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Australia (575/8d) defeat South Africa (189 & 204) by an innings & 182 runs to win the 2nd Test

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Australia (575/8d) defeat South Africa (189 & 204) by an innings & 182 runs to win the 2nd Test

Australia have locked in their XI for the Boxing Day Test against South Africa in Melbourne.

Josh Hazlewood is set to miss another Test as he continues his recovery from a side strain. The hero of last year’s Ashes, Scott Boland has retained his place in the XI with the local star hoping to continue his good form.

Speaking to reporters on Christmas morning, Australia captain Pat Cummins addressed the selection of Boland over the seasoned campaigner Hazlewood.

"We gave Joshy (Hazlewood) every chance, (but) it just got to a stage where (he) more than anyone else felt like he was a little bit underdone.

"It's a mark of the man really, he himself said 'don't feel quite right' so he kind of pulled himself out of selection.

"We talk a lot about how (as) a team we need a squad mentality and I think it's another great example."

There are no changes in the batting lineup for Australia as David Warner gears up to play in his 100th Test for Australia. He will be accompanied at the top by fellow left-hander Usman Khawaja, followed by Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith and the Player of the Match from the first Test, Travis Head.

With the race for a spot in the World Test Championship Final heating up, Australia will look to extend their lead at the top, while Dean Elgar's side look to bounce back following their loss in the opening Test of the series.

Australia XI for second Test: David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Cameron Green, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins (c), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Scott Boland

https://www.icc-cricket.com/news/2992237
 
Boland just made himself undroppable in match after match. He's going to carry that "unfashionable" tag which will always see Hazlewood half a chance to leapfrog him again but there is A LOT of Stuart Clarke in Boland's bowling. Probably even more destructive. He's a cult hero in Oz and great to see another indigenous player a regular selection.

We still don't quite know what we get with MCG pitches these days, but conditions are predicted for some humidity and clouds, maybe even some showers early on. So if there's even a hint of moisture it should swing.
 
Could be another bowler dominated test match, SA batsmen need to some how put decent runs on board or otherwise their bowlers are just fighting a losing battle again.
 
South Africa need to bat better - or another defeat awaits them.
 
Match starting at 6-30 Sunday evening in NJ, have a day off tomorrow, a perfect situation to watch and enjoy test cricket. But, this won't be a very competitive test , making it less enjoyable . SA's batting is almost of Pakistan standard , may be a bit better, still not good.

Uh, still remember the days when SA had big names in the squad like the one in 2012-13 Had Smith, Kallis , Styen, Phillander , AB de Villier , Amla, Faf, Morkel, Tahir , Dumni, , not good now,

SA's bowling is still good though.
 
Bold decision.

Not as much grass as some previous years. Straw coloured really. Tiny bit of cloud cover but it won't hang around long. Looks like a standard "bat first" pitch to me.

Pretty much a psychological "re open the scars" decision from Cummins. Very much a bowling captains move. Interesting to see how it works out.
 
Australia chose to bowl first , interesting , another juicy pitch ?

2w1utz6.png
 
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moghul said:
Australia chose to bowl first , interesting , another juicy pitch ?
Click to expand...

Not juicy at all. Maybe the standard "bit in it for the first hour" type deal. There's some short grass but nothing to worry a batsman raised in SA.
 
SA batting is worse than ours. Dropping RVD is ridiculous. Pitch is flat so they might get 300.
 
I think SA will get bowled out today. yes it looks good to bat on. But if you put effort you can extract something out of it. Australia is doing that for fun in these conditions.
 
Starc has to bring the ball back in at some point. Most of his balls leaving the left hander.
 
jnaveen1980 said:
I think SA will get bowled out today. yes it looks good to bat on. But if you put effort you can extract something out of it. Australia is doing that for fun in these conditions.
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Yeah it's what I would call a pretty "fair" Australian pitch. Enough grass and bounce to keep a bowler interested. But a batsman can score and it will flatten out when the ball gets older.

High quality bowling attacks with anything at all to work with can make it look hard work for batsmen.
 
wrongun said:
Yeah it's what I would call a pretty "fair" Australian pitch. Enough grass and bounce to keep a bowler interested. But a batsman can score and it will flatten out when the ball gets older.

