SA v Australia 3rd Test

Surprising to see a good crowd at Newlands on a Monday. SACB should be red faced for not give Cape Town the 2nd Test against India as opposed to giving it to Durban as a Boxing Day Test would have packed Newlands out to the rafters.

Good fight shown by these two but it is important that they can get through the first 10 or so overs after tea. (tu)

shrek Wrote:

---

> Good fight shown by these two but it is important
> that they can get through the first 10 or so overs
> after tea. (tu)


more like 20 overs then we may avoid the follow on

At 244/7 Australia wont enforce the follow on now if it comes to that as it will be far too much to ask Harris and Johnson to keep going till the end of the days play

chicken 'n chips Wrote:

---

> At 244/7 Australia wont enforce the follow on now
> if it comes to that as it will be far too much to
> ask Harris and Johnson to keep going till the end
> of the days play


I'm not so sure - as I write SA need another 14 - if they don't get it I think Clarke will ask his bowlers for another 8 or so overs today

So no follow-on - I think that is a mistake from an Australian point of view - surely the less time we have to bat in the 2nd innings the better for us :S

Frodo Wrote:

---

> So no follow-on - I think that is a mistake from
> an Australian point of view - surely the less time
> we have to bat in the 2nd innings the better for
> us :S


Right decision IMO. Bowlers had been out there for over 80 overs. Recon they will try and get a 450 plus lead by tea and declare. No more bad weather predicted.

chicken 'n chips Wrote:

---

> At 244/7 Australia wont enforce the follow on now
> if it comes to that as it will be far too much to
> ask Harris and Johnson to keep going till the end
> of the days play


thought as much as there is plenty of time to bowl SA out. Australia need just a lead of 375 and that will be enough

South Africa's only hope of winning this match/the series is to bowl Australia out for 100 or less. The two key players for Australia are going to be Warner and Watson because both have the ability to accumulate runs very quickly. I wouldn't be surprised to see Watson, Haddin or Johnson elevated up the order in the pursuit of quick runs. Having said that, Australia would want a minimum lead of 350 plus to feel they could draw at worst. Day 4 could be highly entertaining, pity it's work tomorrow.

We are in massive trouble and, too often, of late, we are requiring some-one to put up a monumental effort to get us out of trouble...

Problems in team are in plain sight...problems with openers (Smith trying hard not to get injured in the winter of his career...Petersen's innings today is another example of an inning that will prolong the paid for himself and us), Elgar (one inning does not a test player make...I'll agree that he fought and showed grit and tenacity but the score he made in PE should be seen in context...an out of form Amla and Duminy both made hundreds on the same wicket and the Aus bowlers just didn't get anything going with the ball, JP prolonged the pain for a little while longer...problem of not getting in line showed again today...feet didn't move and played at ball moving outside off...de Villiers is carrying too much pf a load but must continue for the sake of team balance as to being in Tsolekile as wicketkeeper will mean that we drop a bowler to bring in another batsmen...and we have seen the problems one bowler short can create...

Morkel, for all his fire and aggression, didn't do what he needs to do as the 3rd main bowler and that is to take wickets...how else are we going to take 20 wickets to win a match..and he's been slapped around as if he's a medium pacer...

Abbott bowled very well with no luck...at least he kept the scoring rate down and held his line on off stump...many of those will result in nicks in many other matches...just haven't in this match as yet...

And to those that think that we need a spinner in the team...see Elgar's performance...more indicative of the norm for a SA spinner in tests...few wickets and runs conceded at high rate...Duminy did take 4 wickets but these were when Aus looking to ram home advantage they already had with intent to declare on 2nd afternoon and have +1 hr at SA openers...both spinners went at 4+ runs an over...you cannot build any pressure when scoring is that free...

So, we need to make changes...6 batsmen (including wicket-keeper) and 5 (fast bowlers) if intent is to win matches...the batsmen are always going to be under pressure from field-settings when bowlers have conceded almost 500 runs...5 genuine bowlers puts the pressure on opposition batsmen...

To see us outplayed by Aus for the majority of this tour should be an eye-opener to the problems that are there...can brave decisions be taken??...I don't think so but would like to be shown to be wrong...

Teams don't utilize the follow on a lott nowadays....
Me thinks Ausie shouldve....now they have given SA a chance 2 bat out the last day...with no bat weather about the pitch could get easier 2 bat on?who knows. But what do I know

Enjoy your comments TNAicker. My only difference is that Tsolekile Is not an option for me. AB is doing fine and don't change things that are not broken. The main problem is that our guys do not play enough domestic cricket. There is less than 40 days of 4 day cricket a year. Our test players also do not play enough test cricket. The guys that play in the UK have a huge advantage as they play so much more cricket. Our top 4 need to step up. Smith is a huge concern. We need to start grooming another captain and I do not think that AB is the right option imho. I have no problem with AB being 5 and Duminy being 6 as the spinning all rounder in home tests. Wicket keeper batsmen need to bat and AB can stay at 5 for the next couple of years until a replacement keeper who can bat is groomed i.e. de Kock. When he is ready then AB can move into 4 and Faf can go to 3 with Amla opening with Peterson / Elgar / Rossouw / Rudolph.
To me the problem is more of a mystery with the bowler combinations.