***Official*** Australia in South Africa + South Africa in Australia 2016/17

[flibbertyjibber]

it'd be pretty funny if he got dropped for bird in Adelaide

Surely Starc will be dropped for that one once the series is gone. Rest him for the other series later on.

 

[AndyZaltzHair]

Surely Starc will be dropped for that one once the series is gone. Rest him for the other series later on.

3-0 drubbing without Steyn and Abdv on the cards then

 

[NUFAN]

Surely Starc will be dropped for that one once the series is gone. Rest him for the other series later on.

Pink ball match practice could be useful. I'm not ruling out 1-1 yet btw..

 

[SteveNZ]

Love how Australia are getting a good old thrashing and the comms are making out they are still really in the game. I'd say an innings defeat is more likely than a win given how bad the batting is.

This from a commentary team who still held hope with England at 550-1 a few Ashes series ago. They're paid to communicate hope. Australia down and out = loss of ratings.

Hopefully this Test provides something of an example that getting rid of the coin toss is absolutely unnecessary. You can juice up a pitch all you want, or dry the **** out of it, but if the opposition's weapons are at least equal to yours, it's at your peril. If the rest of the world figures out how to play spin in India, it'll become a redundant argument. But hey, they probably don't want to. Too hard basket.

 

[SteveNZ]

Mennie is trash

Jackson Bird took 5-for in his last Test, hits the strings on a fuller length, and he gets overlooked for a rookie who seemingly bowls into the deck? Wow. Australia's selectors are actually really ****.

 

[StephenZA]

Nice we got a full day of cricket in. Well played SA. Hopefully we can get to 250+ tomorrow with Philander and Maharaj still to bat.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

So how long till the coach is under pressure for his job?

 

[Tangles]

The selectors seem to dislike Bird or just not rate him. It's his home ground ffs.

 

[OverratedSanity]

If Australia lose this, does Smith lose the captaincy to Warner?

 

[artvandalay]

Love how Australia are getting a good old thrashing and the comms are making out they are still really in the game. I'd say an innings defeat is more likely than a win given how bad the batting is.

C9 bias is not even funny.

 

[AndyZaltzHair]

Pretty hard to understand the selection process here. SMarsh looks like one of those over the years who becomes the scrapegoat everytime. He played well in the first innings and what's the reason for dropping him in the next test? Why play him then in the first test even if you have so little faith? Then the case of MM. He's clearly not a no.6 batsman but find a place for him lower down and trust him to do the job as third seamer better than Mennie or whoever if you are so worried about lower order batting as well. MM would have been effective in this pitch more.

1. Warner
2. Whoever
3. Khawaja
4. Smith
5. Voges
6. Whoever (batsman)
7. MMarsh
8. Nevill
9. Starc
10. Haze
11. Lyon

Otherwise just rule out the lower order batting and pick the best bowler presumably Bird in place of MMarsh. Tell Nevill you cant just have the spot looking like Sean Penn

 

[anil1405]

SMarsh was injured.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Smarsh is injured.

 

[indiaholic]

If Australia lose this, does Smith lose the captaincy to Warner?

Don't think he is a very good captain but this loss shouldn't be factored in. He can't teach people to bat.

 

[Howe_zat]

scrapegoat

 

[indiaholic]

'If' this is a loss. Australia still in with a chance IMO.

 

[Bahseph]

I missed the Aus innings after the first two wickets, was it just exceptional bowling by SA or some dodgy batting as well?

On a side note, I am now fully a Bavuma fanboy. He has definitely proved me wrong since his debut against the Windies. Never looks under pressure.

 

[GotSpin]

Good work fellas.

 

[AndyZaltzHair]

the new *escapegoat*

 

[anil1405]

Can't wait for Herath to retire so that the TPC tag can officially be handed over to Bavuma.