High quality bowling attacks with anything at all to work with can make it look hard work for batsmen.
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They almost nailed another one. Elgar was lucky.
 
65K plus crowd , not too bad , even for a boxing day test at MCG , test cricket is not going anywhere .
 
IPL seems to find itself into everything. Green's new multi millionaire status being discussed.
 
jnaveen1980 said:
Boxing day Test is an event. Festive atmosphere given that it is a day after Christmas
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Still a good crowd.

Anything around 65k is actually good.

We had 73k vs India a few years ago, pre covid era by comparison, for a really big series.

Huge crowds of 80k+ really only happen every 5 years or so.
 
Quite right it is a national tradition though. Whole country on holidays. yesterday was visiting family for christmas. Today is purely for lazing around, eating leftovers and watching cricket nationwide. No other obligations.
 
Predictable. Good true wicket is where Australian bowling stands out. They don't really need helpful pitches.
 
Most of the discussion is around Cameron Green's IPL tag price.
 
Jansen is like a replacement for Philander. Can bat and particularly great with bowl outside Asia.

Bowling style a bit different, he is a tall bowler who can extract bounce pretty well and can swing and seam the bowl too. Not sure if he will do well in Asia though.
 
Boxing Day Test losing its prestige. Quite empty which is a shame. Wonderful day's play
 
SpiritOf1903 said:
Boxing Day Test losing its prestige. Quite empty which is a shame. Wonderful day's play
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Not true at all. 65 000 in there mate.

Historically that is right in line with crowds and quite a decent number.

Of the last 5 pre covid tests, this crowd beats two of those.

If you look at crowds from 2001-2009 this crowd beats most of them.
 
And if you wanna go further back and look at crowds from the 90s, this one beats 8/10 years.

Thing about it is its huge, it fits100k. And if it's hot at 5pm, you can fit 5 000 taking a break in the air conditoned bars watching on tv inside the fancy stands and 5000 more lined up inside for beers in the cheap seats at any given moment.
 
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Same as first test for SA collapse, 1 big partnership and another collapse. Their batting is so bad at test level.
 
Australia slowly marching towards victory. Beating australia in australia is very difficult task for any team.
 
RSA 189
AUS 45/1 (12) CRR: 3.75
Day 1: Stumps - Australia trail by 144 runs
 
daytrader said:
RSA 189
AUS 45/1 (12) CRR: 3.75
Day 1: Stumps - Australia trail by 144 runs
Click to expand...

==

Allrounder Cameron Green took a career-best 5-27 as Australia ripped through South Africa's fragile batting before piling on late runs to seize control of the second Test in Melbourne on Monday. After the visitors were dismissed for 189, an aggressive David Warner, in his 100th Test, was unbeaten on 32 and Marnus Labuschagne was not out on five to steer the hosts to 45-1 at stumps on day one. Usman Khawaja was out for one, caught behind by Kyle Verreynne off Kagiso Rabada. Australia won the first of three Tests by six wickets inside two days on a hostile and green Gabba pitch in Brisbane last week.

The wicket at the Melbourne Cricket Ground was less bowler-friendly, but captain Pat Cummins surprisingly chose to field at a venue where toss-winning teams normally bat first.

South African skipper Dean Elgar said he was bewildered by the decision, but it proved to be inspired in front of 64,876 fans with the Proteas losing early wickets as they again struggled against the hosts' bowling firepower.

After slumping to 67-5, Verreynne and Marco Jansen launched a stirring fightback in a gutsy 112-run stand.

But then Green -- the second-most expensive buy at the Indian Premier League auction last week -- went on a blitz, snapping the partnership when Verreynne got an outside edge on 52 that Steve Smith collected.

Two balls later, Jansen was gone, caught by wicketkeeper Alex Carey for 59 off Green before the giant Australian bowled Kagiso Rabada and Lungi Ngidi.

Green took 4-8 in the spell with the Proteas losing their last five wickets for 10 runs.

Early pressure

South Africa started the day nervously, losing Sarel Erwee and Theunis de Bruyn cheaply.

They were stunned just before lunch when Elgar, who passed 5,000 Test runs, and the experienced Temba Bavuma departed in consecutive balls.

