Its Summer! - the Fever Cricket Thread.

baz

oh and spose gayle deserves one

McCullum's vigil is over. 225. Heroic.

batted for nine hours, f**king legend.

shreesanth being a angry little worm.

If only there was another day left

Gayle 300.

his second 300 right? incredible

Yep. And to think he doesn't even give a toss about the pure form of the game. Imagine if he did.

I'd say he would judging by the reaction after he reached 300. He doesn't express much emotion but that doesn't mean he doesn't care.

He joins Bradman, Lara and Sehwag in the 2x 300 group. Massive.

He openly came out and said he didn't like test cricket. What more do you need?

Is it too early to think about the Quad Hundred and world record? If WI bat til the end of the day he'll get it.

Link? I've never heard that.

Here

Wow. In that case, he must be on some big performance bonuses.

Fk. Gayle is boss, tbf.

rain delay, f**kit.

Nah the outfield is too damp because the grandstand roof covers it such that it can't dry up enough!

When live coverage stopped they were cranking out the tine machine, dead grass and stuff (as I'm sure you would know 'Groundskeeper Willie').

The umpire Taufel came out to check it just before and they've delayed it until another check at 11 indian time (which is in about quarter of an hour from now), there's live updates on the cricinfo commentary page.

yeah i hadn't seen any of it, just heard from someone else it was rain delay. wet outfield is more encouraging in terms of starting play soon. had a similar problem in the pakistan test at basin last year, you can dry the surface but only so much can be done to dry soil.

We're away.  Dan won the toss and we're batting.  McCullum slipped while warming up, not sure how badly he's injured though, Guptill opening in his place.  McKay in for Arnel.

ah sh*t, two down. gup c/behind, macintosh cartwheeled

4 down.. we have been due a batting collapse

...make that 5.

wow. back to reality

Just flicked over. Might not bother again tonight.



(Who am I kidding, i'm a massochist, I won't be able to help myself.)

brisbane vs nqf ftw, + cricinfo tab

our two form batsmen at the crease trying to save the innings but both are carrying injuries.....not real good

As if the football wasn't bad enough now we've got two knackered old carthorses grimacing and wincing and limping up and down the pitch. Had such high hopes for this test but it's almost over before it's started.

we are fecked now

Nz batting when not on a total road!

Southee wagging the tail superbly

All out for 193. This weekend just gets better and better.

at least the abs won

And... back to my NZ Cricket lucky chant "please let it rain, please let it rain, please let it rain..."

I guess the logic was that
a) the pitch is supposed to break up and crumble in the last day or two and we don't want to bat last on it and
b) Rather than making McCullum field straight away with the crocked back it would (should) give him at least a couple of sessions rest before he has to come out and bat.

Dominated. Declare after Dhoni's ton. Or maybe give Dravid a chance to get 200. It doesn't really matter. They could bat still stumps tomorrow and we'd still be f**ked!

This is stoopid. No they shouldn't have bowled first. The pitch may have been under covers for the most of a couple of days but it was still a very batting-friendly deck. If we bowled first it would have played right in to their hands (they would have batted first too - anyone would have) and when they were 600/5 you'd be asking 'why the f**k did we bowl?'. Ryder and McCullum's injuries can't have been to bad judging by the way they batted and if the top order batted how they were meant to they would have had a longer rest. If we'd bowled first at least one of them would have been in the field, chasing the ball around for a day and a half. We batted poorly on a flat dry pitch, that's all it comes down to.

^ Completely agree. Dhoni said himself that that was a big toss to lose, and would have batted in a flash.

Btw, I'm a bit over people talking about making the most of 'bowler friendly conditions'. If we need 'bowler friendly conditions' to assist our bowlers for any success then we will be sh*t for a long time to come. If we lose a toss on a flat deck and are sent out to bowl tough sh*t, it's up to the bowler to bend his back and put in a good performance, not hope for conditions to suit and trundle in for 20 overs.

Not that it was bowler friendly on day one of this test.

Dhoni and Dravid both fall short of milestones - something to cheer about.