***Official*** South Africa in Australia

[aussie]

gosh, Pollock is really a shadow of his former self.

 

[andyc]

That was a hell of a shot from Gilchrist for that four, brings the SA lead under 100.

Edit: Shocking last ball there from Nel, unless he wanted Gilchrist to hit him for four so that McGrath would be on strike. And oh God, McGrath takes a stupid waft at Botha's first ball.

 

[andyc]

Bugger. Gilchrist walks for 86

 

[aussie]

ah well, he always walks nothing new well the lead is under 100 & thats a good effort. Australia aim should be to restrict SA to something chaseable, i'm off to take a couple hours rest i have school this afternoon.

 

[Isolator]

Uh... it hit him on the full... in line with the stumps.... that's out. OUT.

(this is the Symonds lbw I'm talking about)

Okay, I "retract" this post. For some reason I was under the impression that being hit full in line with the stumps is out, regardless of where the ball's going. Sounds stupid now.

 

[GotSpin]

ah well, he always walks nothing new well the lead is under 100 & thats a good effort. Australia aim should be to restrict SA to something chaseable, i'm off to take a couple hours rest i have school this afternoon.

Such an idiot Gilly...Damn morals and ethics

 

[Dasa]

Smith obviously learned nothing from Melbourne...giving Gilchrist easy singles to get at MacGill only served to play him into form, and what could've been a lead of 150+ is only 92...

 

[Gideon]

de Villiers OUT!

 

[Jono]

What is it with mediocre idiotic captains giving a batsman free singles when a tailender is on the other end. You just don't not try and get the batsman out. Ganguly and Smith do it all the time its so stupid.

 

[howardj]

What is it with mediocre idiotic captains giving a batsman free singles when a tailender is on the other end. You just don't not try and get the batsman out. Ganguly and Smith do it all the time its so stupid.

Exactly. The way they bowled yesterday afternoon and most of today was good enough to get Australia 7/226 and 8/263. So it was good enough to dismiss the eight best batsmen, but suddenly the worst two batsmen come in, and the South Africans change tactics. If the areas they were bowling and the fields they were setting were good enough to have Australia on the ropes, why the hell would you change that when the two worst batsmen walk to the wicket? Captains should learn to just be normal when the tailenders are in - and for goodness sake instruct their bowlers to bowl normal lines and lengths.

 

[marc71178]

Both of these umpires have no idea what constituents an LB. Hussey and Ponting both should have been out earlier and now Dar puts Symonds career in jepardy. Disgraceful.

I think the only one putting Symonds' career in any sort of trouble is Symonds himself.

 

[GotSpin]

I think the only one putting Symonds' career in any sort of trouble is Symonds himself.

Yep, i mean he did miss in the first place

 

[parttimer]

What about Martyn Marc? His nonselection probably would not have occurred if not due to poor umpiring. Don't see how its that much different.

 

[howardj]

People's careers are being wrecked when all it would have taken with so many of the incorrect decisions in this game, is a couple of replays. They've gone to about twenty video referrals (twenty seperate occasions) for whether the ball has touched the rope or not during this series, yet when the fate of a batsman is at stake (and with it the trend of the match and possibly a guy's career) suddenly the video referrals are too 'time consuming'. At least let's check out if the ball has pitched in line or not. If they did this today with Hussey (when he was on about eight) it could have changed the game.

 

[Pratters]

Missed the Glichrist attack. What a player!

Also regarding Graeme Smith - he is not the most innovative captain though he is improving slowly as a captain.

Regarding umpiring decisions - as technology advances, the mistakes will appear to be much more glaring to us in our homes. The recent England tour of Pakistan, Windies tour of Australia and now this really show it is a question of when and not if before the time comes for technology to make the decisions wherever it is conclusive (and rightly so).

 

[social]

Missed the Glichrist attack. What a player!

Also regarding Graeme Smith - he is not the most innovative captain though he is improving slowly as a captain.

Regarding umpiring decisions - as technology advances, the mistakes will appear to be much more glaring to us in our homes. The recent England tour of Pakistan, Windies tour of Australia and now this really show it is a question of when and not if before the time comes for technology to make the decisions wherever it is conclusive (and rightly so).

Totally agree.

How ridiculous is it that we receive pictures in our home that are taken at a far higher resolution than those upon which the ICC has used to collect data for determining the new bowling laws?

Either discard technology totally (which will never happen) or make the best use of it.

As regards Gilchrist - one of the best ever players.

He is one of the very few that you can stand back and say "I'd better appreciate this because it may be a long time till we see anything like it again."

The guy's a genius.

 

[social]

What is it with mediocre idiotic captains giving a batsman free singles when a tailender is on the other end. You just don't not try and get the batsman out. Ganguly and Smith do it all the time its so stupid.

History has shown that such tactics virtually never work - unbelievable that people still adopt them.

Smith should be heavily criticised for doing it 2 tests in a row and particularly when Gilly was in such poor form early on - set a normal field and they probably would have had him out early.

 

[Craig]

I was surprised that the South Africans never bowled at MacGill's stumps more often considering he was stepping away so much.

 

[Ikki]

People's careers are being wrecked when all it would have taken with so many of the incorrect decisions in this game, is a couple of replays. They've gone to about twenty video referrals (twenty seperate occasions) for whether the ball has touched the rope or not during this series, yet when the fate of a batsman is at stake (and with it the trend of the match and possibly a guy's career) suddenly the video referrals are too 'time consuming'. At least let's check out if the ball has pitched in line or not. If they did this today with Hussey (when he was on about eight) it could have changed the game.

I agree, it's non-sensical to not use the technology at hand if there are doubts. I guess the umpires are trying to secure themselves a job in the future and to actually have a hand in the game, rather than being ceremonial.

 

[Jono]

They've gone to about twenty video referrals (twenty seperate occasions) for whether the ball has touched the rope or not during this series, yet when the fate of a batsman is at stake (and with it the trend of the match and possibly a guy's career) suddenly the video referrals are too 'time consuming'.

I've never actually thought of that before, but that is extremely odd and, well, stupid. We don't use video replays for lbws or edges, but we do for diving saves at the boundary.