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[skip1973]

Maybe it was an Indian on the grassy knoll? Sorry Vic but that's all garbage, Adelaide was Adelaide Brissy was close. It's more to do with our bowlers being timid still after the Phil Hughes accident.

[Wickets-then-runs]

I think having both matches moved by a couple of weeks may have upset the curators preparation of the respective pitches although both held up remarkably well....
India's batting lineup is very talented but is displaying the result of not enough practice matches before the series started, for various reasons.

[Gerry SA]

Fourth and final Test starts on Tuesday.

Will be tough on the NSW players whom played when Phillip Hughes was fatally injured. Warner, Watson, Haddin and Starc will be very emotional.

Mitchell Johnson ruled out with a hammy issue. Mitchell Starc or Ashton Agar will probably come in.

India looking at playing 5 bowlers, with Axar Patel looking likely to debut. Suresh Raina also looking set to get a Test recall. Dhawan likely to finally get dropped. Saha has a thumb injury which might mean Dhoni has to come out of retirement. LS Rahul could be retained despite his dreadful debut. Pujara might also get the axe.

Australia will win, and win well.

[The Palmist]

If BCCI had something  to do with  pitches  then massive shame on Cricket Australia for letting  it happen  on their own soil.

[csnew]

If BCCI had something  to do with  pitches  then massive shame on Cricket Australia for letting  it happen  on their own soil.

Doubt anything to do with bcci. Simple economics from the cricket Australia. A test going 5 days is far more profitable than one ending in 3 days

[swamidude]

Sorry I may have got this wrong, but aren't there 5 days of test cricket so that you can have a long, gruelling contest? It means batsmen have to make 100s, it means bowlers of both spin and pace have to work for their wickets. Of course you can produce green tops where sides are skittled for 100 but where's the contest there. It's just whoever can find the gaps in the slips more often!
I enjoy watching a good test match which goes the distance, and allows seamers, spinners and batsmen to affect the result.

[ProCricketer1982]

Sorry I may have got this wrong, but aren't there 5 days of test cricket so that you can have a long, gruelling contest? It means batsmen have to make 100s, it means bowlers of both spin and pace have to work for their wickets. Of course you can produce green tops where sides are skittled for 100 but where's the contest there. It's just whoever can find the gaps in the slips more often!
I enjoy watching a good test match which goes the distance, and allows seamers, spinners and batsmen to affect the result.

 100 ao is as borin as 550-4 playing 480-7.. You need a sporting wicket. One that seams about, but not dramatically, a ball that swings for 30-40 overs.. And a wicket that starts to spin for day 4-5.

Simple fact is, cricket comes second to economics.. Venues and boards NEED tests to go for 5 days.. So produce wickets to that effect (obviously you have the odd sporting wicket but generally they sure flat batting tracks) .
A gruelling test of a batsmen is 100 off 200+ balls where they've had to work hard against the moving ball.. It's not really gruelling to blast 100 off 120 balls when you just hit through the line of it because it's not really swinging much or seaming etc

[potzy248]

Interesting looking GN Warner is holding. Stamps up really high.

https://www.facebook.com/foxsportsaus/photos/a.140640605947754.25290.121538134524668/919336311411509/?type=1&theater

[InternalTraining]

^ Channel 9 commentators looked at his bat and what they said was that it weighs 2 lbs. 9 oz. It is a behemoth. I'm sure it's either over-dried willow or rare low density cleft.

[Stuey]

Interesting looking GN Warner is holding. Stamps up really high.

https://www.facebook.com/foxsportsaus/photos/a.140640605947754.25290.121538134524668/919336311411509/?type=1&theater

The size of that stick!

[Cedrictoad]

That cannot be 2.9lb... unless GN have found a way to warp the basic laws of physics...

[procricket]

GN cut some of there own wood of course it could be 2-9

You see it not just about density it about how the merchants cut the clefts...

[Gingerbusiness]

It looks like a very thin SSH to me too

[InternalTraining]

That cannot be 2.9lb... unless GN have found a way to warp the basic laws of physics...

It was either Ian Healey or Mark Taylor who picked up Warner's bat and talked to him about it. They said that Warner told them that his bat weighs 2-9. They also commented that by the third test, the bat was taped up in two or three different places indicating that these bats don't last very long. Over dry cleft? Low-density cleft? Haven't we heard this before.

[InternalTraining]

GN cut some of there own wood of course it could be 2-9

You see it not just about density it about how the merchants cut the clefts...

I am curious about this. How does the cutting of the cleft result in a lighter but bigger bat? Instead of creating those pie shaped pieces, are you saying that the shape they cut is a bigger slice or block from the tree trunk? If that is the case, there is bound to be more "wastage".