Cricket_God
U19 Cricketer
southafrica will struggle to get 250 ,i can bet on it.
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***Official*** South Africa In Australia
- Thread starter grapedo
- Start date
vic_orthdox
Global Moderator
I think people are overplaying the flatness of this deck. Good for batting once you get in, somewhat tough to get in on due to the bounce. Not traditional WACA fare, but it's pretty easy to lose wickets in bundles. This is what used to be termed as a "good" wicket.
Australia really had to have someone go on and make a 100, reckon 380 is about par. Really top day of Test cricket.
Australia really had to have someone go on and make a 100, reckon 380 is about par. Really top day of Test cricket.
Uppercut
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It's funny- to look at the way the pitch has played i'd say you're spot on- that every Australian since the first hour had got "in" to some extent and then got out again. I'd call it a good wicket and i mean good for the game rather than good for the batsmen. But in the first innings Australia needed 400-420 if they wanted to avoid having to rely on their bowlers IMO.
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Oh their seam positions are generally very good, not arguing there.
Matt79
Hall of Fame Member
350 is less that Australia would have liked, but more than they would have hoped for at 3/15. They'd like more runs on this pitch, against this batting line up, but its a substantial amount of runs that are now of the board. Runs on the board are always worth more than theoretical runs that teams should be able to score - South Africa will now have to bat very well to win the match.
Match is evenly poised at the moment I'd say, noting as I did before that until we've seen how the Aussies bowl, and the South Africans bat, we can't objectively judge this performance.
Match is evenly poised at the moment I'd say, noting as I did before that until we've seen how the Aussies bowl, and the South Africans bat, we can't objectively judge this performance.
Precambrian
Banned
Just got out of bed, Did I miss something????Looks like precambrian is drunk so he must have forgotten to give us his daily update
Loving this partnership btw.
SA gave atleast 50 runs extra. Australia after being down 3 wickets for 15, can consider themselves at an advantage.
BTW, Ponting averaging below 57 since Dec 2005.
four_or_six
Cricketer Of The Year
It is interesting that it is the 'undroppables' of Hayden, Ponting and Hussey (that one's unfair, I know) who are over 20 runs down on their career averages since India, ie.over the last 7 tests.
vic_orthdox
Global Moderator
How'd they give away 50 runs extra? Weren't any dropped catches or poor umpiring decisions.
They bowled very well on a good batting pitch, and those that got in batted well before erring. 9/340 = an awesome day of Test match cricket.
Precambrian
Banned
No denying that it's been almost a perfect cricketing day for Aussie fans, SA fans as well as for neutrals.
However SA might feel disappointed a bit after reducing them. to 3 down for 15.
Anyways, expecting this to be a cracker of a match. Couldn't be better times for Test Cricket.
pasag
RTDAS
Yeah it's enough to work with if the bowlers come to the party. Big if though.
Precambrian
Banned
How did Steyn bowl today? Stats say he went at almost 4 per over.
Lambu
U19 Debutant
He was pretty ineffective.As suspected, he got carted in the absence of swing.
Top_Cat
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Don't know if that had a lot to do with it. Bit hard to swing the ball when you're pitching it half-way all day.
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Eh? You may as well say that South Africa have taken nine first-innings wickets, and wickets already taken are worth more than theoretical wickets that Australia should be able to take- Australia will now have to bowl very well to win the match.
Matt79
Hall of Fame Member
Funny things often happen when teams are chasing/replying. Rather than starting with a clean sheet, a team batting second knows they need to score X amount of runs before they are ahead in the match - it changes the psychology of a team chasing.
In almost any match, a score of 300+ in the first innings puts the team that batted first in with a decent shout. That isn't to say that going on to win doesn't rely on your bowlers performing well - after all bowlers win matches - but that on all but the worst of roads, 300+ should be enough runs for the bowlers to work with if they bowl well.
In the significant majority of matches a team will lose all ten first innings wickets. Only in some of those games however do you post a score that you'd be satisfied with. The Aussies, if not super pleased with 350, will be satisfied.
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Precambrian
Banned
Bit of worrying stat about Ponting:
In 2008, he's been dismissed 22 times.
Out of this he's been lbw 5 times
Bowled 4 times
Caught at slips 7 times (out of total 12 caught)
1 run out
That caught at slips, plus the higher number of lbw+bowleds is what should be worrying him.
In 2008, he's been dismissed 22 times.
Out of this he's been lbw 5 times
Bowled 4 times
Caught at slips 7 times (out of total 12 caught)
1 run out
That caught at slips, plus the higher number of lbw+bowleds is what should be worrying him.
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This SA team have a great record chasing though, so the effect on their psychology seems to be pretty positive. I'd back them to score more batting second on this pitch chasing 350 than they would have had they batted first, when they've had a strangely poor time this year.
Hmm, well with the absence of Clark i'd have to say i'd think the match-defining performances more likely to come from the Australian batsmen, and they haven't. 350 is a reasonable score- it's not like they're out of it- but i'd be pretty surprised if SA don't get there, they'll have to bat badly not to. Par for me would have been 400-420.
pup11
International Coach
He started doing that once he saw that the ball wasn't swinging for him even when he pitched it up, then he started having problems with the shape of the ball and wasn't very happy when the umpire didn't change the ball (and rightly so), therefore he just started banging it in short, all this was pretty much on the expected lines as minus swing Steyn effectiveness is pretty minimal.
As far as the state of the game is concerned, 9/341 isn't exactly a great 1st day score for Australia, although the fortunes for the sides kept on fluctuating throughout the day, but considering the fact that the WACA pitch gets better to bat on day 2 and 3 South Africa could really make the inexperienced Aussie bowling toil hard if they bat with better application then what the Aussie batsmen showed, and therefore a poor first innings batting performance could really hurt Australia' chances in this match as the game progresses.
popepouri
State Vice-Captain
To be fair, the pitch looks perfect for batting. This imaginary swing that the commentators were looking for isn't there and the bounce is consistent. So 350 may look good but I don't think 500+ is out of the question for SA if the Aussies bowl poorly.
That's another thing, the SA bowling was good and the first 3 wickets were down to exceptional line and length. After things settled down, it looked like the Aussies got themselves out in the end. All this suggests that the pitch is good.
I gotta say, the series is shaping up nicely. Both sides look like they're canceling each other out and it makes for enthralling test match viewing.
That's another thing, the SA bowling was good and the first 3 wickets were down to exceptional line and length. After things settled down, it looked like the Aussies got themselves out in the end. All this suggests that the pitch is good.
I gotta say, the series is shaping up nicely. Both sides look like they're canceling each other out and it makes for enthralling test match viewing.
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