South Africa in Australia Nov-Dec 2012/13

[Aalay]

Don't be so confident Sedition. We've be known to have batting wobbles in the past and South Africa have a good pace attack.

Just registered into my fantasy team as well.

He gets a little excited before the start of the match. And I have absolutely no complain about that because in the end, he is living up to his name. BIASED!

 

[spooony]

He gets a little excited before the start of the match. And I have absolutely no complain about that because in the end, he is living up to his name. BIASED!

Bias or just a Australian supporter supporting his team like any good Aussie. Plus he tries to stir some ---- up and see who bites haha

 

[Griffo]

Pumped for this test series!!! Quiney is the form choice but I would have gone Doolan, Hussey, Bailey easily as well. Also had no idea Andrew McDonald averages nearly 40 with the Bat in FC... He could have easily taken an all-rounder spot!

 

[War]

Looking forward to some real cricket after all these months of the traveling circus. Even more satisfying is that the #1 test ranking will finally be returning where it belongs. .

As i've said many times AUS don't deserve to be # 1 again, even if they win this series somehow. It is the faulty ranking system calculations, that has given AUS team and fans false hope that they could reach such a ranking if they win. Not the strength of performances since the 2010/11 ashes series shocker.

AUS team is still is still in a rebuilding phase & the paucity of batting talent AUS have currently, clearly highlights this.

 

[Sedition]

I was mainly wanting to post about the fantasy cricket game, but got carried away given the magnitude of this series Good to see registrations up to 16 now

No doubt we deserve to be #1 if we beat South Africa. The only real misstep since the Ashes was the drawn 2 match series against NZ, which was a fluke on their behalf anyway. If we can't go on to reclaim the Ashes, then I'd say we don't deserve it, but the rankings will probably reflect that anyway.

 

[alexczarn]

Pumped for this test series!!! Quiney is the form choice but I would have gone Doolan, Hussey, Bailey easily as well. Also had no idea Andrew McDonald averages nearly 40 with the Bat in FC... He could have easily taken an all-rounder spot!

I would've gone McDonald too on recent form.

 

[sifter132]

Cricket Quiz | ESPN Cricinfo

Fellas take this quizz to test your knowledge on australia vs s africa history, without doing research. I got 19/25 right during the time limit ha..

Got 23 hehe But I will admit... I can count probably 8-10 of those that I guessed (or half guessed). Loved the Bill Lawry commentary question - have watched that match MANY times

We have way too many green pitches which makes batting extremely difficult which is why we see no batsman "kicking the door down" and lots of new bowlers coming up.

I generally agree, but I must add that it's becoming a VERY CONVENIENT EXCUSE as to why there are no batsmen in the country doing well. We are explaining away the lack of talent due to conditions, which is basically what India do when they get hammered overseas - and we all laugh at them behind their back for that.



Big day has arrived Just under 3hrs till first ball bowled. The talk is of course about Australia and whether they pick 4 fast bowlers. I'm generally biased AGAINST 4 quicks, but if the pitch looks greener than usual it would be the logical choice. But if it's a 'normal' Gabba Test wicket (much better than the Shield strips...), I'd go with Lyon.

One reason by itself would be that there's a long summer ahead, and if you don't pick Lyon on a pitch where he could play a part, you're essentially telling him he'll only be picked on turners and that he's just not very good in general. Not a good way to build confidence in a bowler you want to see flourish. Same for all this talk about 'Shane Watson can only be in the team if he can bowl' stuff. Great way to undermine his batting skills... Cricket is as much a confidence game as anything, selectors could do some real favours to players like Lyon and Watson by backing them to perform.

 

[Left_Hander]

Pumped for this test series!!! Quiney is the form choice but I would have gone Doolan, Hussey, Bailey easily as well. Also had no idea Andrew McDonald averages nearly 40 with the Bat in FC... He could have easily taken an all-rounder spot!

I agree Griffo. We complain about going in a bowler down but this could have been sorted with McDonald being in the side. Or even Dan Christian, he's been around the ODI setup.

Big day has arrived Just under 3hrs till first ball bowled. The talk is of course about Australia and whether they pick 4 fast bowlers. I'm generally biased AGAINST 4 quicks, but if the pitch looks greener than usual it would be the logical choice. But if it's a 'normal' Gabba Test wicket (much better than the Shield strips...), I'd go with Lyon.

One reason by itself would be that there's a long summer ahead, and if you don't pick Lyon on a pitch where he could play a part, you're essentially telling him he'll only be picked on turners and that he's just not very good in general. Not a good way to build confidence in a bowler you want to see flourish. Same for all this talk about 'Shane Watson can only be in the team if he can bowl' stuff. Great way to undermine his batting skills... Cricket is as much a confidence game as anything, selectors could do some real favours to players like Lyon and Watson by backing them to perform.

Good point there. We've got to back Lyon and I think playing him on a seaming track isn't a bad idea. Give him the confidence and he'll hopefully perform.

 

[alexczarn]

Hmmm, South Africa go with 4 quicks, but Australia picks Lyon, and SAF bat first.

 

[Left_Hander]

I thougt all along SA would play Tahir. I'm surprised that we are going in with a spinner and they aren't.

 

[Left_Hander]

What an abosulte waste of a review!

 

[Umair7]

Well how can Clarke go for a review before making a decision he should have talked to WADE atleast

 

[midgetwars]

Why the hell has channel 9 gone with this horrible blue colour? Nine Cricket is GREEN

 

[Umair7]

Sad story bro ^

 

[Left_Hander]

Why the hell has channel 9 gone with this horrible blue colour? Nine Cricket is GREEN

Agree. It is the only thing that has changed. Besides how they've made the players in the scorecard have a white/cream background

First wicket of the summer goes to Pattinson! And Smith is out LBW