South Africa vs Australia first test Wednesday 9 November.

First topic message reminder :

so the first test is due to start in 3 days, South Africa however have not bowled a ball in anger during a test match since the 6th of Jan 2011. This should be their biggest concern when facing an Australian team who as recently as September have secured an away from home test series victory over Sri Lanka.

fortunately for the Proteas AB de Villiers should be back after he has been given the go ahead by his doctor to proceed.

Since Jan of 2010 Australia have played in 16 tests, winning 7, losing 6 and drawing 3 for series victories over Pakistan at home, New Zealand away and Sri Lanka away. They have however had one series draw against Pakistan in England, a loss to England at home during the Ashes and a India away from home.

South Africa have played 12 tests since Jan 2010, winning 5, losing 2 and drawing 5. They have secured nly one series win in that time over West Indies and secured series draws over England at home, India home and away, and Pakistan in Dubai.

The current worold batting and bowling rankings will mean little if they don't hit the bround running and I fear the lack of time in the middle may see them not starting too well. In an interview with Paul Harris he had the following to say.

“These three days are very important for us to get out any cobwebs that are there,” said Paul Harris. “The guys have played cricket which is important, albeit one-day cricket, and they got better and better as the series (ODI series against Australia) went on.

“I think we are starting to hit our straps and these three days are going to be very key to our preparation.”

“Imran (Tahir) is another attacking option in the side and he has deserved his call-up. He has done very well in the last 12 to 18 months, he deserves his chance,” said Harris.

“It will be nice to bowl with him, it will be great to have two spinners in South African conditions, hopefully we can manage to do that if the deck suits it,” he concluded.

Current batting rankings for SA players in the top 20.
1. Jacques Kallis
11. AB de Villiers
12. H Amla
13. GC Smith

Current batting rankings for OZ players in top 20.
6. MEK Hussey

Current bowling rankings for SA players in top 20.
1. Dale Steyn
4. Morne Morkel
20. Paul Harris

Current bowling rankings for OZ players in top 20.
8. MG Johnson
13. PM siddle

Newlands will be the venue for the first test and it is exactly 10 months since SA last played a test.

Linebreaker wrote:I thought they made 51? I hope you are right!

I think you are correct Stella, hope so, that would make ME feel better

skyeman wrote:

Stella wrote:Anybody know the record amount of wickets taken in one day?

Newlands in the late 1800's had 30 in a test.

I think 27 (England v Australia at Lords in 1888.) is the record for Test Wickets. That is what they are saying on cricinfo, of course they could be wrong.

Could the match finish today?? Noooo, it could'nt, could it?

Ponting now averaging less than 20 in the past year of Test Cricket. Of course not many batsmen have covered theirself in glory in this match, but how much longer will Punter keep his place in the team.

Dorothy_Mantooth wrote:

skyeman wrote:

Stella wrote:Anybody know the record amount of wickets taken in one day?

Newlands in the late 1800's had 30 in a test.

I think 27 (England v Australia at Lords in 1888.) is the record for Test Wickets. That is what they are saying on cricinfo, of course they could be wrong.

Could be, i have made a few factual mistakes today, so this might be another one.

SA 18-0, solid for now, at least the crazyness has stopped.

Watson the wrecker on now, good bowling change, more fireworks to come?

Highlights of Australia's 47 all out innings.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5uBxIjmy4Y

Marky wrote:Highlights of Australia's 47 all out innings.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5uBxIjmy4Y

Pass

The breakthrough SA 27-1

SA also past the 26 all out mark.

At last, things seem to have settled down.
SA should stay positive as well as sensible.

SA currently 63 for 1, I think they'll win it tomorrow morning.

Oh dear, that is a rare drop from Mr Cricket.

How costly might that be? You'd have to think South Africa will wrap this up now, barring another disastrous collapse.

SA are in control for now, they should stay resolute and rap it up tomorrow. But its South Africa, and the C word can't be far away when they play. I badly hope they get one over the Australians.

81 for 1 at close.

Just the 23 wickets falling today.

msp83 wrote:SA are in control for now, they should stay resolute and rap it up tomorrow. But its South Africa, and the C word can't be far away when they play. I badly hope they get one over the Australians.

This is test cricket, not limited overs.

biltongbek wrote:

msp83 wrote:SA are in control for now, they should stay resolute and rap it up tomorrow. But its South Africa, and the C word can't be far away when they play. I badly hope they get one over the Australians.

This is test cricket, not limited overs.

But it is South Africa nevertheless!.
But I do hope they will up their game, and see it through!.

So by your reasoning if they lose they choked?

biltongbek wrote:So by your reasoning if they lose they choked?

biltong, I know the C word is a dificult one for any SA supporters.
But since they have lost so many matches from strong winning positions, its going to stay a while.
I think this match now, is South Africa's to lose.

So many matchez?

