South Africa v Australia 2nd Test debate

First topic message reminder :

This huge game for both teams gets under way tomorrow morning at 08.30. After that astonishing 1st Test, will the Aussie's frame of mind be in the right place for them to bounce back, are they tough enough?. Can South Africa omit Vernon Philander after stunning figures of 8-78?. Johannesburg, is not as bowler friendly as Newlands so will either team leave out their spinner?. Will this be the great Ricky Pontings last Test match. If he does not get a biggish score, i think it may well be. Lot's of big questions to be answered by both tems in this match, which way do you think the result will go?.
Rearly looking forward to this match, as posted many times before, it is a sin that there are only two Tests.

Some comments on cricinfo live scoring.

Spike: "As I read that Kallis had struck another six a smile creased my face and I realised that I had become a bigger fan of SA cricket than of my native West Indies team. Can anyone blame me really?"

Greig: "Amazing how Kallis has increased his strike rate in the last few years without sacrificing quality. He's always been a Rolls Royce, but the turbo upgrade is very impressive."

Absolutely, in recent years he has gone some way toward removing that particular monkey from his back i.e. the boring tag, but still a little bit too late in my opinion, as the majority of his career was spent boring us all to tears.

However, we have already had that debate, so let's not derail this thread too much

Kallis I'm sure will be a hall of famer when he does retire.

Kallis falls to Siddle after a swift 50.

Fists of Fury wrote:Kallis falls to Siddle after a swift 50.

A great player would have steadied the ship and go on to get a ton.

Absolutely, Stella

Amla gone for 19, 1st Test wicket (probably of many) for Pat Cummins, caught by Ponting.

Jonhsons early wicket was clearly a false dawn, as Prince checks in for bed and buffet breakfast against his endless supply of half volleys.

im very pleased that cummins is bowling well. i didnt think he was ready for test cricket, but he is proving me wrong

50 for De Villiers!. Good partnership developing between him and Prince.
Worrying for Australia, who also have to face up to Watson's injury and its aftereffects on the bowling and the batting lineup.
Who will open with Hughes? Hussey? Khawaja?

what happened to Watson?

So just what does Johnson have to do to get dropped from this side ? As I write he's going for five an over. It's not as if he's buying his wickets and getting, say, 6-100. Surely, ANYONE who comes in can't do much worse.

Australia may have nipped out Kallis and Amla, but I'd say South Africa's session. De Villiers and Prince have built a good platform for a solid partnership, the good rate of scoring has already given South Africa a great momentum.

Mad for Chelsea wrote:what happened to Watson?

He walked off without completing his 5th over. Seems he did his hamstring. We all know his injury history, don't we?

msp83 wrote:

Mad for Chelsea wrote:what happened to Watson?

He walked off without completing his 5th over. Seems he did his hamstring. We all know his injury history, don't we?

I thought I saw him at first slip just before tea, but maybe I'm imagining things...

Yes someone did say he was back on and could bowl at 16h45 local time, which is in about an hour from now.

Didn't notice that.
But I think if his hamstring has a bit of a problem, even if not something major, Australia shouldn't risk him. He's the most valuable player in their side.

just 53 overs at tea, not good from Australia.

Prince gets to 50, but he's been a touch edgy after tea. South Africa can't afford to have another set batsman throwing away a start.

well said. Prince is out

and just as you say that msp Lyon gets Prince. Prince never really looks comfortable against spin to me, he tried sweeping here but once Aus put a short fine-leg in place he never seemed to have any scoring options, and eventually hits one straight to mid-on. Poor shot, but the result of a good bit of pressure bowling from Aus.

Now de Villiers goes. Gosh, some of the batting in this series......

one brings two eh? daft shot from De Villiers, good catch from Cummins, huge wicket for Australia!

Make that one brings three! Lyon gets one to turn back into Philander, who plays back, is beaten and is caught bang in front! SA now 243-7, how quickly games can turn!

SA are throwing away an advantagious situation here. Will Mark Boucher's batting skills save SA this time? Steyn would looking for some funn, and can't be expected to potter around for long.

Two awful shots and a new batsman playing across the line. Are Safrica trying to make a, frankly poor, Australian side look good.?

OMG. Boucher out now to another terrible shot. WTF is going on out there?

Looks a good pitch for batting on this one, very surprised at this SA collapse.

South Africa got the bowling resources to make a decent match out of this, particularly as the Australians are still feeling the humiliation of 47 allout. But this is poor cricket from SA, too many of the batters throwing their wickets away. Rudolph, Kallis, Prince, AB, and now Boucher........

