There is no secret formula that South Africa used to win this match.
Just look at the score card.
South African players who made a contribution in this test.
Smith, Amla, Kallis, AB, Duminy, Boucher, Morkel, Harris, Steyn & Ntini.
Australia players who made a contribution in this test.
Katich, Clarke, Symonds, Haddin & Johnson.
10 to 5.
If it wasn’t for Johnson Australia would have never been in the match.
Even with his 11 wickets they still only got within 6 wickets of Victory.
If Australia gets a contribution out of 8 men they win this match.
This isn’t about lack of talent either.
Ponting, Hayden, Hussey and Lee were part of Australia’s useless majority.
Ponting seems to have lost faith in his batting, his captaincy gets more exposed everytime Australia play and he is getting quicker to strop daily.
Hayden looks lost, and he is holding back two potential ten year players, a player with a solid test record and a guy averaging 82 in shield cricket this year.
Hussey has averaged 33 in his last 12 tests, THIRTY THREE, where are the editorials, why aren’t people calling for his head like they were with Dravid and Hayden.
And Lee, poor Lee, I have never had a wife leave me, so I don’t know what he is going through. But I know poor form, and he has it.
Yet these players don’t seem in any immediate danger.
That is what they need, danger.
Only one of them needs to get dropped.
Just to put the fear of the Aliens into them.
Hayden is the one.
He needs to fuck off now.
He is a relic of a past dynasty.
Australia can afford to carry no man.
I have always loved watching him bat, so this isn’t about him.
It’s about the team, and he is a heavy fucken albatross.
Hughes is the future, and he is the present.
No better time to get him in than after a hundred.
Hayden needs to bite the bullet, or get it chinse style while he eats his meal.
And if that doesn’t scare the rest of them into form, then reload the gun.
The team used to mean more than the man in Australia, is that still the case?
cricketwithballs
I’d argue that Symonds made as much as a contribution as Duminy..Apart from that, Hayden it’s time to go. You’ve got 24 hours to retire then it’s a free shot for swerving Mervin to take him out. Remember when the selectors used to pick and drop players on form? Seems that’s just for bowlers now (Lee aside).. fúcking batsmen!
if there is a Srilankan tour, find out some security reason to avoid that tour. Play Bangladesh in a neutral venue. Don’t Aussies have any players under 25?
Australia R.I.PYou don’t have spinner who took 134 wickets in 20 matches against them.You don’t have McGrath, neither Gilly…But you have an selfish asshole as a captain, a goat fucker Hayden.. You deserve to loose…Wow I can imagine the face of RP after the boxing day match…
Ah! I suppose Oz will come back and win the Boxing day test – I mean SA didnt choke in the match but maybe they’ll still choke with the series to be won?RP is going to come back and score a double century in this series, and then go on a purple patch for 2-3 years averaging 50+ overall for the period and 80+ through part of the patch.SA will probably win the home series.SA will probably replace Aus at top soon – I dont think India will be able to do that. Like I observed elswhere, India are the Pakistan of 80′s running the top current team close but it is SA(like Aus in1995) which will come and take the new top spot.All said and done surely this Aus-SA series will not end in a draw?
The collective failure of Hayen, Ponting, and Lee has been the downer for the Aussies.That stat about Hussey is an eye opener..Yet I still did not expect the Safrikaans to chase down 414 with all their batsmen contributing. Someone must have left the toilet seat up hence McKenzie didn’t do anything..
Hey Raj, probably RP will do all that – but he’ll still be just a Dick to me.Ps dump Hayden, he’s a has been. Dump Lee, he never was.
Hey Raj, probably RP will do all that – but he’ll still be just a Dick to me.Ps dump Hayden, he’s a has been. Dump Lee, he never was.
