***Official*** Australia in South Africa

[Rant0r]

yeah i thought it would be weird bringing someone from outside of the team to captain, although i thought boucher would have been first choice seeing how he has been captaining when smith was off the field, having said that prince IS the official vice captain

 

[TT Boy]

Apparently Kallis is captain now and Prince is being allowed to just concentrate on his batting.

Kallis to captain South Africa Cricket - News - Yahoo!7 Sport

That’s farcical from the selectors/CSA.

I also see Graeme Smith and Mickey Arthur are not happy that Neil Mac and Morne Morkel have been dropped but I’m not sure both men can have any real complaints.

Prince apparently was favoured by Arthur for the test series over JP but Mike Procter wanted Duminy in. Prince subsequently appeared on a TV cricket show and didn’t much like that decision. Prince also has sour relationship with the board after he made it clear he didn't like what was going on with selection and POC's.

 

[Rant0r]

seeing how prince benefitted from being a quota system selection in the first place and has had countless opportunities and aquitted himself well, i'm sure he can deal with the fact that someone might actually be better than him

need i say jp > prince

seriously where else would you shoehorn him into that middle order ?

 

[TT Boy]

Maybe they were? Who'd want to be captain right now anyway? Besides, they have less incentive, already in the side. This is Prince's ticket back in, he'd have been nuts not to jump at it.

I think if Hashim and AB were asked, they would have taken it. Bit of a poison chalice and your likely to be on a hiding for nothing but it’s not everyday you get to captain your country and both players have expressed a want for the job in the past.

 

[Rant0r]

i'd leave Hashim and AB to do their thing for a little longer, boucher or kallis was the choice for me

 

[Prince EWS]

seeing how prince benefitted from being a quota system selection in the first place and has had countless opportunities and aquitted himself well, i'm sure he can deal with the fact that someone might actually be better than him

need i say jp > prince

seriously where else would you shoehorn him into that middle order ?

I've never, at any stage, believed Amla was better than Prince. Amla certainly didn't deserve to get dropped as he has improved out of sight in the last year or so and looked really good in his last few series, but the same thing can be said of Prince and he's done it for longer. I definitely would've had Prince in for Amla as far as the middle order goes and then considered putting Amla back in to open ahead of McKenzie.

 

[TT Boy]

seeing how prince benefitted from being a quota system selection in the first place and has had countless opportunities and aquitted himself well, i'm sure he can deal with the fact that someone might actually be better than him

need i say jp > prince

seriously where else would you shoehorn him into that middle order ?

You can’t unless AB gets the glove, Amla opens with Smith or you drop JP.

And you can't blame the selectors for sticking with Duminy after the Australian series but Neil Mac could have been given the axe after Aus and the selectors could have then said to Prince, if you want back in, open. If not, then wait until someone in the middle order fails (minus Kallis of course).

It’s a nice headache to have but when you’re losing and your middle order is still doing ok (AB is scoring runs, Duminy played well first innings in Durban) then it becomes difficult because the reasons why South Africa has lost the test series, is that they bowled ****, openers have disappointed and experienced players have not done good enough. It isn't because Ashwell Prince is not out in the middle fighting it out.

 

[Rant0r]

amla looked ok as an opener actually, surprised that hasn't come up

amla opening, kallis 3, ab 4, prince 5 jp 6

if i was amla i'd be kicking myself personally, he's looked really good against the best team in the world, and made 4 50's, no big hundreds and an average of 40 in the last 5 tests, bit like kallis as well, looked really good, then found a way to get out

 

[Rant0r]

i wouldn't give ab the gloves either, i wouldnt want his form to be affected by anything, at times he's been awesome, his days of being mr fix it should be over.

and i haven't seen a lot of his keeping, looked tidy in the one dayers, certainly not a boucher, but abc reports from the tour game at the start of the australian tour had him as 'shoddy' at best.

probably no worse than haddin.

give credit to the australian bowler, they were awesome, i'm happy to see johnson taking wickets now with good deliveries rather than wide pies

 

[Top_Cat]

To be honest, SA's problems don't stem in their batting. I know they've got low totals but it's been in response to decent 1st innnings scores by the Aussies. The bowling has been pretty ordinary at times in quite friendly conditions and conceding those big totals will always put pressure on the batting, especially since the Aussies have bowled quite well.

