Dhoni continues his winning streak

India won the second test against Australia today by 320 runs. The victory margin is that big for various reasons:

1. India batted well in the first innings with Ganguly's hundred and Dhoni's 92 getting India past an average score to a good score once Tendulkar had led the way with 88.

2. Australia bowled averagely. Bowling in India is hard. Ask Warne. Lee hasn't played in India before and is dealing with off-field problems and the other bowlers haven't really played test cricket before. Siddle and White are doing very well given their inexperience. Johnson appears to be able to bowl well against and in India but can't take wickets against anyone else. Which is kinda backwards but Ponting isn't going to complain at the moment.

3. Australia batted like idiots. For Watson to rescue the first innings and then Clarke to be the last batsman standing in the second indicates that there are problems. Hayden, Hussey and Ponting are the players you would expect to make hundreds when the team is up against it and they were MIA.

4. Dhoni's luck/karma/good captaincy inspired India and especially the bowlers to improve on their performances in the first test and achieve a deserved win. The bowlers out-performed Australia's attack with the pace of Sharma and Khan and the spin of Misra and Harbajan managing to get good batsmen out.

The first and second tests have shown that test cricket is alive and well despite all the 2020 hype. Here's hoping Australia fix their problems in time for the third test and make it a close series.

Come on Tigers

Poor Bangladesh. Turn up in Australia and get given games in Darwin. Don't get me wrong - been there and it's quite a nice town but it's not exactly the same as playing at the SCG.

I was hoping for a repeat of Cardiff 2005 at least once in this series. Being a fan of England over the years means I'm a big supporter of the under-dogs. With Ponting, Lee, Symonds and Hayden absent for various reasons and the talent in the Bangladesh batting line-up (Ashraful and Iqbal) and their experienced bowlers (Kapali and Mortaza) it was a possibility that they could win one.

Unfortunately they have been hammered. The batsmen have looked confused by the Aussie pacemen and their bowlers were given no chance in the last game where they had to defend 117. On top of that they've made Michael Clarke look good as captain. While I don't find him quite as irritating as Miss Field does he's not my favourite person in world cricket. So come on Bangladesh!