“He’s a very good groundsman and we’ve got full faith in what he does”, Griffith said.
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“What was it that James Sutherland [head of Cricket Australia] said? He’s still working through it. He’s a quality player at the global level and I don’t think he’s far off producing a few of the innings we know he can produce at the top of the order”.
“We’re certainly more happy with our performance in the second test than the first”. England’s tour of the United Arab Emirates, meanwhile, appeared at times to be played in front of one man and his heavily sweating dog.
“So we believe he deserves this opportunity”.
“I think there is a danger of that happening, a massive danger”, he says.
If Hazlewood is rested, James Pattinson and Jackson Bird lead the queue of contenders to replace him, especially with Pat Cummins sidelined by injury as Australia’s fast bowling depth is tested. I probably wasn’t expecting it so I’m really rapt just to be in the squad. “We shouldn’t be seduced by that, though, because it’s clear that elsewhere in the world the format is really struggling to be relevant”.
“I’ve obviously played a couple of games with the pink ball now and scored a hundred past year at the WACA”, Marsh said.
Pattinson has been in good form for Victoria in the Sheffield Shield, taking eight wickets from two games.
The 39-year-old admitted that there was a lot of excitement in view of experimenting with the new ball and also because of a different situation, the Sydney Morning Herald reported. “But at the same time there’s a lot of testing that’s been done for us to be satisfied that it’s the right-coloured ball, and it’s had enough research and development for us to be ready to play Test cricket [with it]”. Cricket Australia is planning a tribute to Hughes on the opening day of the historic game.
“All I can do is prepare the best I can… go out there and whatever happens, happens”. The lights, the facilities, the weather conditions – all the boxes that you have to tick to make it a success are there.
Ahead of the anniversary of Phil Hughes’ death, Australia’s Nathan Lyon wants to honour his former team-mate with a win against New Zealand.
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The first two matches of the ongoing Trans-Tasman Trophy were unable to attract a substantial crowd, which is one of the main reasons for the experiment of the day-night Tests. The match will be played with a pink ball.
