South Africa in Australia

[Sando]

South Africa are certainly a very strong one day side, certainly stronger than they are in the Test match arena. Out of their last five series, they have only won against the relatively weak opposition (vs Zim 2-0, @ WI 2-0), whilst failing in the tougher assignments (@ SL 0-1, @ IND 0-1, vs ENG 2-1). They have been competitive in those losses though.

In terms of the Test match series, I think their batting looks solid with numerous world class performers in the lineup. I'm keen to see how de Villiers plays, he showed a bit against a strong English attack (with a great ton in the fifth test), and was excellent against the weak attacks of Zimbabwe and West Indies. I reckon he will really emerge in this series.

As for the bowling, Ntini stands out as the major threat to the Aussies. I really like how he's trying to get in closer to the stumps these days. Couple his better lines with fierce pace and bounce and you have yourself a handful on hard Aussie wickets. I don't think Pollock will be the threat that he once was over here, but certainly difficult to deal with when he has a brand new Kooka in his mit, never write off a champion. Andre Nel for me is the danger man. I think his pace and bounce will trouble the Aussie top order. He may go for a few, but I reckon he will have a top series in terms of total wickets.

Aussies to win the Perth and Sydney matches, South Africa to take the Melbourne tie.

Prediction Australia 2, South Africa 1.

 

[aussie1st]

Why do you think SA would win the Melbourne game? Thats Warne's home ground and he plays well there. Its bouncy which would help Lee, McGrath loves the place. Dizzy, Tait also would go well there.

 

[Sando]

Why do you think SA would win the Melbourne game? Thats Warne's home ground and he plays well there. Its bouncy which would help Lee, McGrath loves the place. Dizzy, Tait also would go well there.

I just have a feeling that South Africa will win a Test, and Melbourne, to me, is the place where their batsmen will perform best. I don't reckon South Africa will be able to deal with Warne and MacGill in Sydney, and touring teams traditionally have difficulty adapting to the Perth wicket (batsmen to the extra bounce, bowlers getting carried away with it). It just seems to me the most likely place for a South African victory.

 

[kodos]

I reckon the SOuth Africans will have a better chance in Perth. I also feel they will win at least 1 game. South Africans are use to bouncy wickets and it will be an advantage to them because they can use 4 front line seamers with the likes of pollock, ntini, nel and kallis which could pose a threat to the australians. The last time the South Africans came here thy wanted to play their first test in South Africa but didn't and now they get their chance.

 

[aussie1st]

Good point, Perth is the place for SA. Victoria is a place where Warne has success.
Its all a question of will SA's bowlers step up against the pressure of the Aussies. Remember Langer, Hussey and Gilly all play in Perth so they will be use to it too.

Then you have their batters. Will they be able to handle Lee and McGrath. And who knows may be Dizzy may also be there. He will be out to prove a point and he looks to be back in good form.

 

[aditya123]

SA may beat Australia in th ODI series but we all know how tough Australia are to beat in the VB Series .
Sri Lanka , I learn are the 3rd side . It does not look a bad series on paper at least .
I honestly do not think Lanka will win a game in the VB Series .

As far as test cricket goes , Australia are miles ahead of SA (especially at home) to be brutally honest and the ICC Test Rankings show that . SA are a huge 12 points behind 3rd ranked India . SA will be bst suited to the WACA . Sydney will be tough for them with Warnie and Macgill . SA have been superb in ODIs th past yer but not that great in test cricket as someon pointed out earlier . I would like to see Gibbs open the batting in Australia . It is attacking players like him who can turn the series for SA .
It is attacking batsmen who have done well against Australia .(Sachin,Laxman,Sehwag,Flintoff,Pietersen are a few examples)

 

[aussie1st]

I agree ODI cricket is where I've seen SA improve leaps and bounds. Their test cricket I haven't seen much of but they aren't flying up the rankings like England were.
The ODI matches will be the one to look out for, SA have some really good ODI players and their bowlers are hitting their straps. Aus are still desperate to win ODI matches after being defeated by England twice and then the Ashes.

