Had a break.

Just in time to see Finch given out.

1 -87.

With Finch out are we going to see another collapse like the first innings?

 Shaun Marsh got a good ball, but he has had a shocking Test.

Yes, we must have.

Good pace bowling from Pak.

Mitch Marsh nearly caught just a few balls after the first two wickets .

All falling apart after tea with Finch and SOS back in the sheds. Ball is reversing for Abbas.

Has Marsh played his last Test?

Usman looks to be our only hope!

Mitch Marsh also out for a duck, so 3 wickets have gone at a score of 87!

Collapsing again. Marshes both make ducks and its 87/3. 

Which one?

Neither are really established.

The moment I start watching again, at 0-87, we lose three wickets for nothing!

I missed all the 87 runs we scored!

No ticker the Marsh boys. Both having a shocking Test.

The devils number strikes three times.. hell!!!

I think Head and Labu both made ducks in the first innings.

Woeful batting - we struggle to play conventional swing, reverse swing , wrist spin or finger spin!

Abbas is controlling this reverse swing expertly. We had no one that could do it. Siddle perhaps one with reverse.

Amazing to think Asian Test centurion, Maxwell, hasn’t been selected.

I doubt Mitch gets dropped right after becoming vice captain. He should at least drop way down to 6 and not this 4 madness. Shaun is 34 though and has had a really bad run in his last few tests. I know Langers rates him highly but surely he makes way for Renshaw at very least next test. 

DC you jinxed them:P

Quite a few of us who post in cricket also follow  football/soccer.

In Asia, Australia in cricket is analogous to a European powerhouse in football, like France or Germany, being unable to perform well in football outside Europe. 

Australia is historically a powerhouse in Test cricket. But apart from our last Test series in Asia against India, where they just won a hard fought series, we are  absolute rubbish in Asia.

It doesn't matter much to the Aus cricket board, because only about 10 -15 percent of the population view us playing cricket in Asia. Out of sight out of mind.

In a few months, we'll see Australia excel on the bouncier pitches  early in the  home series, then as the opposition becomes familiar with the conditions it will be too late and the series will be over. The public and media will be waxing lyrical about what a good team we have, because few see us play in Asia.

There is also little media coverage of this series in the UAE.

Smith has been missed.

Although if he plays he should never captain Australia again.

Head just played a cracking off drive for four off Bilal.

I did.

Quality post, Baggers.

Fox has covered all sub cont tours for at least the last 15/20 years that I know of. Australia has one of the largest cable tv subscriptions (per capita) in the world (I stand corrected) ..point is a large audience could see cricket in Asia if interested. They read papers and watch online. You would have to be on another planet not to know that Australia.. like most western  cricketing nations is crap in Asia. The big question is how do we stop being crap in Asia?

I hope Head plays an innings like he did in Hobart last season in the Shield, where he scored the best innings all season at Bellerive.

I posted this morning the reason why KW.

Khawaja has been becalmed since Finch left.

They have.

Only 25 - 30% have Fox though.

50% of the population hates cricket and the other 50% follows it. It can be extrapolated that 12 - 15% watch us play cricket overseas.

The solution is some Aussie Shield pitches need to play like Asian pitches.

Head has been promising for too long. Time to deliver son.

I  have been saying this for ages. We need both Asian like pitches and Pom like pitches. With the latter you can not guarantee Pom weather conditions which determine movement in the air.  But something has to be done. CA has to remove its head from the sand.