South Africa in Australia Dec 2008-Jan 2009

[aussie1st]

Speaking of Smith if you guys add him back to the team it certainly starts looking a better outfit. Guy at the top that can blast away, Albie and Boucher who can finish and solid middle order. That's when Kallis and De Villers aren't left to up the run rate.

Will be interesting seeing what our selectors do with Warner and who they drop for Johnson. Wouldn't mind seeing Tait and Johnson together along with Hilfy and Bracken.

 

[formula1man]

im starting to finally realise how much i miss hayden, they should give him a farewell game.

 

[nikhil_99]

A close and much needed win for Aus..
Bracken as usual,very economical..

 

[Cricketdude]

Get over him. I think we should drop Harris and Hilfy(I think the selectors are just using him for experience before tests though). Hilfenhaus does well with the swinging ball and then struggles. Maybe we could get 10 overs out of him at the start and thats it.

 

[angryangy]

The trouble with that late powerplay is the risk and reward. A successful powerplay can deliver maybe 10 more runs than a regular block of five overs past the 40th over, yet an unsuccessful powerplay at that point, especially in a chase, leaves the team with too much to do and no ability to recover. The point at which the powerplay can make the most positive difference is where they should be taking it. There was plenty of time in the game where the team was unlikely to score more than 4 runs an over. The break even is lower and thus the reward is more beneficial.

As for Hilfenhaus, he's done better than I expected. He's bowling well, not only in his first, but also his second spell, then going for about 10 rpo in his final 3 overs. It's not really a role he dominates unless there's reverse swing going and I know he can bowl better yorkers than he has been. In a better selected or less injury stricken team, he could probably avoid bowling those terrible overs most of the time.

 

[WORLD CHAMPIONS]

My lineups for next match, we are missing Roy

Warner ( i hope he clicks this time)
Marsh
Ponting
Hussey
Hussey
Haddin
White
Hopes/ any other
Johnson
Bracks
Tait

 

[manee]

1. Warner
2. Marsh
3. Ponting
4. M Hussey
5. D Hussey
6. White
7. Haddin
8. Johnson
9. Hilfenhaus
10. Bracken
11. Tait

 

[mattfb]

1. Katich
2. Marsh
3. Ponting
4. M Hussey
5. D Hussey
6. McDonald / Noffke
7. Haddin
8. Johnson
9. Hilfenhaus
10. Bracken
11. Harris

Katich is a lot more reliable then Warner atm. I see no reason in playing him every game we can for now. He has another 15 years of cricket in him.

 

[surendar]

1.Mckenzie
2.Villiers
3. Gibbs
4. Kallis
5. Amla
6. Duminy
7. Boucher
8. Albie Morkel
9. Botha
10. Steyn
11. Ntini or M.Morkel


The batting order has to change for SA.. Gibbs and Amla had to show their full potential. They cannot just keep on performing below par. A good solid opening partnership is what SA is missing.

Mckenzie and Villiers have good experience and confidence to open the innings.

 

[mattfb]

I would open with Mckenzie and Gibbs with Amla coming in first drop.

 

[formula1man]

1. Hayden (lol)
2. Marsh
3. Ponting
4. Haddin
5. D. Hussey
6. M Hussey
7. A batsmen, not Allrounder, pure batsmen
8. Johnson
9. Bracken
10. Hauritz
11. Tait

White and Hopes need to go. Warner, Hughes, Katich for opener.

formula1man added 2 Minutes and 34 Seconds later...

1. Boucher
2. Gibbs
3. Amla
4. Kallis
5. deVilliers
6. Duminy
7. Morkel
8. Van Jaarsveld
9. Morne
10. Steyn
11. Ntini
Boucher captain

formula1man added 4 Minutes and 54 Seconds later...

1. Katich
2. Marsh
3. Ponting
4. M Hussey
5. D Hussey
6. McDonald / Noffke
7. Haddin
8. Johnson
9. Hilfenhaus
10. Bracken
11. Harris

Katich is a lot more reliable then Warner atm. I see no reason in playing him every game we can for now. He has another 15 years of cricket in him.

So you dont mind Marsh in the team anymore?

 

[Sman-21]

Has Warner had any good scores away from the MCG?
Hes so inexperienced at state level that hes hardly played anywhere but the MCG so even the wickets are still pretty new to him.

Way too much hype an pressure on him an hes struggling to cope its all so new to him.
As for bringing back Hayden no The reason all the guys in the team are so inexperienced is because normally if someone got injured they would replace him with a 30+ year old player instead of using the chance to blood a young talent in with all the experience.

Now we have a bunch of injuries an because we never gave young players a go all our backup players are inexperienced.
It may cost us the series with so much inexperience but it will help us out with giving lots of players experience so that there ready when others retire.
What are we going to do when Ponting,mhussey,symo,lee etc all retire in 2-3 yrs time beg them to come back, no we plan for the future now by giving all these players a chance to play while others are injured.

 

[smssia0112]

Time to bring in Klinger

Warner was fine for the Twenty20s but he's not good enough to be playing ODI cricket. Too young and inexperienced. Just because he's exciting doesn't make him good. We need a good specialist opener to join the inexperienced Marsh, and that's not Hussey or Hopes or Ronchi or Watson or Warner. I think Klinger is our best option while Jaques is injured (he needs another ODI chance, 97 on debut yet billed as test only)

 

[Gibbsrules]

Why do we keep making things difficult for ourselves.To be honest,we didn't deserve to win either of these games.I have no idea whats happened to our fielding,fatigue might be setting in but thats no excuse.Like the Aussies we too have an opening problem,Amla does not look good at the top,and Gibbs hasn't performed as an opener recently,he was better down at 4th.I also feel that we lack an extra big hitter lower down,our lower order is not what it used to be.

As for Van Jaarsveld,give him a break,I predicted that both Steyn and Duminy would become great players well before they were ever on the international scene and I predict that Vaughn will join them one day,Its just a bit harsh to debut him against the aussies.I think that Loots Bosman would have been a better replacement for Smith.

Mckenzie
De Villiers
Kallis
Gibbs
Duminy
Amla
Boucher
A.Morkel
Botha
Morkel/Ntini
Steyn

 

[mdoggie]

We need to get Duminy and Morkel in earlier. Duminy is built for the period of overs 15 to 35 because of the rate he scores without boundaries but certainly is not slogger and that put him at a disadvantage in the last 10. Morkel needs to have a bit of time to get in before he goes for it, similar to what Justin Kemp did.

I hope we can find Someone to replace Gibbs because other than the odd amazing innings, he has being disappointing for a number of years.We are having a Major problem with finding a natural opener with both Gibbs and AB preferring the middle order.

My team

Amla
Mckenzie
Kallis
Duminy
AB
Gibbs
A. Morkel
Boucher
Botha
Steyn
M. Morkel/Ntini (On rotation until someone stakes claim to the roll.)