***Official*** South Africa In Australia

[Prince EWS]

Seriously minus some outswing McDonald looks like a very pedestrian bowler at the test level, i mean even Mike Hussey can bowl what he is bowling atm with Haddin upto the stumps.

Not really. Hussey bowls a little bit slower but more importantly, he's not anywhere near as accurate.

As I said before the Test match, McDonald's pretty obviously not a long-term Test standard player but he's not awful either and he could do a job for a game or so. I wouldn't have picked him but he's a good First Class cricketer and has been getting some unfair criticism. As has been said, too, he's a genuine swing bowler which for some reason hasn't manifested in this match.

 

[Ikki]

He must be doing something right though, he has been phenominally stingy giving runs away.

 

[Prince EWS]

He must be doing something right though, he has been phenominally stingy giving runs away.

Yeah, he's bowling an excellent line and length at a decent pace, threatening to move the ball ocassionally. It might not be particuarly exciting or even potent bowling but it's certainly not easy to score off unless the batsman wants to take a risk.

 

[howardj]

Hard to see SA winning tomorrow, although it's very possible that they'll hang on for a draw. Man the pitches, both in India and at home here against SA, have all looked like they would deteriorate, but have held up remarkably well from day 3 onwards.

 

[Ernest]

South Africa good odds now..

If I was a mad betting man the saffies would look like a good bet..

It's a very inexperienced bowling line up, mediocre spin attack, and the saffies deserve that number one spot.

I'd say it's 50/50 at this stage either a win for the saffies or a draw.. can't see them not being able to easily play the likes of Siddle & Hauritz away easily if they get into trouble..

I mean the one wicket to fall is a tail ender and the other "wicket" is due to an injury. The situation looks better for Australia than it really is. I'm sure that Punter will be having a few flutters tonight.. imagine that.. the only Australia captain in over 100 years to be white-washed at home? Priceless.

Mr Bollinger looks like a great prospect though.. sharp, accurate and I've got a constant party story about how Dougy busted 2 of my teeth with a beamer..

 

[susudear]

Not my duplicate

If I was a mad betting man the saffies would look like a good bet..

It's a very inexperienced bowling line up, mediocre spin attack, and the saffies deserve that number one spot.

I'd say it's 50/50 at this stage either a win for the saffies or a draw.. can't see them not being able to easily play the likes of Siddle & Hauritz away easily if they get into trouble..

I mean the one wicket to fall is a tail ender and the other "wicket" is due to an injury. The situation looks better for Australia than it really is. I'm sure that Punter will be having a few flutters tonight.. imagine that.. the only Australia captain in over 100 years to be white-washed at home? Priceless.

Mr Bollinger looks like a great prospect though.. sharp, accurate and I've got a constant party story about how Dougy busted 2 of my teeth with a beamer..

Ernest is not my duplicate account. I repeat, Ernest is NOT my duplicate account.

 

[inbox24]

Ernest is not my duplicate account. I repeat, Ernest is NOT my duplicate account.

That was quite an earnest reply.

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

Mr Bollinger looks like a great prospect though.. sharp, accurate and I've got a constant party story about how Dougy busted 2 of my teeth with a beamer..

I expect Ricky Ponting will want to shake his [Bollinger's] hand when he hears about this!!

 

[Ernest]

No-ones duplicate

McKenzie looked far more secure than I've seen him all series during the final session. Maybe the extra confidence given by the temporary captaincy helped..

He was a revelation against England.. and they've got a better attack than we do at the moment. It would be better for South Africa to stick with an established (and world beating) opening partnership going forward than promote say Prince or Amla to open and the muck around with the middle order..

I hope he gets stuck in and plays a real captains knock tomorrow.. and Amla is due to kick on as well given that he's made starts and never hit 3 figures.. he should be better than that against this bog-average attack.

 

[Ernest]

I expect Ricky Ponting will want to shake his hand when he hears about this!!

I wish he'd bowl the same ball at Punter in the nets..

 

[howardj]

Have to say, even before what will hopefully be a thrilling denouement tomorrow, this has been a cracking series. The ebbs and flows, the cut and thrust, has been fantastic. It's been played in seemingly an excellent spirit too. Fair play to Smith (particularly for not dancing on our grave after Melbourne) who has lead the way on this front.

