***Official*** Australia in South Africa 2018

[SeamUp]

Well done SA, fantastic from Rabada and de Villiers. And another win at PE, been pretty good for the last few years.... maybe get some more test matches?

Well..... it seems like you're definitely ahead of Durbs now and 4th in the pecking order.

 

[stephen]

And that's game. Well played SA. Rabada motm for mine. Add we thought before the series it's been a fast bowling shootout and Starc won the first game and Rabada the second. Need a Steyn game and a Cummins game now.

 

[Gob]

**** this ****

Well played RSA

 

[SeamUp]

This series has been great. Set up for Newlands and Wanderers. Two great venues for test cricket.

It just feels better that it isn't over after 3 anymore. Too sharp and sweet. Tactical thinking required fitness wise in 4 test series too.

 

[vic_orthdox]

Yeah, this should be a ripping last two tests. AB on another level at the moment. Smith having a down series and we're struggling to combat it from a batting POV.

 

[StephenZA]

This series has been great. Set up for Newlands and Wanderers. Two great venues for test cricket.

It just feels better that it isn't over after 3 anymore. Too sharp and sweet. Tactical thinking required fitness wise in 4 test series too.

And no LO **** to think about..... separating Test series and LO series seems so sensible now. And also stops these silly 3 month tours that go on forever.

 

[Daemon]

Yeah, this should be a ripping last two tests. AB on another level at the moment. Smith having a down series and we're struggling to combat it from a batting POV.

Still think Aus will have the upper hand because of Rabada. Australia's batting seems to be doing ok imo, they just came up against some serious quality. Bancroft got starts, Khawaja somehow scored runs, Marsh bros have looked solid and even Paine chipped in.

 

[Spark]

MMarsh being out would be a massive blow for Aus, which is not a sentence I thought could possibly be written six months ago.

 

[Bolo]

Looking at the runs and wickets columns only, I'd be tempted to give motm to kg even if he'd only picked up 8 or 9. In terms of how they played, different story.

Bowlers are more important in matches, a fact that has historically been underappreciated in motm awards, but has done a 180 here- AB had a better game, but kg had more impact.

 

[quincywagstaff]

Still baffled how Australia seem to underuse Cummins despite how good he's been in Tests in the past 12 months. Was a big error not to open with him yesterday and should've given him the new ball today; Starc continues to show that for all his success.

Pretty sure it's only twice in the past decade Australia have managed to win an away Test after being behind on the 1st innings; don't think they've done it often at home either. Just seems a trait of modern Australian cricket; if they start a Test well they are very hard to overrun but they probably don't manage to fight back from difficult (but not impossible) positions halfway through Tests as much as they should.

 

[Spark]

In fairness, winning an away Test with a first innings deficit is exceptionally difficult for anybody. Even a small advantage is hardly surety.

 

[smash84]

Well played SA. Not too bad from Australia either. They ran into a rampaging rabada but this sets up the series nicely.

 

[shifty_eyes]

Fun test match. Well played both teams.

 

[SeamUp]

Probably put it in here

Kagiso Rabada will play no further part in South Africa's Test series against Australia.
Rabada also accepts a second charge of sending-off David Warner

Australia’s Mitch Marsh accepts a charge of using obscene or offensive language
Kagiso Rabada has been suspended for South Africa’s next two Test matches after being found guilty of a Level 2 ICC Code of Conduct offence of ‘inappropriate and deliberate physical contact with a player’. He has received a fine of 50 per cent of his match fee and three demerit points after a disciplinary hearing following his denial of the charge.

This means Rabada has accumulated eight demerit points within a 24-month period automatically leading to a two match suspension. The incident happened in the 52nd over of Australia’s first innings of the second Test, when moving towards the slips, Rabada made contact with Steve Smith with his shoulder.

Rabada has accepted a second charge under 2.1.7 of the code – using language, actions or gestures which could provoke an aggressive reaction from a batsman upon his or her dismissal. He received a further 15% fine of his match fee and an additional demerit point bringing his total to nine.

Meanwhile, Australia all-rounder Mitchell Marsh has also been fined 20 per cent of his match fee and handed one demerit point for a level 1 offence under 2.1.4 of the Code which pertains to “using language or gesture that is obscene, offensive or insulting during an International Match.” Marsh accepted the charge and no formal hearing was needed.

Jeff Crowe of the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Match Referees said: “I found that there was contact between Rabada and Smith, and in my judgement the contact by Rabada was inappropriate, and deliberate. He had the opportunity to avoid the contact, and I could not see any evidence to support the argument that the contact was accidental.

“It is also disappointing that this has happened the day after the pre-match meeting I had with both teams, where the importance of respect for opponents was highlighted.

“I take no pleasure in seeing a player suspended, particularly a young player of Kagiso’s talent, but he has now breached the ICC Code of Conduct on a number of occasions.”

The charges against Rabada and Marsh were levelled by on-field umpires Chris Gaffaney and Kumar Dharmasena, third umpire Sundaram Ravi and fourth umpire Bongani Jele.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Lame

 

[SeamUp]

Faf's thoughts

"For me, if you make it so sensitive then guys will interpret it the wrong way," he said when discussing the battle for consistency among umpires and match referees.

"I think we're going on the sensitive side with everything at the moment. Every single incident is on camera ... it's Test cricket.

"As I've said, we have no issues with the way the Australian team plays their brand of cricket. It's good for the game of Test cricket.

"People talk about where Test cricket is going. For me, the small battles are important. It's about KG (Rabada) running in for 15 overs trying to get someone out and when he does, he has to show some sort of passion.

"The series has been too much about other stuff ... it should be about the cricket. There is a lot of off-field stuff that is taking the shine off."

 

[Heboric]

Kg should have waited when he was batting so he could run into a player with no sanction...

Whats the status of Steyn, is it looking good that he will be picked, I checked on his twitter and he has said nothing on there

 

[Stefan9]

Kg should have waited when he was batting so he could run into a player with no sanction...

Whats the status of Steyn, is it looking good that he will be picked, I checked on his twitter and he has said nothing on there

He has a game for the titans. If he gets through it he should be in contention. Before the test g. Smith was saying more likely too see Dale come test 4. But with no kg this will probably change things.

SA needs their champion now more then ever.

 

[SeamUp]

He has a game for the titans. If he gets through it he should be in contention. Before the test g. Smith was saying more likely too see Dale come test 4. But with no kg this will probably change things.

SA needs their champion now more then ever.

The games in Paarl too. No serious plane travel after the game to get to training for the test either.

 

[mackembhoy]

Cricket is an absolute joke.

I’ve been watching for 14/15 years now and at no point have I ever watched cricket and thought a player needs suspended for celebrating a wicket, or bumping them into a player.

Fine them match fees. But banning the player who just won the match for something less trivial than Warner’s reaction is laughable. Even then what Warner did didn’t deserve anything but a fine.

Racsim, verbal abuse(deemed by umpires to be over the line), genuine physical harm(punching/kicking, cheating. Only things that should warrant a ban

Just further attempts to kill test cricket by the ICC.