Michael Clarke - Century + A Half On Debut....

[Grimlock]

I reckon he's awesome, I was glad to see that he got selected for the test side and what he did only proves the selecters right. 151 on debut is astonishing. Wonder who will go when Ponting comes back, it'll probably be Clarke despite his performance, but I hope it's Martyn seeing Katich and Clarke have batted well.

Clarke makes century on debut
October 7, 2004 - 3:24PM



Michael Clarke made a stunning century on debut and Adam Gilchrist powered to a hundred of his own as Australia took charge of the first Test against India at Chinnaswamy Stadium today.

Clarke became the 12th Australian batsman to reach three figures in his first Test innings, and the first since Greg Blewett in 1994-95, by racking up an unbeaten 111 in a whirlwind 167-run partnership with Gilchrist, who fell just before lunch for 104.

Australia was 6-423 at the break.

Resuming overnight on 76, Clarke spent 38 minutes in the nervous 90s before working Irfan Pathan through mid-wicket for the two runs he needed to enter the record books.

Having replaced his helmet with his baggy green cap for the big moment, he kissed the cap and the Australian sticker on his bat as Gilchrist congratulated him.

The match was evenly poised at the start of play with Australia 5-316, but Clarke and Gilchrist gave the tourist the upper hand with an attacking partnership full of breathtaking strokes.

Australian leg spinner Shane Warne is set to bowl in the fourth innings when the pitch will be at its most devilish, meaning the Australians have already moved into a dominant position as a total in excess of 500 beckons.

Gilchrist's superb innings was unfairly overshadowed by Clarke's fearless foray into Test cricket, which was Australia's first debut century out of the country since Harry Graham's 107 against England at Lord's in 1893.

Gilchrist reached his century from only 103 balls and having failed miserably with the bat in India three years ago, his celebrations were only mildly more muted than Clarke's.

He was spectacularly caught and bowled by Harbhajan Singh (2-132) with what became the last ball before lunch.

- AP

[Blues Clues]

Yeh I heard about that. Well, I heard he got a century but didn't realised it was over 150. Awesome stuff!

Originally posted by Grimlock
Gilchrist's superb innings was unfairly overshadowed by Clarke's fearless foray into Test cricket, which was Australia's first debut century out of the country since Harry Graham's 107 against England at Lord's in 1893.

Holy sh*t. First away debut century in over 100 years! That's quite an interesting statistic!

[CloudStrifer]

It seems that India is losing its form. After its defeat by Pakistan in the ICC championship they march stright into Austraila. Oh well, sooner or later, more like sooner most of the teams will retire its players then it will get interesting. After all we lost a close one, by 10 runs. Not bad, our team is improving.

[Grimlock]

India losing form because they lost to Pakistan? Your kidding right?

For starters the ICC Championship means Sweet F*ck All, because it's one day cricket, and as much as I love it, it doesn't compare to tests, which by the way, is what is being played right now, not an ODI.

There is nothing wrong with Indias form, it just got taken to them.

[CloudStrifer]

Oh I know its a Test, but I was taking about general cricket not the ICC. Lets see, Tendulkar and some others were injured therefore they couldn't play thier best. But after Austrialia I think they move on somewhere else. They play to much and therefore they effect thier player's health and when it goes the team suffers.

You see with out Tendulkar thier batting goes, and without Balaji thier blowing goes out. Of course with I.Pathan there its good, but not the best they have with both of them. There reserves arn't up to the standard that india has, you and me know this. R.Gavasker isn't a good player and they have brought him in. I am not saying thier team is bad, but 246 all out isn't a good score.

Of course, Aussies 127 for 4 isn't a good score but its a nice change.

So in short this isn't the true india team that is normally played, and we might see them in more problems when Tendulkar and most of the team retires. India will be in trouble.

Edit: Prefect Example of 2 teams not up to snuff, South Africa and India, and when I mean up to snuff I mean what they were before. Oh and India is really in trouble when they can't beat an Aussie team with some of the good players missing.

[Fireflight]

Balaji's ****e, they are certainly not missing his bowling. Their bowling attack looks full strength, and Pathan is a star in the making. Still, the Aussies batting line up is the best in the world and there's always a good chance they'll score 400+, I wouldn't put this test down to India having a weak attack.

