Australia tour of SA 2014

[smithkelly6522]

Jokes

surely in this tour sa ll win hahahah

 

[sifter132]

^We'll see who's laughing at the end!

I don't rate Moises Henriques. Despite his talent and potential he consistently underperforms. We don't have any other real options to replace Watson though do we.

He made a couple of nice 50s in India when runs were pretty scarce for Australia, I think he deserves the chance to see if those meant anything ie. was it a fluke? Or did he learn how to play properly?

As for picking him, in my view it depends what the pitch looks like. Brad Haddin rightly pointed out the other day that Watson didn't really bowl a lot in the last Ashes, just here and there. If the pitch is green then you won't need a 4th seam option too much, as the other 3 quicks will be fighting like sharks for the overs. If the pitch looks flatter, then perhaps a 5th bowler will be needed. Will be interesting to see if that affects South Africa's thinking too, or whether McLaren/Parnell definitely play as a 4th quick no matter what the conditions look like.

We sure go through strange phases, first too many lefties now too many righties (latter pretty common though).

Can never fault Hughes ability to get his spot back, always performs at Shield and in the warm ups. I just hope the selectors stop mucking him around, if he has a Marsh like failure then I can understand him being dropped but if he does something similar to his last series then he should be stuck with.

He really impressed me 12 months ago when he came back with a better leg side technique, obviously working on the kinks in his game. I'm totally in his corner now. I hope he's batting #3 tomorrow. Hughes + Marsh if it's green. Hughes + Moises if it's flatter. Don't like Doolan

As for left and right handers...check the T20 World Cup squad. It's Warner and all right handers

 

[NathanScott45]

Sounds like Hughes isn't going to make the cut, gutted, he'd be very at home against a side with no troublesome spinner.

 

[isrararrafi]

Match starting at 3 in the morning in here. Gonna hit the bed early. Can't effing wait. Would be awesome watching south africa bowl first. Won't be bad watching the aussies bowl either. I expect edges to fly around everywhere in the morning no matter who is bowling.

 

[NathanScott45]

Haven't been this excited for a series in a long time. Hopefully it'll be a cracker!

 

[asprin]

I love the timing of this series - 14:00 start time which would mean I can watch cricket till the office closing hours. Have your lunch, sit back, and watch 2 of the best sides fight it out in the middle.

 

[aussie1st]

Well seems we weren't too fussed about 5 bowlers. I wonder if Faulkner would have played if he was here though.

 

[BGLMedia]

Well seems we weren't too fussed about 5 bowlers. I wonder if Faulkner would have played if he was here though.

Of course he would of! It's inevitable!

 

[ferg512]

I know its probably too early to say but maybe Hughes simply is the next Ramprakash or Sinclair of international cricket. Commentators going on about his FC runs, he always scores FC runs and it hasn't really translated into many test runs at all. Can't blame the selectors for wanting to try someone else.

 

[NoLeName]

What a surprise, Doolan gets himself out after a decent start. Precisely why I wouldn't have picked him. Marsh has looked determined this morning (or night at least where I am), obviously he realises this is probably his last crack at test cricket. I'm tipping Clarkey for a big one.

 

[War]

Michael Holding & Mark Nicholas on commentary, you know its a big series when they are around.

 

[aussie1st]

What a surprise, Doolan gets himself out after a decent start. Precisely why I wouldn't have picked him. Marsh has looked determined this morning (or night at least where I am), obviously he realises this is probably his last crack at test cricket. I'm tipping Clarkey for a big one.

Sums up my thoughts perfectly. The times where I have followed Doolan he looks good getting to 20 then gets out.

 

[NoLeName]

I'm tipping Clarkey for a big one.

*shuffles back to his corner*

 

[NathanScott45]

Hmmm, hopefully we can get ~300. Seems like a very nice wicket to be bowling.

 

[War]

Well firstly let me say i'm glad the pre-series rumours about SA trying to force in another black player as the Kallis replacement didn't come to pass & McLaren played. That would have opened a different can of worms.

Whatever Lehmann is doing, its been brilliant. If he can reinvigorate S Marsh the way he did for Johnson, AUS potential revival will gather serious pace.