Australia in South Africa

Not true, Amla and De Villers have done a lot of carrying for SA lately, and also helped by Kallis and others have been scoring some runs too.  Australia lately have only gotten runs from Watson and Hussey (and katich before they dropped him).

Kallis is sockingly under rated... I just do not understand why... It really frustrates me.

SA has always been competitive for the last decade, but always failed against Australia until recently.  SA has been performing excellently in the sub continent though, much better than Australia and England.

I don't want to put a dampener on the match for you lads , but the weather forecast is dire !!  Rain expected in the afternoon which is likely to become torrential in the evening. Duckworth/Lewis is almost certain to be implemented - it could be a match of very few overs.

Damn! Thanks Sledger, not the worst thing for me though - I have end of semester examinations in a few weeks to study for.

I'm actually studying at the University of Western Australia, which is known for its earlier work in testing bowling speeds (think back to that Thomson v Lillee v Holding v Khan, etc thing they had on TV in the 70s) and for test bowlers for chucking. Was on campus (which has a cricket oval in the middle of it!) and they were testing out a young Sri Lanka off spinner (could tell he was Lankan from his Sri Lanka cricket training shirt). Thought you guys might be interested!

Australia are probably short one bowler here, as Watson is the 5th bowler and I'm not sure you'd want him to bowl 10 overs. I'm glad to see Smith go, but to bring in Shaun Marsh as opposed to his all rounder brother might not be the best move. I suppose Clarke will have to do some bowling. Or alternatively, the Aussies don't think they'll have to bowl 50 overs because of the weather - and that could be a fair selection to only pick 4 bowlers.

not quite a high score at all Sammy, 222 then after Amla and kallis score half centuries, good tidy stuff from Australia but this track doesn't look that esy to bat on and with Steyn and Morkel around it could get even more difficult.

Edited by sam_ahmed - 28 October 2011 at 5:42pm

144-4 this is getting interesting.77 runs with 18 overs, should be cakewalk with Hussey on the crease, but strange things have happened in cricket.

Edited by MalhotraRaj84 - 28 October 2011 at 8:00pm

Originally posted by MalhotraRaj84 <FONT>144-4 this is getting interesting.77 runs with 18 overs, should be cakewalk with Hussey on the crease, but strange things have happened in cricket.

Yeh not too much trouble for Hussey in the end - pretty convincing win for Australia, despite losing 7 wickets they won in good time. SAF just couldn't raise the tempo at all during their innings, Doherty was particularly tight. Good to see Watson bowl a full quota of overs and an excellent 49.

Tahir looked very good in WC, First time I saw Tahir bowl I felt SA has got something very very special against Aussies in Tests. While Aussies will try to target him from start, if they get a wood on him early on then its a case closed, if it tilts the other way then Tahir will end up with bagful of wickets. Don't think there is spot for two spinners in SA set up, very difficult call to leave Harris out, but Tahir needs to play.

Originally posted by sam_ahmed Very disappointed by RSA losing, they just didn't bat well and sorry to say but Hashim's captaincy wasn't that good, although I don't want to be harsh on him. He didn't use Kallis when he was bowling so well and had bowled 3 overs for 11 runs and a wicket of Watson. Time and again he was going with Morne and Steyn and both were struggling a bit on that wicket. Hussey played really well and RSA missed AB very badly yesterday, except for Hashim and kallis no one really got going and that is why they need Smith to get back in good form and AB to come back ASAP. I also don't like this idea of "Hiding" Imran Tahir time and time again, even before the WC, and now again, I mean you should play your best team in every damn game, you cannot hide your best spinner in so many games.

I wanted to say the same thing why Kallis was not bowling when the pitch was perfect for him even JP Duminy was under used and there was no reason of giving Morne, Steyn and Tsotsobe so many overs when clearly both were struggling to trouble the batsman. Just how many times has Hussey won the match for Australia he is just too good i hope he atleast play for 4-5 years. Yes Tahir not playing was a huge mistake but even if he was playing i dont think it would have made a big different as Botha only when for 21 runs.

A stodgy batting display from the home side - they allowed the Aussies to dictate terms. Nowadays scores around 220 mean that a side has been bowled out , not just 6 wickets down. The wicket was slow , but at no stage did the South Africans show any urgency in the latter stages of the innings.  Did they really think 222 was enough - I know I didn't !
                So the 1st test starts a week on Wednesday and the weather here in Cape Town is still pretty wet. Low temperatures forecast for this week as well - around 18C and scattered showers.  I can't see the curator producing a pitch that'll have any pace and I can't see much help for the spinners either.  That might mean that Tahir doesn't get a go , they might play an extra batsman and let Rudolph bowl some legspin.

Hughes was a scapegoat after England got themselves 1-0 up in the series at Lords. His technique is no 'worse' than Ijaz Ahmed or Lehmann, Katich, etc. It's unique, but he hits the ball hard, plays spin well and is powerful through the offside. He has worked on his leg side game a lot and I think he'll have a decent test career ahead of him. He's still 22 years old...

It's ominous that Johnson took 4 wickets yesterday against SA "A" and Sidell picked up 3 as well.  The South Africans still seem a little undercooked and if Australia get off to a flyer on day 1 at Newlands , the South Africans might struggle to pull it back.

Anyone seen a lot of Vernon Philander in FC cricket? From what I saw in the recent Champions League, he just seemed a standard, line-and-length medium pacer but his first-class record is very impressive (under 20 bowling average). Reckon he will make the side ahead of Tsotsobe?