***Official*** Australia in South Africa

[Spark]

Three weeks out. Might as well.

===

Thu Oct 13
16:00 GMT | 18:00 local
1st T20I - South Africa v Australia
Newlands, Cape Town

Sun Oct 16
12:30 GMT | 14:30 local
2nd T20I - South Africa v Australia
New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg

===

Wed Oct 19
12:30 GMT | 14:30 local
1st ODI - South Africa v Australia
SuperSport Park, Centurion

Sun Oct 23
08:00 GMT | 10:00 local
2nd ODI - South Africa v Australia
St George's Park, Port Elizabeth

Fri Oct 28
12:30 GMT | 14:30 local
3rd ODI - South Africa v Australia
Kingsmead, Durban

===

Tue Nov 1 - Fri Nov 4
08:00 GMT | 10:00 local
South Africa A v Australians
Senwes Park, Potchefstroom

===

Wed Nov 9 - Sun Nov 13
08:30 GMT | 10:30 local
1st Test - South Africa v Australia
Newlands, Cape Town

Thu Nov 17 - Mon Nov 21
08:00 GMT | 10:00 local
2nd Test - South Africa v Australia
New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg

 

[jan]

Two tests only

 

[four_or_six]

Steyn to get to 275 wickets...

 

[Outswinger@Pace]

Cricket begins on the 9th of November after the nonsense ends. Catch you folks then on this thread!

Have a feeling that this Aus side is slightly stronger than some people give them credit for. If the South Africans are complacent, they could have one or two nasty surprises.

 

[Spark]

Two tests only

Daft, innit?

Cricket begins on the 9th of November after the nonsense ends. Catch you folks then on this thread!

Have a feeling that this Aus side is slightly stronger than some people give them credit for. If the South Africans are complacent, they could have one or two nasty surprises.

Possibly but SA are clear favourites. Would be pleased with a drawn series.

 

[SeamUp]

Really cannot believe there is only two test matches between such great rivals.

Also a bit irritated that the South African players wouldn't have had a lot of cricket before the series starts. Even some games against Zim would have been nice.

The whole AUS won't come to SA over Xmas every other tour has also contributed to this.

 

[Furball]

Cricket > no cricket but that is such a bad itinerary.

 

[Spikey]

T20 UPDATE: Both the matches clash with the first round of the Shield. So uh get a brain and leave Warner, FInch etc at home

 

[NasserFan207]

Two ****ing tests?! What an insult to limited overs cricket. Surely they could fit a whole four more ODIs instead?

 

[GotSpin]

Obviously the schedule sucks. Two tests...ffs

Will take a draw in the tests any day tbh. Our batting lineup could be severely embarrassed. Surely if MJ can't perform in SA he'll get the can...Sick of him

 

[Spikey]

well it's a tight schedule - we've got a two test series against NZ days later!

 

[Furball]

well it's a tight schedule - we've got a two test series against NZ days later!

Yeah I was wondering with the 2nd Test finishing on the 21st of November and the Border-Gavaskar series starting on Boxing Day how they fit in the NZ series.

 

[Briony]

Is a big test for SA since it's a while since they've won a home series despite invariably starting favourites at home and over forty years since they defeated Australia at home.

Given that Australia has had this series, SA will have played very little cricket and have been slow starters in home series in recent years, it could be quite close. If either Steyn or Morkel was injured they could struggle as their bowling lacks depth.

Will be interesting to see if Tahir is picked and how well he adjusts to test cricket. Kirsten and Donald may bring something fresh to the SA table. Australia has some selection posers in both batting and bowling. Despite the hype surrounding Ussie, he hasn't made a test fifty yet so will have to bide his time.

 

[Furball]

I fancy Australia for this quite heavily for some reason.

 

[SeamUp]

I'm also a big fan of touring teams playing the home sides 'A' team but given that the tour is so short, I am surprised there is a 4-day warm-up game.

But still glad to see it.

The South African players would have had mixed warm-ups, some playing T20 cricket and some playing domestic 4-day stuff so it would have been nice to play as a team in a game or two before. But saying that, their energy and enthusiasm will be high and they would have played the limited overs segment before the tests.

SA did have a good team-bonding camp where 28 players were chosen and it was all about fitness really and no cricket. Former SA cricketing legends then joined up for a golf day.

Interesting to see how Trent Copeland goes on our pitches if he is chosen.

 

[Spikey]

Yeah I was wondering with the 2nd Test finishing on the 21st of November and the Border-Gavaskar series starting on Boxing Day how they fit in the NZ series.

No LO overs matches. NZ are playing NSW and Aus A in warm up matches tho iirc.

 

[Outswinger@Pace]

SA did have a good team-bonding camp where 28 players were chosen and it was all about fitness really and no cricket. Former SA cricketing legends then joined up for a golf day.

Mate, how does the third seamer scenario look like in South Africa? From where I stand, there seems to be too much reliance on Steyn and Morkel. Do you think there's some promising young speedster who should do well in test cricket?

 

[Briony]

Mate, how does the third seamer scenario look like in South Africa? From where I stand, there seems to be too much reliance on Steyn and Morkel. Do you think there's some promising young speedster who should do well in test cricket?

Tsotsobe seems to be their chosen one (failed in county cricket, sent home with bad attitude allegedly) but then there appears to be Theron and young bucks like Alexander. Even Donald admitted though if they lost one of their best two they'd been in trouble. Their other interesting selection poser would be Alviro Petersen/Prince and Duminy fighting it out for two spots.

 

[Outswinger@Pace]

Possibly but SA are clear favourites. Would be pleased with a drawn series.

Yeah, that would be a fine result for the guests. My concern is that if Harris gets injured (and I genuinely hope that doesn't happen), what chances are there of picking up 20 South African wickets?

The Steyn and Morkel (and perhaps the classy leg spinner) test would be challenging for the batsmen, but there are guys in there who've been there and done that before.

 

[Ikki]

Provided they are available the bowling line-up, IMO, should be: Copeland, Harris, Bollinger and Lyon.