 

[Nate]

Australian ODI and T20 Squads Named

Laughin the biggest selection there. Hauritz gets a gig despite Heal being named in the All-Star Domestic Side yesterday. Hughes not in either squad. Harwood gets another chance in 20/20. Warner also in as a 20/20 specialist. Siddle and Hilf rested, thought you have to wonder if Hilf is being rested or 'rested'. Five million other things to comment on.

 

[Prince EWS]

Never really rated Harwood that highly, but he certainly deserves another chance based on his performances in the last three seasons - particularly the last two. He's been the one quick to really stand up in consecutive FRC seasons. He bowls pretty well on flat surfaces so I don't mind the pick.

EDIT: Seems Harwood's only actually in for the Twenty20 games anyway.

Laughlin's the selection that I really have a gripe with. He had a good season but it was just one good season and despite having good overall figures, he never really impressed me. I reckon he'll get absolutely belted.

 

[Nate]

EDIT: Seems Harwood's only actually in for the Twenty20 games anyway.

Will re-word.

 

[Prince EWS]

Will re-word.

Yeah not your fault, I've got into a habit of reacting to posts, typing replies and then reading the article links, which has made me look silly more than once now.

 

[Nate]

Typical pattat0 rant, but I really can't believe Hauritz got picked. Averaged 40 with the ball in OD Cricket and did not even play a 20/20 during this season. Ridiculous.

 

[oldmancraigy]

Five million other things to comment on.

Too true!

Did I read the article incorrectly, or did Hilditch say that Siddle and Hilf will have played 3 consecutive test matches in SAf? So pretty clear Doeg took another tour just for the fun of it!

Ben Laughlin I'm not so sure...
But at least we needed something different in the bowling department - what we had in Aus didn't trouble the batting lineup terribly much.

I would've loved to have seen Heal over Hauritz - Heal was the leading wicket taker amongst spinners in the competition this summer, and bowled reasonably well.

No North is mystefying - David Hussey should consider himself lucky.


Dan Christian was maybe a bit unlucky? Averaged 30 with the bat (SR 99) and bowled pretty well, taking 10 wickets in only 7 games.
I guess he'd be seen as a complete bolter!

 

[Ausage]

Am I right in assuming that Marsh is still injured? He looked pretty good in the Aussie ODIs. I guess Haddin and Clarke will be opening. Very much looking forward to watching Ferguson bat again, although he's gotten a few average scores for SA recently.

Would have liked to see Johnson given a rest. Having said that he was pretty poor when coming back to the ODI side after a few weeks off in Aus, so maybe we don't want to mess with him when he's on a good thing.

EDIT: Never mind on Marsh, actually read the article Hopefully back by Pakistan.

 

[oldmancraigy]

Am I right in assuming that Marsh is still injured? He looked pretty good in the Aussie ODIs. I guess Haddin and Clarke will be opening. Very much looking forward to watching Ferguson bat again, although he's gotten a few average scores for SA recently.

Would have liked to see Johnson given a rest. Having said that he was pretty poor when coming back to the ODI side after a few weeks off in Aus, so maybe we don't want to mess with him when he's on a good thing.

EDIT: Never mind on Marsh, actually read the article Hopefully back by Pakistan.

Yeah - they kind of said he wasn't injured but should rest up to make sure he's 100%.

To be frank, I hope Haddin/ Clarke open really well and the selectors conviniently forget about Marsh. He's just not good enough (despite the runs that he made in the summer here).
When it comes down to it, I'd rather have Ferguson in the middle order than Marsh opening (Clarke would drop down I'd assume and Callum would be left out?).

 

[pasag]

Can we rest Hilfenhaus from the Ashes as well?

 

[Nate]

Haha, will never understand the Darsh hate. He's averaging 44 in ODI Cricket for crying out loud.