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Australian tour of SA

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The_Brown_Hornet

John Eales (66)
Well played fellas and props to Son of Swampy. I had massive doubts, as did a few others here, but he's played a really important innings and most importantly he's still there. A fantastic platform has been laid so it's crucial the boys cash in today. Smith keeps growing and growing as a batsman with each test. He was thrust into the team too early but in the last 12 months he has looked like a proper test cricketer.

It's always a risk bowling first, but you can understand Smith's reasoning. He's got the two best pace bowlers in the world (and another handy one) on a track that looked as green as my front lawn and playing against a battling line up that's still pretty brittle. I would have been mighty tempted to do it too and realistically he looked like a genius not long after lunch.

As for this talk that Steyn and Philander aren't absolutely world class, Pfitzy what are you smoking old son?
 

Braveheart81

Will Genia (78)
Staff member
Great to see Marsh stepping up and I want to see more of it. His old man was one of my favorite players growing up. I just loved the guts we had back then with him, Boonie, AB and Waugh in his early days.

Clearly the selectors have seen something like this in him that we haven't. Hope he continues to repay them.

His problem has always been that he lacked the grit and determination of his old man.

If Swampy had the talent of Sean he'd have been one of Australia's best. If Sean Marsh had the concentration of his father, he'd have played a hell of a lot more test cricket.
 
T

tranquility

Guest
Can't wait for Notch and Ryno to get in there and show everyone that's it not a slow pitch, just that guys like Phatlander are hideously overrated, and Steyn is mentally weak. They have no fourth bowler, and while Morne is good, all you need to do with him is duck a bit.

I don't mind the QLD garbage. But show a little respect. Dale Steyn is an absolute champion of the sport. Philander and Morne are both very good bowlers as well. They are really let down as a unit, by not having a decent slow bowler. We identified this, and exploited it.
 

No4918

John Hipwell (52)
Looking good with the ball so far. Have them 3-31 and Johnson has 3-10 off his 4. Already variable bounce so those first innings runs are gold.
 

Pfitzy

George Gregan (70)
My point stands. Steyn's average against Australia is about five runs worse than his career stats. Philander is a fat fuck and his average in Australia is nearly 50 - nearly a quarter of his wickets are from that embarrassment of a kiwi side who just touched up India (a side the saffers barely beat recently)

Neither of them could take the heat yesterday, now Johnson is showing them what pace bowling looks like.
 

Pfitzy

George Gregan (70)
And the reason I'm being such an utter fluffybunny about this is simple: go read the pre-tour bile dished out by the precious antelope-fuckers on cricinfo, stating how their pace attack was untouchable and batsmen invincible blah blah fucking blah. "This isn't Australia moy frend eh! We aren't those kak English bois ah!"

They've served up their usual dose of postage stamp grounds, poor crowds* and incompetent leadership. Nearly losing to India, combined with the loss of Kallis, hadn't even registered.

Right now my boys are on top and I'm riding that pony for all its worth.

I like AB deVilliers though. Class act.


* Wednesday FFS! Might not even be a game on by Saturday...
 

Hugh Jarse

Rocky Elsom (76)
Staff member
Saffers at 69-4, still trailing by 328 (18.3 overs into their first dig).

Gotta be happy with the current match situation.

Bloody Winter Olympics. Need a second set of eyes.
 

The_Brown_Hornet

John Eales (66)
My point stands. Steyn's average against Australia is about five runs worse than his career stats. Philander is a fat fuck and his average in Australia is nearly 50 - nearly a quarter of his wickets are from that embarrassment of a kiwi side who just touched up India (a side the saffers barely beat recently)

Neither of them could take the heat yesterday, now Johnson is showing them what pace bowling looks like.



Your criticism of Steyn is ludicrous. The bloke averages five wickets a test, which puts him in elite company. Lillee and Hadlee type company. He's that good and he's done it everywhere in the world (averages 21 at home and 24 away, that's world class).

Anyway, as many of us predicted, Mitch has put the shits up the Saffer top order. He's done it before and he's doing it again. One more here and the they're in real trouble.
 
T

Train Without a Station

Guest
One thing that really came to mind for me last night is seeing Amla's stats and average of 51 as he came in. We put together a pretty good total, yet I think Clarke is our only batsman to average over 40. I'm just wonder what SA's test schedule is like. Does anybody know if they regularly face the same quality opposition as we do? For example in 2013, we played India and England away, where as SA had only played India in SA.

I'm not trying to say SA aren't a quality side, I'm just wondering if maybe they appear a little stronger than they are due to their opposition, whilst we appear a little weaker than we actually are, and it's a fairly even match up.
 

No4918

John Hipwell (52)
One thing that really came to mind for me last night is seeing Amla's stats and average of 51 as he came in. We put together a pretty good total, yet I think Clarke is our only batsman to average over 40. I'm just wonder what SA's test schedule is like. Does anybody know if they regularly face the same quality opposition as we do? For example in 2013, we played India and England away, where as SA had only played India in SA.

I'm not trying to say SA aren't a quality side, I'm just wondering if maybe they appear a little stronger than they are due to their opposition, whilst we appear a little weaker than we actually are, and it's a fairly even match up.

It's not that easy. Would you say the great Australian team of the 2000's where 4 or 5 of the top 6 averaged over 50 had there results inflated by weak teams? I definitely wouldn't. SA have rightfully been the top side for the last 5 years and have made pretty good teams look poor as we once did.
 

