Pup Clarke
Cricketer Of The Year
Most games have been pretty boring TBH...
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Semi Finals
- Thread starter James
- Start date
Mister Wright
Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
I've never been a fan of Graeme Smith as captain. I don't know why they continue to pick Prince.
age_master
Hall of Fame Member
Very solid performance from the Aussies, hopefully the Sri Lankans will push them abit further in the final.
Push them further and beat them you mean...
TT Boy
Hall of Fame Member
South Africa might have been Mickey Mouse today but they do not make a habit of succumbing to Shane Watson. His variety of pace bowling is every South African’s wet dream, quick, lack of multiplicity, does not swing it and unlike last year seemingly does not seam it.
that will require a lot of pushing, much, much more than any team has done this tournament, including sri lanka...Push them further and beat them you mean...
Prince EWS
Global Moderator
Even though he had the second best average and third best economy rate for Australian bowlers on their last tour of South Africa?
South Africa might have been Mickey Mouse today but they do not make a habit of succumbing to Shane Watson. His variety of pace bowling is every South African’s wet dream, quick, lack of multiplicity, does not swing it and unlike last year seemingly does not seam it.
Also, It's quite hard to seam the ball on pitches that offer litttle to no seam movement.
Smudge
Hall of Fame Member
Jason,Moving onto the Finals thread .....Good bye to Semi Final thread...
I asked you a question on this thread. Please answer it.
TAB NZ or NZ TAB .. I think .
pup11
International Coach
Good and easy win for Australia and a good hit out in the middle for Clarkie, SA never looked like a team that deserved to be playing in the semi-final yesterday ( England or WI could have given Aussies tougher competition in yesterday's game compared to SA), they (SA) just don't have the mental toughness to do well in big games and the chokers tag just suits them fine.
Solid? That was one of the best performances I have seen in a long time.
Sometimes teams can get on top of better teams by being aggressive and taking initiative, and this is what South Africa tried to do. There are days when you can be aggressive and take risks, and then there are days when you just have to play the opposition on their merrits. South Africa didn't play Australia on their merrits, they tried to be aggressive and that was their downfall.
McGrath was sensational. He really is a champion who, when you think he's finished, just comes back and destroys teams. He was just impossible and he read the batsman so well he had them in knots. Kallis had every reason to believe McGrath would just do his normal length delivery, but McGrath read what he was doing and slipped in that great yorker.
Graeme Smith and Jaques Kallis would look back and cringe though. They tried to take a risk and it failed miserably and from then the game was well lost. Plays can't expect to come in after two quick wickets and not feel pressure. It obviously put SA on the backfoot and hurt them. Only Hershille Gibbs looked like he had no fear. I thought he might pull something extraordinary out, but it was not to be.
What's scary is that Gibbs was out to Tait early on so South Africa could have been 6-31. Instead Gibbs made most of SA's runs... the amazing thing is a score of 149 actually flatters South Africa. Do I think the game was a case of SA playing bad? No. Smith and Kallis took the wrong approach and that hurt SA, but McGrath was just in a mood... his delivery to Boucher said it all really.
We all know Australia often produce their best during games that matter to them, but that was a big match performance of another calibre. So many people hate Australia and don't want them to win, but one has to respect their skill and the fact they can put somethign so comprehensive together. That was an extraordinary win against what were supposed to be the second best one-day team in the world.
This does nothing for South Africa. The fact they were World No 1 for a short period means little because they haven't backed it up. Australia looked like Champions and they were just outclassed on every level. It wasn't a choke job (though some players played a few tentative shots), but was just Australia showing a far greater champion's quality.
I'm aghast they produced something that immense. It's like when the All Blacks beat France last year 49-3 - you anticipated the All Blacks might be better, but you didn't expect such a hiding. Australia were astonishing!
That being said, I expect a good final between the two teams who really have been the two best teams in the tournament. You can argue who's better between SA and Sri Lanka, but I think I now realise that for this tournament anyway, Sri Lanka have been better. The two best teams made the final, regardless how how boring this world cup has been, you can't be unhappy with that.
Mister Wright
Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
McGrath & Bracken didn't have any trouble.
http://content-aus.cricinfo.com/wc2007/content/current/story/292395.html
I think people are being a bit harsh on South Africa. Those shots Smith and Kallis played to get out were shots they play all the time. It's natural to see Smith comes down the pitch a little. Kallis less so, but he played a great shot before he went out in a similar vien. Australia applied pressure and South Africa wanted the ascendency... they didn't get it. Like I said, I think they should have played the game on it's merrits instead of trying so much, but you can't blame them for wanting to get on top of Australia early on. I know if I were playing I'd feel terrible being 0-25 after ten overs when you know what scores Australia are capable of. Prince will get criticised for his bad shot, he wanted a feeler and searched way too wide, but he was new to the crease and not ajusted yet.
They had a gameplan and it didn't work. They tried playing the way they played all tournament, that's all. Truth be told, either way with McGrath the way he played, and Tait backing up, whatever gameplan they used, Australia were just better on the day.
I think people are being a bit harsh on South Africa. Those shots Smith and Kallis played to get out were shots they play all the time. It's natural to see Smith comes down the pitch a little. Kallis less so, but he played a great shot before he went out in a similar vien. Australia applied pressure and South Africa wanted the ascendency... they didn't get it. Like I said, I think they should have played the game on it's merrits instead of trying so much, but you can't blame them for wanting to get on top of Australia early on. I know if I were playing I'd feel terrible being 0-25 after ten overs when you know what scores Australia are capable of. Prince will get criticised for his bad shot, he wanted a feeler and searched way too wide, but he was new to the crease and not ajusted yet.
They had a gameplan and it didn't work. They tried playing the way they played all tournament, that's all. Truth be told, either way with McGrath the way he played, and Tait backing up, whatever gameplan they used, Australia were just better on the day.
Prince EWS
Global Moderator
Yes they did actually. They swung the ball, yes, but I saw little to no seam movement from them.
dontcloseyoureyes
BARNES OUT
Yeah, McGrath seamed it a little early but Bracken certainly did not.
Mister Wright
Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
I did.