Hey Raj, probably RP will do all that – but he’ll still be just a Dick to me.Ps dump Hayden, he’s a has been. Dump Lee, he never was.
ned, fair enough – Ponting is a d*ck head but that should not divert us from the fact that he, indeed, is one of the best batsman of his era. No, I wouldnt go overboard and say he is on par with Sachin and Lara like many of his antipodean fans – even if he finishes with 14500 runs and 45-50 centuries and the test batting record for highest aggregate and highest no of centuries – which I truly believe is what he will end up with. But he is very good.Very, very good. You cant take his record away from him – he has done the job for Australia all around the world except India.
I’d place him above Rahul Dravid, Graeme Smith, Inzamam, Yousuf Youhana and Kallis, for instance.Only Sachin and Lara tower above him in terms of batting talent, style, substance and achievement.Not to mention a sporting spirit and likeability. But then he would probably in the bottom 10% of his era on those counts.
Also, for my mind, KP seems a good bet to take over the records eventually. 4000 runs and 15 centuries in 45 tests. If he can play 150 tests, he will probably end up with 15000 runs and 50 centuries. Mind boggling. Also, Cook is only 23. Another long term prospect though I suspect, at his best, he can be a Gooch and nothing more.
Raj I agree with you.. RP is probably one of the best bats of this time but as captain, he hasn’t been all that..As for KP, I was shocked to find out that that 100 was his 15th:http://www.wellpitched.com/2008/12/achievement-three-quarter.html
well lets add the 42 ODI hundreds with 41 tons in tests to a total of 83 for sachin. i would like to see which wannabe has the balls to break that.alrite jack hobbs will prolly end of with more first class hundreds but its not sachin’s fault that he is playing tests since 16 and missed out on piling it on railways and saurashtra.as for the contenders: ponting has peaked, kallis is boring. KP looks like a possibility but he is english. cook? his first name is alastair for fucks sake. AB de villiers is another one.stay sharp!
Sunny, dont write off Ponting. Unlike Sachin, this is a man who will convert 60 into 100 more often than not. So, the moment his form is back, he will make hay for a couple of years at the least. Pencil in 3000 runs and 12 centuries for those 2 years. Assuming his current bad patch extends to the Ashes, and he hits form late during the Ashes, he would still end up with 14000-14500 runs and 50 test centuries!
And that is assuming his bad patch continues. Personally, I believe he will turn it around this week and with that, pave the way for a SA choke and an unforgettable series win for Australia. Or maybe SA will sneak through a couple of draws. What surely doesnt seem like happening is a 1-1 draw in this series!
i think ponting has been exposed. everyone has seen what ishant did to him at perth and now they will home in on those frailties. now the question is whether he will correct those technical flaws. and you can only fix a problem when you concede you have one. and thats what the dilemma with this current australian set up. they are pointing fingers in every direction except themselves. ponting is claiming siddle / krejza lost the game. is he out of his fcuking mind?!even if he did break the runs record, except for australians, no one will put him on the same bracket as Lara / Sachin. and the australians think he is the second coming of bradman already so it doesn’t really matter. history will still see him as the captain that lost the ashes twice. (yeah there is a prediction in there somewhere!)now i have to admit KP has taken me by surprise. i had no idea that he was upto 15 tons. that is meteoric. and he had to miss a few years for UK eligibility. i still think he is more of a sehwag and not a sachin. brilliant improviser and unorthodox player but not the consistent, bet your home performer like steve waugh / sachin. i look forward to seeing how he measures up in the long run. i reckon it would be pretty special!as for the best aussie batsman that i have watched? its gotta be mark waugh. my dad reckons its greg chappell. what we both agree on is that ponting is a ratbag. one of the few things we see eye to eye on.
and yeah…stay sharp!
Moses, I had Symond’s in my 5. Anon, Siddle is under 25, and Krejza is 25 as is Hilfenhaus.
iddle is under 25 what?kph?
The question at the end of this rant is rhetorical right?
Sunny bhai, check the score today. Want to still bet that Ricky Ponting wont end up with 45-50 or 50+ test centuries and 14000+ test runs?