1st Test: Australia v South Africa, Brisbane

First topic message reminder :

The series that is huge for both teams. Australia with a chance to regain the No1 spot or for SA to cement their current occupation as the top ranked team.

Smith has won the toss and South Africa will bat.

No Tahir, Kleinveldt is making his Test debut. And Kallis with a niggle so may not bowl much.

Teams:

Australia; EJM Cowan, DA Warner, RJ Quiney, RT Ponting, MJ Clarke*, MEK Hussey, MS Wade†, NM Lyon, PM Siddle, JL Pattinson, BW Hilfenhaus.

South Africa; GC Smith*, AN Petersen, HM Amla, JH Kallis, AB de Villiers†, JA Rudolph, JP Duminy, VD Philander, M Morkel, DW Steyn, RK Kleinveldt

First Warner, and now Quiney gone. Australia 30-2. Quiney has been playing a shot a minute and pulled Morne Morkle down to Dale Steyn in the deep for 9. Warner was earlier taken at 2nd slip by Jacques Kallis of Steyn for 4.

Ponting gone, without scoring!.

Morne with the wicket, and yet again its big Jacques with the catch!.

msp,

This is what I was worried about. Warner, Quiney out cheaply and Punter just gone too now. So along with Cowan, Clarke and Hussey will have to carry the batting burden earlier than expected.

I still think Clarke should bat 3 and mix the lh order, Quiney 4, Ponting 5.

Now Ponting edges one to slips and is caught by Kallis off Morkel.
Even more pressure.
40/3

Fine recovery from Australia here, 89-3. Ed Cowan is leading the recovery, he had promised that he would be batting more freely and he is living up to it, taking on the debutant Rory Kleinweldt on. He's 44 not out and captain Clarke is also looking pretty good. Kleinweldt's been a bit allover the shop with the ball, and even Philander wasn't at his accurate best.

Perhaps its the first test pressure, but Quiney looked a bit too hurried out there when he was batting. If not Clarke, then perhaps Ponting could move back to 3?

Cowan survives a caught behind review of Morkel as it was a no-ball from the big lad. Touch and go for me, Did he land behind the line and then dragged out? Too close but umpire calles it against Morkel and Cowan benefits, otherwise he would have been out, there was a bit of glove on that.

Do they lose a review on a no-ball that wasn't called by the umpire?

SA still well on top but they will need a breakthrough early tomorrow ...I imagine that as it was the second day that was washed out completely , and time is being made up , the match remains officially a five day game so the follow on is still 200 ? Prepared to be corrected on this ...

Unless Australia were skittled very quickly tomorrow I am not sure Smith would send them back in anyway...perhaps a frisky second innings and hope the pitch wears a bit by Tuesday ? Still have to take seven wickets tomorrow and the pitch should be at best for batting , I am still backing a draw.

This test is going to be a draw.

Another 17 Australian wickets to fall plus 9 South African wickets all in less than 200 overs.

That is on a oitch that really looks good for batting and perhaps more rain?

No, it's going to be fine the next 2 days, 27 and 28 degrees no rain.

Australia needs 239 runs to avoid the follow on. It should get even better for batting but Australia will have their work cut out with the quality SA bowling attack. A few lucky escapes already after the early losses of Warner, Quiney and Ponting. It could have been 4 or 5 for less than 100 runs on the scoreboard.

It will be a test of patience for Clarke and Cowan to withstand the initial onslaught tomorrow morning and try and stabilise the innings.

The only real batsman to come is Hussey. If we are unlucky and lose a few wickets early tomorrow then Wade, Siddle or Pattinson will have to try and build something or else go down swinging, which would be an even more precarious position for Australia than it is already in now.

SA firmly in the box-seat, although the draw is perhaps the slight favourite.

a good contest between 2 of games heavy weights.......shame if it's a draw....although that looks like the most likely scenario.

Only one team can lose from here though...and key for SA is to ply out Clarke early.

Aus can collpase in about 50 odd over for a total of 250-275

then SA scores 200 odd by end of day.......and gives Aus a day to survive or score 375 to win

The key will be for SA to get into a position at the end of the day where they can give themselves a day to bowl at Australia. By my calculations that will require them bowling Australia out for under 300.

Again, first session going to be key tomorrow. If SA manage a couple of early wickets, there could be serious pressure on that Australian lineup. Pattinson and Siddle have become capable lower order contributers who could manage 15- 20 runs more often than not, but if there is no cover from the top 6 then they could be in for a lot of trouble. Kleinweldt has had a pretty poor start with the ball and Philander wasn't at his best even though he did manage to find the edge a couple of times. If Kleinweldt continues the way he did today, then that would mean more responsibility on Kallis, who of late regained his effectiveness with the ball by bowling short sharp spels

IMO its gonna be a draw, however aside from cowan aussie top order looked brittle again!!

