But ... because hardly anyone was there, it makes it an asterisk series for me. It's a COVID-affected series that had a unique impact on crowd participation - that intangible factor that makes winning away from home extra hard. It isn't there in COVID-time cricket. England will benefit from absent crowds in India. This series was ok but it didn't have the one thing that most touring teams have to experience. Thus, an enormous independent vaiable was removed from this series. It lacked that invisible, co-created tsunami that boosts home team performance and challenges the opposition. In fact, it proved that limited, reduced-capacity crowds can work as a disadvantage to the home side i.e Sydney. Less is more in a lot of life, but clearly not when it comes to Sydney or MCG crowds. White-noise, atmospheric sound becomes a clearly heard racist bogan that gets ejected and detracts from the home side. Another thing that detracted from this series as a spectacle was Australian tactics - basically dumb and devoid of nuance. It wasn't a great tactical battle & it degenerated into a bowling-machine type of bumper attack on sub-par wicket after sub-par wicket. It suited India entirely. A great series features great performances from both sides right throughout. This time however, very few Australian players performed well at all & only one amazing performance occurred (Adelaide). None come away from the supposedly 'greatest series of all time' looking like better players for having been involved. My final caveat is that a great series will feature high-quality fielding. There were more glaring drops & costly fielding errors in this series however, than there were highlights. India's fielding was especially poor throughout this series. This actually proves to me that India didn't need a 'great' performance to beat this current Australian side. They played well, but they didn't actually have to play 'great'. India proved that it didn't require 'great' cricket to beat the JL/Paine era Australain side with our obviously unimproved & downright embarassing team culture, our homogenous pace unit, our overhyped off-spinner & our top six that can't bat against them. At no point during these four Tests did it ever feel that Australia were on top. Adelaide was an unexpected freak occurrence that only served to mask the same old batting problem. At no point in the next three matches did it feel that Australia were the better team. A great series goes one way then the other. This one had a freak occurrence followed by the familiar steady pattern of - We can't bowl them out in Melbourn nor Sydney. We couldn't last time either. Now we can add Brisbane to that list. They can, they do & they will bowl us out here. It happened last time & now it has happened again regardless of Smith & Warner. I actually think the last series here in 2018/19 had two matches (1st & 2nd Tests) that were higher in quality than any of the matches played this series. It should remind us now, of how good that Australian win in Perth truly was. Do you agree with any of this caveat-laden rant Jarrod, or am I just scrambling for excuses as a deeply scarred and now frightened fan of the baggy green?
But ... because hardly anyone was there, it makes it an asterisk series for me. It's a COVID-affected series that had a unique impact on crowd participation - that intangible factor that makes winning away from home extra hard. It isn't there in COVID-time cricket. England will benefit from absent crowds in India. This series was ok but it didn't have the one thing that most touring teams have to experience. Thus, an enormous independent vaiable was removed from this series. It lacked that invisible, co-created tsunami that boosts home team performance and challenges the opposition. In fact, it proved that limited, reduced-capacity crowds can work as a disadvantage to the home side i.e Sydney. Less is more in a lot of life, but clearly not when it comes to Sydney or MCG crowds. White-noise, atmospheric sound becomes a clearly heard racist bogan that gets ejected and detracts from the home side. Another thing that detracted from this series as a spectacle was Australian tactics - basically dumb and devoid of nuance. It wasn't a great tactical battle & it degenerated into a bowling-machine type of bumper attack on sub-par wicket after sub-par wicket. It suited India entirely. A great series features great performances from both sides right throughout. This time however, very few Australian players performed well at all & only one amazing performance occurred (Adelaide). None come away from the supposedly 'greatest series of all time' looking like better players for having been involved. My final caveat is that a great series will feature high-quality fielding. There were more glaring drops & costly fielding errors in this series however, than there were highlights. India's fielding was especially poor throughout this series. This actually proves to me that India didn't need a 'great' performance to beat this current Australian side. They played well, but they didn't actually have to play 'great'. India proved that it didn't require 'great' cricket to beat the JL/Paine era Australain side with our obviously unimproved & downright embarassing team culture, our homogenous pace unit, our overhyped off-spinner & our top six that can't bat against them. At no point during these four Tests did it ever feel that Australia were on top. Adelaide was an unexpected freak occurrence that only served to mask the same old batting problem. At no point in the next three matches did it feel that Australia were the better team. A great series goes one way then the other. This one had a freak occurrence followed by the familiar steady pattern of - We can't bowl them out in Melbourn nor Sydney. We couldn't last time either. Now we can add Brisbane to that list. They can, they do & they will bowl us out here. It happened last time & now it has happened again regardless of Smith & Warner. I actually think the last series here in 2018/19 had two matches (1st & 2nd Tests) that were higher in quality than any of the matches played this series. It should remind us now, of how good that Australian win in Perth truly was. Do you agree with any of this caveat-laden rant Jarrod, or am I just scrambling for excuses as a deeply scarred and now frightened fan of the baggy green?
Even though the test matches wasnt close... no team was able to dominate... as the other side kept punching bag... maybe thats why