 

[Shevchenko]

I believe it will be a 1-1 draw, South Africa really looks fired up, Australia on the other hand still want to improve on their Ashes loss, guys like Hussey now has the chance to shine, I believe Hussey's going to face his sternest test of all, let's face it the West Indies don't have a great bowling line-up. Jaques Kallis the rock of Gibraltar is the key if South Africa wants to win this test series, also guys like Smith, Gibbs, Pollock, Ntini, Boje, will need to go out their and show the youngsters how it is done. Warne I don't think will be threat to the South Africans, I really must say they played the Indian spin attack quite well over in India, something that South Africa really struggles against. South Africa might just have that element in suprize, Garnett Kruger looks impeccable over here in South Africa, he is bowling with fire, I pitty Neil Mckenzie not making the side and so to Hashim Amla, his technique might not be suited for Internation cricket, but he is scoring ton after ton on national level. Whatever the outcome, If South Africa can go out there, play well and put the Australian under pressure, I will be proud, it's bound time someone else take over the dominating role in cricket, just take a look at what happened to the Wallabies

 

[aussie1st]

Injured Smith will tour

SOUTH Africa captain Graeme Smith will tour Australia although his injured finger will need protection, Cricket South Africa (CSA) announced overnight.

Smith injured a finger on his left hand attempting a catch during the fifth one-day international with India in Mumbai on Monday.

He was examined by a specialist in Cape Town and x-rays revealed no fracture.

A CSA statement said Smith's finger will "need protection for the next 10 to 12 days".

http://foxsports.news.com.au/story/0,8659,17413165-23212,00.html

I hope it doesn't affect him too much.

 

[kodos]

Interesting article i read on smh. it discusses that the Aus team is one of the most aggressive team at appealing in the world and backs up my comments earlier in the windies tour thread that the likes of warne and lee are the main reasons. I hope this aggressive appealing won't affect the umpires in the test series. If it does then it will be 3-0 to Aus. here is the article:

Australian aggression holds little appeal
Email Print Normal font Large font By Chloe Saltau
November 30, 2005

Advertisement
AdvertisementMATCH referee Mike Procter yesterday described Australian teams as among the world's more aggressive appealers after umpires closely scrutinised footage of fast bowler Brett Lee's exuberant plea for the wicket of West Indies batsman Ramnaresh Sarwan during the third Test.

As Australian captain Ricky Ponting called for more elite umpires as a way to improve the standard of international umpiring, it emerged match officials were concerned Lee might have overdone his appeal for lbw, which was granted by New Zealand umpire Billy Bowden but subsequently shown to be not out. "Absolutely, it did [cause concern]," Procter said. "It's not my concern - as match referee I can't report anything - but that question was raised by the umpires and they actually did have a look at the video of it.

"Aleem [Pakistan umpire Aleem Dar] came and said he would like to have a look at that footage because he didn't think he [Lee] had actually looked around. When you see it on television he actually did look around, but a split-second later and I think he might have been in trouble."

Procter said over-appealing was no bigger problem in previous years but that Australians tended to appeal harder than players from some other countries.

"Every side has got their own style of play," he said. "Australia, South Africa and New Zealand, to a certain extent, are aggressive in their body language and aggressive in their appealing and that's the way they play.

"Then you get the Indian players, and the English used to be not so aggressive. I don't think anything's really changed. A lot of people are quite critical of the way some people play, but I just think it's the nature of the country and the people participating."

Shane Warne, who a night earlier denied that the Australians appealed excessively, was yesterday cleared of showing dissent when an appeal against Daren Powell was turned down just before stumps on Sunday.

"The umpires should report things to me that they feel uncomfortable with," Procter said. "I've not no qualms about that. There wasn't sufficient evidence to say that Shane was guilty of dissent, in my opinion."

After three West Indies batsmen received bad umpiring decisions on the fourth day's play, and coach Bennett King praised his players for upholding the spirit of the game, Ponting yesterday suggested there should be more umpires on the International Cricket Council's elite panel - which was reduced to seven by the retirement of Englishman David Shepherd - to ease the load.

"I think one of the major problems might be the amount of umpiring these guys are doing,"

Ponting said. "I think it would help umpiring standards if there were more. We're travelling all over the world playing cricket and somebody's got to be umpiring those games. If they could have a couple of weeks off between Tests or between series and be able to freshen up, I know what benefits that has for the players. I'm sure it would be the same for the umpires."

