***Official*** South Africa In Australia

[pup11]

Congrats to SA. They were the better team quite comfortably. Australia has to look at herself again and let this slide be a minor one. I have a feeling that Australia in SA will be much better.

I was really impressed with Ricky. The tide was against him and he has more than his share of ill-wishers, yet he turned it around...and how.

Tbh the tide was never against Ricky Ponting the batsman, it was more against Ricky Ponting "the captain", and i am sorry to say this series would only give critics of his captaincy more venom to spit against him, this is what Ricky has always done during his captaincy tenure, whenever questions have been raised against his leadership he has just piled on the runs with the bat, but unlike then he doesn't have the bowlers now to win him the games.

 

[Son Of Coco]

The Love of Riches Cronje Cup.

The Betfair Hansie Cronje Plate

 

[archie mac]

Being serious I like the

Kepler Cup

 

[Redbacks]

Squad for the SCG

Hayden
Katich
Ponting
Hussey
Clark
Haddin
Johnson
Hauritz
Siddle
Bollinger
Hilfenhouse
McDonald

On the radio they mentioned it was a 12 man squad, then a 13 man squad when talking to Ian Chappell in a previously recorded interview. Symonds was in the 13 so i'm not sure if he has been ruled out of the test? If he is out, then McDonald is a certainty to play. Can't see both Hilf and Doug getting a cap.

 

[Zinzan]

Man lucky Ian Healy isn't a selector, looking at his XI for Sydney there's only one word to describe that and it's dire.

There's only one word to describe Ian Healy period & thats dire

 

[stephen]

The we wish they were still chokers cup

 

[stephen]

Of the current squad we should play:

Hayden
Katich
Ponting
Hussey
Clarke
MacDonald
Haddin
Johnson
Hauritz
Siddle
Bollinger

 

[jondavluc]

maybe the Pollock McGrath torphy maybe.

 

[inbox24]

Of the current squad we should play:

Hayden
Katich
Ponting
Hussey
Clarke
MacDonald
Haddin
Johnson
Hauritz
Siddle
Bollinger

Replace Hauritz with Hilfenhaus, replace Siddle with Hilfenhaus? Thoughts?

I still don't rate Hauritz that much, he keeps it tight and economical, but generally doesn't look like taking wickets. I really think they should have picked Krejza a more attacking spinner.

Hilfenhaus should be pretty disappointed, I mean he's in the squad for the previous test, established players dropping left right and centre only to be leap frogged.

 

[longtom]

since I haven't seen a minute of the match (apart from 50 seconds on the news) - could anybody point me to a spot where I can see some highlights on the i-net?
That would be really fabolous....

Thanks

longtom

 

[inbox24]

Generally

www . ecric . com

sometimes it takes a couple of days though.

 

[Zinzan]

I don't think the Channel 9 guys are anywhere near as upset as some people on here seem to think. The only ones with a big hardon for Australia are Healy and Lawry, and Lawry's mostly just tongue in cheek I think.

Greig and Chappell would be pretty happy to see Australia lose I'd imagine, and Nicholas and Benaud are probably more pure professionals.

Fair call that

The highest overall quality of test cricket I've seen since the '05 Ashes I think

Higher level for mine (not so much Aust, but certainly SA)

I have a feeling Australia might win in Sydney and Hayden will do enough to keep his career going, if he wants to. Will be interesting to see though. If only Watson was fit.

Can't say I can ever remember you predict anything other than an Aussie victory before a test tbh. Having said that, I'm the same with the All Blacks

 

[stephen]

Replace Hauritz with Hilfenhaus, replace Siddle with Hilfenhaus? Thoughts?

I still don't rate Hauritz that much, he keeps it tight and economical, but generally doesn't look like taking wickets. I really think they should have picked Krejza a more attacking spinner.

Not playing a spinner at the SCG is a really dumb move.

I like Krejza but Hauritz should be the guy they stick with now for a long while. I also think that Siddle should never have been picked over Bollinger either. But we have to stick with him now.

EDIT: The point of picking Hilfenhaus was to try him against Siddle, but I think you really have to go with Bollinger now. He's got the form on the board for a lot longer and is more likely to win us our test match.

 

[Nate]

Crazy squad. Speechless once more.

 

[longtom]

Generally

www . ecric . com

sometimes it takes a couple of days though.

Didn't work - but thanks for the address anyway (and yes - I did take out the spaces... )

longtom

 

[inbox24]

Didn't work - but thanks for the address anyway (and yes - I did take out the spaces... )

longtom

sorry my bad it's:

www . ecric . net

should work.

 

[Corli]

since I haven't seen a minute of the match (apart from 50 seconds on the news) - could anybody point me to a spot where I can see some highlights on the i-net?
That would be really fabolous....

Thanks

longtom

SuperSport has 5-minute highlights of each day, today's should be up soon.

 

[longtom]

Found http: // cricworldhighlights.blogspot. com side so... but as you said, may take a while...

Thanks anyway - to everybody chipping in!

longtom

 

[pup11]

Not playing a spinner at the SCG is a really dumb move.

I like Krejza but Hauritz should be the guy they stick with now for a long while. I also think that Siddle should never have been picked over Bollinger either. But we have to stick with him now.

EDIT: The point of picking Hilfenhaus was to try him against Siddle, but I think you really have to go with Bollinger now. He's got the form on the board for a lot longer and is more likely to win us our test match.

I might sound like a broken record but on Aussie tracks Krejza would get butt raped and won't pick many wickets either, because he needs lose surfaces that would help him get grip off the pitch to be effective and he certainly won't get any surfaces like that in Australia, so i think he should be allowed to play for Tassies for a while and see how he goes there and whether he can develop his bowling to suit the Aussie tracks or not.

Hauritz is not a big turner or flighter of the ball, but he is a very viable option for Australia atm, bowls tightly builds pressure and keeps one end tight, so i don't have a problem with him getting a slightly longer run.

I really won't mind either Bollinger or Hilfenhaus being picked as both are good swing bowlers with good domestic form behind their backs, but still i believe Hilfenhaus should get the first dig as he was in the original squad ahead of Bollinger, but ideally i would like both Hilfenhaus and Bollinger in the same XI, with Siddle being dropped, Siddle showed sparks of his talent in the first innings at the G, but he still is quite raw to be consistently good right through a test match.

 

[Ikki]

Tbh the tide was never against Ricky Ponting the batsman, it was more against Ricky Ponting "the captain", and i am sorry to say this series would only give critics of his captaincy more venom to spit against him, this is what Ricky has always done during his captaincy tenure, whenever questions have been raised against his leadership he has just piled on the runs with the bat, but unlike then he doesn't have the bowlers now to win him the games.

Maybe you're right. It's less so from the Aussie crowd and more from the International one. There is this misconception of Ricky getting all the breaks, doing it while it's easy. The fact is, he's just done it again and again under every circumstance. He's just a champ, he really deserved that 100. I often argue here in favour of Ponting, mainly because he's so disrespected, without really liking him. But I really am warming upto him now. Something tells me with Australia not so dominant anymore, we'll really be looking to him to pull us a result from now on. Had the other batsmen stayed around long enough, I think Australia would made a decent partnership to have made the last day interesting.