spindles

Has anyone been watching the cricket lately? Man, what a fantastic series - three games (5 days long) over a 21 day period is pretty full on. The last three days (here in Sydney) have been played in the three hottest days of this summer by far.

Really all three games could've gone either way, with this last game coming down to the South African captain coming out to bat with a broken hand with about 40 balls left to bowl. His side needed to survive for the game to be a draw and for them to win the series 2-0. Australia got him out with about 15 balls to spare and salvaged some pride with a 2-1 series and retained their number 1 test ranking (albeit probably only until we tour south africa in a return series in late Feb (I think).

Also it is nice to see a game of cricket without one team being sore losers - definitely played in the right spirit.

So, anyone else been watching?

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dlish

i went to day 2 of the third third test at the SCG.

i actually saw the ball that hit him in the hand. i knew he was in trouble the moment it hit him.

what a great Test Match!

did you go watch any of the Tests?

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Glory's Sun

not trying to threadjack or anything.. but no matter how many people try to explain it.. I just don't understand cricket.

dlish

as us aussies say...typical americans

the only difference between cricket and baseball is that in cricket ball bounces first before the batsman hits it. everything else is bridge under the water

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spindles

unless you count sitting in front of the TV as watching, I'll have to say no. A mate had access to members tickets for Saturday and Sunday but couldn't go. If he'd gone I probably would've gone with him one of the two days. I'll just have to content myself with ABC radio and some TV

The rain they were discussing yesterday caused us to abandon golf (heaps of lightning and torrential rain in northern sydney). If the SCG was 20 kilometres north of where it is, the game would've been a draw.

When the kids are a bit older, then we'll start going to sport more.

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dlish

i'll be honest though, the test match was full of oldies and males.

if it wasnt for just having a nice relaxing afternoon soaking in the rays, i'd rather the Australian Open tennis.

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nomcat

It's quite simple really...

You have two sides, one out in the field and one in.
Each man that's in the side that's in goes out, and when
he's out he comes in and the next man goes in until he's
out. When they are all out, the side that's out comes in
and the side that's been in goes out and tries to get
those coming in, out. Sometimes you get men still in
and not out. When a man goes out to go in, the men who
are out try to get him out, and when he is out he goes
in and the next man in goes out and goes in. There are two
men called umpires who stay all out the time and they
decide when the men who are in are out. When both sides
have been in and all the men have been given out, and
both sides have been out twice after all the men have
been in, including those who are not out, that is the
end of the game!

dlish

please tell me you wrote that yourself!

thats hilarious..but true!

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spindles

Well dlish, you got to see the final test of Matt Hayden - hopefully the selectors will opt for some youth opening the batting...

And you are right - the crowd at test matches do tend to be uglier

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dlish

shame. i think he still had a lot in him. a bad trot could mean the end of your playing career.

i think batmen like mark taylor had a lot more chances than matt hayden. so many chances that it was inevitable he was going to produce a big score and go out the way he wanted to go out.

farewell to the other half of one the best opening pair i've seen. Justin langer went too soon i feel.

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paparora

omggg that description of cricket is HILARIOUS!!!! hahaha

Dawolf13

lets hope the south african leg of the series will be as good as the OZ leg. btw i hope SA wins it all. they are capable now to do so for the first time in ages (since 1999 when we choked).

dlish

the auro of invincibility has been broken. the aussies are no longer number 1 and they are fair game.

it was bound to happen when you had a spate of the best players in the world all retire within 2-3 years of each other. and lets not kid ourselves, the aussies had probably 6 or 7 of the best players at the time in the aussie team.

we will be back. mark my word.

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spindles

I think we are missing a decent spinner - kinda hard to go from arguably the best spinner (Warne) to the current ones without something giving. I don't think the fast bowling stocks are too bad and I'm really looking forward to Hughes debuting. Given the group they'd taken my test lineup for oz would be this:

Hughes
Katich
Ponting (c)
Hussey
Clarke
North
Haddin
Johnson
Siddle
Bollinger
Hilfenhouse or McGain (though I think North can do the spinning so no huge reason to play McGain).

