Australia v South Africa
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@Donsteppa said in Australia v South Africa:
This could have been a cracking series if the South African top six didn’t have such a relatively mediocre batting record.
Absolutely. Smith, Kallis and Amla are a distant memory.
Terrific bowling line up though which I guess got them as close as they did, look how well Rabada went !
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@sparky said in Australia v South Africa:
All done in two days. Absolute carnage. Stinker of a pitch.
Pitch was lively but runs were there with patience and technique, as proven by the efforts of Head and Verreynne.
Are we blaming the pitch for this shit? There's enough gap there for a basketball.
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@NTA said in Australia v South Africa:
@sparky said in Australia v South Africa:
All done in two days. Absolute carnage. Stinker of a pitch.
Pitch was lively but runs were there with patience and technique, as proven by the efforts of Head and Verreynne.
Are we blaming the pitch for this shit? There's enough gap there for a basketball.
There’s something about the Gabba wicket though that seems to rush most. Most of the Aussie bats in their first innings were more impatient than usual (eg Smith, Waj).
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Let's review the wickets:
SA First Innings
Elgar - played a shit stroke down leg side and got a touch on it. Should have left it
vd Dussen - squared up playing a shot that would have sailed over off if you lined up a second set of stumps
Erwee - drove hard at what was basically a half-volley without moving his feet. Good catch by Green low down.
Zondo - again square, no footwork, and a ball nipped back to just clip the stumps on review.
Bavuma - after a solid 38, played a fuller length ball with poor footwork, bat hanging out, and edged onto the stumps.
Jansen - decided to try and slog Lyon and top edged it. Piss poor.
Maharaj - feet planted - another one! Poked at a ball coming in at him from Starc around the wicket.
Verrynne - trapped back on his stumps by Lyon, poked with no confidence, caught at slip.
Nortje - pinned down on zero off 6 balls, hard hands at a spinning one from Lyon.
Ngidi - tried to get cute to a ball that never threatened his wicket. Caught at gully.AUS First Innings
Warner - took his eyes off a rising ball from Rabada and fended it - one-handed - to a deepish short square leg. Terrible technique from a guy in terrible form. Great catch.
Labuschagne - got a start with 11 then played at a full ball missing off stump easily.
Khawaja - fended at one nipping back toward him but was easily going over his stumps.
Smith - done off an inside edge from Nortje as it nipped back. Gap between bat and pad. Smith's eye picked the line but not the seam.Worth noting at this point Smith and Head looked completely untroubled. So basically the same as any Gabba pitch i.e. survive the new ball and make hay
Boland - night watchman done on line as a good night watchman should
Green - run-a-ball 18 and then nearly dropped chasing a wide one. Shit gets wickets.
Head - played a shit shot much like Elgar down the leg side.
Starc - c&b trying to drive. Great work from Ngidi but Starc misjudged the pace
Cummins - going the slog and bombs out.
Lyon - attempts to turn it leg side and leading edge outSA Second Innings
Elgar - fuck all footwork, hands nowhere, trapped by Cummins.
vd Dussen - zero feet, swinging classic from Starc but if you've got concrete shoes, you're going to get castled. He was probably out LBW anyway. Cracking delivery.
Erwee - "hit it? No pull away! Wait - I did hit it. To Green in the gully"
Bavuma - plants his back foot in front of middle stump and lets Lyon target him. Utterly wrong decision.
Verrynne - Boland from wide on the crease targets his off stump and he refused to go out and meet it.
Jansen - played utterly the wrong line to Boland. Does he even know which end to hold the bat?
Maharaj - no feet. Bad hands. Starc around the wicket at your off stump. Caught behind
Rabada - no feet. Ball never hitting the stumps. Edge to slip
Nortje - shitting his pants as he jumped backward to his first ball that never threatened the pegs.
Ngidi - rising ball from Cummins that you'd expect most tailenders to fend at rather than duck, and this one goes to slip.AUS Second Innings - in a lot of ways these are the worst because they had no pressure on them.
Khawaja - tried to get cute from well outside leg, and cuts it straight to gully chasing runs.
Warner - no feet. A man out of form and it shows. Good line from Rabada. Tentative.
Smith - flailing cut shot at some utter pie, edged behind.
Head - again down the leg side. That's where the Proteas will go next time they see him.34 wickets, and some of them purely down to good bowling. Maybe the wicket upset the rhythm of a couple of batsmen but majority of them were utterly poor technique and scrambled brain process at the thought of a green surface, not how it actually played.
South Africa's top order lacks experience and form. Their tailenders bat like they just walked out of 1975.
The Proteas clearly had a plan for Warner, Labuschagne, and Smith. When they executed it worked well.
To say the pitch was a shocker is to detract from the quality of the bowling, and the lack of application from the batting.
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@sparky said in Australia v South Africa:
@NTA Shite batting doesn't help but the Gabba has been a stinker for years. Only the Aussies (and Alaistair Cook) ever make any sort of runs there.
India did alright last time out, I seem to recall.
Elgar is talking about safety of the pitch. I think Test batsmen are getting soft.
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@ACT-Crusader said in Australia v South Africa:
@NTA said in Australia v South Africa:
@sparky said in Australia v South Africa:
All done in two days. Absolute carnage. Stinker of a pitch.
Pitch was lively but runs were there with patience and technique, as proven by the efforts of Head and Verreynne.
Are we blaming the pitch for this shit? There's enough gap there for a basketball.
There’s something about the Gabba wicket though that seems to rush most. Most of the Aussie bats in their first innings were more impatient than usual (eg Smith, Waj).
I think the green colour put thoughts in heads that were utterly unjustified.
