Cricket - Australia v South Africa Test Series

[BookMan]

Aussies lose the first wicket of the Innings. 1/123 Rogers run out coasting for a second. Looking good too.

Looking for quick runs we send in Doolan???

Warner 75 off 57 balls

EDIT: Doolan powering along here 3 from 22 balls

Edited March 4, 2014 by BookMan

[BookMan]

The boys are back after lunch and Doolan is out 2nd over! 2/188. Doolan, AFter slowing the game down to a plod he is gone for 37 from 87 balls. Once again does the hard work then plays a dopey shot

I think sending in Doolan was a mistake. They should have sent in Watson or Smith.

Now the run rate has been slowed down they send in Watto.

[ripstanley]

Warner has made his century. Good to see.

Watson 22 off 10 balls. 1 four and 2 sixes.

[BookMan]

South Africa with 9 men on the boundary and Warner gets two 4s

[ripstanley]

Australia declared with a lead of 510. Sth Africa are 2/13. Smith only made 3. Caught Doolan bowled Johnson

Edit

Now 3/15 at tea

Edited March 4, 2014 by ripstanley

[BookMan]

Australia declared with a lead of 510. Sth Africa are 2/13. Smith only made 3. Caught Doolan bowled Johnson

Edit

Now 3/15 at tea

Difficult to see South Africa surviving.

Didn't Smith, Watson and Warner give it a hammering after lunch? Great to watch.

Warner out for 145, a century in both innings

[ripstanley]

They are now playing for a draw. Run rate is 2 an over.

[BookMan]

They are now playing for a draw. Run rate is 2 an over.

4/71 close of play. Can du Plessis and De Villiers bat it out?

De Viliers and Du Plessis are unlikely to play many shots, nothing to try for. Clarke might have been better off declaring at 400, give the South Africans a run chase chance, have them play some shots.

Hard to see South Africa batting through the entire day tomorrow though

[BookMan]

final day and the Aussies need 6 wickets! How eerily similar is this to the Adelaide test where South Africa blocked their way to victory?

here is what happened back then:

Day 4 Adelaide 2012/13

Australia batted solidly through the morning of Day 4, taking the score to 8/267 before declaring midway through the afternoon session, setting a huge target of 430. Mike Hussey (54) top-scored for Australia. South Africa's was reduced to 4/45 shortly after tea, before AB de Villiers and Faf du Plessis batted very defensively until the end of play. At stumps South Africa was 4/77, scoring at a rate of just 1.5 runs per over, and still needing 353 runs for victory.^[20]

Day 5

South Africa batted with an entirely defensive mindset on Day 5 to save the match, while Australia sought six wickets for victory. An injury toJames Pattinson earlier in the match left Australia with only three front-line bowlers for the second innings. By the drinks break in the evening session, Australia had managed only two wickets – de Villiers (33) and Kallis (46) – to leave South Africa 6/233, and to leave du Plessis to bat out the final hour of play with the tail-enders. A fatigued Peter Siddle took two wickets in the final hour, for an innings total of 4/65, but South Africa held on to secure a draw. Du Plessis occupied the crease for a total of 376 deliveries, and scored his maiden Test century (110*) on debut. South Africa's final total was 8/248, scored in 148 overs at a very defensive run rate of 1.67.^[21]

Du Plessis was named Man of the Match in his debut test, for his match-saving second innings 110* off 376 deliveries, as well as his first innings score of 78.

[BookMan]

At lunch and the Aussies have a lot of work to do. 5 wickets still needed

Smith has been the best of the spinners.

South Africa are playing almost no scoring shots. Lyon, not having batsmen mishitting the ball while looking to tonk sixes from him, hasn't looked likely to get a wicket. That's okay though, he does a great lead in for the team chant at the end of the match.

New ball due soon and the AUssies need 2 wickets from it

[BookMan]

Final sessions starting now....Aussies need 3 more wickets. Du Plessis and De Villiers already gone.

The first and second sessions demonstrated that Lyon is next to useless.