CF wrote:IMO its gonna be a draw, however aside from cowan aussie top order looked brittle again!!

There is an inevitability in that statement.....however the question posed is would Australia have survived had rain not intervened.

Cowan and Clarke carrying on the rescue act with an unbeaten century 4th wkt partnership. Both reaching the 50 mark.

Philander not finding Test cricket as easy as it once was. Ave under 17.

If it were not for Amla, Clarke may have been the Test cricketer of 2012 ?

Aus 146-3 and even at this stage seemingly drifting towards the draw.

Although in one Test fewer Clarke has scored more runs than Amla with a significantly better ave. So maybe Clarke should get the credit.

Another 100 for Clarke after a perfect morning session with Cowan. Follow on avoided and Australia trail by 180 odd runs.

269/3
Cowan 123*
Clarke 103*

Unlucky run-out for Cowan on 136. The ball ricocheted off Steyn's hand in the follow through and Ed caught out of his crease.
Clarke 122*
301/4

So at 433/4 Australia are well and truly safe ...and you wouldn't think SA could contrive to lose from here either , but they may end up having to bat out fifty odd overs tomorrow...
Given the first couple of days play Australia will probably feel more satisfied with the outcome than their opponents.

Certainly another fine day for M Clarke ...apparently he had a few slices of luck but he really has become a run machine since he took up the captaincy. Cowan nailed on for the summer too.

Judging by both team's bowling attacks failure to make much impression here , we had better hope Adelaide serves up something a bit more lively than usual or it could be two stalemates and a shootout in Perth. Which might be an interesting game but would really rub in the pity of having only a three Test series , early season and off the main grounds...

200 up for Clarke.
Hussey 75*
458/4 Australia lead by 8 runs.

Pretty good recovery from 40/3

Fabulous by Clarke, 3rd double ton this year apparently. Australia must try to force the result, make some quick runs and then pile the pressure on South Africa tomorrow in an effort to skittle them out for a low total. Sort of Adelaide 2006 I guess only without Mcgrath and Warne!

Linebreaker wrote:200 up for Clarke.
Hussey 75*
458/4 Australia lead by 8 runs.

Only 3 men have scored 3 double tons in a year, Bradman, Ponting and Clarke. (and Bradman and Clarke converted one of theirs into triple centuries)

Clarke in 2012. 7 Test matches, 11 innings, 1000 runs, Ave 111.11

Australia 487/4 at the close of play.
Clarke 218* Hussey 86*

Linebreaker wrote:Clarke in 2012. 7 Test matches, 11 innings, 1000 runs, Ave 111.11

Their's England's main worry ahead of the Ashes next year.

What a day for Australia, declare early tomorrow and heap the pressure on. 1 or 2 early wickets and who knows what may happen.

Yeah duty. That's the plan.
Aim for a 150-175? run lead then have a crack at them.
376 runs for the loss of only 1 wicket today. That's more like it!

Thundering response from australia......well played Clarke, Cowans and Hussey.
Bat one session......get as many as they can and declare...they have at least a spinner in the side

Haven't really been following today's action, but a perfect day for Australia. No South African bowler managed a wicket the entire day!. Fabulous from Clarke, Usual from Hussey an for Cowan, this knock should really convince him that he really belongs at this level, and should have his place safe for the summer.
Playing with an all pace attack has to be a very rare strategy, even on green hard tops its better to go in with a spinner particularly if you have a medium pacer of the quality of Jacques Kallis as your 4th seamer. If SA didn't think Tahir may not have made a great deal of impact with the ball on this pitch, they could always have gone for Robin Petersen who has a handy 2nd string with the bat to offer as well.

So much for the much vaunted SA bowling line up, eh?

But then it must be said the pitch is a belter.

Sounds like a stunning day for Australia.

Wonder if Clarke will declare and try and skittle SA - doubt it but they have more chance of winning that way than by batting on.

If they can continue in the same vein tomorrow and score at around 4 r.p.o. in the first session then that will take them to a lead of 157 runs... or at 4.5 rpo to 172 runs. Don't be surprised if they try to score at 6 or 8 rpo and declare earlier. It will simply be about reinforcing the psychological message to the opposition that: 'we can bat a bit'. It's not so much about dangling the carrot/bait now though. That point has probably been passed.

So SA will have around 60 or so overs left to see out the day. They won't go for anything - a lead is almost futile - and this is what Australia will try and exploit. There's probably next to no chance of pulling it off. Unlike Adelaide 06, 2nd Test... but that started late on day 4 with 2 or 3 wickets already down and then a few more quick ones on the morning of the 5th day. They then had to chase down 168 runs on the final afternoon. Here in Brisbane, Australia won't want to be batting again.

