***Official*** South Africa In Australia

[anoop4real]

I do feel that India can now kickout Australia and get into the first position. MSD has made India to work as a real spirited team........ anyway SA has finally came out from the jynx of loosing games after getting closer to the victory....... things will become more clear once SA plays against India sometime.......

 

[sirdj]

He didn't exclude himself from the comments, and mentioned the batsmen.

Despite his scores in this match, I think he's still a batsman....

Yes but I am sure the passengers comment does not include himself does it? Will he be brave enough to drop himself?
In no match will you get all your batsmen performing, else your score would be 600plus. If you want to truthfully examine why Australia lost is because set batsmen threw their wickets away(Symonds & Haddin) when they could have kept their heads and set SA 450-500 to score.
And Ponting's captaincy was just ordinary........he could have dried up the runs if he felt the wickets were not falling. Or is going for a draw never an option for Australia??

 

[Craig]

Ryan Harris for the Test team? You know I would not put it past the Australian selectors to do so.

 

[honestbharani]

I had a chuckle when I saw it too.

lol.. I almost get the feeling that the only reason he rates India is because we play the style of cricket that he likes, rather than anything more logical..



That said, RSA do indeed lack the balance in bowling and a bit of firepower in batting. At the same time, they have the sort of ruthlessness and consistency that seems to be evading India all the time..


Fascinating times ahead as these two keep challenging Australia for the #1 spot...

 

[howardj]

Ryan Harris for the Test team? You know I would not put it past the Australian selectors to do so.

Mate, Merv is on the panel - so neither would I.

See Cameron White selection.

 

[Burgey]

Yes but I am sure the passengers comment does not include himself does it? Will he be brave enough to drop himself?
In no match will you get all your batsmen performing, else your score would be 600plus. If you want to truthfully examine why Australia lost is because set batsmen threw their wickets away(Symonds & Haddin) when they could have kept their heads and set SA 450-500 to score.
And Ponting's captaincy was just ordinary........he could have dried up the runs if he felt the wickets were not falling. Or is going for a draw never an option for Australia??

Yeah mate, he'll drop himself. Just as Smith will if he has a poor match which coincides with SA losing, or Dhoni with India, or Pietersen with England. They'll all drop themselves because the grown men who make up their teams can't cop being told they were passengers in a match by their captains.

In fact, he should have said they were all brilliant. Utterly brilliant, and despite their monumental inputs, they just got shaded.

A draw was never on the cards in this match. The outfield was lightning, the pitch was flat and the weather was set fair aside from a couple of short delays. The fault was in not batting SA out of the game. Johnson carried them, which is why they were accurately described as passengers.

 

[Craig]

Mate, Merv is on the panel - so neither would I.

See Cameron White selection.

I see your Cameron White selection and give you Stuart Clark's dropping from the Nagpur Test.

 

[vic_orthdox]

lol.. I almost get the feeling that the only reason he rates India is because we play the style of cricket that he likes, rather than anything more logical..

Hmm, also knows where his bread is buttered, too.

That said, RSA do indeed lack the balance in bowling and a bit of firepower in batting. At the same time, they have the sort of ruthlessness and consistency that seems to be evading India all the time..

See, I'm not sure about this. They have an attack that they can take everywhere, three quicks and a spinner plus Kallis. Good balance to it, all different styles of bowlers. The other bonus about it is that it is a settled attack, they know that they'll be playing the next Test match and they all have the support of their captain and selectors.

One thing that will always disturb India is that when they play outside of the subcontinent, they will generally have to drop one of Mishra or Harby, for a quick. Because of this constant rotation, it makes it difficult to be confident that you'll be there in the future, you're always playing for the next Test.

 

[pup11]

Ryan Harris for the Test team? You know I would not put it past the Australian selectors to do so.

No way, Harris is a honest hard working cricketer but he is anything but a test class bowler, there are far better quicks around in Australia as compared to him,

 

[howardj]

I see your Cameron White selection and give you Stuart Clark's dropping from the Nagpur Test.

That's the equivalent of a straight flush.

 

[Top_Cat]

I see your Cameron White selection and give you Stuart Clark's dropping from the Nagpur Test.

Eww.

 

[sirdj]

Yeah mate, he'll drop himself. Just as Smith will if he has a poor match which coincides with SA losing, or Dhoni with India, or Pietersen with England. They'll all drop themselves because the grown men who make up their teams can't cop being told they were passengers in a match by their captains.

In fact, he should have said they were all brilliant. Utterly brilliant, and despite their monumental inputs, they just got shaded.

He could have said a whole lot of things in the dressing room, but was it necessary to make it a public announcement? Its just a bit weird for me to understand.

BTW why did he not go for a draw? I mean set a 8:1 field.

 

[pup11]

Hmm, also knows where his bread is buttered, too.

See, I'm not sure about this. They have an attack that they can take everywhere, three quicks and a spinner plus Kallis. Good balance to it, all different styles of bowlers. The other bonus about it is that it is a settled attack, they know that they'll be playing the next Test match and they all have the support of their captain and selectors.

One thing that will always disturb India is that when they play outside of the subcontinent, they will generally have to drop one of Mishra or Harby, for a quick. Because of this constant rotation, it makes it difficult to be confident that you'll be there in the future, you're always playing for the next Test.

Yeah quite agree with this. and unlike India the Proteas have a batting line-up with basically no ageing batsmen excpet for Kallis, so that further gives their team a stable base to work in the future with, but having said that Indian team to has a lot of potential coming up and it would be intresting indeed to see how things shape up.

 

[Craig]

When Australia wins, they are all awesome, when they lose, they are all crap. I find that funny.

 

[Burgey]

He could have said a whole lot of things in the dressing room, but was it necessary to make it a public announcement? Its just a bit weird for me to understand.

BTW why did he not go for a draw? I mean set a 8:1 field.

Whereupon he'd be criticised for publicly backing his players when they played like mud.

Tell me, how could he play for a draw and why would he? They led by 90 odd on the first innings, and set SA over 400 to win. They had 5 sessions to get them on a placid pitch. And even if he wanted to, he didn't have the bowlers to go for a draw.

You can't seriously suggest to me that any test captain would set a team 400+ to win in over a day and a half, and have as their first thought playing for a draw?

 

[vic_orthdox]

He could have said a whole lot of things in the dressing room, but was it necessary to make it a public announcement? Its just a bit weird for me to understand.

BTW why did he not go for a draw? I mean set a 8:1 field.

Because there was still about 40 overs left in the game when it finished? South Africa needed less than 2 an over at the beginning of Day 5.

 

[howardj]

The Squad for Melbourne

Horrie and Hilfy called up.

 

[vic_orthdox]

The Squad for Melbourne

Horrie and Hilfy called up.

Looks like they're looking to use Hauritz as a Harris/Giles type option. Krezja gets so much bite for an offie, but just doesn't hit a length as often as what is required.

 

[Burgey]

The Squad for Melbourne

Horrie and Hilfy called up.

 

[sirdj]

Because there was still about 40 overs left in the game when it finished? South Africa needed less than 2 an over at the beginning of Day 5.

When Kallis and de Villiers were batting the game away he could have set a 8:1 field and restricted their run scoring. On Day 5 it was a bit to late as the horses had already bolted.