Do agree that India's batting is well out of sorts though, it's been like this since that one day series in Holland and carried on into England, sure ODI cricket is different but the batsmen did look out of touch.

Originally posted by Grimlock
For starters the ICC Championship means Sweet F*ck All

I thought the first semi-final meant alot.

[Grimlock]

Originally posted by CloudStrifer
You see with out Tendulkar thier batting goes

Huh? Oh so Sehwag, Dravid and Laxman are useless? I don't think India relies on Tendulka when it has a batting line up that sports the above 3 people as well as Ganguly.

Originally posted by CloudStrifer
Of course, Aussies 127 for 4 isn't a good score but its a nice change.

Yeah but the lead is still 355 runs at the moment.

What annoyed me was Singh getting the 5 for, he's like MacGill, he's only good for cleaning up the tail.

Originally posted by Fireflight
I thought the first semi-final meant alot.

Hahahahaha, I still can't believe they lost. I think we lost in the semi finals last time as well, to Sri Lanka.

The things I'm mainly looking forward to at the moment is the next Ashes series. Harmison is awesome but his true test of talent will be when the Aussies arrive. Will be a good battle for sure. England will be a good chance by then. And also the Australia vs. The World XI next year, with something like 3-5 one dayers in Melbourne (Will go to them for sure) and a test in Sydney. And the National competition begins tomorrow, lots of cricket at the moment.

[CloudStrifer]

Originally posted by Grimlock
Huh? Oh so Sehwag, Dravid and Laxman are useless? I don't think India relies on Tendulka when it has a batting line up that sports the above 3 people as well as Ganguly.

Sehwag only works when tendulkar is around. Sure, 39 is not a bad score, but when your team is in trouble yu need to perform more. The problem also is that thier do not have good openers. Chopra isn't a suitable replacement because he neither has the experience nor the temperment of an opener. You can see the result for yourself. When Tendulkar is out he comes in and is taken out because he is well, not very good. Rumor has it that Y. Singh might open instead of Chopra which is the same reason he doesn't perform, because he isn't getting much experience. With Sehwag, once his partner doesn't perform, he doesn't and hence a domino effect on his as well.

Dravid is ove . He is an average batsman who is expected to do over-average batting. Hence he sometimes doesn't perform and sometimes does. With his reputation as "The Wall" he is put into pressure to perform.

Laxman is almost the same as dravid with a nigh huge reputation with an average batsman. His test scores so far prove he is nothing spectatular and almost also has the dominio effect on him.

Ganguly is a good batsman, but he is overused and doesn't have good partners or gets stupidly out one way or another. He is like Tendulkar except he has more pressure on him because he is captian and hence why he also has a habit of not performing.

Y.Singh is ove and is in my opinion a bad batsman. He has gotten a reputation which he doesn't deserve and his test result proves it. I would drop him if I was Ganguly, but I am not so he stays. I say he is a libility to the Indian team.

Patel is a good wicket-keeper and can bat sort of like a young version of Moin Khan. He has his good and bad days but I think is a good asset to the team.

Tendulkar although with super hype has gotten to an almost god-like aura, yet his latest results got him out on 15 or less. He is a good batsman, yet it has gotten to his head and therefore he is worse off than before.

Kaif I like, and he should be in instead of Y.Singh. A Talented batsman and he knows how to play. Test-matches and one-days are is strong points, and he should be played more often than Singh.

[Blues Clues]

Dravid and Laxman ... average!? What the **** are you smoking?

India easily have the second best top 6 batsmen. Even without Tendulkar, they have a strong line up. They may not be performing to their best at the moment, but when they do, they're bloody good.

I've always thought that their bowling line up was pretty weak. I also think it's the main reason they struggle against Australia.

[Jetfire]

Originally posted by Grimlock
India losing form because they lost to Pakistan? Your kidding right?

For starters the ICC Championship means Sweet F*ck All, because it's one day cricket, and as much as I love it, it doesn't compare to tests, which by the way, is what is being played right now, not an ODI.

There is nothing wrong with Indias form, it just got taken to them.

Well by dad has often said that the best time to play India or Pakistan is after they played each other. No matter the match their rivally is so great they are totally drained mentally, if not physically, they often perform far worse in the match after.

[Zombie Dave]

The India/Pakistan match was a fair old time ago though.

Australia just owned them, Australia are feckin quality though.