India vs Australia - Second Test - Day 3

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not writing off Australia's chances of a draw, and certainly not writing off the series yet...BUT...I can read!

India 300 in front, two days to go, in form batsmen, and bowlers that move and/or spin the ball, on their home turf!! Not looking good hey?!

Pundits around the world, most of them not Aussies, have been proclaiming the downfall of Australian cricket for the past 3 years. There will be no almightly downfall. Australian cricket is too professional for that. Others have been knowledgably noting how they will slowly come back to the pack - well wake up - they're back! Australia lost players of the callibre never really seen before. McGrath, Warne, Gilchrist etc. This is not an excuse, it's just a fact. So of course that makes them weaker.

But this match is proving, Australia is well and truly back with the pack. Now watch the front runners of that "pack", India of course, but even South Africa, India and Sri Lanka, strike and strike hard as they sense an opportunity to attain for a couple of decades of heartache.

It won't be a flogging, but mark my words we are in for a decade of cricket that doesn't go all our way, this Aussie side.

Nothing has highlighted this more starkly than the last three days of Test cricket. When Lee steamed in for the first ball of the second innings last night, swung one in and struck Gambhir, I dreamt for a second nothing had changed, that the finger would go up, we'd roll India for 80 and win on the fourth day. Of course it wasn't to be. It wasn't even that close to LBW for a start, and a couple of balls later, Gambhir smashed one through the covers for four, and India were off. Singles came at will.

So Australia could fight hard for two days, and fight out a draw. Unlikely but possible. That would augur well for the remaining two tests. More likely, Australia will be chasing close to 500 and crumble sometime around lunch on Day 5 for well less than 300 and go 1 nil down. Then we'll see what they're made of in Tests 3 and 4.

Test cricket is great stuff isn't it!

Labels: aus v ind 2008, australia