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@MN5 said in Australia v South Africa:
@Dan54 said in Australia v South Africa:
Have to say it's been good for a wet weekend here in the Naki, bit of test cricket to watch. I know it's showing y age, still what I enjoy, love the fact I can watch an hour or so wander off catch a bit more etc. And not too worried who wins etc a win-win. Hell that with a few Heineken Cup games of rugby has been not bad weekend.
I will second the comments about how much better the old 7 commentators seemed to be. And at tea break etc can someone shoot that O'Keefe? He obviously thinks he's hilarious because he pisses himself laughing at any weal quip he makes!!!
O’Keefe is a legend. I won’t have him spoken about like that.
I realise he was a pretty good cricketer, doesn't stop him being a pain when he on tv, I can't watch a tv programme with him on, as I say, he nowhere near as funny as he thinks he is, when he laughs uproariously at own jokes.
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@NTA said in Australia v South Africa:
Let's review the wickets:
SA First Innings
Elgar - played a shit stroke down leg side and got a touch on it. Should have left it
vd Dussen - squared up playing a shot that would have sailed over off if you lined up a second set of stumps
Erwee - drove hard at what was basically a half-volley without moving his feet. Good catch by Green low down.
Zondo - again square, no footwork, and a ball nipped back to just clip the stumps on review.
Bavuma - after a solid 38, played a fuller length ball with poor footwork, bat hanging out, and edged onto the stumps.
Jansen - decided to try and slog Lyon and top edged it. Piss poor.
Maharaj - feet planted - another one! Poked at a ball coming in at him from Starc around the wicket.
Verrynne - trapped back on his stumps by Lyon, poked with no confidence, caught at slip.
Nortje - pinned down on zero off 6 balls, hard hands at a spinning one from Lyon.
Ngidi - tried to get cute to a ball that never threatened his wicket. Caught at gully.AUS First Innings
Warner - took his eyes off a rising ball from Rabada and fended it - one-handed - to a deepish short square leg. Terrible technique from a guy in terrible form. Great catch.
Labuschagne - got a start with 11 then played at a full ball missing off stump easily.
Khawaja - fended at one nipping back toward him but was easily going over his stumps.
Smith - done off an inside edge from Nortje as it nipped back. Gap between bat and pad. Smith's eye picked the line but not the seam.Worth noting at this point Smith and Head looked completely untroubled. So basically the same as any Gabba pitch i.e. survive the new ball and make hay
Boland - night watchman done on line as a good night watchman should
Green - run-a-ball 18 and then nearly dropped chasing a wide one. Shit gets wickets.
Head - played a shit shot much like Elgar down the leg side.
Starc - c&b trying to drive. Great work from Ngidi but Starc misjudged the pace
Cummins - going the slog and bombs out.
Lyon - attempts to turn it leg side and leading edge outSA Second Innings
Elgar - fuck all footwork, hands nowhere, trapped by Cummins.
vd Dussen - zero feet, swinging classic from Starc but if you've got concrete shoes, you're going to get castled. He was probably out LBW anyway. Cracking delivery.
Erwee - "hit it? No pull away! Wait - I did hit it. To Green in the gully"
Bavuma - plants his back foot in front of middle stump and lets Lyon target him. Utterly wrong decision.
Verrynne - Boland from wide on the crease targets his off stump and he refused to go out and meet it.
Jansen - played utterly the wrong line to Boland. Does he even know which end to hold the bat?
Maharaj - no feet. Bad hands. Starc around the wicket at your off stump. Caught behind
Rabada - no feet. Ball never hitting the stumps. Edge to slip
Nortje - shitting his pants as he jumped backward to his first ball that never threatened the pegs.
Ngidi - rising ball from Cummins that you'd expect most tailenders to fend at rather than duck, and this one goes to slip.AUS Second Innings - in a lot of ways these are the worst because they had no pressure on them.
Khawaja - tried to get cute from well outside leg, and cuts it straight to gully chasing runs.
Warner - no feet. A man out of form and it shows. Good line from Rabada. Tentative.
Smith - flailing cut shot at some utter pie, edged behind.
Head - again down the leg side. That's where the Proteas will go next time they see him.34 wickets, and some of them purely down to good bowling. Maybe the wicket upset the rhythm of a couple of batsmen but majority of them were utterly poor technique and scrambled brain process at the thought of a green surface, not how it actually played.
South Africa's top order lacks experience and form. Their tailenders bat like they just walked out of 1975.
The Proteas clearly had a plan for Warner, Labuschagne, and Smith. When th
To say the pitch was a shocker is to detract from the quality of the bowling, and the lack of application from the batting.
Summed up well NTA, I know it was a green top etc, but didn't really seem to be doing all that much that at least a few batsman with real good technique couldn't really show what they had.
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I haven't seen day 2 action, yet. When I was watching on day 1 it was just green. But I understand the problem with the pitch was that it was too soft, rather than too green (can be related). The softness resulted in divots which then hardened causing unpredictable bounce.
Unpredictable bounce will result in batsmen not prepared to get behind the ball.
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@Rapido said in Australia v South Africa:
I haven't seen day 2 action, yet. When I was watching on day 1 it was just green. But I understand the problem with the pitch was that it was too soft, rather than too green (can be related). The softness resulted in divots which then hardened causing unpredictable bounce.
Unpredictable bounce will result in batsmen not prepared to get behind the ball.
And so there were length balls, balls that would normally have batsmen coming forward, that were coming in at well above waist height.
Balls frequently deviated off the very green-looking pitch throughout the two days, with the surface offering increasingly steepling bounce in the closing phases of the game.
It was not just South Africa who felt the pitch was unhelpful for the batters.Scott Boland told ABC Sport that the number of wickets indicated that the pitch was "probably not" a fair one, while Steve Smith said it "wasn't much fun" to bat on..