It left them in trouble at 58-4 and the inexperienced middle order facing a daunting task.

When Khaya Zondo was out in the fifth over after lunch for five, courtesy of a stunning Marnus Labuschagne diving catch, the end looked nigh before Verreynne and Jansen dug in.

On a humid day, Cummins asked some searching early questions, dropping Elgar on seven off his own bowling and then having two big lbw shouts against Sarel Erwee denied.

Erwee lived dangerously and was no match for local hero Scott Boland.

The seamer, who took 6-7 in the corresponding Test against England a year ago, came on to thunderous applause and got the breakthrough in his second over, with Khawaja taking a low catch at third slip to remove Erwee for 18.

South Africa's batting has been under the pump recently and as the senior player, Elgar knew he had to stick around.

But it was a grind, with the captain surviving when an inside edge off Boland sent the ball rolling onto his stumps only for the bails to stay on, then being dropped by Nathan Lyon.

Green got Australia's second wicket when Theunis De Bruyn attempted a pull shot and wicketkeeper Carey took an easy catch.

Disaster then struck with a sluggish Elgar needlessly run out by Labuschagne going for a single on 26, and Bavuma fell for one next ball, edging Mitchell Starc to Carey after a poor shot.

NDTV
 
Jansen showing his skill with the bat.
Wasn't always sure about verreynne but he is playing some handy knocks in NZ and AUS. Just seen he has an impressive FC record too. So SA has got some new batters with good potential, need to be patient till they come good i guess.

On the other hand, hope warner makes his 100th memorable one.
 
From Smith, Gibbs, Amla. Kallis, AbV as their batting lineup to Elgar, Erwee, de Bruyn, Bavuma something has massively gone wrong with SA domestic. They need to figure it out soon. Simply saying it's the result of T20 isn't going to cut it. England on the other hand are producing all- format cricketers so T20 isn't the reason.
 
shariqnoor said:
From Smith, Gibbs, Amla. Kallis, AbV as their batting lineup to Elgar, Erwee, de Bruyn, Bavuma something has massively gone wrong with SA domestic. They need to figure it out soon. Simply saying it's the result of T20 isn't going to cut it. England on the other hand are producing all- format cricketers so T20 isn't the reason.
Click to expand...

Too much dilution of existing talent in the domestic system. And they're not producing the level of talent they used to anyway.
 
shariqnoor said:
From Smith, Gibbs, Amla. Kallis, AbV as their batting lineup to Elgar, Erwee, de Bruyn, Bavuma something has massively gone wrong with SA domestic. They need to figure it out soon. Simply saying it's the result of T20 isn't going to cut it. England on the other hand are producing all- format cricketers so T20 isn't the reason.
Click to expand...

SA dont really have a single quality test batsmen, awful batting line up to say the least.
 
Nikhil_cric said:
Too much dilution of existing talent in the domestic system. And they're not producing the level of talent they used to anyway.
Click to expand...

It's hard for them. They have to include a couple of quota batsmen who probably aren't good enough. That frustrates some percentage of good players, who then leave - AB the latest of a line to retire early. So they get the double whammy of including quota batsmen + losing some of their best to early retirement/county.

Then there is the other layer of guys frustrated at domestic level who leave in search of greater opportunities. The most famous is KP but even just at current players (and only counting those who left themselves, not as kids with parents) we have Devon Conway, the Curran brothers (born SA, Zim origins then England) & Keaton Jennings. There are probably more I can't think of.

They are producing plenty of talent, but losing plenty of it as kids (another dozen at least SA born current internationals like Marnus, Roy etc); then losing even more as late teens/young men seeking opportunities; + hampered in selection of the remaining talent by quotas; which in turn drives more players away to early retirement. They've kept the decline slow for a long time but it's really starting to be a vicious cycle now.
 
Australia are looking good to go up 2-0.

I am surprised at South Africa's ordinary performance in this tour. They generally do well in Australia.
 
sweep_shot said:
Australia are looking good to go up 2-0.

I am surprised at South Africa's ordinary performance in this tour. They generally do well in Australia.
Click to expand...

You missed a lot of cricket from SA then. 5 consecutive innings they failed to cross 200. They have minnow level batting outside South Africa.
 
jnaveen1980 said:
You missed a lot of cricket from SA then. 5 consecutive innings they failed to cross 200. They have minnow level batting outside South Africa.
Click to expand...

