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

[flibbertyjibber]

Look at footage of the young Border he played shots everywhere. Same with Waugh. Then they got ruthless because they had to. Border made about 8,000 of his test runs by playing three shots. Takes a special kid of genius to do that.

Not really, Cook has 10000 already doing that and nobody calls him a genius.

 

[burr]

I think I forgot to say well done to South Africa. Very poor of me. So very well done, really quite sad you're not playing Boxing Day test when I'm out in Aus. I think to have said you saw a young Rabada at 21 would be something. Hopefully England next year.

 

[WindieWeathers]

Lehman is not getting the axe for one home series loss. Changes will probably take place after the India series drubbing next year but even then..Lehman might not be the guy to get the chop. He has a lot of goodwill and the overall perception has been that he has been good for Australian cricket. He has a contract till 2019

I'm sure I saw an article on cricinfo the other day where he suggested he was under pressure!!..so maybe he knows something?

 

[Marius]

Stats highlights from the game.

Consecutive series wins and maximum single-digit scores in a match | Cricket | ESPN Cricinfo

 

[vcs]

When did the Aussie lower order turn to ****.. I swear Starc, Hazlewood, Lyon etc. scored loads of runs against India a couple of years back. Then again, it was against India.

 

[GotSpin]

How Lehman and the other honchos could not face some pressure is beyond me.

The team is woefully underperforming

 

[Compton]

When did the Aussie lower order turn to ****.. I swear Starc, Hazlewood, Lyon etc. scored loads of runs against India a couple of years back. Then again, it was against India.

This backwards logic of blaming the bowlers for the lack of runs will probably be mirrored by the Australian selectors by the end of the series.

 

[honestbharani]

This backwards logic of blaming the bowlers for the lack of runs will probably be mirrored by the Australian selectors by the end of the series.

Come on, its obvious vcs is just talking about how the lower order that seems to be incapable of hanging in for even 10 balls was taking runs for fun off the Indian bowling. It has nothing to do with blaming them for not scoring runs.

 

[Marius]

So, what changes are expected in the Aussie side?

Apparently Peter Handscomb is close to a call-up?

Don't see SA making any changes except perhaps Morkel for Maharaj in Adelaide (but then there are too many whites in the side).

 

[Burgey]

So, what changes are expected in the Aussie side?

Apparently Peter Handscomb is close to a call-up?

Don't see SA making any changes except perhaps Morkel for Maharaj in Adelaide (but then there are too many whites in the side).

Nick Bertus to dayboo with the gloves at seven for Australia in Adelaide.

 

[Stapel]

There is something I simply do not understand.

We can discuss for hours on possible changes in the Aussie line-up, but that is, imho, not the point. Why haven't these batsmen scored more runs? This lot, no matter how good or bad they are, should be able to do better, not? I've watched the last innings dismissals. Many of those seem rather soft...... I do realise test wickets can be very much about the build-up (which I haven't seen), but were they? Really a bit of a mystery to me.

 

[ImpatientLime]

sweet zombie jesus, england - south africa is going to be so good next summer.

cook, root, stokes, broad, anderson, woakes, abdv, de kock, steyn, philander, abbot, rabada.

i don't think my body is ready.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

There is something I simply do not understand.

We can discuss for hours on possible changes in the Aussie line-up, but that is, imho, not the point. Why haven't these batsmen scored more runs? This lot, no matter how good or bad they are, should be able to do better, not? I've watched the last innings dismissals. Many of those seem rather soft...... I do realise test wickets can be very much about the build-up (which I haven't seen), but were they? Really a bit of a mystery to me.

Steve Waugh used to call it mental disintegration and at the minute that has happened to Australia. 5 test defeats in a row with inexplicable collapses in most tests and sometimes twice a test. They are totally gone at present and if Amir hoops a few round corners in his opening spell they will probably fold to them too.

 

[Shady Slim]

oh my

 

[Tec15]

Yeah it was fine at the time. Even from the perspective of de Kock himself, he was batting with an absolute needle at the time and it was an absurdly hard tour for an out of form South African bat to have to go on. Medium term it could have helped him to not have not played that series.

Not really. He was dropped based on bad form from the World Cup continuing to the Bangladesh series where he got owned by Mustafizur several times. Except he had recovered his form in the one day series in India where he was great. Surely that should have been enough for a recall? Nope, Villas who picked for the rained of second test in Bangladesh gets to stay cuz reasons and proceeds to massively fail with the bat. Even gets to stay for the first test against England. Was an absolutely awful decision then and doesn't seem any better in hindsight.

 

[CapeTown Guy]

Re QdK/Villas and the Indian Tour - the Test and ODI squads were announced at the same time and our selectors were never going to add QdK to the squad after regaining form in the ODIs. Villas obviously failed massively, but frankly, I think even a combined XI from the rest of the world would have struggled to get anything from that tour to India.

Rank turners from the first session which only got more difficult to play, India winning every toss and batting first. Even Dean Elgar looked daunting to face ffs.

In hindsight, yes, Villas will go down in history as one of our worst keepers at international level, but there's always more to the story than just that.

 

[Marius]

Not really. He was dropped based on bad form from the World Cup continuing to the Bangladesh series where he got owned by Mustafizur several times. Except he had recovered his form in the one day series in India where he was great. Surely that should have been enough for a recall? Nope, Villas who picked for the rained of second test in Bangladesh gets to stay cuz reasons and proceeds to massively fail with the bat. Even gets to stay for the first test against England. Was an absolutely awful decision then and doesn't seem any better in hindsight.

He wasn't kept for the first Test vs England, AA de Villiers played keeper and QDK was recalled for Cape Town. Vilas played in Jo'burg because QDK injured himself on the morning of the match.

 

[artvandalay]

There is something I simply do not understand.

We can discuss for hours on possible changes in the Aussie line-up, but that is, imho, not the point. Why haven't these batsmen scored more runs? This lot, no matter how good or bad they are, should be able to do better, not? I've watched the last innings dismissals. Many of those seem rather soft...... I do realise test wickets can be very much about the build-up (which I haven't seen), but were they? Really a bit of a mystery to me.

Cricket is a funny game, by rights they probably could have had Australia 5 down or something yesterday with the number of plays and misses and close calls that was in evidence. I haven't been able to see today's play because the match ended before i woke up but it looks like they got rewarded for it today. I liked that there was a bit of fight yesterday in the Aussie batsmen and expected them to make Saf bat again at the very least so it came as a surprise to me. Definitely some mental issues and some dressing room problems what with Khwaja's statements about being made a scapegoat.

 

[Top_Cat]

It's interesting how many of the same people are saying simultaneously that Lehmann's job is pointless because all the other coaching staff make him redundant but also that the team is under-performing because he is and he should be sacked.

 

[Marius]

Cricket is a funny game, by rights they probably could have had Australia 5 down or something yesterday with the number of plays and misses and close calls that was in evidence. I haven't been able to see today's play because the match ended before i woke up but it looks like they got rewarded for it today. I liked that there was a bit of fight yesterday in the Aussie batsmen and expected them to make Saf bat again at the very least so it came as a surprise to me. Definitely some mental issues and some dressing room problems what with Khwaja's statements about being made a scapegoat.

Yeah, and Khawaja has been - along with Smith and Warner - one of the only guys to show any fight.