Braveheart81

Will Genia (78)
Staff member
My point stands. Steyn's average against Australia is about five runs worse than his career stats. Philander is a fat fuck and his average in Australia is nearly 50 - nearly a quarter of his wickets are from that embarrassment of a kiwi side who just touched up India (a side the saffers barely beat recently)

Neither of them could take the heat yesterday, now Johnson is showing them what pace bowling looks like.

So Steyn's average is 26.77 againgst Australia which still makes him better than just about every bowler going around. His career test average of 22.86 is better than most of the all time greats.

If you look at any of the great cricketers, they will generally have better averages against the weaker teams.
 

light

Peter Fenwicke (45)
Great day for the Aussies but this test is not over yet. We may be on top but I do recall getting bowled all out for 47 by this mob not so long ago..

Getting these last four wickets with the follow on still available is crucial. That would be a huge psychological blow at this point in the series and would take the pressure off. That being said, I'd send Warner and Rogers back out there. Anything over 250+ will be a very hard 4th innings total, if not impossible.

Their pace bowlers got through a heap of work on days 1 & 2. Get them back out there bowling again and it will pay dividends later in the series.

Rain is a concern right now and De Villiers is a freak. As one poster mentioned he is absolute class no matter the situation and I'd have him in my world XI any day of the week. We all know what Du Plessis and Amla are capable of.

Anyone questioning the quality of Steyn is off their rocker. He is unquestionably the best pace bowler since McGrath retired. Morkel and Philander aren't half bad either. Difference right now is that our spinner is useful, theirs isn't. Also helps having a bloke bowling 150km/h thunderbolts.

DO NOT WRITE THEM OFF YET.

Nothing the Proteas love more than the thrill of the chase and staging a miraculous comeback. They will fight and we better be bloody ready for it.
 

Pfitzy

George Gregan (70)
I think the Waugh "Dominators" were a combination of awesome and crappy opposition. Test Cricket wasn't exactly at its highest point there, but when is it ever? Someone's always heading up while the others are heading down - Test Cricket is never as level a playing field as the shorter forms, where upsets happen fairly consistently.

So it seems everyone was so busy smoking Steyn's pole that they sidestepped completely the issue that Philander is a fat fuck. Interesting - agreement through silence.

And I never said Steyn couldn't bowl - his record speaks for itself. Sure, take out some of the pissweak Test teams he's played against and it isn't so rosy, but you could say that about anyone.

But he's mentally weak - it showed on Day 1 when things got tough and he couldn't make the difference someone of his calibre supposedly should. He had zero support from Phatlander and Morkel was injured, which hampered him along with this supposed stomach bug. Oh and the fact that Smith is a shit captain and the whole South African Cricket setup is a basket case.

But the guy looks like he's ready to go to bits at a moment's notice, and that's true of everyone in this Saffer team from Smith down.

Remember when Smith was first made captain? Whinging like a little bitch because he was getting sledged, and his team were under massive pressure. Nobody remembers that now because they started winning instead of whining, and they're all fucking heroes.

They might fight back in this series, but for right now they're looking like teenage white girls who thought getting a few tatts and some baggy clothes made them all gangsta, then found out the truth when they walked down a dark alley.
 

Pfitzy

George Gregan (70)
Further, the two batsmen Steyn got out were gift wickets - Warner chopping on stupidly and Clarke trying the hook. Yeah put it in the right areas if you must, but how many times have they hit the wickets on their own?

Even McLaren's wickets were higher quality IMHO. And he's genuinely shit.
 

Braveheart81

Will Genia (78)
Staff member
It feels like you haven't watched many of South Africa's tests in the last 5 years.

You're taking a day and a half of bowling and applying it retrospectively to their careers.

Sent from my HTC One XL using Tapatalk
 

Lindommer

Steve Williams (59)
Staff member
Hey, settle down, NtA, Steyn had a stomach upset of some sort, or course he wasn't at his best on day 1, which makes Smith's decision to send us in look even more stupid. AND I rate both Philander and Morkel, they'll cause us some misery before this series is over. Lucky for us they haven't got a threatening spinner.

Your remark about postage stamp grounds is very apt, for such a wide brown land I've never understood why their cricket grounds are so small. Or are we the odd ones out here in Oz with our vast expanses of green to play on? I must confess I dislike this modern trend to put the ropes in 20m from the boundary fences, make the grounds bigger so's the fielders have to work up a sweat chasing well-placed drives and pulls. As for the Saffer crowds: did Cricket SA really expect us to forego our Boxing Day and New Year's Day tests with their massive crowds to play in SAf over the Christmas break? Yeah, sure, send us a cheque for a coupla mill. Aussie dollars, not rands.
 

Pfitzy

George Gregan (70)
It feels like you haven't watched many of South Africa's tests in the last 5 years.

You're taking a day and a half of bowling and applying it retrospectively to their careers.

Careers? They're for bullshitting around the bar when you retire. As was written elsewhere (I think on cricinfo) - do you think Faf or Smith were calmly thinking "this bloke's career average isn't that hot" while the leather is singing around their ears?

Right now is where we are. And I'm loving it.

And Steyn can bowl.
 

Braveheart81

Will Genia (78)
Staff member
Careers? They're for bullshitting around the bar when you retire. As was written elsewhere (I think on cricinfo) - do you think Faf or Smith were calmly thinking "this bloke's career average isn't that hot" while the leather is singing around their ears?

Right now is where we are. And I'm loving it.

And Steyn can bowl.

I'm loving it too, but by this logic, if Philander rolls us in the second innings, he goes from being fat and crap to being a world beater. o_O
 
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