Ponting was joined by West Indies counterpart Shivnarine Chanderpaul in his stance against the use of more technology in umpiring. "The technology that has been trialled over the last couple of years hasn't been accurate enough to give conclusive evidence on dismissals," Ponting said. "You take the good with the bad and that's what the game's all about. The human element in the game is, I think, vital to cricket."

Procter expected the ICC to address the number of elite umpires. The three Australians on the panel, including Simon Taufel, who has twice been judged umpire of the year, cannot stand in Tests involving Australia.

 

[sami ullah khan]

South African Media created so much hype last time around when they visited Australia. They lost their badly in test matches and were trounced when Aussies came to SA. I think Same will happen again. Shane warne is in best form of his life. We all know that most SAfricans are all at sea against him. Aussies look too good to be beaten by SA. I will be surprised if SA win a single test in Australia.

 

[siddharth2002]

Yeah, SA need to be shown a reality check here; they got big holes to cover-up in their team and what better than Aus to do the honours. Looking forward to more 90's of 150 balls from "Kallis" and what would "Nel" do if he is being pulled everywhere.

I believe it will be a 1-1 draw, South Africa really looks fired up, Australia on the other hand still want to improve on their Ashes loss, guys like Hussey now has the chance to shine, I believe Hussey's going to face his sternest test of all, let's face it the West Indies don't have a great bowling line-up. Jaques Kallis the rock of Gibraltar is the key if South Africa wants to win this test series, also guys like Smith, Gibbs, Pollock, Ntini, Boje, will need to go out their and show the youngsters how it is done. Warne I don't think will be threat to the South Africans, I really must say they played the Indian spin attack quite well over in India, something that South Africa really struggles against. South Africa might just have that element in suprize, Garnett Kruger looks impeccable over here in South Africa, he is bowling with fire, I pitty Neil Mckenzie not making the side and so to Hashim Amla, his technique might not be suited for Internation cricket, but he is scoring ton after ton on national level. Whatever the outcome, If South Africa can go out there, play well and put the Australian under pressure, I will be proud, it's bound time someone else take over the dominating role in cricket, just take a look at what happened to the Wallabies

Naa, Warne was too hot to handle even in "The Ashes". Tell me one spinner SA has successfully attacked. And here you got two to contend with. Guys like "Kemp" and Prince need to stand-up if SA think they have a chance.

 

[aussie1st]

The SA bowling attack is very similar to the English. Good pace attack crap spin attack although their spinners are better than the English ones! Lets see if they can handle the spin twins.
McGrath and Lee will be a handful on the Perth wicket, Melbourne they will get some assitance early on and Sydney if they bowl first they should get some assistance as well.

 

[arkmarkell]

South African Media created so much hype last time around when they visited Australia. They lost their badly in test matches and were trounced when Aussies came to SA. I think Same will happen again. Shane warne is in best form of his life. We all know that most SAfricans are all at sea against him. Aussies look too good to be beaten by SA. I will be surprised if SA win a single test in Australia.

The only reason most people like yourself say that South Africans "are at sea" when they face Warne, is because the hype made about Daryll Cullinan. Sure he couldnt play Warne, but most people see his failure and blatantly label the whole team as useless against spinners. Gibbs and Kallis are 2 of the best players against spin in the world, and they will shine on this tour. Another thing is most of Warnes game involves the mental side,(excessive appealing etc), but when he is met with fire from the opposition then he gets lost. South Africa will stand up to him in terms of onfield antics. Fire will be met with fire.

This series will be very interesting, as I see the Australian middle order as very vunerable. SA will target this area, especially worrying Gilchrist who is in bad form. (maybe like the English worried Gillespie throughout the Ashes series)

 

[kodos]

I agree with arkmarkell. When Warne feels major pressure he suffers and bowls badly. His excessive appealing and glaring at the batsman attemts to manipulate them and plays mind games. This could also be said about Lee, once he feels the pressure he bowls constant short pitch deliveries. This series will be very entertaining to watch and hope thay Pollock can find the sort of form he had in the late 90's. Smith, Kallis and Gibbs would be the main concerns for the Aussies and maybe even AB Devilliers whom I heard is even more promising than Pietersen and Clarke.