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dlish

compare that team to one we had a few years ago and you can understand the decline.

where's darren lehmann when you need him? im sure he could save us

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Dawolf13

shouldn't ponting, hussey and clarke be doing the business. hussey in particular has been poor lately. Also, their bowling just doesn't seem to frightening...

has anyone been checking younis khan lately?

spindles

Gee - I'm not sure what else Clarke could've done. He averaged 75 in tests against South Africa in Australia. Hussey looked to be coming back into form in the one dayers and (hopefully) North will get the all rounders spot - he looks to be more in the Symonds mould (i.e. a batter who bowls a bit). Oz have chosen their twelve for tomorrow's game and neither front line spinner (Hauritz or McGain) made the cut. I'd suggest the selection choice for 12th man comes down to McDonald or Hilfenhaus. With Haddin at 7, they hardly need to strengthen the batting, so my choice would be Hilfy to play and McDonald to do the drinks. This first test is supposedly a pace/swing friendly wicket - hence no real spinner for us.

RE: Ponting - he was put under a lot of pressure all summer coming in with the score 1 for next to nothing and hopefully this won't happen - fingers crossed Hughes steps up, as this will lighten Ponting's load.

SA have to be favourites but I don't think Oz were too far off the pace in the series here, so I don't think this series is so cut and dried. Kinda excited actually - a lot better than the single innings snoozefest that Sri Lanka and Pakistan just played - nice for Khan to get a big score but really that is poor ground preparation for a test match.

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spindles

Well colour me stupid - the selectors (I think) were negative in choosing Bollinger as 12th man - I just don't see why we need a part time bowler/batter at no 8. If you need him to make runs we are already pretty stuffed and I'm a little worried that McDonald wouldn't hold his place if he didn't bowl and bat. I don't think he is good enough at either to warrant his place.

Hughes got his test career off to a terrible start but is guaranteed to see the series out as they didn't bring any extra batsmen with them on tour. At least the first test innings nerves should be behind him

A good fightback by Oz given they were 3 for 40 odd.

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spindles

Are any of the SA supporters doing a rain dance yet? Oz look to be in a pretty good position

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dlish

wheres healer when you need him?

the safas need a score of 450 odd to win. tough job.

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spindles

they've made a pretty good start, though

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dlish

Aussies win First test at Wanderers!

Australia clinch first Test - Cricket - Fox Sports

ausssies need to tie or win either one of next two tests to stay on top of the rankings. if they beat Safas' at home, they could legitimately take back their crown as the worlds best cricket side

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spindles

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spindles

You'd have to say a second test win is looking rather likely, especially with Smith getting another broken finger. A pretty tragic run of injuries for him. The way Hughes is batting (now the youngest player to hit a century in both innings of a test), you wonder why Hayden was kept in the team for so long (hindsight is a beautiful thing).

Guess the Saffers are going to have to wait a little longer for the top ranking

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dlish

SA still has 3 days to score over 500 runs..or force a draw.

not counting my eggs just yet. the Safas' have been known to score big scores under pressure!

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spindles

Only 2 days

I'd expect Oz to bat until maybe 1/2 hour before lunch today, set SA 650 with 5 and a bit sessions to bowl them out. With Smith unlikely to bat (and even if he does, to not bat particularly effectively), I just can't see them getting out of this one.

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spindles

gee - dropping kallis first ball might be costly - this wicket seems to be weird - it had its unplayable day on day 2 and has seemed to be relatively easy for batting otherwise. I wonder if Oz is regretting not choosing a front line spinner.

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spindles

as it turned out - it was costly, but not so bad. Aussies win by 170 odd with a lot of time to spare. Still champions of the test cricket world!

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dlish

and still #1.

dont know what happened to the south aftricans. they seem like a totally different team to what they were over the summer

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spindles

In some respects I think we got the best of the conditions - south africa's first innings in both tests seemed to coincide with the worst pitch conditions...

