South Africa in Australia

[Radaga]

I was at the game today and i still can't belive that DeVilliers got as high a score as he did. He had no idea when Lee was bowling to him, and about 50% of his runs were lucky edges over or through the slips. The only decent shots were some pulls off Symonds, which isn't that hard considering the pace simmo bowls at.

It was a great partnership at the end of Australia's innings by Hussey and McGrath. We were placing bets at the start of the day how long mcGrath would last for. Well, he lasted for a bit longer than the 5 balls i had him down for!

South Africa have the upperhand and i think they should win from this position quite easily.

 

[sohum]

Hmm, I don't see the Proteas easily winning this one.

 

[RussianVodka]

i cant c either team winning this
looks like another dead rubber
both teams just cant capitalise on good chances and Australia need a new middle order
they need new blood like clarke not so new but people like mark cosgrove and chris rogers and etc

 

[sohum]

Well, since the thread about Australia's weakening bowling was [incorrectly, in my opinion] locked, I would like to bring that topic back here. I guess this is the perfect opportunity to view Australia's bowling line-up. Have they pretty much solidified a bowling line-up till the World Cup? In that case, it'll be interesting to see if they can set the Proteas back early tomorrow.

 

[rahulk666]

Expect Lee to come all guns blazing tomorrow and pick 2-3 quick wickets by sheer pace. I still think Australia has an edge in this one. If Aussies don't let Proteas to get to 300-320 then batting 4th on this pitch with Warne/Macgill/Symo would be very difficult for the Proteas.

SA need one or two batsmen to score centuries to tilt the scales in thier favor.... SA made a huge blunder by letting the last 2 wickets to score more than 100 runs... thats exactly what i had said in my last post...

 

[sohum]

I hope the South Africans don't give up their wickets easily. I think even if they pull out a draw here and lose the next one, they will probably cause Australia to drop a few points.

 

[angryangy]

Well, since the thread about Australia's weakening bowling was [incorrectly, in my opinion] locked, I would like to bring that topic back here. I guess this is the perfect opportunity to view Australia's bowling line-up. Have they pretty much solidified a bowling line-up till the World Cup? In that case, it'll be interesting to see if they can set the Proteas back early tomorrow.

I think it was locked partly because the opinion is flawed.

Is it just me or in the last 8-9 months our bowling attack is lacking?

Essentially, this is just refering to the tour of England, the SuperSeries, the Frank Worrell trophy, and the Chappell-Hadlee trophy.

The rate we normally get wickets have dropped heaps, such as today against SAF it was not the same as it was 12 months ago, there is not as many edges as we use to get.

For a start I disagree there, I guess you mean edges going to fielders, but AB DeVilliers managed to score about 4-7 boundaries by top edging over and around the slip cordon, enough that Ponting must have pondered having a second set of slips behind the first. It would be nice to see a statistic of batsman errors (play and miss, edge, lbw chance, attempted stumping etc), it would highlight the way in which sometimes the chances just don't stick.

McGrath seems to only pick up Tailenders

Since the ICC match, in order
Dravid, Lara, G Smith, Gayle, Sarwan, Samuels, DS Smith, Sarwan, Gayle, Samuels, Edwards, Gayle, DS Smith, Ramdin, Lara, Powell, Kemp

and Lee only gets 2 wickets a game.

SuperTest: 2
WIN 1: 6
WIN 2: 5
WIN 3: 7
RSA 1: 6

Warne of course is tired and there are going to be times where he bowls 30 off overs for no wickets.

Well look, yes, you do get tired after bowling 30 odd overs in a day. And there are times when even Warne can't take a wicket. However, he has been taking wickets of late. Even at the WACA, he still took 6.

I am just worried, that by the world cup and next Ashes our bowling is going to be slack, I can see us getting beat in the current test match, or at minmum it will be an easy draw for SAF to get.

I can't see how another 5 Tests and seven thousand ODI games against this South African team this summer will make our bowlers slack.

The last ODI matches were against NZ, where they pretty much chucked whoever in, so you won't see a "solidified" attack until the VB Series in January or later.

Expect McGrath, Lee and Bracken as strike bowlers and cameos from Stuart Clark and Mick Lewis. Expect Watson or Tait to show up depending on fitness.

Personally I'd like to see Dan Cullen give his Cricket Australia contract a warm up and Aussie1st is pretty keen on Beau Casson.

Don't discount old favourites Gillespie and Kasprowicz either, a couple of injuries would put them right back in the mix.

3 youthful quicks up the top of the Pura Cup stats this season are WA's 28 year old Brett Dorey, the Vics' 26 year old Allan Wise and SA's 24 year old Paul Rofe. I would expect an immediate call up, but they ought to be names considered in the next 2 years.

 

[langerrox]

I think it was locked partly because the opinion is flawed.

Essentially, this is just refering to the tour of England, the SuperSeries, the Frank Worrell trophy, and the Chappell-Hadlee trophy.

