And its on like Donkey Kong...

Heading to Perth, Australian batsmen now realize that India has a legitimate seam attack on sporting pitches (England and SA batsmen could already have told them this), and Bumrah is far from some myth...

Perth will be a drop in at the new stadium - my biggest question is whether CA roads it up or keeps it grassy. India still has their best swing bowler in the reserve if it is grassy. And Ashwin on a sporty Perth wicket if Vihari bats 6 - could easily be swapped out for the useful tail end batting of Indian seam and swing king B Kumar. 

India has a lot of options. Shaw is jogging again, and if fit in time will replace either Rahul or Vijay as their premier opening batsman.

Rohit has not done enough to sleep easy with Vihari offering a legitimate 5th bowling option neither while batting 6.

Lots of Indian fans still prefer the chinamen offerings of K Yadav that bamboozled Australian batsmen in the t20s this season... but I do not feel he has the batting to bust into the team with B Kumar comming in and Ashwin with one of Sharma or Shami getting dropped. So its hard for K Yadav to bust a move. Even if he is the better bowler for Australian conditions as India need to keep a mind on the runs that Bumrah, Shami and Sharma do not score...

I think Ishant did enough to stay in the team...

For Australia - I have no idea what your selectors will do. I have no idea what the pitch will be.

If I see grass on the pitch - I predict a second India win. If its a road... a draw or a win to Australia....

India's batting tail remains a problem with Sharma a genuine number 11, and Shami impersonating Hasan Ali and Bumrah is worse than Chris Martin..

Lets get it on :D

https://www.perthnow.com.au/sport/cricket/optus-stadium-curator-tips-fiery-wicket-for-second-test-between-australia-and-india-ng-b881044163z

If this link is true, I'd drop Rohit and Ashwin, and play Vihari and Kumar...

If the pitch ends up being very fast, bouncy and green like the curator claims then we might well see not a 3 and half day test but a two day test. The Australian line up will certainly struggle and I think the Indians will as well. Both attacks are certainly good enough to make use of such favourable conditions in a devastating way. It sounds like it could be a wicket to not play a spinner. India could bring in Kumar and perhaps Jhye Richardson could make his debut for Australia, perfect pitch for a young tearaway bowler.

I think Kumar could come in even if Ashwin remians or Kuldeep plays. But if I were India and it is green - I would drop Ash and Rohit, bring in Vihari and Kumar...

My money is on India on a greenie, though. They just have far more experience and skill in such conditions...

A green pitch to them is like giving them a dustbowl... I have no idea what CA is thinking... Baggers apparently understands CA's rationale. I (and O'Keefe) seriously don't. Maybe CA is thinking if its a total shootout - the game is just random chance... and there is some merit to that... but not enough for my liking... still broken clock, twice a day and all that jazz...

My Australian side assuming it is a fast bouncy green top is
Harris
Burns
Khawaja
Head
Patterson
Finch
Paine
Cummins
Starc
Jhye Richardson
Hazlewood

It includes 5 batsmen who have opened in first class cricket to some extent. Patterson made century on the ground a couple of weeks and Jhye Richardson took 8/47 and 3/58 in the same match.

There's not enough Marsh's for my liking. Please add one, if not two, even Swampy will satisfy me.

THE PITCHES ARE NOT PREPARED TO A CA RATIONALE. The groundsmen get to do whatever they like, they are not controlled by central authorities. Perth has historically been a fast and very bouncy pitch and this has been talked about every year. Quite often we hear the claim that this is the year we see the bounce and pace return and it has not happened. I have significant doubt it will happen this time as well, it quite possibly will be green but bounce and pace probably are not going to be like times in the past.

Anyway you should know the Perth groundsman as he used to be a groundsman in NZ. What do you think of him?

On a green top without a lot of pace and especially bounce India probably are favourites, stronger batting line up and a good pace attack. If it is very fast and very bouncy then I think it favours the Australian a bit. 

How about Laura Marsh? She batted for 5 hours scoring 55 off 304 balls to draw a test match, that is the kind of fight this team needs. And she is an off spinner. Just have overlook she is English.

Brett Sipthorpe - made roads in NZ at the Basin and Chch... Probably commercial pressures - though the basin has always been high scoring and Chch fast (but Chch while fast has had serious nip in the past)...

Intl pitches are prepared to a rationale... Brett says in the article that he has been told not to worry about it going 5 days - he said as much in the article.

“I don’t know what’s happened in the past, but I haven’t had any correspondence relating to that (commercial considerations) at all,” Sipthorpe said.

“For us it’s been more about there’s no Gabba in this Test series. So the only other ground that’s got the potential to be that fiery, bouncy pitch is our one. Length of time hasn’t been discussed at all. It’s just try and make it quick, try and make it bouncy... 



I don’t think anyone wants to see flat five-day cricket. I think people would prefer to see it go for three and a half, four days, but exciting, tough, dour cricket. Rather than bowlers on the receiving end for five days and you end up with a dull draw..... “I’d like to see it go day four, if it stretches into day five that’s great. The main thing is to get a result.”

