***Official*** Australia in South Africa

[Nate]

Be interesting to see how they rank the South Africans?

Like this?

 

[TT Boy]

Makhaya Ntini 6.5 is a bit generous, 5 tops. Albie Morkel deserves a 4, showed he could cart bowlers on a road but aside from his first spell, he bowled exceptionally poorly. Boucher a 3, he kept ok but couldn’t even score a run on one of the flattest tracks seen in South Africa in recent memory.

 

[Ausage]

Did anyone see the cricinfo ratings, how the hell did Mcgain get 2? What exactly did he do get himself 2 points??? Is 2 the lowest on the scale or something?

Pity points imo. Really you had to feel sorry for the guy.

 

[Johnners]

Be interesting to see how they rank the South Africans?

Siddle gets 12 wickets at 22 - I'd rate his bowling efforts ahead of Steyn and Harris, both of whom captured a few more wickets, but at far greater cost.

Steyn & Harris both got 8's iirc, and Siddle was every bit as good as them IMO.

 

[Briony]

Steyn & Harris both got 8's iirc, and Siddle was every bit as good as them IMO.

Steyn looked underdone but didn't have much fast bowling support with the useless Morne and Ntini largely ineffective. Siddle had Johnson injuring the batsmen and taking wickets which eased the pressure on him to just keep a nagging line and length and make it hard to score with some batsmen eventually cracking. Though he certainly had an impressive and tireless series by any standard.

Was interesting to note that the Aussie bowlers did struggle to bowl the saffas out on a flat pitch, as they did in oz but performe much better than their SA counterparts when bowling conditions were very conducive. You would have thought that the locals would be more adept at exploiting the prevailing conditions.

 

[Briony]

Makhaya Ntini 6.5 is a bit generous, 5 tops. Albie Morkel deserves a 4, showed he could cart bowlers on a road but aside from his first spell, he bowled exceptionally poorly. Boucher a 3, he kept ok but couldn’t even score a run on one of the flattest tracks seen in South Africa in recent memory.

If McGain is worth a two, presumably for not going out and leaving Johnson potentially stranded, Albertus deserves his five. His first spell was good, though he was a bit unthreatening afterwards but none of the faster bowlers really shone on the superflat deck. Steyn of course good wickets, albeit in the second innings at a cost, while Siddle stifled without breaking through. It wasn't a good place for someone to debut. Albertus's batting showed he did have a good technique and is a serious hitter even in the test arena. Sure the pitch was flat, but then if you use this against him, you can say that for anyone who made runs in the test. He has a better temperament than his brother.

I also think that Ntini deserved below 6.5. His economy rate for the series was only marginally better than the erratic Morne's. He took a few more wickets but often bowled a lot of wide innocuous stuff. His days appear to be numbered.

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

Did anyone see the cricinfo ratings, how the hell did Mcgain get 2? What exactly did he do get himself 2 points??? Is 2 the lowest on the scale or something?

1 point for turning up and another for signing autographs prior to the lunchbreak, I do believe.

NOTE TO SELF: If I ever have [another] shockingly bad game of cricket, go up to some kids on the boundary and threaten to sign their cap with a big ball-point pen to ensure I'm treated kindly in the post-match analysis.

Now which part of that to nawtee first?

 

[Briony]

But Katman was in really good touch throughout both series. In 6 tests, he scored a century and five 50s. With his 5 wickets, it's tough to leave him out of the 'combined squad'.

I would have Hughes in over Graeme Smith.
In 2 less tests, Hughes scored 18 more runs - and was 2 centuries to 1 up over Smith.

If Smith wasn't injured, I'm sure he makes the 'best XI' for the combined series, but he was, so he doesn't.

It's probably not two fewer tests Oldman because in reality Smith only played in three tests. In Sydney he retired hurt during one innings, and faced a few balls at the end with a broken paw. In Durban he only had effectively one innings of two not out and he missed Cape Town. So it's line/ball between both of these guys.

Clarke didn't do a lot. His Sydney innings was lucky because he was dropped twice along the way and he tended to perish injudiciously in the earlier tests in the Aussie leg. He only had one significant innings in SA.

 

[irfan]

Me too. David Hussey? About time IMO.


Series Result: SaF 2-0
Top SA Runscorer: Duminy
Top Aus Runscorer: Katich
Top SA Wicket-taker: Steyn
Top Aus Wicket-taker: Johnson
Player of the Series: Kallis
Surprise Packet: North
Dropped Player(s): Bollinger/Hilf, McGain
Miscellaneous Event: McGain misses the flight back. Ponting doesn't let him get on the plane

Close with Kato - 2nd highest. As expected Steyn and Johnson cleaned up on the wicket tally. North somewhat of a surprise packet with his first innings ton but any one of Hughes, Harris or Johnson would have been the better pick. McGain would have got dropped and Ponting shouldn't have let him fly back after serving up hittable dross.