I said "they generally do well in Australia". My statement is backed by statistics.

Since 2008, South Africa haven't lost any series in Australia (toured thrice; 2008, 2012, and 2016).

Their batting is in transition. They lost Amla and QDK to retirements. I expect them to bounce back soon.
 
wrongun said:
It's hard for them. They have to include a couple of quota batsmen who probably aren't good enough. That frustrates some percentage of good players, who then leave - AB the latest of a line to retire early. So they get the double whammy of including quota batsmen + losing some of their best to early retirement/county.

Then there is the other layer of guys frustrated at domestic level who leave in search of greater opportunities. The most famous is KP but even just at current players (and only counting those who left themselves, not as kids with parents) we have Devon Conway, the Curran brothers (born SA, Zim origins then England) & Keaton Jennings. There are probably more I can't think of.

They are producing plenty of talent, but losing plenty of it as kids (another dozen at least SA born current internationals like Marnus, Roy etc); then losing even more as late teens/young men seeking opportunities; + hampered in selection of the remaining talent by quotas; which in turn drives more players away to early retirement. They've kept the decline slow for a long time but it's really starting to be a vicious cycle now.
Click to expand...

Agree. They have it tough. But I still maintain that SA talent stocks were at their highest during the Smith era. Prior to that they were somewhat overrated even though they did not have to worry about quotas and attrition.

Even the guys who left like Conway and Jennings are not exactly exceptionally gifted players. KP was from the Graeme Smith era anyway.

Labuschagne is the only one of Saffer descent who is exceptional but he moved as a kid and learnt all his cricket in Shield.
 
sweep_shot said:
I said "they generally do well in Australia". My statement is backed by statistics.

Since 2008, South Africa haven't lost any series in Australia (toured thrice; 2008, 2012, and 2016).

Their batting is in transition. They lost Amla and QDK to retirements. I expect them to bounce back soon.
Click to expand...

That era was long gone.

Fk6r-Bt2-WQAAQKZI.jpg
 
I also feel Markram should have played this series because he generally plays pace and bounce well. He did well in that last series vs Australia too in 2018.

His test record is poor because of other weakness he has but the Australian conditions might have suited him.

Keegan Petersen is injured.
 
Ab Fan said:
I also feel Markram should have played this series because he generally plays pace and bounce well. He did well in that last series vs Australia too in 2018.

His test record is poor because of other weakness he has but the Australian conditions might have suited him.

Keegan Petersen is injured.
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he is missing a few more tests again. so all he had to do was to stop india from winning a series in SA. thanks keegan.
 
Ab Fan said:
I also feel Markram should have played this series because he generally plays pace and bounce well. He did well in that last series vs Australia too in 2018.

His test record is poor because of other weakness he has but the Australian conditions might have suited him.

Keegan Petersen is injured.
Click to expand...

Those 2 are crucial for them and then RvD not playing is a joke. Zondo and Bavuma are not international level players.
 
The South African selectors need to be sacked. The batting is poor and then you decide to reduce the quantity.
 
Labu run out. Usually in each innings he would get slice of luck and score a 100. Not today.
 
SA batting line up now is a shell of its former glory days. Erwee, Bruyn, Bavuma, Zondo would not even make their 2nd XI squad a decade ago.
 
Smith put down by keeper. You cannot drop a catch like that. Crime. Jansen strangled him down
 
What a box office player this guy is turning into Jansen. If only SA found some good top order batsmen.
 
Lot of milestones for Warner in 100th test. First a 50. 8000 runs. If he gets 100 that will be another achievement.
 
First innings lead of 200 runs enough for Australia to wrap up the southafrican second innings
 
South Africa are hopeless. They have gone from Amla, Smith, Kallis, De Villiars to this rubbish batting lineup.
 
Australia is putting an exhibition of how to build a Test innings. Bowling was not bad at all. Some fast and fury stuffs were thrown at them.
 
From a time when Hashim Amla alone smashed 196 against the Australians at Perth to the time when the entire team hasn't crossed 200 in their last 7 test innings. This has been a fall of epic proportions for the South African cricket team.
 
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