Australia v Sth Africa

[mersey86]

30 wickets in the first 3 innings - not one LBW! Strange. I wonder if that's happened before.

[Harv]

**** that stupid umpire off. Giving Hussey out His gloves were nowhere near the ****ing thing FFS Hayden is gone i reckon. Bring in Hughes or Marsh for the third test. Symonds is on the brink too. We are still a bloody good side. But this Saffie team is right up there with India at the moment.

Saffies are a cracking team against pace. If we had a decent spinner it would be another game though. We needed a class spinner to get that tail out the other day. I'd expect India to wipe the floor with them

[livvy145]

It's great staying up till stupid o'clock watching the Aussies get ****ted.

[Harv]

You sound like a bitter

[Parm]

i thought you'd never ask

:bird:

[Parm]

well done the saffies, 183-1
they are looking like the real deal, quality all the way through that side

[Harv]

yep. They deserved it. Quality side, and Graeme Smith has become a real solid player, almost Hayden like actually.

Duminy and De Villiers are class.

Hopefully this is the kick up the backside the selection panel needed and drops a couple of the under performing players from our side. Hayden and Symonds need dropping. Bring Watson in for Symonds, he had a good tour of India, is a handy bowler who can swing it a bit, and can make runs. Young Phil Hughes should get a chance at the top order IMO. He is too good in our domestic comp. They probably wont chuck him in at such a young age, but he looks like he could truly be one of the best of his generation. Shaun Marsh is also in with a chance. He's young too, but has more experience than Hughes.

Anything other than Jaques, cant stand watching him bat. More boring than Katich used to be.

[Zapater]

I've been waiting for this win for over a decade. I'm quietly pleased, surprisingly not delighted. Given that no one expected us to play like this it makes the victory even sweeter. First team to beat the Aussies in their backyard in 17 years I believe. Well played boys

**** that stupid umpire off. Giving Hussey out His gloves were nowhere near the ****ing thing FFS Hayden is gone i reckon. Bring in Hughes or Marsh for the third test. Symonds is on the brink too. We are still a bloody good side. But this Saffie team is right up there with India at the moment.

Saffies are a cracking team against pace. If we had a decent spinner it would be another game though. We needed a class spinner to get that tail out the other day. I'd expect India to wipe the floor with them

Didn't hear you complaining when Duminy got caught off of his forearm in our first innings of the last test. That's cricket and how it goes, it all balances itself out at the end of the day.

By "wiping the floor with them" do you mean india beating us, because that's bull**** to be frank. We drew with them in India, bowling them out for under 100 on a flat track earlier this year. The only reason we didn't win was because we lost the last game on a disgrace on a pitch when they levelled the series which was poor on their part. Don't forget that last year we spanked them in SA too. They will remain to be a good team at home, but away they will never cut the mustard. Saying that though, they did play some good cricket in their last tour of Australia, at the moment though I can't see them beating us.

[Harv]

Mate Duminy's was a very close call....it was an incorrect decision, but it was bloody close. Hussey's wasn't even close.

The way India are playing now i would expect them to beat you. The Saffies have a history of trouble facing good spnners, and right now India have 2 of the best.

[Parm]

we are improving all the time away from home.

[tommyg]

Graeme Smith's effortless back cut was just sublime. Must have scored about 50 runs off that shot alone, both last night and today he just kept on finding the gap no matter where slip's and such were placed.

[Zapater]

Mate Duminy's was a very close call....it was an incorrect decision, but it was bloody close. Hussey's wasn't even close.

The way India are playing now i would expect them to beat you. The Saffies have a history of trouble facing good spnners, and right now India have 2 of the best.

Close or not, Duminy was given out when he wasn't as where Hayden and Hussey, it happens. The decisions weren't game changing in my opinion either way. Besides, it's justice considering how we've been robbed by crooked umpires in Australia almost every tour. Last time and this time was alright but there have been some shocking disadvantage to our guys in Australia, the 2001/02 tour still sticks out in my memory to this day with horrendous calls in Australia's favour all over the place.

I don't know why people always say we're so bad against spin,there was an article on cricinfo about a year ago where the journalist Rajesh or something, whoever does the stats compiled stats on teams scoring runs against spin bowling over recent years and South Africa have one of the best averages against spin bowling since 2004 I think, you can try dig up the article if you wish. In 2006 alone Kallis averaged over 100 against spin. Maybe in the past the likes of Darlyn Callinan gives us that rep, but in the current team there's a lot of good players against spin. Smith is alright, as is McKenzie, Amla thrives on it as he's so risky, it's never troubled Kallis, de Villiers and Prince are suspect against top quality spin and Boucher plays it well generally. Duminy in the ODI's hasn't seemed to have any problems against it either.

I don't know why you think it's guaranteed that India would beat us considering that we beat them in South Africa very recently and then drew a 3 match series in India 1-1 with them. It's the same team that lost the series in Australia but pushed hard and managed to win a test and then managed to beat Australia in India.

They couldn't beat Australia in Australia in a test series and we're 2 from 2. Don't get me wrong they're an excellent team but i don't think they're better than this South African team, maybe as good, but certainly not better. They may have spin options like Singh but now that Kumble is retired Mishra looks very good but he's a prospect I don't think that Singh alone would sway a series that heavily in their favour. Sharma and Zaheer are good, but their quicks aren't quite what Australia and South Africa can produce.

Off topic but it's interested me to note that Steyn hasn't bowled at his full pace in this series. He has had some injuries lately so maybe he's holding back a tad which is promising considering he still took wickets. In this series he's been 135-145km/hr generaly when usually he's about 5 clicks quicker between 140 and 150. I wonder if he'll bend his back a little and start bowling near his fastest in the last test.

Looking forward to the last test and the ODI tri series. I don't really like one day cricket but I'm keen for it. I remember the last time Australia, South Africa and New Zealand played a tri-series, an SA - NZ final was lovely. Anyone fancy a repeat?

[ningnangnong]

Hopefully Ben Hilfenhaus can get a run in the next test. He deserves a chance.

Siddle had a good spell in the first innings when he was all fired up, but other than that he has been ****e.

Symonds has to go, but Watson is injured again so that probably won't happen.

[Harv]

Hilfenhaus will get the nod hopefully

Didnt know Watson is injured again Symonds has a gimpy knee anyway, cant see them playing him.

Theres a few good kids making big scores in domestic comps. Hughes should get a game.

[Jayesh87]

Why was Lee bowling when he was injured?