 

[social]

Series Result: Aus 2-1
Top SA Runscorer: Kallis
Top Aus Runscorer: Ponting
Top SA Wicket-taker: Morkel
Top Aus Wicket-taker: Siddle
Player of the Series: Johnson
Surprise Packet: North
Dropped Player(s): Ntini, Harris, Hilfenhaus
Miscellaneous Event: Johnson to be given credit for taking wickets with decent bowling

Some good, some bad

 

[Uppercut]

Just comes down to what you value, Uppercut isn't wrong to pick Smith over Hughes.

His sweaty man-love for ABDeV is another matter entirely.

Haha, i can't seem to get away with it regarding AB. I don't even think he'd make a favourite-players XI of mine, he's just someone i rate very highly at the moment. Mishy on the other hand

 

[Inferiority]

The prospect of taking 20 genuine wickets made Australia incapable of competing with SA in this test. Their team is a one man band atm, take out Johnson and they are not such a threatening side. Australia were extremely lucky to bat first 5 times in a row.

 

[pasag]

The prospect of taking 20 genuine wickets made Australia incapable of competing with SA in this test. Their team is a one man band atm, take out Johnson and they are not such a threatening side. Australia were extremely lucky to bat first 5 times in a row.

Take Steyn out of SA and see how threatening they are.

 

[Inferiority]

Take Steyn out of SA and see how threatening they are.

Yeah but he can't bat

 

[oldmancraigy]

The prospect of taking 20 genuine wickets made Australia incapable of competing with SA in this test. Their team is a one man band atm, take out Johnson and they are not such a threatening side. Australia were extremely lucky to bat first 5 times in a row.

Meet Peter Siddle?

You know - the guy who got 12 wickets at 22 in the series?

So they're a 2 man band.

Which is still not great - but 2 good quick bowlers is better than most teams. Now if we could just find a 3rd bowler who can take wickets at test level... let's see, anyone who fits that bill... Oh - Lee and Clark have about 400 wickets between them! Surely one of them has something left in the tank?

 

[Inferiority]

Meet Peter Siddle?

You know - the guy who got 12 wickets at 22 in the series?

So they're a 2 man band.

Which is still not great - but 2 good quick bowlers is better than most teams. Now if we could just find a 3rd bowler who can take wickets at test level... let's see, anyone who fits that bill... Oh - Lee and Clark have about 400 wickets between them! Surely one of them has something left in the tank?

He has been very good but his contribution wouldn't have been dissimilar to Lee or Clark.

 

[Cricket_God]

The prospect of taking 20 genuine wickets made Australia incapable of competing with SA in this test. Their team is a one man band atm, take out Johnson and they are not such a threatening side. Australia were extremely lucky to bat first 5 times in a row.

I Had predicted that australia might just win this series as the pitches in south africa are
more helpful to bowlers and aussie bowling attack which struggled on flat decks which did
not seam in australia did well in southafrica as the ball seamed where else can you see johnson swing or seam the ball back into rigthhanders which makes him lethal.

 

[Cricket_God]

Meet Peter Siddle?

You know - the guy who got 12 wickets at 22 in the series?

So they're a 2 man band.

Which is still not great - but 2 good quick bowlers is better than most teams. Now if we could just find a 3rd bowler who can take wickets at test level... let's see, anyone who fits that bill... Oh - Lee and Clark have about 400 wickets between them! Surely one of them has something left in the tank?

Mate,
Pitches in southafrica suited the aussie bowlers as most of them depend on seam movement,when they again comeback to australia or some other place you will see
them struggling agian.

 

[social]

Mate,
Pitches in southafrica suited the aussie bowlers as most of them depend on seam movement,when they again comeback to australia or some other place you will see
them struggling agian.

Some other place like England?

How about New Zealand?

Anyway, all of this ignores the fact that Clark and Lee are now fit so Oz has EASILY the best pace attack in the world and would be pretty effective in most places

 

[Son Of Coco]

I Had predicted that australia might just win this series as the pitches in south africa are
more helpful to bowlers and aussie bowling attack which struggled on flat decks which did
not seam in australia did well in southafrica as the ball seamed where else can you see johnson swing or seam the ball back into rigthhanders which makes him lethal.

So...the Aussie bowlers got better on seaming wickets in South Africa, but the South African bowlers got worse? Brilliant!