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Vaultboy

Spot on, although its not really an excuse. As dlish remarks, the team is markedly different from when they toured Oz. What a difference 2 months can make (for both teams). Ponting's "passengers" certainly delivered the goods.

SA Selectors have taken a gamble now, which could have been avoided had they dumped McKenzie after the tour and put Prince back in his place. Now there's just too many changes, interms of personnel and batting order, considering we're 2-0 down. Morkel, Smith (injury) and McKenzie are out of the side.

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spindles

I think it goes to show how close the teams are - Oz could easily have won the test series in Australia - really a couple of poor sessions (bowling) cost them both the first and second test. Also the selection policy to retain Symonds when he couldn't bowl was terrible and when you add Lee's injury on top of this, we were always going to struggle in that second test.

On the other side of the coin, dropping ponting early on the first day of the first test was a real turning point. If Smith catches that, Oz are 4/60 odd and in serious trouble. Ponting hits 90, and, with North, Oz post a decent first innings.

I'm looking forward to the last game - both teams can win and that's what makes test cricket so absorbing.

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Vaultboy

Well, SA with their noses in front after the first day. 250 would have been competitive, so the margin isn't big. Newlands is typically best for batting on days 3 and 4, so SA should get at least 350, otherwise they might easily face 400 from the Oz 2nd innings. Its early days, though.

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Dawolf13

Today was the first time in awhile that the south africans have started a test well. We tend to start slowly, which allows the opposition to get an early upper hand. Oh well all credit to the aussies they outplayed us. Lets see how khan does in his debut test (ok his fielding wasn't great).

Vaultboy

Only dropping a regulation catch. He did ok otherwise. Nerves. He batted ok. If he and Prince gets through the first hour, its game on.

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Dawolf13

I saw him when he just started out for the Dolphins, and looks a good player. A mix of Amla/Bodi in style, more potential than Bodi though. I am very pleased for the people of South Africa's Indian community to be producing some great cricket players. South Africa, however, really needs to develop the black talent we have. Prince, Gibbs, Duminy, Telemachus do not consider themselves "black", only Ntini is black (he's Xhosa like Mandela). I think apart from Ntini, the last black players was Tsolokile and Zondeki. With a country with a 90% black population, this doent really add up. I am not, however, a promoter of the quota system. The best should always play for your nation.

I think other nations can consider themselves lucky they dont have these issues.

Vaultboy

Well, Border cricket has done some sterling development over the years. People forget that Ntini could very well become SA's top wicket-taker of all time THIS SEASON. He's only 30-odd wickets behind Polly.

CricketSA has done more true "development" than any of the other sports - at all levels. A lot of it has to do with the low level of decent sport facilities and support at school level, so it will be a while, but all of the non-white cricketers in the national squad are there on merit - and had to fight to get there.

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spindles

Well, that makes six tests with 3 each. Teams generally struggle with the 'dead' game at the end of a series. Seems like the Aussie selectors better keep looking for a decent spinner, as McGain joins a fairly unhappy club with the second worst economy rate ever in tests (though Allan Donald and Lance Klusener are both in the top five, so he is actually in pretty good company).

They also might decide taking a spare batsman on a test tour might not be a bad idea. Going into the last test with no batsman to replace North who had gastro was a huge no-no.

Well done to SA for a great fightback to flog Aussies in the last test, Harris for MoTM (for his 9 wickets) and Johnson on his first test century in a losing cause and for his man of the series. When does the Ashes start

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dlish

that was quite an innings by mitch johnson though to finish off.

hats off to the sth aftricans though. they did it in style.

of course well done to the aussies to take back the number 1 spot!

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Vaultboy

After we beat you in Oz, I think the Poms were looking forward to us beating you again and giving Aussie confidence a knock before the Ashes. Sadly for them, you won the series and they went and lost to the Windies. Lol.

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