Again amazing, such a shame it is only 2 Tests.
I would say Aus are back on top, but aus have to bat yet .

with the light deteriorating Clarke brings himself on in tandem with Lyon and after Steyn and Morkel hang around for a bit gets Morkel caught at slip; SA nine down now.

An extraordinary collapse, making for compelling Test cricket yet again. Excellent stuff.

A funny old game, isn't it?

And yes, a terrible shame that this is the final Test of the series, I mean what is that all about? I'd love to have seen this for 4 or 5 Tests.

In some ways this batting today is even the worse than the two collapses in the first Test, as Safrica were well placed and there was NO NEED to play those kind of shots.
You don't need to get on top of this Aussie attack as they're not very good anyway. England worked this out last winter and just ensured they built huge totals. If Safrica bat like this against England next summer then it will be a lot easier for the home side.

and it's all over, SA all out for 266 as Tahir is caught at bat-pad off Clarke. Extraordinary collapse, and some very ordinary shots played by the set batsmen you have to say. Rudolph, Amla, Kallis, De Villiers and Prince all got themselves in, and then got themselves out. SA collapse from 240 odd for 4, poor effort.

However, what can Aus come up with in reply after last test?

The light is bad, and therefore very little chance of Australia batting today.

plz tell me harris is injured and not dropped!

He's injured... back home now.

I went to bed when it was around 241/4 and was listening to Drew Morphett and Lance Klusener? when the wickets started to tumble. Rushed out and watched until the end... but had already logged out of here. So maybe I'll have to do the same tonight.

It always amazes me those kind of collapses. SA was sailing along so well with ABDV and Prince (to an extent)... then those dismissals. I have an awful feeling in the back of my mind that we'll do something stupid again. It's almost too much to ask Watson to dig in with his hamstring injury (don't know how bad it is?) and surely it is time for Hughes to make a stand but I get the feeling he is incapable of winding himself in a bit and playing more sensibly.

I wish Ricky well - the pressure is on. If we're 4 or 5 down under 100... then that'll be it.

Jeez, I need to be more positive, don't I?

That was really a very poor batting display by SA's tail enders, they showed no application and thought they were De Viliers and Kallis in form.

Very, very poor.

Weather report mate? Same as yesterday or is it more cloudy this morning?

It is cloudy and it is threatening to rain. I think the australian batsmen would not like to bat in these conditions if the clouds hang about with intermittent rain they will not only have to contend with breaks during the sessions, but also swing.

Sounds ominous already... so no breeze yet to help blow things away? (the clouds... not our batsmen)

Hehe, there is a breeze, but you never know this time of year, the clouds can dissappear and collect very quickly in this part of the world.

Same as here. What you described yesterday happened here today. Widespread low cloud in the morning then around early afternoon you look up and it's all blue. Afternoon thunderstorms more frequent later on in summer but these days - weather seems to be all over the place. Very hard to predict.

decent start from Watson and Hughes; Watson's hamstring looking fine so far.

Having batted abysmally at the end of their innings, Safrica's bowling is not much better. Giving Hughes width outside off stump - come on. Mind you, the way this series is going a batting collapse appears just around the corner.

155-0 so at least the collapse will come from a position of some strength. Good batting or poor bowling? Have to say that S Africa have hardly put the ball in awkward places. I mean Hughes looking a world-beater? Hardly.

Hughes gets far too much stick on these boards (usually from so-called purists, who probably similarly rubbished guys like Trescothick and Simon Jones when they first appeared on the scene). He is a bl00dy talented batsman, and a tough character. He had quite a few technical faults when he first appeared on the scene, but he is gradually ironing these out. There has been evidence of improvement since he's been back in the team, which presumably is why he's still there.

Great session for the Aussie openers.

I've not been keeping up to speed with it - was it good batting, bad bowling, or both?

Decent player is Phil Hughes, not a world beater by any stretch, but a decent opener.

don't really rate Hughes, didn't see that improvement when he came back in against England that Mike is talking about. For me the technical faults are still there, and even today he got away with a large amount of edges through the slip/gully region.

Mike Selig wrote:Hughes gets far too much stick on these boards (usually from so-called purists, who probably similarly rubbished guys like Trescothick and Simon Jones when they first appeared on the scene). He is a bl00dy talented batsman, and a tough character. He had quite a few technical faults when he first appeared on the scene, but he is gradually ironing these out. There has been evidence of improvement since he's been back in the team, which presumably is why he's still there.

JDizzle wrote:I still rate Hughes as a batsman, and I think he will come good for Australia.