SA vs OZ ODI series kicks off today.

Good afternoon all you cricket lovers. After squaring the T20 series against OZ in a nailbiter, the Proteas and Oz are kicking off the 3 match ODI series this afternoon.

THe SA team has to do without AB de Villiers for now and Hashim Amla is the stand in captain

Proteas ODI squad.

Hashim Amla (capt)
Johan Botha
Mark Boucher
JP Duminy
Faf du Plessis
Imran Tahir
Jacques Kallis
David Miller
Morne Morkel
Wayne Parnell
Robin Peterson
Graeme Smith
Dale Steyn
Lonwabo Tsotsobe

Austrlian ODI squad.

Michael Clarke (c)
Shane Watson (vc)
Doug Bollinger
Patrick Cummins
Xavier Doherty
Brad Haddin
Mike Hussey
Mitchell Johnson
Brett Lee NSW
Shaun Marsh WA
James Pattinson VIC
Ricky Ponting TAS
Steven Smith NSW
David Warner NSW

South Africa looks a little thin in the batting department, the first match at Centurion should be quite interesting.

That was my concern, biltong. It'll be ok if they get off to a good start and therefore have wickets in hand later in the innings, but the worry has to be if they lose a couple early inside the initial powerplay overs then they may just struggle to post a competitive total.

Yep, australia is batting first and are slapping the toffee out of Dale Steyn. They had 47/1 after 7 overs.

I see there are new rules for ODI's now.

*Two new balls will be used for alternative overs, meaning that each ball is used for 25 overs only. This does away with the compulsory ball change after 34 overs when only one ball was in use. (Clause 5.2)

*The batting and bowling power plays have to be taken between the 16th and 40th overs. (Clause 41.2.5)

*No runners are allowed for the batsmen in the event of injury, illness or any other cause. (Clause 2.1). If a batsman is unable to run between wickets he has to retire and be replaced by a colleague. This has already happened in an ODI between the West Indies and Bangladesh.

*A batsman can be given out ‘obstructing the field’ if he significantly changes the angle of his run between wickets to block the throwing line of a fielder at the stumps. (Clause 37)

*A bowler can run out a batsman who takes unfair advantage in setting off for a run before the ball has been delivered. (Clause 42.11). Previously a batsman could set off for a run as soon as the bowler’s back foot had landed.

Was looking forward to the series, but alas, after all the rain disasters in England, yet again the Rain's going to have the last word here as well. Stupid!.

SA are playing without Imran Tahir. They've prefered Botha over him. Interesting to say the least. Tahir is a potential wicket taker of the attacking type, Botha is more than capable with the bat.
SA have, even without Botha, 7 batsmen in their xi.

Tahir has to play ahead of the botha!

Botha over Tahir for me.

Offers something with the bat
Bowls a tight line
Is IMO far better as an all round player

Tahir is a class player in all forms look at his record..


did steve smith make the final 11?

He's not that great CF, and as I said Botha adds more to the team.

cricinfo informs that the covers are off. No info on overs cut, or on the timing of a possible restart as yet.
And yes, Smith is in, and even bat in the top 6.
It was Ricky P who opened the innings. How many times has he done it in his long career so far? Anyways, he looked in good touch before the rain came in.

damn it!, the rain's back.

grrrrrr fed up with rain

Covers are off again, Still 5 hours before the match can be called off.

any chance of play yet?

started cf, clarke run out at non strikers end!

Ah well, we lost that one comfortably.

2nd odi starts sunday..what ground is it being played at?

Check on Cricinfo