***Official Australia in South Africa***

[Jono]

Dropping Rudolph and Prince? Why?

My SA Test Team:

Smith
DeVilliers
Gibbs
Kallis
Rudolph
Prince
Boucher
Pollock
Boje/Langeveldt
Ntini
Nel

 

[Autobahn]

I'd actually say that would be better for him to be honest.

Any particular reasons?

 

[marc71178]

Yes, more control, less moments of madness when he loses it and goes for 16-20 in boundaries in quick succession.

 

[aussie]

Yes, more control, less moments of madness when he loses it and goes for 16-20 in boundaries in quick succession.

lol, i'm convinced you couldn't have seen Lee bowl at tall this summer..

 

[Autobahn]

Yes, more control, less moments of madness when he loses it and goes for 16-20 in boundaries in quick succession.

True but you should have seen the working over he gave Lara in the west indies tests, and the sharp, short brusts where he looked upstoppable yet still in control.

That's Brett lee at his best

 

[Scaly piscine]

lol, i'm convinced you couldn't have seen Lee bowl at tall this summer..

Err did you see how easily Matthew Hoggard played him when Lee's blood boiled at the end of the 5th Test?

 

[aussie]

Err did you see how easily Matthew Hoggard played him when Lee's blood boiled at the end of the 5th Test?

am i'm referring to the australian summer

 

[Dasa]

Dropping Rudolph and Prince? Why?

My SA Test Team:

Smith
DeVilliers
Gibbs
Kallis
Rudolph
Prince
Boucher
Pollock
Boje/Langeveldt
Ntini
Nel

That line-up looks good, but I'd swap Gibbs and Rudolph in the batting order. For some reason, it looks more solid to me that way.

am i'm referring to the australian summer

He bowled well against the Windies which he's always done. Against South Africa he was back to his Ashes form - bowled very well at times, and poorly at others. His bowling average for the series of 32odd reflected how he bowled.

 

[howardj]

True but you should have seen the working over he gave Lara in the west indies tests, and the sharp, short brusts where he looked upstoppable yet still in control.

That's Brett lee at his best

As a general rule, I disregard what players do against the current Windies team.

 

[aussie]

He bowled well against the Windies which he's always done. Against South Africa he was back to his Ashes form - bowled very well at times, and poorly at others. His bowling average for the series of 32odd reflected how he bowled.

Back to his ashes form? , you cant be serious, his 32 average clearly didn't reflect how well he bowled in the 3 test, on that last day in perth he bowled well enoguh to take more than just 1 wikcet i remember him repeatedly beating Rudolph & co for pace, then in melbourne when he bowled Kallis with the superb bouncer/yorker combination in arguably the best spell he has ever bowled, their he showd have taken more than 3 wickets.

Really i cant remember a innings or a spell where he was poor as you are saying, maybe you may want to single out the 2nd innings in sydney where he went for a few runs but if you remember the majority where throw the slips, so really againts SA he was FAR better than the ashes since he didn't produce any spells similar to the 1st at edgbaston or last day at the oval..

 

[aussie]

As a general rule, I disregard what players do against the current Windies team.

but you cant disregard him bowling so well againts a great batsman eveb though some decisions againts Lara were questionable..

 

[Jono]

I sort of agree with Aussie, Brett Lee bowled fairly better against SA than England. He wasn't brilliant though, he just had spurts of really top class bowling mixed with some average spells.

Whilst he bowled fairly well to Lara (no wickets deserved though IIRC), he did get taken apart as well on the 1st day of the Adelaide test. When he just kept bowling short to Lara I felt like flying over there and smacking him.

He's still not ready to lead the attack IMO. Dizzy should return.

 

[Scaly piscine]

am i'm referring to the australian summer

Yea, I keep forgetting when you refer to 'this summer' that being a traitor you mean Australian time...

 

[howardj]

but you cant disregard him bowling so well againts a great batsman eveb though some decisions againts Lara were questionable..

Just jokin' man. I think, as you do, that he has made sizeable strides this summer. His big test will come, though, when he plays against a group of batsmen who will attack him consistently - eg Vaughan, Pietersen, Flintoff. Under attack, he is prone to try too many things and revert back to bowling two lengths- full or short.

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

He bowled well against the Windies which he's always done. Against South Africa he was back to his Ashes form - bowled very well at times, and poorly at others. His bowling average for the series of 32odd reflected how he bowled.

Sorry, but when did he bowl poorly against South Africa? The only time he was ineffective was on the last day of the first test where he was shut out by defensive batting on a completely dead wicket, and even then he threatened far more than any of the other bowlers.

And actually, his figures didn't generally reflect how he bowled, either. He took 5 at Perth where he was decent in the first innings, while his 3 for 90 odd in the first innings at the MCG was possibly the best spell of his career in terms of the actual quality of the bowling. Overall, he was much, much better against South Africa (and through the whole Australian summer) than he was in the Ashes. I think in the Ashes he showed glimpses of what he could do, but he was inconsistent and would follow up one or two good balls with rubbish and get pounded. He totally changed the strategy behind his bowling during the break between series and abandoned the yorker-bouncer formula which was his stock stuff during the entire Ashes series.

I mean, against South Africa his economy rate was more than two whole runs lower than it was in the Ashes (3.17 to 5.33). How exactly do you equate that with having the same lack of control?

 

[howardj]

I think he had a big chat with Mark Taylor - who I think would be an awesome mentor - when he got back from England. I remember him saying that Taylor advised him that, as a bowler, he was far too impatient and that bowling fast and bowling good lines and lengths are not mutually exclusive. To that end, I think his spells to Jacques Kallis (both in Sydney and Melbourne) were some of the most entrancing Test duels Ive seen in Australia in ages. Lee really stepped up, against the genuine article.

 

[Langeveldt]

Interesting article on Cricinfo by Boucher, he says SA crowds should give the Aussies back the stick we recieved earlier this season..

I don't entirely agree, I was rather hoping that we could take the moral high ground and not descend to their level..

We also don't have enough drunken slobs at the cricket these days.. I'm glad they have a perspex tunnel at Johannesburg for the Aussies to walk down though.. They are going to need it

 

[marc71178]

I mean, against South Africa his economy rate was more than two whole runs lower than it was in the Ashes (3.17 to 5.33). How exactly do you equate that with having the same lack of control?

Still over 3 an over against one of the more conservative batting line-ups around.

 

[howardj]

Still over 3 an over against one of the more conservative batting line-ups around.

...would have been 9.2 per over, but for Kallis!

 

[aussie]

Yea, I keep forgetting when you refer to 'this summer' that being a traitor you mean Australian time...

lame..