Australia tour of South Africa, 2008/09

[karnog]

Johnson can probably play the Albie Morkel type role. Problem is Albie has an FC average of 41 whereas Johnson's batting is starting to get better. So he's a lot less reliable than Albie. I think North has to come in if the batting fails in the next game. Besides Ponting and Haddin i think the other 4 need to perform. Probably David Hussey looking the weakest.

 

[stefan]

Johnson can probably play the Albie Morkel type role. Problem is Albie has an FC average of 41 whereas Johnson's batting is starting to get better. So he's a lot less reliable than Albie. I think North has to come in if the batting fails in the next game. Besides Ponting and Haddin i think the other 4 need to perform. Probably David Hussey looking the weakest.

Johnson needs time to get set which is why his odi record is poor. Morkel has shown he doesn't need many delivers to get set, he showed this in the powerplay overs in aus.

 

[aussie1st]

Johnson big problem was not being able to hit the gaps which slowed down his scoring big time. He also struggled against Botha whereas against Harris he had no problem so maybe he just loves smashing Harris. Hauritz has been going better with the bat at the death so I would have him higher than Johnson when we need to smash it, Johnson in at 8 or even 7 if we are in recovery mode. If we have a dead rubber it could be worth giving Johnson at a shot at 4 or even opener to see how he goes without the pressure of being 6 down.

 

[stefan]

Hopefully Smith can finally win a toss tomorrow, he better else we lose the match. Record at newlands for odi's are team batting first won 22 and team batting second is 10.

 

[Dare]

Is Marsh injured atm? I don't understand why Australia are trying to plat Clarke as a opener. Just screwing around with a guy who was already set as one of your middle order batsman.

 

[Cricketman]

Haddin is no Gilly either. They need to bulk up the middle order.

 

[mrtwisties]

Marsh was still recovering when the SA squad was named.

He just had a bit of an ill-advised spray to the media about how he should've been selected anyway.

 

[aussie1st]

Haddin best spot is opener don't see him been effective as a lower order hitter. We should be finding a player to do that but the selectors seem happy with what we have now.

 

[iridescentt]

Has anyone heard of the line ups for the Third ODI ?

 

[mrtwisties]

Cricinfo has its preview up: Cricinfo - South Africa aim to break mirror image

Will be interesting to see whether South Africa messes with its winning team, especially given that Ntini will be aching to play in Cape Town.

But it's the Aus battling lineup that's the real question mark. Ponting's been talking his usual talk about keeping the team the same and demanding more of them. Given that Clarke, Haddin, Ponting, Hussey and Hussey are still untouchables (and are the ones who need to lift their game), it's hard to see what sorts of changes the selectors would make.

 

[stefan]

Cricinfo has that wrong. Its a question is between van der merwe and m.morkel not ntini. At least that's what all the SA local papers are going with. Ntini is useless these days if he doesn't take the new ball in odi's and won't take the new ball after parnell and steyn's performance on sunday.

Personally I would stick with the side that won on Sunday. It has more balance imho.

 

[piriyanth]

I don't want to see Clarke opening today, he's been out of form so far in this series.

 

[mrtwisties]

Shame about the first ball LBW decision, would've been nice to see Gibbs dismissed right at the start. Decent start for the Australians, though - South Africa are taking the cautious approach, which is probably a lost opportunity to shatter Australian confidence.

mrtwisties added 19 Minutes and 12 Seconds later...

Whew... bunch of near misses there from Kallis.

mrtwisties added 13 Minutes and 46 Seconds later...

No-one else watching? I'm feeling a real "let's target Geeves" vibe from the batsmen. Feels like Bryce McGain all over again, except that Geeves is better looking.

mrtwisties added 28 Minutes and 9 Seconds later...

De Villiers is just beautiful to watch.

mrtwisties added 50 Minutes and 30 Seconds later...

South Africa taking the game back here in the middle overs. "Let's target Geeves" has turned into "let's target all of the Australian bowlers", and the run rate has jumped right back up.

Australia will need either a bunch of wickets or the ghost of Glen McGrath to slow these guys down.

 

[angryangy]

I'm not sure where this game is going. The dew under the lights has been talked about, but a total of 285 ought to be hard to beat.

angryangy added 3 Minutes and 22 Seconds later...

Then again, 265 is a distinct possiblility and that should tilt the game in favour of the chasers.

 

[aussie_ben91]

Duminy's taking Geeves to the cleaners, ehh.. maybe he should take him to the barbers instead - to get rid of that hidious beard!