South Africa in Australia Nov-Dec 2012/13

[Sedition]

Debatable but Mohammed Yousuf played on harder tracks.

I also doubt that he's ~250 years old.

 

[mrtwisties]

Thoughts on how long Clarke would ideally like to keep batting? Pitch usually won't start to deteriorate until late on day three, so our bowlers are going to have to bowl long, disciplined spells regardless of the timing of the declaration - and that's going to make enforcing the follow-on problematic.

Part of me wonders whether we don't declare before start of play today, take advantage of the surprise and morning conditions (and the fact Kallis can't bat for at least 4-5 hours) and then hope to get back in batting early on day three.

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In hindsight, it would have been pretty great to declare an hour before stumps.

 

[Sedition]

I'm thinking we bat aggressive for the first session and look to post 600+. Thought about an overnight declaration, but the risk of Saf digging in and making a long 2 days for our bowlers is too high imo. A good 1.5-2 sessions to rip into them today would be perfect I reckon.

 

[mrtwisties]

Quite a bit of movement still available. I was checking out the Foxsports trajectory viewer last night, and it reckons the ball that removed Hussey pitched outside off on about an eighth stump line before swinging back in to hit middle. Even if that's a bit exaggerated, that's some serious movement at 140kmh.

(see Cricket Match Centre | Cricket, Live Match Stats | Fox Sports for the trajectory viewer)

 

[Sedition]

Well Mark Taylor thinks the same as me, so it's officially a ---- idea.

 

[mrtwisties]

Well Mark Taylor thinks the same as me, so it's officially a ---- idea.

I love how p----d off he still is about MacGill playing a loose stroke.

Good start for the tourists. Timing of declaration could be academic if South Africa keep playing with this sort of intent.

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...and there you go.

 

[Aalay]

Beauty from Morkel, taking out middle stump but well played Michael Clarke.

 

[angryangy]

Isn't that a bit like saying "if you ignore Bradman's centuries, his average isn't all that high"? I'll grant you Steyn blows hot and cold a bit more than your average bowler, but he's looked positively frozen out there so far this series. It's not just being down on pace, either - for example, what was with all that new ball bowling wide of off to Ed Cowan while the ball was still moving?

Put it this way: if Steyn had 4/155 right now, SA would be in a far better position. He's a long way off the pace.

That's four for the match, not four for the innings.

 

[Sedition]

Shows how good Clarke, Warner and Hussey's innings were. Pitch is an absolute minefield.

 

[mrtwisties]

That's four for the match, not four for the innings.

Yep. I was going to write 2/80 or whatever he had in each innings, but figured it might be confusing to quote a different number than what you had written.

I don't think it matters so far as my point goes, though. In these typical "cold" bowling spells he strikes at a rate of one wicket per 60 deliveries. If he was living up to his "bad day" standard, he'd have had two or three wickets yesterday (three assuming he hadn't gone off the field with a niggle), and the scorecard would have looked very different at the end of the day.

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South Africa are right in this.

 

[midgetwars]

Tahir, WOW. He is...

 

[Sedition]

Haha Patto. On the cusp of surpassing Smith's combined innings total of 33 from the 1st test. Talk about salt into the wounds.

 

[midgetwars]

Somebody's just chucked a Hussey

 

[StinkyBoHoon]

perfect cameo, keeps the momentum and just keeps the score ticking onto that ideal 550 declaration target.

 

[mrtwisties]

Kallis to bat at seven, apparently. It'll be interesting to see how that affects South Africa's innings - but if Australia's bowlers hit that 5m length it may not matter.