THE CHASE AUSTRALIA

Soups mentions our ugly record failing to defend big scores.

Team	Score	Overs	RR	Opposition	Ground	Match Date
South Africa	438/9	49.5	8.78	Australia	Johannesburg	12-Mar-06
South Africa	372/6	49.2	7.54	Australia	Durban	5-Oct-16
India	362/1	43.3	8.32	Australia	Jaipur	16-Oct-13
India	351/4	49.3	7.09	Australia	Nagpur	30-Oct-13
England	350/3	44	7.95	New Zealand	Nottingham	17-Jun-15
New Zealand	350/9	49.3	7.07	Australia	Hamilton	20-Feb-07
New Zealand	340/5	48.4	6.98	Australia	Auckland	18-Feb-07
Australia	334/8	49.2	6.77	England	Sydney	2-Feb-11
New Zealand	332/8	49	6.77	Australia	Christchurch	10-Dec-05
India	331/4	49.4	6.66	Australia	Sydney	23-Jan-16

Eight of the top ten chases have been scored against Australia. Unsurprisingly, seven of those eight were overseas where other nations traditionally play their cricket on three-quarter snooker tables, compared with Australian matches played on proper fields. And yet, Australia continues to win the World Cup, four out of the last five. The poor crowds at Australian F50 matches may suggest that many Aussies are jack of the Aussies continuing to treat ODIs as trial matches. But personally, I like our summer triangulars, and if Nine's rating hold up little will change each January.

Comments

[Carrot]

Good spot on the overseas point, Tones. Even the loss in Sydney isn't really that disastrous, either - not for this day and age. It's clearly not a good record to hold, though. Do we do better on the successful highest chases front, I wonder? Can't be bothered looking it up....

Wade has done well with the bat lately. The figures don't necessarily support that, but you wouldn't expect them to from a guy that bats at 7 and quite often has to come out blazing. I wonder whether he could be up for a Test recall though - Nevill's figures with the bat don't flatter him, and you could argue that that really cost us recently against Sri Lanka. It was Wade's form with the gloves that probably cost him though, and he was just dreadful keeping to Lyon a few years back. It'll be interesting to see what happens there.

[m0nty]

Will the Big Tonk change our cricketers' skills on postage stamps? And will it wither their skills in the cauldrons?

[philsgone]

Apparently we have used 22 fast and medium pace bowlers in the last 12 months or so across all formats - Gideon Haigh, Offsiders yesterday. So we are the worst at managing injuries, or we like giving people a go. I think its the former. Cricket Australia don't care, as they enroll the team in these meaningless tournaments for financial reasons.
What we do know, is that the prestige of the world cup is a key KPI for the team, and so at least when we get flogged in SA, Smivvy can always say, just look in the trophy cabinet. When our best 11 is picked, we are pretty much unbeatable. Its just we only pick them when we p[lay here, or when the WC is on.

[Carrot]

Did anyone watch the 60 Minutes Michael Clarke thing? Was it worth watching, or just another sycophantic sporte interview?

[Tony Tea]

It was a scene-setter for Clarke's summer in the Nine com. box.

[Tony Tea]

Speaking of chasing. The Bangers are trying to chase down a high-200s fourth inning target.

1st: England 293

2nd: Bangladesh 248

3rd: England 240

4th: Bangladesh 253/8

My kind of Test match.

[Carrot]

It was a fantastic match, and made more so because it involved Bangladesh. There was a lot more riding on the result by consequence - it's a pity that they didn't manage to get up.

Hilarious the amount of bad press Clarke's got lately. The social media memes, and "excerpts" from the autobiography are works of genius. Has anyone read Johnson's book yet? I've been trying to find out it if it's ghost-written or not - I'm sure it is, but it would be good to know either way. Johnson is one of the few cricketers that I'd actually like to meet. The ridiculous ups and downs his career took would probably mean that he saw some shit, and he'd be a more interesting guy to have a beer with than most.