Australia tour of South Africa, 2008/09

[Gilly Fan]

Graeme Smith, you twat. Ponting dropped on 40, then follows that with a big six. Easy catch as well for Smith, poor drop.

Wasn't the best ball to pull. It was relatively full and he was lucky to get the amount of bat on it that he did. Otherwise it would've gone straight into the air.

Ponting isn't settled yet and neither is Clarke. The South Africans dominated that session. They bowled brilliantly. Excellent line and length and had the Australians playing shots in frustration. Steyn was the pick of the bowlers. Had excellent swing and beat the bat of Ponting quite a lot.

Ponting is just trying to grind out a big innings here. He's a player who won't throw away his wicket. He'll be wanting to start this series with a big'n.

 

[mattfb]

Steyn has been brilliant. He has hit that line on the good length just around off stump that I was talking about, and should have been rewarded with the wicket of Ponting. Morkel and Kallis were hitting that length and line at times but were too full or short at times and they payed the price. When Steyn got it right, Ponting looked like he was on a pair, but when the length and line was wrong he looked on form hitting boundaries.

 

[irottev]

Oh dear, Aussies could be bowled out for under 100 here, you heard it here first.

You'd like that wouldn't you. Maybe then people would forget about when it happened to England. :P

I really don't like Australia's chances this series. I HIGHLY doubt they'll win a test. Lets hope some of these young players put their hands up. Hughes played a reckless and silly shot so not looking good for him at the moment.

That session wasn't quite a disaster, but it came close. Had that Ponting catch been taken. 3 down is probably 1 more then Australia woulda liked but their two best batters are out there now, they're going to need a good partnership to take pressure off the inexperienced North and McDonald.

 

[King Pietersen]

50 for Ponting. Not his best, but very important. Lucky to get away after being dropped by Smith, so he needs to capitalise and make a big score.

 

[irottev]

And that's what SA did in the Australian tests. When the Aussies dropped a catch they made them pay.

 

[aussie1st]

Really positive start to the session and I hear Kallis is off the field so lots of pressure on Morkel. These two need to stay in, keep SA under the pump and not give their wicket away.

 

[IloveGilly]

35.1 Morkel to Ponting, no run, oh well bowled, and the first referral of the innings! Morkel's superb spell continues, he pitches one on the dime and moves it back in sharply, a tentative Ponting thrusts forward and is late on the shot, there's noise as the ball cuts back in and goes on, Boucher takes at a good height and they all appeal ... Billy Bowden is unmoved and Smith asks for it to be referred ... and replays indicate the ball brushed Ponting's back thigh pad ... not out is the verdict, South Africa use up a referral, and Ponting survives

Intriguing. Leave it to 2 of Australias finest to set them back up.

 

[aussie1st]

First referral I've seen and first ever for the Aussies. Couldn't really tell much from the replays certainly couldn't say it caught the edge of the bat. Definitely hit his pocket which was the sound. Funny enough the replay they showed after the decision showed a clear gap between bat and ball but the 3rd umpire didn't get that replay. I reckon sniko will help for the case where the bat and ball is a lot more closer than that one, just a case of can it be done in time for the 3rd umpire.

 

[King Pietersen]

Another 50 for Clarke, Australia starting to go along nicely now. Runs coming fairly quickly.

King Pietersen added 7 Minutes and 26 Seconds later...

What.A.Ball. Makhaya Ntini, brilliance. Ponting gone for 83, massive wicket. Now time to put the debutant under pressure!

 

[Gilly Fan]

Oh my god! What a ball. How the hell did he get it to swing that much. Only a piece of brilliance like that was going to get him out.

 

[aussie1st]

Wow what a ball by Ntini don't know what to say really. Sadly once again Ponting has failed to make SA really pay for dropping him. Lets see what our 2nd debut player can do!

 

[King Pietersen]

That was a cracker, on replay you can really see it hoop in. Late swing and it swung a mile. Awesome stuff from Ntini.

Edit: It's starting to go now, Steyn just getting one to move late, beating Clarke with ease. Dangerous little spell for Australia. They'll want this cloud cover to go.

 

[Gilly Fan]

Just rewound it and watvhed it again on slow motion. That swung a good 2 feet. If that went straight on he could've cut that.

 

[King Pietersen]

On a side note, I'm once again really enjoying the commentary of Pommie Mbangwa. He's got a very good voice for commentary, and is very knowledgable on the game. I like his commentary alot. One of the South African's has a really annoying voice though, think he did a spell with Mark Nicholas earlier in the day, very annoying.

Nice little bouncer from Dale Steyn to Marcus North there, that's the way to welcome him to Test cricket!! Seemed to get up off a fairly decent length as well, wasn't particularly short.

 

[aussie1st]

North looking pretty good so far, batting at 6 and having all that experience certainly will help him.