AUS VS WI & ENG VS PAK
AUS VS WI & ENG VS PAK: Past week was extraordinary for Test cricket! We saw two top teams win games. Both teams played quite differently, both entertaining and scoring a lot of runs. In one game we saw Australia beating West Indies to win the landmark test. On the other we had England swamping Pakistan with embarrassment in the historic event.
We saw two teams winning and two teams losing but there was one winner, The Test Cricket. We saw people juggling between discussions of how Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne continued their bromance in the middle by hitting 200 each in the first innings of AUS VS WI and on the other hand fans hailed the courage of England’s top order for playing Test like it was ODI with right techniques to convert all their 50s to 100s.
There is a difference between the two tests though. Even when both were entertaining, we felt different emotions while watching it. Let’s find out how!
The Australia-Windies Test
The conventional Test. The AUS-WI test was an example of how a test match is played and won. There was a team always with the upper hand over the other, the home team Australia. They were favorites to win and they did not prove anyone wrong. Batting first, they exploited friendly conditions to score a massive score. Declared after reaching a safe target. Gave the West Indies a good chance to bat. West Indies too fought well with whatever resources and experience they had. Debutants tried to impress and the captain tried to lead from the front.
Much like usual, bowlers had pressure from day 3. They were going to decide the course of the match. Starc and Cummins struck at the right time to bundle the visitors. They had the option to ask them to follow on. But they didn’t. They gave their bowlers the muc needed reward of rest and another chance for Labuschagne to hit a century. They again had a big, safe total to defend and as expected they did!
A 5-day of Test! Ending with a result is all a supporter would want. And it happened.
The England-Pakistan hysteria!
Those who watched this test, are the lucky ones. There were many lessons learned out of this but we will talk about them later. This test had the action of the Marvel movie. We saw England batters acting like Superheroes with a spirit to just play it for the win. There was nothing conventional about it. A really bad pitch and a plethora of runs scored.
Much like on day 3, bowlers were forced to decide the match for the team. They got Pakistan out at a very important time. The batters came in to Bat like Flash! And Captain Marvel (@Stokesy) made a landmark judgment of risk it for the biscuit (here WIN). Things could go either way but England’s faith in bowlers showed us that however many runs you score, the bowlers make you win a test match. It was affirming a conventional rule. We saw Ben Stokes making some sensational decisions. But we know that this England team is ready to make this unconventional, the conventional!
The Joy to see the Players
Both games saw the Teams defend the score. The players rejoiced when the last wicket was taken and their celebration by them just lifted the spirit of every supporter at their home or ground. The celebration gave us a few of the happiest team pictures in cricket history and we are proud of them. These two matches just confirmed that at least for those two teams, Test Cricket is very much alive. It just needs to be looked after.
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