 

[Ernest]

That was quite an earnest reply.

The name is from my favourite cricketer.. probably the best batsman of the golden age..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Tyldesley

 

[Ernest]

Have to say, even before what will hopefully be a thrilling denouement tomorrow, this has been a cracking series. The ebbs and flows, the cut and thrust, has been fantastic. It's been played in seemingly an excellent spirit too. Fair play to Smith (particularly for not dancing on our grave after Melbourne) who has lead the way on this front.

And even better to hear that the Australian public in general has been good to the saffies.. Smith even made a point about it today in an interview on Channel 9

 

[wpdavid]

If I was a mad betting man the saffies would look like a good bet..

It's a very inexperienced bowling line up, mediocre spin attack, and the saffies deserve that number one spot.


I mean the one wicket to fall is a tail ender and the other "wicket" is due to an injury. The situation looks better for Australia than it really is. I'm sure that Punter will be having a few flutters tonight.. imagine that.. the only Australia captain in over 100 years to be white-washed at home? Priceless.

That's how I see it. As I said earlier, there's no pressure on the Saffers really, whereas the prospect of a whitewash at home must be pretty unpalatable for Ponting & co.

Interesting comment from Arthur about initially playing for the draw and then having a dart after tea if they have wickets in hand. I take that with a huge pinch of salt, tbh. Surely they'll play normally, unless they want to dig themselves into a right old hole.

 

[Craig]

Playing for a draw simply does not work (well not often anyway). Look at England in Adelaide 2006, they tried to bat out a day and they quite rightly lost.

If South Africa bat for a draw (or their sole purpose), the series will end 2-1 IMO.

 

[Uppercut]

DWTA. The moral of the Adelaide story was not "don't bat for a draw" but "don't bat like ****". Check out the cricinfo transcript of the wickets that fell if you don't remember: http://content-www.cricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/249223.html?innings=3;type=wickets;view=commentary. Almost all the batsmen were out playing an attacking shot of some sort.

 

[Prince EWS]

DWTA. The moral of the Adelaide story was not "don't bat for a draw" but "don't bat like ****". Check out the cricinfo transcript of the wickets that fell if you don't remember: http://content-www.cricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/249223.html?innings=3;type=wickets;view=commentary. Almost all the batsmen were out playing an attacking shot of some sort.

Yeah, Adelaide 2006 is often used as a example of why playing negative cricket isn't a good idea but I generally don't agree with the logic. England didn't lose because they were trying to bat out a draw; they lost because they had no real batting plan and didn't know how to bat out a draw. It's a skill in itself - you have to keep your footwork as positive as possible whilst reigning in strokeplay which isn't as easy as it sounds.

 

[Craig]

DWTA. The moral of the Adelaide story was not "don't bat for a draw" but "don't bat like ****". Check out the cricinfo transcript of the wickets that fell if you don't remember: http://content-www.cricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/249223.html?innings=3;type=wickets;view=commentary. Almost all the batsmen were out playing an attacking shot of some sort.

And you look at the balls faced as well, they had been tied down enough to be forced into playing an attacking shot. Well I presume that was the case as I had to work that day and I missed most of the action until the end of the day. Collingwood was 22* off 119 balls faced.

 

[Uppercut]

And you look at the balls faced as well, they had been tied down enough to be forced into playing an attacking shot. Well I presume that was the case as I had to work that day and I missed most of the action until the end of the day. Collingwood was 22* off 119 balls faced.

You can't be "forced" into playing an attacking shot. What a ridiculous concept. They played attacking shots of their own free will and got out playing them. If they hadn't played those shots they might well have got the draw they were looking for.

 

[Craig]

Yeah, Adelaide 2006 is often used as a example of why playing negative cricket isn't a good idea but I generally don't agree with the logic. England didn't lose because they were trying to bat out a draw; they lost because they had no real batting plan and didn't know how to bat out a draw. It's a skill in itself - you have to keep your footwork as positive as possible whilst reigning in strokeplay which isn't as easy as it sounds.

If you don't have the skill, why not just how you would normally bat. Look for singles, twos and threes, punish the bad bowling and keep out the good balls either by leaving or blocking.