***Official*** South Africa In Australia

[Craig]

Doug Walters called for the selection of Phillip Hughes for Matthew Hayden for Melbourne in todays paper. I say no chance.

 

[Burgey]

Good place to die then?

We played cricket there once - our high school side hammered Blue Mountain College in the Gillette Cup. The whole school was given the afternoon off to watch the match ("oooh, dang those townies have come in their new-fangled van-contraption") and one of our fielders on the boundary had the displeasure of hearing one 13-year-old tell his chums how he had got a "stiffy" the night before.

Truly cricket its a great leveller....

 

[TT Boy]

A lot of piss poor shots from the Aussies and a dream spell from Mitch led to all those wickets falling otherwise there wasn't much in the wicket.

Anyways this has to be one of my worst moments as an Aussie fan, but kudos to the Proteas and all credit to them for a job well done, but still feeling pretty down atm.

Support India then...

 

[TT Boy]

Well AB De Villiers is awesome. Now we know. Match-winner in the field, match-winner with the bat.

Know what? Headingley and Chennai already proved that.
Faced better bowling there as well, not a one man (Brett Lee good for ten overs) attack.

 

[Redbacks]

Rate the players 0-10:

Hayden - 4
Katich - 7
Ponting - 6
Hussey - 4
Clarke - 7
Symonds - 6.5
Haddin - 7.5 (lost marks for a few byes)
Lee - 7
Krejza - 6 (Batted very well)
Johnson - 9
Siddle - 5

McKenzie - 4
Smith - 9
Amla - 7.5
Kallis - 7.5
DeVilliers - 9
Duminy - 7.5
Boucher - 6
Morkel - 6
Harris - 7
Steyn - 6.5
Ntini - 7


too tough or soft?

 

[Craig]

Support India then...

Gold!

You must be feeling quite happy about this?

 

[pup11]

"For him [Johnson] to take 11 wickets in the match and to lose means you've had a fair few passengers in your team".

Do you think Punter had anyone in mind when he said that?

I know he would be pretty pissed about losing a game like this one but such comments are uncalled for, this is the time for the team to show unity rather than point fingers openly at each other, the senior players have let the team down in this game, and its been the less experienced blokes like Katich, Clarke, Haddin, Symonds and Johnson that have been carrying the team on their shoulders, i guess he was targetting the bowlers Siddle, Krejza and Lee when he said this, or it may have been something precisely meant for Lee considering they both haven't really been on the same page since the Mohali test.

 

[popepouri]

Hayden - 4
Katich - 7
Ponting - 5
Hussey - 3
Clarke - 6
Symonds - 7
Haddin - 8
Lee - 6
Krejza - 2
Johnson - 10
Siddle - 2

McKenzie - 3
Smith - 9
Amla - 7
Kallis - 7
DeVilliers - 10
Duminy - 8
Boucher - 6
Morkel - 6
Harris - 7
Steyn - 6
Ntini - 7

 

[Burgey]

Support India then...

He said he feels down, not suicidal

 

[pup11]

Support India then...

Nah mate i would stick with Australia, its not in my nature to jump a sinking ship....

 

[howardj]

My strong mail is that there will be no spinner in the final XI in Melbourne. Symonds will pick up the slack in this regard.

This will be the team, and you read it here first.

Hayden
Katich
Ponting
Hussey
Clarke
Symonds
Watson
Haddin
Lee
Johnson
Hilfenhaus

 

[TT Boy]

Two hundreds from Krejza, impressive.

 

[vic_orthdox]

Didn't think Siddle bowled all that badly outside of his spell last night. Never looked threatening though.

 

[TT Boy]

Gold!

You must be feeling quite happy about this?

Yeah, ****ing over the moon. I had my G/F not move from her seat for almost two hours whilst AB and JP were batting. She didn't have a clue what was going on, or what she was seeing. She took a fancy to Shane Watson though (we have the same piss poor highlights and blue eyes)!

