and now the Indian team have given Nathan Lyon a signed shirt to commemorate his 100th Test. Lovely gesture and epic trolling at the same time!

That was a brilliant hour of listening this morning. Well done a very depleted India. Aus have not lost at that ground since 1988 and they added best part of 100 to the highest last innings chase. Nice.

Bloody hell India!

Hahaha hahaha

Well done India. Epic test match and very worthy winners. I’ll never be sad to see a team with Warner in it lose.

The context of the racist abuse by the Aussie crowd and Paine’s pathetic sledging does make it all the sweeter.

Nothing sweeter than Aussie tears. 🙂

But then again, they’re playing cricket in front of fans, I wouldn’t mind losing to be in that scenario right now.

And don’t forget that this was pretty much India’s second XI. A stern test awaits England!

Just watched the highlights of the last day, some glorious shots by Shubman Gill – only ever seen him in the IPL before. Pant has such a unique style, that leg side glance/sweep thing where he looks like he’s falling over is crazy but effective.

Amazing from Pujara to withstand that battering. To win the series after being 36 all out, with all their injuries and Kohli missing is really quite remarkable.

The Aussies are not a likeable bunch but I have a slight crush on Pat Cummins.

The Aussies are not a likeable bunch but I have a slight crush on Pat Cummins.

It’s funny, I’d come round to the Aussie’s recently. Dave Warner seemed like a nice fella, Will Puckovsky the young gun, Steve Smith and Marnus the cricket geeks, Matt Wade the consumate team man, even Tim Paine was the face of a “new Australia”.
But now, I’m not so sure.
Bar Cummins, obviously.

Leopards and spots. Scratch the surface and they’re the same as ever underneath.

It’s funny, I’d come round to the Aussie’s recently.

Me too.

Warner is a very different person to the one that Punched Root years ago. And Smith as the mercurial geek obsessive seemed to have found his role.

I even thought Paine was doing a good job as a new skool captain.

But this series has set back their image a few years. Disappointing.

NZ and Kane Williamson seem to be the standout icons of what a modern sports team should be at the moment.

I think the abusive sledging of Ashwin by Paine coming soon after Siraj (a young lad on his debut tour who’s dad had recently died) had received racist abuse from Aussie fans was particularly poor.

the only good aussie is a losing aussie. bad winners and even worst losers. Was at trent bridge when they complained about the abusive singing if you can’t take don’t dish it out.

Happily booed Warner et al at edgbaston in the World Cup two years ago, and will continue to do so until they retire

If you want to fully undertand the Aussie cricket mentality you need to listen to The Grade Cricketer podcast. Very dry, occasionally dark and somewhat self-depreciating.

Shortly after sandpaper gate, I was in Australia for a series of professional speaking events.

At every one, I used the words sandpaper, abrasive, roughen up, cheating etc as much as possible. It was taken with good humour!

ah the melbourne defence, it’s not racist it’s just dry bantz.

tough season….

Dave Warner seemed like a nice fella

Going to have to disagree with you there.

Indeed. Even Aggers described him as a nasty piece of work.

Tidy start, Jimmy!

Stay classy, Australians

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/21/sport/sydney-cricket-ground-racial-abuse-allegations-spt-intl-cmd/index.html

The guy sounds like he handled it with much more grace than I would!

digging in here! looking like a good sesh for Sri Lankans!

Yes, good couple of hours from SL. Shame our spinners aren’t able to make much of an impact but commentators are alluding to it being the flat pitch so hopefully won’t give them much either.
RM.

the squeeze is on!

Oh dear……🙄

Trying to be an optimist, they were also 7-2 at one point!!
RM.

Joe Root up to 6th in England's all-time Test runscoring list. Goes past Geoffrey Boycott. Only Cook, Gooch, Stewart, Gower and Pietersen in front.

— Will Macpherson (@willis_macp) January 23, 2021

It’s interesting seeing that tweet above. I often forget how good Pieterson was, and bear in mind he lost a good few years at the end if his career as well. Absolutely incredible player.

As is often said by commentators, KP could empty the bar when he came out to bat. Incredible talent.

Cook at the top and annoyingly comes across as a nice bloke too boot!

Cook is miles ahead, Root will probably overtake all the others by the end of the Ashes. Boycott lost a few years through self imposed exile at his peak and ended his England career a bit early because of the rebel tour of SA, which also cost Gooch 3 years.

Root has the highest average of those in that tweet, Boycott the second.

KP could empty the bar when he came out to bat.

And also empty the bar when he walked into it! great batsman but even he now admits he behaved like a ****

Indeed TJ!

KP seems to lay into Piers Morgan at any given opportunity which is pretty awesome! Although one the more disturbing things during Covid has been that Piers Morgan is basically THE voice of sense in the media 😳

Never realised Stewart was that high up in the all time run scorers….how many tests did he play?! Didn’t he average like high 30’s?

Stewart played 133 tests in a 12 year career, I don’t recall whether it took him time to establish himself in the side but I am pretty sure he didn’t miss many games through injury as he stood out for the professionalism of his preparation. Gooch on the other hand only play 118 in a 20 year career, although as already noted he missed 3 years, he also took a long time to establish himself in the side.

Yeah I remember Stewart always being in good nick. He was my favourite player as a kid. Not quite sure I ever saw him quite at his best though….I started following when I started playing, so about 98.

Hmm, good day of bowling, but again the openers not doing well. I really worry about our top 2 at the moment.

Well, this should be a good finish!!

FFS