Green's 50 and Kawaja's 2nd 100 meant no captain was going to be declaring before these milestones were achieved.

I think Australia batted for only 1.5overs after that anyway so not many overs were lost due to overbatting...

May have won it if they didnt lose overs to rain today, but i thought they got lucky with rain late yesterday anyway. Its the reason i thought a bigger total wasnt needed.

It doesnt matter much when you dont have to win such as this game. But aussies need to be abit more careful in games where they must win in order to take the series or save one. Because those failed wins will hurt alot. 

Great finish anyway and series is wrapped up so no harm done.

Sometimes in cricket captains are too scared to win

Bill Lawry declared when Rod Marsh was in the nineties and I think Imran Khan did it to himself. So it has happened. The priority for good captains shouldn't be individual achievement.  Not that I think that was the reason here, more too conservative I think.

If we review the game there were periods where the fielding and bowling dropped a bit below the normal standard and perhaps the poms had some overdue luck.

Most of the time a declaration that gives the opposition team a chance is a mistake, we still almost won, the declaration wasn't that bad.

The key part of the game was when the bails didn't drop off the stumps, from there Stokes, Bairstow and Wood out played us and our bowling was a bit loose.

Some of the Poms played well enough to deserve a draw.

When we were hunting wickets at the end Cummo went back to Starc and Starc couldn't quite do the job. Right move by the captain, Starc usually delivers in that kind of situation.

Overall if the Aussies execute to a high standard then they had enough overs to win it.
I also didn't see what happened last night the poms finised 0-30, often after a declaration getting 2 cheap wickets early is common. Say that the poms are 2-11  overnight, we win from there.

Declare earlier with a 340 lead, the poms 0-60 overnight has us under the pump and starting the last day with an older ball. 350 was the bare minimum that we needed. Declare with 340 and the poms win, the critics would be out in force.

The poms had enough good players to make 340-350 on that pitch if they all fire.

Well you know my thoughts on dragging out batting.....

If i were captain, i would have allowed Green to get his 50 and declare but would have sent the message down so that Kawaja was aware and either went hard for his 100 or accepted a declaration.

Like i said.... doesn't matter in the context of this match or series but im not convinced Australia plays the games as efficiently as they can.

Not quite.
The beauty of Test cricket is that while you have a chance to win, you put yourself at higher risk to lose if you go for it.

Take the win mentality away and you get a defensive mindset with only the ability of your bowlers and the pitch condition left to decide if you win or not. 

It wasnt the worst declaration by Cummins. Just a tad conservative and fell victim to personal achievements instead of match and weather awareness. 

The pitch was too good for Sydney...it lasted too well. There was talk of bringing Swepson into the team so that the Aussies could have two spinners. He would have been totally wasted. There were no real demons in the wicket and Cummins and Starc both bowled below their best even if the ball Cummins bowled to get Wood out was probably one of the best balls any one had ever seen. The declaration was fair. The thing is cricket was the winner. How good was it to see 12 year old kids on the edge of their seats as the final overs were bowled. They will remember this better than they ever will some bloke clouting a couple of sixes in the Big Bash. There was just a tad too many rain delays and the Poms lifted. Brilliant stuff.

I agree…. There was a number of rain delays too, but we almost pulled it off. 

Yes, but you are also gifting the opposition a chance to win that they don't deserve.

The condition of the pitch is a consideration. IMO the poms could have chased 340 on that pitch, why give them a chance?

At 380 they were no chance.

Making the pitch isn't an exact science.

Before the match the team judged correctly that the pitch wouldn't break up.

What happened was the pitch slowly died and got progressively easier to bat on. That part was unexpected.
When there is a lot of rain around the curator must have a tough job, but overall a good pitch.

Overall a good game plenty of skill, effort and courage from both teams, a good close finish, but only one team could win it.

We are still leading the series 3-0. Boland is a real find, he has probly jumped a few places in the rankings.

Yeah that in-swinger was a ripper. 
The super slow motion replay with ball tracker showed just how sharply it swung. It nearly would have missed leg stump!

The mistake is the mentality of wanting to bat longer till more than 400 -as mentioned by Cummins himself.

The 2 wickets of Green and Carey forced his hand to declare even earlier than he wanted to and as proven by the end result, too late.

He is obviously not going to admit he may have got it wrong but hopefully he doesnt overbat in a future game that we must win. 

Yeah i really like Boland. He is really hitting the spot at good length and making batsmen play.

He has proven to be a real problem for the poms.

Smithy should bowl a bit more, gave us a chance with a key wicket.

There is always rough outside the left handers off stump to get some spin late in games.
The odd ball turning away from right-handers is handy.

The 2 in swingers from Cummo were great.

Good to see Ussie score 2 tons, but also importantly look relaxed and mentally tough.
He could open the battling in places like India as apparently he now plays spin well.

Previously he has struggled a bit overseas, but he seems like a better player now.

I had heared of Boland before, I don't watch much big bash.

I was surpised that he was this good, I think everyone was.

On the other hand Labs is the one Aussie bowler I would like to bat against.

Yeah I'm still not good enough, but my chances of surviving are better.

Against Cummo, I would take guard at fine leg.

The Aus players call him "Cider". He also has the nickname "Winx". Just saying...

He was great. At 32yo this far exceeds anything he's shown in his 80 or so first class career. I don't get where it came from

The slow bowling only edict is crap.

Exactly this. It was a great example of the best class of cricket between old rivals. And it went down to the last ball

Just bought my Fan in the Stand for 2022.
They offered a package deal (50% off for seasons 2023 and 2024) but i thought we might fluke a new vaccine by then on what should be Omega variant.....

What kind of a sick djoke is this?

It's OK... Booster shots 7 & 8 in the second year are the way back to cardboard cut out 'freedoms'... Your fan in the stand will be free to attend all home games over the next three years if it has a positive RAT or PCR but no symptoms...However if it has 3 negative RATs but a sniffle it should self isolate for a week... Unless it drives a truck...

Novak WILL play at the Aus Open!

Novak’s lawyer Dman QC said ‘It’s a win for Novak, it’s a win for the millions of tennis fans around the world’ 

He's cracked a new sponsorship with Villis and will deliver the pies and sauce to Melbourne Park each morning... This means he's no longer a threat to the community and is free to go about his business playing tennis... Leave the poor Bljoke alone...

Was only afew months ago we had a rat plague and now we have a RAT shortage....

You cant win....

Can you imagine Novak actually catches covid in the next few days?

Would make a mockery of his supposed infection in December as well as bring in to question the ethical behaviour of his doctors....

You mocked immigration... Your powers are at their peak my friend...

Can you tout Dog's for the spoon when you have an opportunity please...

Theres every chance we can challenge for the spoon....

I'm  not a Novak fan and was happy if he didn't  come but how inept is this government. Tyey even stuffed up his advice  of cancellation. They obviously  went into this with a public relations win as the motive. Now if they cancel his visa they will just look petty.