***Official*** South Africa In Australia

[Prince EWS]

Noffke - injured

Bollinger - apparently not to be selected

Nannes - Dutch

The only other guys that I could consider would be the likes of Geeves, Dorey, Magoffin etc and they dont look anything like international quality

The reality is that Oz is so beset by injuries that, of the current team, only Ponting, Hussey M, Haddin and Bracken would be guaranteed selection if we had a full complement available

I've never really rated Harwood as highly as others, but he certainly falls into the "proven one day domestic bowler" category. He's fast, accurate and bowls a damn good yorker. He's straight up and down most of the time which obviously doesn't help but probably should have played for Australia more than he has based on his record alone.

 

[stephen]

Ponting pretty much has to use his bowling orders to suit Tait! Tait's a passenger, who's being treated like a fragile child. Tait can't field or bat or even bowl it where he wants half the time. If he gets match fit, then maybe.

I'm over players with hype, time to select proven Domestic Cricket performers.

Well who in this team isn't a proven ODD player?

The only one who is being picked on potential is Warner at the moment. Let's look at the order:

Marsh - doing a very good job. Undroppable at the moment
Warner - picked on potential. Done a good job so far.
Ponting - undroppable
Hussey M - undroppable, but should be moved down to 6
Hussey D - doing a good job with the bat, not great with the ball.
Haddin - underperforming but the best option ATM
Hopes - economical with the ball, not hopeless with the bat. The best fit allrounder at the moment. Very strong domestic performer.
Hauritz - Probably a weak link, is quite a decent domestic ODD bowler, provides variety in the bowling attack. Probably our best spin option nationally.
Johnson - Top bowler over the last year, had a shocker tonight.
Bracken - Best ODI bowler in the world currently
Tait - wicket taker, being used very well but a poor bat and fielder. Needs to be there for strike ability.

The only ones that are currently potentially dropable are Hopes, Hauritz and Warner. Warner has done enough to hold his spot IMO. There is no ready replacement for Hopes - we need his 10 overs. Hauritz could go for Hilfenhaus but our batting is weakened with that change.

I'd drop Hussey to 6, Haddin to 7 and bat Hopes at 4 tbh. Give him more time to build an innings and make him less likely to play spinners. Unless we can find a better all-rounder to replace him Hopes is pretty much undropable atm. White has been stupid not to develop his bowling over the last 3 years or so as it was obvious that a spin bowler/allrounder is far more valuable to Aus than yet another middle order bat.

 

[Prince EWS]

So if Tait could bat we would have won the match

Yeah, Tait's batting shouldn't be a factor given the batting strength of our other bowlers - he's going to bat #11 when he plays and it's not like Johnson and Hauritz are having nosebleeds. I don't really care if he's a slowarse in the field either but he needs to be able to catch the ball if he gets his hands to it. Not being a natural athlete is one thing but constantly dropping catches is another.

 

[pasag]

So if Tait could bat we would have won the match

No, but if he could catch, maybe...

 

[Prince EWS]

Well who in this team isn't a proven ODD player?

Warner, Marsh and Johnson. Hauritz and Tait are perhaps arguable as well.

I'm definitely not saying all or in fact any of them should be dropped at this point but they didn't really prove themselves in domestic cricket before being picked.

 

[Precambrian]

Get stuffed. Please explain how that's falling for hype. Very poor comment IMO.

Hype is evident when the post is full of "Ifs" and less "when"s.

 

[stephen]

Yeah, Tait's batting shouldn't be a factor given the batting strength of our other bowlers - he's going to bat #11 when he plays and it's not like Johnson and Hauritz are having nosebleeds. I don't really care if he's a slowarse in the field either but he needs to be able to catch the ball if he gets his hands to it. Not being a natural athlete is one thing but constantly dropping catches is another.

Agreed. Needs to learn how to hold onto outfield catches. Half an hours training extra per day should suffice.

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

Hype is evident when the post is full of "Ifs" and less "when"s.

Haha what? Surely it would be the exact opposite?

If I said "when Warner breaks records" it would be hyping him up. Saying "if he bats a full innings" etc is just working with hypotheticals based on his performances so far. Yes the hype has been extreme but the guy has played two good knocks at international level so far. No reason not to comment on his positive signs. Dire stuff.

 

[pasag]

The team selection isn't really too much of an issue here. I wouldn't play Hopes, but aside from that this is the side I'd have picked more or less. They're a top side on paper, but they're underperforming and have no one else to blame but themselves. Certainly not the selectors here (as opposed to say Melbourne where they stuffed up by only picking 3 bowlers). Wouldn't really bring injuries into it either.