Also, it's great for Australia's confidence knowing that they were on the ropes on Sunday afternoon and heading for a big loss - possibly.
It could so easily have been 50/4, 70/5, etc - instead it was 299/4 this morning. That is a very significant turnaround. They'll need to capitalise on this day and 'use it' to set up the tone for the remaining 2 tests, assuming this one peters out in a draw.

I think Aus will bat most of the first session tomorrow (if not all) if they're not bowled out, looking for quick runs, push the lead up to 200+ and then try and have a crack at SA. Unfortunately the pitch looks too flat to hope for much (I'm not sure I see Lyon running through the SA batting), in fact one of the flatter pitches I've seen lately which is a tad disappointing.

When you look at it more closely. The lead is 37 runs.

376 runs in a day equates to 125 runs/session. Is 162 runs enough?

2 x 125 = 250 runs possible to score in the last 2 sessions.

Maybe Australia will look for a 180-220 run lead?
At 7 rpo, they could have a lead of 212 after 25 overs say.
Then have a session and a bit to work a miracle.

or SA could have a small lead themselves. Set a lowish target of 150, SA score a quickfire 250 perhaps?
Australia might even have to bat out an uncomfortable 15 overs (or score 101 in 15 overs) in their 2nd dig!

Particularly following on from Linebreaker's posts and the general view that there is no chance of getting 10 SA wickets in two sessions, I just wonder if it might be to Australia's advantage for the series to actually bat on past lunch if they can and give a psychological message as to who is the top team.

Just a thought - probably trying to be too clever ....

I like your way of thinking, Guildford - but yes.

That could be overdoing things - slightly.

skyeman wrote:Although in one Test fewer Clarke has scored more runs than Amla with a significantly better ave. So maybe Clarke should get the credit.

Skye,
You may be right. He's had a pretty solid year. Today was on par with those glory days when we beat India.... earlier in 2012.

Test Matches 2012
Batsman/Matches/Runs/Average

1. Clarke/7/1000/111.11
2. Amla/8/791/79.10
3. Kallis/7/752/83.56
4. Pietersen/10/715/42.06
5. Trott/11/711/37.42
6. Strauss/11/697/33.19
7. Cook/11/687/36.16
8. Petersen/8/679/56.58
9. Chanderpaul/7/633/70.33
10. Sangakkara/6/594/66.00

and still nearly 2 months to go.
It will be interesting to see if England's batsmen can pile on some runs and score big in India.

It's a bit like the All Blacks, the Boks.... France, Argentina,............................. then Oz and the Home Nations (except England) in the rugby scheme of things.

However, in this case it is a group of KP, Cook, Trott all bunched together in the mid-table. I hope your new players find their feet.
It would be good to see a debutante like Compton (Root if he gets a chance) and a player like Bairstow do well on a tour to India.

You might find 5 wickets fall tomorrow.

What, 3 of ours and 2 of yours?

hehe, something like that.

Have been following India domestic cricket and the experience in the 2nd round of Ranji has been sickening. People were scoring tons for funn, and double and triple tones weren't news. A fall of wicket was earth shattering.
And now we have a test match, against the best bowling line up in the world(all be it a bit too imballanced for this match), not a single wicket to any bowler.
I am sure reading through the cricinfo commentary, that Clarke and Cowan batted really well and Hussey too did a superb job. Rory Kleinweldt was poor, Vernon Philander some way away from his best, Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel not at their sharpest.
Still I don't think this track was a good test match wicket. Hope the ICC will soon come up with a system where they'll have flat roads being made accountable just like they do with a track that has some life in it.
Who in their right minds would want to be a bowler in these circumstances??????!

Watching the first two days of play (I haven't seen today) I'd say this was a pretty normal Test wicket - certainly not in the league of roads that some Indian, Sri Lankan and West Indian grounds have been.

Amla, Kallis, Clarke and Hussey are exceptional batsmen, and Cowan clearly played very well. Combine that with bowling which isn't quite on song and you're going to get a lot of runs.

South Africa 129-4. Effectively 14-5. There are 30 overs yet to be bowled. Are we in for something special here?
Think SA should bat in a normal mode, going shotless will only play into the hands of the Australians. AB has been bogged down, he has to play his natural game if SA has to get out of this one.

SA almost choked here.
Moral win for Aus

well played and well led Michale Clarke...created something out of nothing

choke.

Far from it, KP_f.

Well, it was as predicted from Day 3.
Australia did well at the end but it could have been very different outcome for them if Day 2 hadn't been washed out. I guess we'll never know.

Lucky Kallis, Amla & de Villiers know the Heimlich maneuver.