I think you are exaggerating there mate, we don't do well in knock out matches, but to relate that to our test record is ludicrous

Agree with Biltong, don't think SA lose more matches from strong positions than anyone else - people seem too eager to use the c-word whenever they have even the slightest wobble in any match. I remember how it got thrown around in the last Perth test when they collapsed to Mitchell Johnson & they still went on to win the game. Just seem to have a problem in world cup knockouts - the only one that could be construed as losing from a strong position was the last one against NZ, the only one I'd call a choke was collapsing to 27/5 in the 2007 semi, stuck mindlessly to a gameplan they wouldn't have used if they weren't playing Aus.

The run rate is slowing too much now, it seems SA is now trying to survive rather than score runs.

Haha, this just came up on cricinfo live scoring.

111/1 on 11/11/11, just not 11h11 timewise.

Aus have bowled pretty well today without much luck, but SA are sticking at it pretty well. Good "old-fashioned" test cricket, as opposed to the absolute mayhem of yesterday.

At 11h11 this morning at Newlands, on the 11/11/11 gues how many runs south Africa needed to win?
















111

Congrats on the impending victory Biltong... I'm happy for you mate.

I had to switch over to the soccer. I'm not into watching these slow deaths.

lyon finally into the attack

(LB congrats on the 10,000 post, joined a very small club lol)

Linebreaker wrote:Congrats on the impending victory Biltong... I'm happy for you mate.

I had to switch over to the soccer. I'm not into watching these slow deaths.

Not over yet mate, we still need more than you got in your second innings.

That wont be hard...

Well done Amla, 102 off 126 balls.

Dropped on 29, 30 but used this opportunity.

Amla first to the Hundred. Wonder if he'll just block now so Smith can get there too?

Great century from Amla, despite being given two lives.

Still can't believe Australia have lost this Test.

andyi wrote:Amla first to the Hundred. Wonder if he'll just block now so Smith can get there too?

Welcome aboard by the way, Andyi. How'd you hear about 606v2?

Found it on the web not so long ago. There is a bit of confusion with all the other sites like JA606 and Not606 etc popping up after the death of 606.

I will say that 606v2 seems to be the best bet for Cricket, RU, RL and other sports as the footy content is much smaller than some of the others.

Smith needs to accelerate now if he wants a 100!

andyi wrote:Found it on the web not so long ago. There is a bit of confusion with all the other sites like JA606 and Not606 etc popping up after the death of 606.

I will say that 606v2 seems to be the best bet for Cricket, RU, RL and other sports as the footy content is much smaller than some of the others.

Yeah quite a few offshoots sprung up upon the closure of 606. This forum hasn't tried to expand the football section too much (owing to the nature of the posters that such a section generally attracts), but has cracking rugby, boxing and cricket sections.

Good to see you contributing, any questions/problems with anything feel free to give me a shout via PM.

warm welcome to our newest member andyi

cricket section continues to grow, excellent!

Johnson gets rid of Amla, but too little, far too late.

Looks like smith has timed it just right!

Well done South Africa, it has to be said. This time yesterday it was looking nigh on impossible, and I for one wrote them off.

Australia - who on earth did you do?

Excellent Test cricket though!

Any thoughts on Mitch's Test future?

Can possibly see him being replaced with Cummins. He does seem to be leaking runs and getting it wrong far too often.

I'd go with Copeland.Need someone with control.

Congrats to SA. That was very comprehensive in the end.

Been reading through this and i cant agree that people can call SA chockers on the test scene. If there was a test side that i could bat its way out of a bad position and into a winning position, it is SA.

So South Africa has done it!. Congratulations, and I am particularly happy for Graeme Smith, my favorit SA player.

And England of course, eirebilly, given their remarkable resilience in sticky situations across the last two years, but I agree with your sentiments.

The choker tag comes more from limited overs, I'd suggest, as they have a number of players with the perfect temperament for Test cricket.

Michael clarke's captaincy will be severly tested in the next game. How he motivates his side, and how he gets the best out of them.

cricketfan90 wrote:Michael clarke's captaincy will be severly tested in the next game. How he motivates his side, and how he gets the best out of them.

Some would argue that was their best

Remind anyone of the famous 2000 Test at Lord's between England and West Indies when on the second day bits of all four innings were played ?
On that ocassion England looked down and out after a small first innings score only to bounce back and bowl Windies out for 54.
Yes, England did struggle to get across the line - only winning by two wickets rather than cantering home like SA today. But a number of similarities.
Incidentally, Windies made only 61 in the Leeds Test that year and their batting never really recovered. You could say it has still never really recovered.

sirfred - lara was the no1 rated batsmen in '01, he hit 400 against england in antigua back in 2004 and had a few other high scores before then. They also won the icc champions trophy in 2004. So i would say with the retirements of lara and before them one of the best bowling attacks of ambrose and walsh has contributed to the steady downfall of WI and i think lara was papering over the big cracks magnificentally well.

the windies team at their best would have been great to watch. Lara was a batting genius, winning games for windies a lot, but they steadily declined towards the end of his career, and rapidly declined since he has retired.