South Africa can topple Australia at top of LG ICC ODI Championship for first time

[LA ICE-E]

http://icc.cricket.org/icc-odi/content/story/280099.html
At last someones close to taking down the aussies! go SA! and NZ please beat them in the coming up series. but whats bigger winning the world cup or winning the odi shield?

 

[Matt79]

What the hell is the ODI shield?

I think that answers your question btw...

 

[Steulen]

Haha.

But seriously, I think SA really deserve to be in this position (unlike the time they actually took first place in the Test rankings, I might add).

The current SA ODI team has close to the ideal mix of strike bowlers, good back-up bowlers, solid batsmen, strokemakers and excellent fielders, much like the Australian team itself. There's not much to choose between them, imo. And they both lack a good spinner

 

[pasag]

Go Pakistan!

 

[IndianByHeart]

I have a feeling that Australians would be at the top of the gear against Kiwis, even if SA beat pak in last onedayers, i think Aus will still maintain the number one slo by beating the Kiwis before the WC.

Despite recent defeats, Australia remains firm fav's for WC.

 

[Steulen]

Not so sure about that fav tag now. Their heavy workload may have bitten them firmly in the gluteals with injuries to key players (Symonds, Ponting), running McGrath into the ground and even Mr. Cricket is looking like he feels a bit of volleyball would be nice for a change.

I'm officially going Saffies from now on.

 

[Richard]

There's not much to choose between them, imo. And they both lack a good spinner

Apart from that not really mattering too much, Hogg is at least better than Peterson-et-al.

 

[shortpitched713]

And they both lack a good spinner

Hogg is nothing if not a good spinner. Besides being a clean striker of the ball that is.

 

[Richard]

He's nothing, then?

()

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Hogg is a good ODI spinner. I don't think there can be much question of that. And he's clearly the next best option to MacGill in Tests.

Regarding South Africa's mission at hand. They don't deserve the number spot until they beat Australia more consistently. They do have a pretty good record against Australia in ODIs, but Australia is still a superior team. South Africa has a bit to do to prove otherwise.

 

[Richard]

Hogg is a good ODI spinner. I don't think there can be much question of that. And he's clearly the next best option to MacGill in Tests.

He's certainly not poor but IMO to describe him as "good" would be an exaggeration.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

He's certainly not poor but IMO to describe him as "good" would be an exaggeration.

A wrist spinner who averages 28.20 over 92 matches with an economy rate under 4.5 per over? That's pretty good.

 

[Richard]

Try taking out Bangladesh, Kenya and those four most recent games against Zimbabwe... makes quite a difference...

Then divide his record up into the 3 periods it does well when divided into...

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Try taking out Bangladesh, Kenya and that one game against Zimbabwe... makes quite a difference...

32podd average and 4.6odd economy rate. Still enough to be called "good" by ODI standards. Especially if Vettori deserves to be called a matchwinner.

 

[Richard]

Enough to be called "not the worst who's ever played". Certainly not "good".

Not a patch on Vettori, absolutely certainly.

 

[vic_orthdox]

Hmm, that wasn't the worst Zimbabwe side that he bowled against. Certainly did enough to send one through a very fine player of spin.

 

[Richard]

I do beg your pardon, I meant to refer to four matches.

Was getting the Hogg and Watson cases confused.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Enough to be called "not the worst who's ever played". Certainly not "good".

Not a patch on Vettori, absolutely certainly.

Hogg is clealry as good a spinner as Vettori. Vettori may be more economical, but he's a fingerspinner.

Take out Zimbabwe, Canada, Bangladesh and USA and Vettori averages 4 more than Hogg does against teams other than minnows. Really, how can you justify calling Vettori that good and not even calling Hogg "good"? Baffling.

 

[Richard]

Because ODIs are about economy, not wickets.

That's before you even think about the fact that Hogg's got an attack around him that, generally, just begs for him to get good figures, while Vettori often has precisely the opposite.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Because ODIs are about economy, not wickets.

That's before you even think about the fact that Hogg's got an attack around him that, generally, just begs for him to get good figures, while Vettori often has precisely the opposite.

ODIs are about both. It's safe to say that a wristspinner picked in an ODI side is picked for wickets more than economy. And an economy rate around 4.6 is hardly horrible for a wristspinner in ODI cricket. You're being extremely harsh on Hogg.