Australia tour of SA 2014

[CremerCurrans]

Pleased with the changes South Africa has made. Not sure it was a good idea to bat first though.

 

[Lebanna]

Pleased with the changes South Africa has made. Not sure it was a good idea to bat first though.

Agreed! If I was Smith I would have been praying as that coin spun that it landed on what Clarke called, then noone can complain about the toss choice!

 

[Eugene]

Pleased with the changes South Africa has made. Not sure it was a good idea to bat first though.

Yeah decent team, hope we show some fight.

 

[CremerCurrans]

I wonder whether he wanted to give Philander more time, given the injury scare.

 

[Eugene]

I wonder whether he wanted to give Philander more time, given the injury scare.

Perhaps but why play him if his not a 100% fit.

 

[asprin]

Is anyone going through the commentary section at espncricinfo? There seems to be pun'athon going on over there. Some of them are really good.

 

[NathanScott45]

For me, this is the strongest XI for SA

 

[used2bcool]

Well, South Africa seemed to do everything right in the lead-up: slow the pitch down (a "not-Mitch pitch," so to say), play the extra batter, and bat first. And then they decided to throw it away by giving up three wickets to Lyon and Smith.

I have nothing against Lyon (a pretty big fan of his actually), but if he's picked up two of the five to go down on the first day of a Test in South Africa, the batsmen are doing something wrong. And apparently no one in the world has yet figured out how to play the dreaded Steve Smith Fulltoss.

 

[sifter132]

Yeah decent team, hope we show some fight.

Yep generally pretty good discipline from SA. And yet, the only wickets that fell later in the day were due to lack of discipline - hard to keep at it on this pitch against a relentless bowling attack. Pretty good cricket from both sides last night

 

[Lebanna]

I think I must have gotten out the wrong side of bed this morning. All the comments on the cricinfo coverage are driving me nuts! Whoever says that this is a boring match is missing the subtle battles, the relentless high class bowling, the careful batting to steer the team. This is what test cricket is all about. Great game!

 

[Eugene]

I think I must have gotten out the wrong side of bed this morning. All the comments on the cricinfo coverage are driving me nuts! Whoever says that this is a boring match is missing the subtle battles, the relentless high class bowling, the careful batting to steer the team. This is what test cricket is all about. Great game!

 

[Left_Hander]

I've got a bad feeling Australia will make this pitch look like it is impossible to bat on

 

[Lebanna]

I've got a bad feeling Australia will make this pitch look like it is impossible to bat on

Bad feeling? I have a good feeling about just the same thing...

 

[Aalay]

Absolutely brilliant cricket from South Africa. That last spell of Morne was a delight to watch.

 

[asprin]

The last hour proves what's special about Test cricket. A great contest between the bat and ball.