 

[Prince EWS]

The team selection isn't really too much of an issue here. I wouldn't play Hopes, but aside from that this is the side I'd have picked more or less. They're a top side on paper, but they're underperforming and have no one else to blame but themselves. Certainly not the selectors here (as opposed to say Melbourne where they stuffed up by only picking 3 bowlers). Wouldn't really bring injuries into it either.

I definitely wouldn't have picked Warner, but he's quite obviously not the reason this particular game was lost..

What's the alternative to picking Hopes, by the way? David Hussey bowling a full ten overs?

 

[Precambrian]

Haha what? Surely it would be the exact opposite?

If I said "when Warner breaks records" it would be hyping him up. Saying "if he bats a full innings" etc is just working with hypotheticals based on his performances so far. Yes the hype has been extreme but the guy has played two good knocks at international level so far. No reason not to comment on his positive signs. Dire stuff.

When - Usually a precedent exist pertaining to the particular person.

If - Can be used even if there is zilch precedent.

 

[Matt79]

Hype is evident when the post is full of "Ifs" and less "when"s.

Yeah, what Fuller said. If I came out and said "Warner will be the first man to score 300 in an ODI" or that he should open for Australia in Tests, or even that he'll be a great ODI player, that would be buying into the hype. What I said was that he is a hit-and-miss player (hardly hyping him), but that he's played 2 good innings against a decent bowling attack (a fact), and that if he has a good night against a poor opposition he has the potential to break a record.

Hardly calling him the next Sachin Tendulkar. Get a grip man.

 

[pasag]

I definitely wouldn't have picked Warner, but he's quite obviously not the reason this particular game was lost..

What's the alternative to picking Hopes, by the way? David Hussey bowling a full ten overs?

Katich




(H)

 

[Precambrian]

I definitely wouldn't have picked Warner, but he's quite obviously not the reason this particular game was lost..

What's the alternative to picking Hopes, by the way? David Hussey bowling a full ten overs?

Andrew McDonald.

 

[Precambrian]

Yeah, what Fuller said. If I came out and said "Warner will be the first man to score 300 in an ODI" or that he should open for Australia in Tests, or even that he'll be a great ODI player, that would be buying into the hype. What I said was that he is a hit-and-miss player (hardly hyping him), but that he's played 2 good innings against a decent bowling attack (a fact), and that if he has a good night against a poor opposition he has the potential to break a record.

Hardly calling him the next Sachin Tendulkar. Get a grip man.

Lol, You expect him to break the ODI records when he has not even made 100 runs so far in ODIs? The same rule can apply to anyone else. I can say Jason Krejza will break the record for most test wickets if he continues to take 12 wickets a match.

 

[Redbacks]

Yeah, Tait's batting shouldn't be a factor given the batting strength of our other bowlers - he's going to bat #11 when he plays and it's not like Johnson and Hauritz are having nosebleeds. I don't really care if he's a slowarse in the field either but he needs to be able to catch the ball if he gets his hands to it. Not being a natural athlete is one thing but constantly dropping catches is another.

True, I can remember the selectors telling Jacques to improve his fielding if he wanted to play ODI cricket for Australia and in the wash up of this series Tait will probably get a similar ultimatum.

 

[Prince EWS]

Andrew McDonald.

Hopes is definitely better than McDonald as far as one day cricket goes.

 

[TT Boy]

Good win.

Loved Gibbs taking apart peaheart Tait, imperious couple of shots but his dismissal was dip**** cricket, pure Gibbs. South Africa still need a third genuine seamer, you can’t expect Ntini to deliver the goods on too many occasions given his performances over the past eighteen months and Albie Morkel bowls two pies too many an over.

Pretty hard on Johan ‘Murali’ Botha that he didn’t get the MOTM, stopped the Aussies from getting 330+.

 

[Prince EWS]

True, I can remember the selectors telling Jacques to improve his fielding if he wanted to play ODI cricket for Australia and in the wash up of this series Tait will probably get a similar ultimatum.

The call on Jaques was just strange though IMO. Sure, he's not an excellent fielder, but he's a liability who drops a stack of catches (like Tait) either.

 

[Matt79]

True, I can remember the selectors telling Jacques to improve his fielding if he wanted to play ODI cricket for Australia and in the wash up of this series Tait will probably get a similar ultimatum.

They'll spell it wrong on his tombstone you'd suspect...