on the second day, making it very difficult for batters to build partnerships.

“I found the pitch to be “below average” as per the ICC guidelines since it was not an even contest between bat and ball.”

The below average tier is the third worst rating match referees can hand out, with poor and unfit – which come with three and five demerit points respectively - the more severe options.

The Gabba last received an average pitch rating for the 2021 Test against England, with previous ratings of good and very good coming against India in January 2021 and Pakistan in November 2019 respectively.

https://www.sen.com.au/news/2022/12/21/icc-hands-down-gabba-pitch-rating-after-two-day-test-result/

[one-eyed]

Boland keeps his spot for his home test.

https://twitter.com/abcsport/status/1606806649217359873

[WilliamPowell]

Australia won the toss and will bowl