That is the instruction. Do not worry about a 5 day test... I have no issue with home teams preparing favorable pitches at all. I just think CA is going completely the wrong way about it by giving Indian greenie. And O'Keefe said this was the instruction a month oago on the Back Page live. It clearly is an instruction...

India has the better bowlers on greenies than Australian bowlers are - they have a world class seam and swing attack. CA has not appreciated this. The rest of the world knew it after SA and England... Australia seems to want to deny it and believe their attack is better in grass - I said before the series started that its not. Ask Baggers - we have had intense debates about it endlessly. I think India has Aus trumped on grassy pitches. I genuinely and honestly do. In a shootout pitch, any dog can have its day - but overall I am favouring Indian bowlers 2 times if not 3 times to 1.

Re doctoring: I think the Indian pitches vs SA in 2016 were simply and utterly ridiculous, but singificantly less doctoring than that, I am okay with entirely.

I want NZC to do more of it... I want turning pitches when SA tour here for instance...

Every Aussie wants to talk about nullifying Kohli - but its Bumrah, Shami, Kumar, and even the former intl widespread joke who is so vastly improved its not funny in Sharma that will win this for India...

And if the SCG is a turner - they'll reel out K Yadav - the Chinaman...

History says India suck as fast bowlers and have great batsmen... modern times says - their attack on both dustbowls and greenies - is very very good. CA should be giving them roads to suck on...

I'm calling it now - Kumar is the best Indian swing bowler of all time (the guy who cannot make the team) and Bumrah - he will be the best unquestionable all surfaces seamer India has ever made - Dev and Srinath nowithstanding - and he seriously has the talent to get close to if not ATG levels. He only debut'd this year in tests. He is a phenom! He is already right now the best limited overs seamer in the world and has been for 2 years now after a 2016 debut.

We get all the England, Aus and Ind cricket in NZ. I have watched these Indian bowlers a lot...

Just let this sink in - Kumar - a guy who plays for India who play on dustbowls at home - averages 26 in tests with the ball - and cannot make the Indian starting team... what does this tell you about him when I tell you he is a swing bowler... do you want to give him grass to play on - or roads? (On roads - he averaged 160 in Aus last time...) To me it is a simple decision. CA see it differently. I don't get it. I seriously do not get it. He averaged 20 with swing bowling in SA this year. CA wants to give India grass after sandpapergate? Really? Kumar's not even able to crack the Indian team and outperformed every Aussie boiwler this year in SA... This is utter nonsensical thinking to me...

Indian seam bowlers in this team - love grass...

So Shane Warne wants to improve our batting by picking Marcus Stoinis. 

I want grass in Perth. Our pace attack are the ace in the Oz pack on a grassy deck. So feed them. Take away our strength and with this brittle batting lineup we have no chance to win the series. India has the superior batting so our pace cartel has to have all at its disposal to combat that. This applies to the Indian attack I hear you say.  Yes it does. But like I say nullify our strength and we will be walloped. At least with our attack we have a battling chance to level the series.

I think grass does nullify the strength of your pacemen, and brings in the seam and swing of the Indian bowlers. 

I think it plays right into India's hands.

If Perth is grassy, and the MCG is a road... we will have a better indicator of what would have been what...

This article is so weird

https://www.news.com.au/sport/cricket/comment-aussies-under-attack-but-they-wont-compromise/news-story/d91e0b8a712154e62b557f90970dae0f

Does anyone care about sledging? As long as its not racial vilification or personal seriously who cares

I was upset about ball tampering not sledging

As a spinner you need to tell the batsman that they have "no idea" and "didn't pick that one" so they get tempted into trying to hit you out of the park

Both batting lineups will struggle on a deck such as the one mooted by the Perth Stadium curator. This will be a bowler dominated match. Bout time we had pitches that challenge the batsmen to make themselves better instead of giving them a surface that they can feast on. That does nothing for the technique. This way we can sort the batting wheat from the chaff in preparation for tuff conditions in England mid next year.

I also rate Richardson but if you were thinking to bring  him in for an out of sorts Starc.. forget it. CA said at the start of the series the first two tests will have the same personnel.

Ok here are the top 10 over the first 6 Shield rounds. Too fiddly to produce their past Shield records.  Do any of them deserve a Third test spot.
comments.

Player	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	0	4s	6s
MS Wade	6	12	3	571	137	63.44	1063	53.71	1	5	0	62	9
(Tasmania)
MS Harris	5	8	1	501	250*	71.57	875	57.25	1	3	0	59	1
(Victoria)
TLW Cooper	6	11	0	501	178	45.54	786	63.74	2	1	2	68	4
(South Australia)
NCR Larkin	6	11	1	494	175*	49.40	958	51.56	2	1	0	46	2
(New South Wales)
JA Burns	6	12	2	472	96	47.20	780	60.51	0	4	1	54	5
(Queensland)
DP Hughes	6	11	1	462	134	46.20	1051	43.95	2	2	0	53	0
(New South Wales)
JS Lehmann	6	11	1	461	126	46.10	967	47.67	1	4	1	49	1
(South Australia)
AJ Doolan	6	12	0	461	115	38.41	844	54.62	1	4	2	61	4
(Tasmania)
JC Silk	6	12	0	451	113	37.58	1231	36.63	1	3	0	41	1
(Tasmania)
SE Marsh

Test Fan. This will be for the Third Test. CA will not change personell for Perth. Dumb but is the fact. It would be mine too on a Perth green top. But MCG is a drab, flat drop in that sends spectators to sleep. Blind freddie could get runs on that deck.