Steve Smith took a wicket with his first ball of a new spell

[BookMan]

Just 11 overs to go. Aussie still need 2 wickets. 66 balls, only 2 of them needed to get a wicket

Some great bowling going on here. (with the exception of that happy fool Lyon)

Philander should have been gone on DRS review. There was not enough evidence to reverse the decision. 3rd umpire claimed his glove was off the bat but no way to tell for sure.

If Australia cannot bowl the Proteas out they will look back on 3 mistakes:

• Sending Doolan in. That wasted an hour and dramatically slowed the run rate
• Declaring too late...450 was more than enough
• Lyon. Useless.

[ripstanley]

Just 11 overs to go. Aussie still need 2 wickets. 66 balls, only 2 of them needed to get a wicket

Some great bowling going on here. (with the exception of that happy fool Lyon)

Philander should have been gone on DRS review. There was not enough evidence to reverse the decision. 3rd umpire claimed his glove was off the bat but no way to tell for sure.

If Australia cannot bowl the Proteas out they will look back on 3 mistakes:

• Sending Doolan in. That wasted an hour and dramatically slowed the run rate
• Declaring too late...450 was more than enough
• Lyon. Useless.

I am glad that you do not pull your punches.

[BookMan]

Just 11 overs to go. Aussie still need 2 wickets. 66 balls, only 2 of them needed to get a wicket

Some great bowling going on here. (with the exception of that happy fool Lyon)

Philander should have been gone on DRS review. There was not enough evidence to reverse the decision. 3rd umpire claimed his glove was off the bat but no way to tell for sure.

If Australia cannot bowl the Proteas out they will look back on 3 mistakes:

• Sending Doolan in. That wasted an hour and dramatically slowed the run rate
• Declaring too late...450 was more than enough
• Lyon. Useless.

I am glad that you do not pull your punches.

AN exciting finish anyway.

Johnson back into the attack!

[BookMan]

Harris saves the day for the AUssies!

He takes the last 2 wickets, both bowled

Australia take the series 2-1

Edited March 5, 2014 by BookMan

[Will27]

Ryan Harris you beauty!!

Bowling with dodgy knees. Hope he can come back after surgery.

Warner man of the match and series I wonder?

What a great couple of series for the Aussies.

I agree with all of these points BookMan.

"Sending Doolan in. That wasted an hour and dramatically slowed the run rate

• Declaring too late...450 was more than enough
• Lyon. Useless."

The second one is easy to fix. One and three not so easy.

We need a world class spinner. Lyon has shown time and time

again he cannot bowl out sides on the last day.

And Doolan is a "30 something" player.

Also a good move by the selectors by choosing Pattinson methinks.

I think Siddle may struggle to get back even if Harris doesn't recover.

[BookMan]

Ryan Harris you beauty!!

Bowling with dodgy knees. Hope he can come back after surgery.

Warner man of the match and series I wonder?

What a great couple of series for the Aussies.

I agree with all of these points BookMan.

"Sending Doolan in. That wasted an hour and dramatically slowed the run rate

• Declaring too late...450 was more than enough
• Lyon. Useless."

The second one is easy to fix. One and three not so easy.

We need a world class spinner. Lyon has shown time and time

again he cannot bowl out sides on the last day.

And Doolan is a "30 something" player.

Also a good move by the selectors by choosing Pattinson methinks.

I think Siddle may struggle to get back even if Harris doesn't recover.

Harris deserved those two wickets. He was steaming in giving it all on every ball. I liked that he changed to around the wicket when Lehman was on the boundary signalling him.

I agree about Doolan, but like you have been saying, what are the alternatives?

Warner took Man of the Match and Man of The Series.

Johnson finished the series with 22 wickets, an impressive haul again.

I had doubts pre-series that our batting could perform against the South African attack but it came through for 2 out of 3 tests. I am liking Steven Smith more and more and good to see Clarkey grind his way to form

[Will27]

Ryan Harris you beauty!!

Bowling with dodgy knees. Hope he can come back after surgery.