For a start I disagree there, I guess you mean edges going to fielders, but AB DeVilliers managed to score about 4-7 boundaries by top edging over and around the slip cordon, enough that Ponting must have pondered having a second set of slips behind the first. It would be nice to see a statistic of batsman errors (play and miss, edge, lbw chance, attempted stumping etc), it would highlight the way in which sometimes the chances just don't stick.

Since the ICC match, in order
Dravid, Lara, G Smith, Gayle, Sarwan, Samuels, DS Smith, Sarwan, Gayle, Samuels, Edwards, Gayle, DS Smith, Ramdin, Lara, Powell, Kemp

SuperTest: 2
WIN 1: 6
WIN 2: 5
WIN 3: 7
RSA 1: 6

Well look, yes, you do get tired after bowling 30 odd overs in a day. And there are times when even Warne can't take a wicket. However, he has been taking wickets of late. Even at the WACA, he still took 6.

I can't see how another 5 Tests and seven thousand ODI games against this South African team this summer will make our bowlers slack.

The last ODI matches were against NZ, where they pretty much chucked whoever in, so you won't see a "solidified" attack until the VB Series in January or later.

Expect McGrath, Lee and Bracken as strike bowlers and cameos from Stuart Clark and Mick Lewis. Expect Watson or Tait to show up depending on fitness.

Personally I'd like to see Dan Cullen give his Cricket Australia contract a warm up and Aussie1st is pretty keen on Beau Casson.

Don't discount old favourites Gillespie and Kasprowicz either, a couple of injuries would put them right back in the mix.

3 youthful quicks up the top of the Pura Cup stats this season are WA's 28 year old Brett Dorey, the Vics' 26 year old Allan Wise and SA's 24 year old Paul Rofe. I would expect an immediate call up, but they ought to be names considered in the next 2 years.

Beautiful summary thanks for that, I agree Dizzy will be back and possibly Kasper, Dorey would be the next pace choice whislt cullen or casson will be the next spin, And as our bowling attack being 'slack' thats a stupid comment and team can go for the draw and get it agaisnt aus, They dont find winning as easy..

 

[rahulk666]

Whatever the hardcore Aussie fans say, gone are the days when Australia steamrolled the opposition team. We are no more seeing 3 day, innings victory for Australia in tests anymore. They are still No. 1 team in the world both Tests and ODIs but their dominance is surely diminishing. I was surprised to see so many Aussie sports journalists asking for Ponting's head for not declaring early in first Test. It was as if Australia lost the second Ashes series in the same year! I think the selectors and the sports journalists are foreseeing the end of Aussie dominance in coming years and just can't digest it.

 

[Gibbsrules]

Did you hear the one commentator when De Villiers hit warnes ball up in the air and McGrath was after it,He was going" come on Glenn!" ,thats absolute bs,commentators are meant to act neutral!And someone please tell Ian Chappel to shut the f#*k up,coz he always has something bad to say about our players,no matter what position we're in.

Anyways,Herschelle is looking good,I hope he goes on to score a big score,him and Kallis could do some damage.

 

[rahulk666]

Anyways,Herschelle is looking good,I hope he goes on to score a big score,him and Kallis could do some damage.

I think SA will lose 2-3 wkts before lunch. Lee will get 1-2 wkts in morning session. I don't anticipate SA scoring more than 300-320 runs.

 

[Sando]

I attended day two and apart from Hussey's knock it was one of the more boring days of Test match cricket I've ever attended. Probably over half of SAF boundaries came from edges. Lee and Symonds bowled well I thought, both producing a number of edges/plays and misses.

As it stands though South Africa are in a reasonably strong position at 2/160 odd given they bat with strength down to nine. However, you'd reckon they would need a decent lead to win this match, surely this horrid drop in pitch will see a great deal of turn and variable bounce on the final day.

 

[ajay2k5]

SAF will win, Australia Inability to take wickets of late will cost them I think.

 

[rahulk666]

I attended day two and apart from Hussey's knock it was one of the more boring days of Test match cricket I've ever attended. Probably over half of SAF boundaries came from edges. Lee and Symonds bowled well I thought, both producing a number of edges/plays and misses.

As it stands though South Africa are in a reasonably strong position at 2/160 odd given they bat with strength down to nine. However, you'd reckon they would need a decent lead to win this match, surely this horrid drop in pitch will see a great deal of turn and variable bounce on the final day.

Its the runs that count in the end. Years down the lane, noone will remember that Devilliers had lot of edges... only fact remaining will be that he scored 60 runs (may not be exact)...
If you look at most of hundreds scored by S. Waugh you will see that they were all ugly... In fact, Steve Waugh himself said that he can score ugly hundreds... as opposed to his younger brother's 50's which are whole lot enjoyable and exquisite...
SA reminds me of another SA (San Antonio Spurs). People call the spurs team the most boring in the league but the important thing is that they win in the end.

 

[adthomp]

god Ian chappell i wish he would shut up all he dis is criticize the entire time hes on every time!! then start talking about when he played and what he did blahblah everything he says is criticism