CA should be more worried about curbing seamers Bumrah and Shama  than whether Kumar will play.. Hardly likely to be swinging conditions anyway. Our best seamer Hazlewood will welcome another grassy deck. Perhaps Hazies lawyers have been onto CA demanding grassy decks on which his client can perform. Is sick of the roads of the past. A green top will also assist Cummins who is more of a seamer these days than the express man of his youth.The weak link is imho Starc.. neither a seamer nor a specialist swing bowler. If MCG also has a grass deck then Richardson or Tremain should come in for Starc. How did Pattinson go last game?

Grass keeps the ball shinier for longer for othodox swing, Steyn had it swinging big at Perth earlier this season with that pig of a white Kookaburra... Don't recall any clouds around... Plus Kumar also has a McGrath-like wrist position for seam release when he wants to try and not swing it but to seam it...

Kumar is the Indian greenie king, for swing or seam... He's just too slow for roads... 

Pattinson got smacked around by Oil. Warne wants Oil in the team.

I really wouldn't call Cummins a seamer beyond all bowlers who bowl seam up are. He's a tall guy, bowling mid 130's who gets good bounce.

His back of the length causes enough problems without having to seam it around. He's going more than well enough keeping it on off or out - getting edges from cut shots and balls far too short to drive.

What is Kumars record like on grassy lively decks?

Averaged 20 this year in SA... Easily the pick of the Indian seamers- also offers by far the most batting...

Bumrah is the better bowler - because Bumrah is more like by analogy ATG's like Hadlee, McGrath and Steyn, it doesn't what the pitch is, he just finds a way. Doesn't matter if its a grassy pitch or rolled mud...

Whereas Kumar is more like Philander, he wants things in his advantage to be possibly even more effective...

 Grass keeps the ball shinier for longer for othodox swing. I know that. So humidity and overcast aiding swing is a myth? 

I watched a bit of that confrontation. No love lost between them. Patto must be dirty on him leaving the Bushies. OIL?

Seemed friendly enough to me... Oil - his team mates caught him using tanning oil, but Stoinis reckons its because he looks like an oil painting...

 I like the idea of 4 quicks. CA is sticking with the same X1. Go figure.

Overcast seems pretty relevant to England and NZ - but there's still no conclusive science on it.

Many scientists have tried, noone's worked it out yet. But Jimmy and Boulty do like them clouds.

But even on sunny days in England and NZ - it gets hooping at times... 

Boult had it hooping against England in Auckland late in March... that is Autumn! The tropical humidity was long gone by then (but it was bad in Auckland last summer - unbearable). But in Welly in summer, flatter lateral trajectory than a pancake... NZ is really hit and miss with the swing... Eng Dukes just seems to always swing...

For NZ and Aus, I am starting to think the individual luck of the Kookie ball has a role to play. Some times the ball just does nothing. And some balls just love Tim and Trent. NZ roads are grass covered which keeps the ball shinier (Wellington always looks like a scary greenie - but there's about Basin Reserve grass - it just makes for roads). Put simply - any weather conditions anywhere in NZ - there is no guarantee of swing. In England, there's always something in that Dukes ball regardless of clouds - clouds just enable Broad to get it going as well..

Haze has the ability to get a  nice out-swinger going, I assume it is deliberate,  I think he should aim to bowl it more often myself.. and try to perfect it.

What balls do NZ use? The Dukes will swing even in sunshine. Nick Winter did not need overcast to have it hooping last season.

Iirc - the NZC belief is that in any box of Kookaburra balls, they always choose the darkest balls for swing...

Last time he tried to bowl the outie for any length of time he was sacked from the last test of the last England Ashes. Even the other day his outie was widish. He has had over three years to perfect it. Stick to seam I say. That is his forte.

NZ use the Kookaburra - because NZC gets paid to use it in all honesty... They whack in $100,000 a year - that's a minimum of 1,000 balls at retail - let alone at wholesale - thats enough to get through the pro season and then some...

NZ should be using the Dukes (but they obviously don't sell wider cricket gear so they want money for the balls)... but it is what it is...

As a result, Kookaburra gets a ton of free advertising everytime a commentator says "Kookaburra"... 

SA use the Kookie too, if the pitch is set up to look protect the ball, it will swing for longer, and I believe more as the siny side is controllable.. Hence why SA games are often shootouts - and how Boult rolled England for stuff all last year...

Dukes really only make balls - so they're not  in a position to give them away... If Dukes could ever be as big as GM, Kookie, Grey Nicholls - then they may be in a position too...