Warner man of the match and series I wonder?

What a great couple of series for the Aussies.

I agree with all of these points BookMan.

"Sending Doolan in. That wasted an hour and dramatically slowed the run rate

• Declaring too late...450 was more than enough
• Lyon. Useless."

The second one is easy to fix. One and three not so easy.

We need a world class spinner. Lyon has shown time and time

again he cannot bowl out sides on the last day.

And Doolan is a "30 something" player.

Also a good move by the selectors by choosing Pattinson methinks.

I think Siddle may struggle to get back even if Harris doesn't recover.

Harris deserved those two wickets. He was steaming in giving it all on every ball. I liked that he changed to around the wicket when Lehman was on the boundary signalling him.

I agree about Doolan, but like you have been saying, what are the alternatives?

Warner took Man of the Match and Man of The Series.

Johnson finished the series with 22 wickets, an impressive haul again.

I had doubts pre-series that our batting could perform against the South African attack but it came through for 2 out of 3 tests. I am liking Steven Smith more and more and good to see Clarkey grind his way to form

Yep, our batting stocks are pretty shallow and we need another spinner (like Agar) to stand up.

I think that Warner has arrived after 2 brilliant series and so has Smith I think.

With Johnson and Harris leading the way with Cummins, Starc and co in the background,

we're looking pretty good.

Good to see we didn't just rely on Haddin and Clarke with the bat this series.

[Will27]

Ian Chappell: Resilient Australia close to becoming a powerhouse.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/726263.html

BookMan, I think Chappelli has logged onto TV and has been monitoring

our posts.

The only thing he didn't mention was the lack of a really good spinner.

[BookMan]

Ian Chappell: Resilient Australia close to becoming a powerhouse.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/726263.html

BookMan, I think Chappelli has logged onto TV and has been monitoring

our posts.

The only thing he didn't mention was the lack of a really good spinner.

If Chapelli has been logging in here he must be talking sense for once

I hope we don't move Watson back to #3, but we need to find someone. Clarke should def be #4 and Smith is going great guns at #5.

The first T20 against South Africa was washed out

[EmmaH]

It was a very good test series especially the last test where we had everything, we had runs, wickets and weather interruption and an excellent last day of a test match where we saw South Africa fought brilliantly and they almost managed a draw until Harris got the last two wickets in three balls with just 4 overs to go in the match.

[seajae]

it was a great series but SA did have a few lucky decisions in the second and third tests, Siddle is a brilliant workhorse for Australia but was in need of a rest, he should come back ok, reminds me of Merv with his determionation when bowling. What we need is some young players to stand up too, we need reliable and constant bowlers and batters, at the moment it seems to go all over the place with consistency. Harris finished well but needs to become reliable with his injury, clarke batted ok but still needs to step up more, we really need a frontline spin man, Smith did brilliant here and has cemented his place but we need to find a good spinner with the ability to bowl balls that make the batsman play and can bamboozle him occasionally. Lyon just doesnt have it, Watson still hasnt set himslf up again yet, he needs to be more consistent as well but obverall the aussies are on track to become strong again if we can get some young blood.

[Will27]

I didn't want to start another topic so have placed this here.

http://www.watoday.com.au/sport/cricket/australian-coach-darren-lehmann-weighs-biggest-mistake-management-of-team-20140429-zr1fq.html

An interview with Darren Lehmann.

Here's what he says in part about Dave Warner

"Don’t bother having a deep and meaningful conversation with Warner because ''he wouldn’t understand''.

Looks as if we've been right about Warner all along

[BookMan]

I didn't want to start another topic so have placed this here.

http://www.watoday.com.au/sport/cricket/australian-coach-darren-lehmann-weighs-biggest-mistake-management-of-team-20140429-zr1fq.html

An interview with Darren Lehmann.

Here's what he says in part about Dave Warner

"Don’t bother having a deep and meaningful conversation with Warner because ''he wouldn’t understand''.

Looks as if we've been right about Warner all along

At least we know for sure now