South Africa in Australia Dec 2008-Jan 2009

[simran3]

Hey i think its time for Cricket Aussie to make some hard decisions..

Drop pointing, he has funny name that need to be pointed out. Make Krejza captain and please drop Jhonson ..he is really making Brett Lee look bad. Lee is my favorite player .

Seriously get Mcgrath out of retirement people ..he is still young and got a lot left in him. Warne has already signaled that he wants to return and last i heard Mark taylor and Slats were also queuing up.

Australia deserves to be No.1 please make the changes ...

 

[age of the fall]

Hayden to retire after this Test.

No announcement as of yet but did you see Hayden talking to Ponting towards the end of the day at slip? Ponting had a look of disbelief and sadness written all over his face.

I have a feeling Hayden knew before the day started that it would be his last innings in Test Cricket. The commentators were speaking about how calm and collected he was before the start of the day's play during his innings and you could tell by the way he played, he knew it would be his last innings in Test Cricket. He was probably hoping to go off with a bang, considering his made so many 100's at the MCG in the past. The decision was probably made last night with family, especially seeing as Hayden was 1 n/o and couldn't make a duck.

I called it.

Hopefully he announces his retirement at the end of this test match but still plays the last test. That way he can get the welcome on and off the field he deserves. And hopefully he can play with a clear mind since he doesn't have to worry about Form or Media.

 

[stefan]

I'll gladly admit Tahir is a good bowler, but why should we give him the chance to play for us when we could blood some new guys in? It's basically just another way of chasing our youngsters away like what happened with Pietersen, a good signal to send out to our youngsters who hope to represent their country one day isn't it? "Oh, I'll just go to England/Australia and try to play for them if thats what my country does to me". I don't like that.

After all that I've said above Tahirs stats don't lie and nor do his performances, but lets get real, the fact that he hasn't represented Pakistan yet, even though he has all that talent makes you wonder doesn't it? Call me biased or a 'fan-boy' but I really believe that with the correct guidance Thandi can become a really good bowler still, in spin bowling terms he's still a baby and after-all the current selection policy seems to be leaning more towards a consistant selection, so why have Tahir for four or so years when we can slowly develop Thandi more and have him as a real long term player.

I don't care where he comes from if he qualifies for SA I will go with the better bowler and thats tahir. No doudt. Should England not have picked pieterson just because he came from SA??

Also Thandi is decent but he is not a mystery bowler he is not going to runt through a batting lineupp, not many offspiners do. Only H.Signh and Murali.

a Leg spinner/wrist spinner is different. If I have a choice between a leg spinner or an off spinner I will always pick the leggie.

 

[Maxkarter]

I'm not saying they shouldn't have picked him, and good for them for doing it, he's an absolutely awesome batsman every team in the world wants a carbon copy of him. I'm just saying that picking someone like Tahir could mean that we have even more players defecting overseas, we've already pretty much blown our chances with McLaren.

Being a left-arm-orthodox bowler I feel for finger spinners, so what if we can't turn the ball a mile, we have our place in the game and can be effective. It all comes down to how well you know how to work your trade and that ultimately determines how effective you will be. Look I've already said Tahir is good, I didn't blatantly say we shouldn't select him, nor did I say that we should, let's just let the selectors decide.

 

[w3lshrugby]

Only 45 minutes to go, cannot wait to see this chase. In a way, I hope Aussie take a few early wickets to provide a tense finish. Bring it on!

 

[nikhil_99]

Smith attacking Aus bowlers...South Africa require another 101 runs with 10 wickets remaining..they played both the test as champions...

 

[Yogy]

Hey i think its time for Cricket Aussie to make some hard decisions..

Drop pointing, he has funny name that need to be pointed out. Make Krejza captain and please drop Jhonson ..he is really making Brett Lee look bad. Lee is my favorite player .

Seriously get Mcgrath out of retirement people ..he is still young and got a lot left in him. Warne has already signaled that he wants to return and last i heard Mark taylor and Slats were also queuing up.

Australia deserves to be No.1 please make the changes ...

Ponting is the best batsman currently for the australians. If he is dropped, then australia will struggle to find a replacement.

Make Kreja your gully cricket team captain. Lee has never performed well except in a few games. Mitchell Johnson is the future World No.1 Bowler.

 

[mattfb]

Yogy, he knows all this. He knows Ponting is the best captain in the world, and Johnson is in devastating form etc. He's an Indian, he's taking the piss outta us by saying Krejza should be captain. He knows we will be a better team next time we come to India.

 

[WORLD CHAMPIONS]

Smith attacking Aus bowlers...South Africa require another 101 runs with 10 wickets remaining..they played both the test as champions...

They have been taking the advantages quite well than any other team. They are hitting us hard when we are down. We will soon stood up again and will make things even with all . Today is Saffer's day and 2 months ago was Indias. Our day will come very soon.

 

[Raj_Aryan]

Smith attacking Aus bowlers...South Africa require another 101 runs with 10 wickets remaining..they played both the test as champions...

Yes,Aus dint looked like champions in this series so far..they have lost it...Aus normally dont loose test series at home...SA have really done a good job..India and SA are in race of No1 team.

Raj_Aryan added 1 Minutes and 52 Seconds later...

They have been taking the advantages quite well than any other team. They are hitting us hard when we are down. We will soon stood up again and will make things even with all . Today is Saffer's day and 2 months ago was Indias. Our day will come very soon.

No doubt Aus is a good team....They have dominated world cricket so for so many years now..i just feel that they dont have one good bowler,Lee is out of form,they need good bowler who can take 3-4 wickets wickets in each inngs

 

[barmyarmy]

Well Smith is gone but SA still cruising. Troubled times ahead.

 

[sifter132]

Well it's over - South Africa have done it.

My heartiest congratulations to them, they really dug in hard during both tests really well, coming back from the brink both times.

And just on a personal note, the South Africans seem like a great group of guys so I'm glad that Australia's long home winning(non-losing really) series streak has been broken by a team that seems humble. It's been a series played in a great spirit and it's no surprise given the South Africans attitude. They play hard but fair.

I don't like throwing out the personal barbs, but the contrast between the spirit of this series and the 2007/08 series against India is striking and the only thing that's changed has been South Africa coming instead of India.

 

[Dare]

congrats to South Africa. Well deserved win, they played great cricket over the last 2 years and have a great team to dominate for a few years to come.

 

[aussie1st]

Congrats to SA well deserved series win, now lets see if our selectors have learnt anything.
Missed the match but I see Watson is injured again. The bloke is too injury prone.

Anyway Bollinger and McDonald have beened added to the squad for Lee and Watson.

Squad: M Hayden, S Katich, R Ponting (c), M Hussey, M Clarke, A Symonds, B Haddin, D Bollinger, M Johnson, A McDonald, N Hauritz, B Hilfenhaus, P Siddle

Bollinger and McDonald - added to 13 man Squad for Sydney - BigFooty

Hayden gets another go hopefully he calls it a day at Sydney. Good to see we will be seeing a swing bowler into our side finally!

 

[aussie_ben91]

What a joke of a selection... Andrew McDonald?!

Anyways, I hope Hilfenhaus gets a gig over Bollinger because his a much better bowler.