DOWN UNDER

You've heard Tony Grieg bellow "These Aussies, they never drop those!" again and again and again, repeat, etc, et al, ad nauseam over the journey, but Tony's exhortations do not match reality. (Well, derrr.) Especially against India in Australia. For some reason Australia don buttered fingers when India show up in the sunburnt country. The following is a list of the catches dropped by Australians against India in the last three series. The first name is the dropper, the second the droppee. The first number is the score on which the droppee was dropped and the second the droppee's eventual score. As you can see, some of the dropper's drops were rather expensive:

2003/04

First Test

Martyn / Sehwag / 16 (45)

MacGill / Ganguly / 103 (144)

Second Test

Ponting / Laxman / 65 (148)

Ponting / Laxman / 138 (148)

Gilchrist / Dravid / 9 (72)

Ponting / Dravid / 20 (72)

Third Test

Katich / Sehwag / 66 (195)

Langer / Sehwag / 73 (195)

Lee / Ganguly / 9 (37)

Gilchrist / Agarkar / 0 (0)

Gilchrist / Tendulkar / 12 (44)

Fourth Test

Katich / Chopra / 8 (45)

MacGill / Tendulkar / 149 (220)

MacGill / Laxman / 172 (178)

2007/08

First Test

Jaques / Dravid / 0 (5)

Jaques / Dravid / 5 (5)

Second Test

Gilchrist / Laxman / 49 (109)

Gilchrist / Dravid / 18 (53)

Gilchrist / Laxman / 77 (109)

Gilchrist / Harbhajan / 29 (63)

Symonds / Dravid / 18 (38)

Clarke / Ganguly / 43 (51)

Third Test

Clarke / Dravid / 7 (93)

Hussey / Sehwag / 43 (43)

Clarke / Laxman / 60 (79)

Fourth Test

Gilchrist / Laxman / 37 (51)

Hayden / Dhoni / 3 (16)

Jaques / Kumble / 7 (87)

Clarke / Sharma / 4 (14)

Ponting / Sharma / 10 (14)

Hussey / Sharma / 14 (14)

Clarke / Sehwag / 2 (151)

2011/12

First Test

Hussey / Sehwag / 11 (67)

Warner / Sehwag / 55 (67)

Haddin / Sehwag / 58 (67)

Second Test

Ponting / Sehwag / 23 (30)

Haddin / Gambhir / 66 (83)

Haddin / Tendulkar / 80 (80) Hussey caught it on the rebound.

Siddle / Khan 10 / (35)

Ponting / Khan 16 / (35)

Comments

[Nick]

Lot of Gilly in there...Haddin still shit

[Tony]

I reckon the Gilchrist / Laxman / 37 (51) in Adelaide 2008 was the drop that convinced Gilly it was time to pull the pin, and also convinced me that Haddin could not be worse than Gilly, since Gilly's batting had also deteriorated to mere mortal levels.

[Lou]

Gilly was horrible that series so was Clarke. I remember Symonds after the second match saying that dropping a catch was the worst feeling in cricket. Worse than getting a duck.

[Pat]

Looks like the most expensive droppings led to droppings or retirement. St. Gilly, Krab and Magilla dropped the most expensive returns.

[Tony]

The Sydney Test is 2004 was painful. No McGrath, no Warne, dropped sitters, agony. Gilly's last drop in Adelaide in 2008 was the easiest catch I have seen a keeper drop since Courtney Browne dropped Steve Waugh in the Windies in 1995 before Waugh went on to make a double century (excluding Kamral Akmal and Party Pativ, of course).