Pace is a great attribute on flat decks. 

Actually this now has more life.

Gday all;
Well, to all the people on the wrong side of Australia who criticised our Perth wicket
I hope you are going to enjoy a boring MCG match, the pitch is rubbish.
Interesting to see Cummings doing well & showing the other quicks how to do it.

All those who posted how good a captain Paine is, you all know my views,
He is not a test captain & never will be - being a good bloke seems to be his best qualification and
looking at when he bought M. Marsh on proves what I have always said - he doesn't know how to manage his team
on the field to get the best out of them. He will never be the difference a good captain can make with astute judgement to win a match.
He is a captain by accident but there is no one else - fault of CA & selectors.

Smith from April 2020 will be able to captain again - he should if he wants it & will be a far better captain than anyone else around.
If you want to bury your head in the sand do so, but if you want to field the best team with the best captain that's the reality. 

batting first at the g with 1 wicket down? India won that session for mine

I liked the way Cummins, specially, dished up plenty of short stuff. They all looked uncomfortable. As soon as we over pitched they helped themselves.

Reckon Cummins may have been stung by the criticism. This is how he was in Asia last year. Correct DC? Short, dangerous and intimidating.

All our skippers astute judgement has gone missing on occasions. Some of Smith's bowling changes were bewildering. But there is more to captaincy than moving your players around. Both Smith and Paine bring inspiration to their sides. That is far more than just being a good bloke. It is a vital ingredient of a successful captain imho.

brett lee would have a 7-10 km/h gap on the speedo between his full length and short length

I reckon cummins has no gap at all

i fear hazelwood will struggle this test

So you are saying Cummins is not express. Reckon the Indian batsmen would disagree.

Yeh. Should they bring in three fast men on decks like this. Say Pattinson or Richardson. Meredith is about the quickest going around in Shield cricket.

I meant his slow balls are as quick as his full balls

usually you drop a few ks on the speedo when you bowl short but cummins short ball surprises batsmen

Ok. As long as his quickest ball is wizzing around the ears of the Indian batsmen.

Hazlewood has overpitched a bit today. Is he looking for that elusive swing. Wish he would not.

The ball two deliveries later is what make him such a hi class bowler.

This could be a long days for us if we dont snare a couple of wickets in the first hr.

the wildcards are lyon and cummins who can threaten in any conditions but it looks like a hard pitch for the bowlers

maybe 5 bowlers isn't a bad thing if marsh can at least bowl tight and we can keep the run rate down

Gday gb
A good bowling all rounder is critical for the balance of the team.
If India can keep batting they will keep us in the field for 2 days, tomorrow is forecast 35 which will be 40+ inside.
Without a good all rounder, our 3 prong pace attack would wilt on this pitch & in the heat.
Even with M. Marsh taking his turn they will struggle by end of tomorrow.
We will also see how this heat will affect Paine as wk/captain.

Stifle the scoring. Could lead to some frustration. 

Agarwal showing the way India should have handled Lyon in first two Tests.

Agarwal  is the first Indian opener on debut since 1947 to score a half ton in Australia -  Also the steepest score by an Indian debutant ever in any position.. That is astounding.

Wickets may be hard to come by but our pacemen are only conceding around two runs an over. So great discipline.

This time Agarwal lofts Lyon over the rope. Now we need him to mistime one of those adventurous strokes.

The last two Boxing day tests have seen visiting openers score a double century, Alistair Cook and Azhar Ali. Perhaps Agarwal will make it three in a row.

Do you recall if the Poms batted first?

No we did, and England bowled us out for just over 300 if I remember correctly, then came out in the 2nd innings of the match and scored nearly 500.

Another I remember was when Smith nearly scored 200 with Australia batting first and we were 1/0 when Warner went early. We relied on the tail especially Harris to get us out of the problems. 

This match is the first time I can remember for the MCG that the batsmen have easily dominated the bowling in a 1st innings of a test. It may be a smart move playing M Marsh because at the moment all that aggression has disappeared, which I can't understand they have only bowled 10 overs each, they should be still fresh.

Finally the least experienced player finally gets another wicket with good aggressive bowling.

Cummo has been the pick of the crop... a huge turn around from his last test. Will this spur him to return to his express days. Guess his body will answer that. 

If he was injured Baggers for the first 2 tests I'd say he's over it now. But it doesn't excuse playing a non 100% player.

But credit to Mayank Agarwal in his debut test showing up a very innocuous bowling attack. Surely this has to be a message to those concerned, that they have the Australian bowling order wrong and Cummins has to be given the new ball. I cannot believe Lyons in the 1st session of the 1st day of a test is bowling before Cummins. Starc and Hazlewood wasted the new ball and Cummins never gets the opportunity with a harder ball and proud seam. And Baggers you wonder why I am frustrated with Hazlewood. Surely you agree.

Cummins now has an opportunity against Kholi before he has his eye in, unlike the Perth test, where Ponting and McGrath said Australia wasted their opportunity by bowling Hazlewood instead and Kholi scored a century. But who is bowling at the other end releasing the pressure Josh Hazlewood, who lacks the aggression and his wide of off line allows the batsmen sighters. I agree with Jaz, Paine captaincy is questionable is he missing an opportunity, as he did in Perth, or is Paine under instruction to keep stroking the egos. I cannot believe Hazlewood after 60 overs has bowled 15 of them with M Marsh bowling 10. Starc the most productive wicket taker in Australia's last 30 tests, has bowled 9. Keep stroking the egos.