 

[Burgey]

I know he would be pretty pissed about losing a game like this one but such comments are uncalled for, this is the time for the team to show unity rather than point fingers openly at each other, the senior players have let the team down in this game, and its been the less experienced blokes like Katich, Clarke, Haddin, Symonds and Johnson that have been carrying the team on their shoulders, i guess he was targetting the bowlers Siddle, Krejza and Lee when he said this, or it may have been something precisely meant for Lee considering they both haven't really been on the same page since the Mohali test.

All the more reason why the senior players should be able to take a tongue-lashing from the skipper.

Of course he should be critical of his team. That was a shocker from Australia, worse than anything in India IMO. Sure the wicket was flat, but he top order was under pressure both innings, and was dug out of a hole by the middle and lower order. A shed load of their dismissals were gifted to the opposition - cf: Clarke, Symonds x2, Ponting 2nd dig, even Katich 1st dig - hit on the full by a shin high full bunger when 80 not out ffs.

Then the bowling - Johnson was magnificient, Lee bowled two good spells only, Siddle not even half that, Krezja looked capable in the 1st innings, but bizarrely less so in the second.

It's piss poor, and he should tell them, and tell them publicly. In fact, were they flying back to Sydney tonight instead of to Melbourne, I think I'd pop out to Mascot and tell them myself. They were ****. After Johnson dug them out of a hole, the least the batsmen could do was completely bat SA out of it - only Haddin saved the day 2nd dig.

As for Ponting himself, he should stop working on telling us about how great the Sudanese Multi-vitamin Yak Poo (or whatever they are) tablets are, and start working on the techniques of his so called batsmen.

 

[pup11]

I think such sentiment is really only gifted to guys wth plenty of interest in the bank. Siddle shouldn't play in Melbourne, on form. Thought he was much better today, though.

I think the selectors might just do the opposite and show faith in the same XI for the boxing day test, but if Australia end up losing this test series, then maybe a lot of heads could roll and Ponting' captaincy might too come under the scanner.

 

[Burgey]

Two hundreds from Krejza, impressive.

First player in the history of tests to concede 100 in his first four innings as a bowler.

Well done him.

 

[Uppercut]

Know what? Headingley and Chennai already proved that.
Faced better bowling there as well, not a one man (Brett Lee good for ten overs) attack.

Tbf, they had a feeling over here when he first turned pro for a ****ty little cricket club in the back-arse of nowhere. When he scored something ridiculous (130 off 50 balls or the like) in his first ever match they thought he might be a bit too good for them, and he duly headed back to South Africa in good time.

This is absolute confirmation though. We knew he was excellent, but a 5th day 100 to win away to Australia is something else. And those catches...

 

[TT Boy]

Hayden - 4
Katich - 7
Ponting - 6
Hussey - 4
Clarke - 7
Symonds - 6.5
Haddin - 7.5 (lost marks for a few byes)
Lee - 7
Krejza - 6 (Batted very well)
Johnson - 9
Siddle - 5

McKenzie - 4
Smith - 9
Amla - 7.5
Kallis - 7.5
DeVilliers - 9
Duminy - 7.5
Boucher - 6
Morkel - 6
Harris - 7
Steyn - 6.5
Ntini - 7


too tough or soft?

Soft.

For me - Harris an 8, got big wickets and did his job. Steyn a 5.5. Ntini an 8. McKenzie a 1 for seeing off the new ball. Kallis an 8, pie chucker first innings but two important knocks where he still looked like **** and a top bowling performance second dig, produced a beaut to get Katich.

As for Australia

Hayden 1 - Did nothing
Clarke 6 - Brain fart twice and never looked in.
Krejza 4 - Looks a talent with the bat...

 

[biased indian]

good game and ya i am happy very very happy ..and hope they can finish this off in melbourne with amla scoring a hundred ...so that i can give craig the MJ