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Australia v South Africa | 2nd Test - Day 1| MCG | 26/12/08

Ponting dropped. Simple catch dropped by McKenzie at 3rd slip off Steyn.
Replay shows a good attempt after the drop to collect the ball
 
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12thMan said:
will be master of Macarena (completing your thought which you are afraid of tipping tapping on keyboard)
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lol.

Welll, I'm sure you can guess what I'm thinking!
 
IronMan2009 said:
I have mentioned if "this bowling is any indication". I remember Australia struggling to take wickets of Kumble, Harbhajan, RP singh, Muralitharan.
This was when Lee was in prime form. Now Lee is nowhere close to how he was exactly one year back. Clark has been in and out. What i say is not far from realistic. Sure you can outbat Pakistan but if Pakistan has a good session with bowling they can put Australia under serious pressure.
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So in summary, a side which plays little Test cricket and full of young players following retirement of Shoaib, Moyo, Wasim, Waqar, Mushie, Saqlain etc, which never looked like winning a series in Australia when it had those legends playing and where the batsman struggle on bouncy pitches is going to start favourite against Australia in Australia with 2 Tests to be played on the bounciest pitches in Australia?

And this is a side where the selectors rarely pick the best XI players anyway.

Last side to be favourite against Australia in Australia would have been the West Indies in the 80's.
 
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Nice.

Ponting looking average against some quality. Steyn might bowl rubbish all day but his class will come through some time. Its inevitable.

Edit: Sorry for the slightly expressive last post. Simon Katich does revoke some reactions from me.
 
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Australia's session but would have been even had that catch been held. On the whole, pretty disappointing effort by S africa
 
Random Aussie said:
So in summary, a side which plays little Test cricket and full of young players following retirement of Shoaib, Moyo, Wasim, Waqar, Mushie, Saqlain etc, which never looked like winning a series in Australia when it had those legends playing and where the batsman struggle on bouncy pitches is going to start favourite against Australia in Australia with 2 Tests to be played on the bounciest pitches in Australia?

OK then
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Australia's bowling standard has gone down. Never seen such an ineffective Australian bowling. Even in the mid 80s when India made a mockery of their bowling attack in Australia, they had McDermott, Hughes, Reid, Matthews. Australia would gladly have all 4 of them in place of these bowlers.

Sure Australia can bounce back since they have new set of bowlers. Yes Pakistan not having enough practice definitely is a concern. But on the other hand they might be hungrier.
 
Random Aussie said:
So in summary, a side which plays little Test cricket and full of young players following retirement of Shoaib, Moyo, Wasim, Waqar, Mushie, Saqlain etc, which never looked like winning a series in Australia when it had those legends playing and where the batsman struggle on bouncy pitches is going to start favourite against Australia in Australia with 2 Tests to be played on the bounciest pitches in Australia?

And this is a side where the selectors rarely pick the best XI players anyway.

Last side to be favourite against Australia in Australia would have been the West Indies in the 80's.
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Well after the retirement of Warne and Mcgrath we can surely be a bit more competitive against the Aussies any where in the world irrespective of where the two countries meet. Pakistan is perhaps the only country which had the misfortune of playing an Australian team of prime players, Glen Mcgrath and Shane Warne playing together in it. Its no wonder we have lost 3-0 in 1999, 3-0 in 2005. It would have been interesting how those tours would have turned out if those two were not there ever.

Batting against the aussies has been Pakistan's main problem. With warne, mcgrath out of the picture, the batting can certainly pick up.
 
Savak said:
Well after the retirement of Warne and Mcgrath we can surely be a bit more competitive against the Aussies any where in the world irrespective of where the two countries meet. Pakistan is perhaps the only country which had the misfortune of playing an Australian team of prime players, Glen Mcgrath and Shane Warne playing together in it. Its no wonder we have lost 3-0 in 1999, 3-0 in 2005. It would have been interesting how those tours would have turned out if those two were not there ever.

Batting against the aussies has been Pakistan's main problem. With warne, mcgrath out of the picture, the batting can certainly pick up.
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Knowing PCB the Pakistan team will arrive with no warm up matches planned.
 
IronMan2009 said:
Australia's bowling standard has gone down. Never seen such an ineffective Australian bowling. Even in the mid 80s when India made a mockery of their bowling attack in Australia, they had McDermott, Hughes, Reid, Matthews. Australia would gladly have all 4 of them in place of these bowlers.

Sure Australia can bounce back since they have new set of bowlers. Yes Pakistan not having enough practice definitely is a concern. But on the other hand they might be hungrier.
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You must have missed 2003-2004 Indian tour then.
 
Seems like a fairly tough year for PAK
6 tests against SL(home and away) and then 3 against AUS.

There were rumors about NZ coming over in DEC or JAN but i guess they won't show up.
 
IronMan2009 said:
Didn't Mcgill, Gillespie play in that series?
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Yes but as PP said, Gillespie was struggling with injury and McGill bowled pies.

Was mostly Lee, Williams, Bracken, McGill.

Current attack is better than that rubbish.
 
Steyn is at his best when he gets the ball to swing away from the right hander. That over to Ponting was a gem.
 
PlanetPakistan said:
Seems like a fairly tough year for PAK
6 tests against SL(home and away) and then 3 against AUS.

There were rumors about NZ coming over in DEC or JAN but i guess they won't show up.
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I do not understand why they are not playing at least a couple of Tests against Bangladesh. Madness. That would make 11 Tests for the year which is good. 9 is OK, 11 would be good.

Bangladesh are minnow sure but every team plays them (except great noble we are here to help cricket India).

Question is has PCB scheduled any cricket for 2010? Aside from Australia tour which will not happen. And England tour which should go ahead.
Anyone else?
 
PlanetPakistan said:
Dizzy was in and out with injury.
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I would definitely take that set of bowlers than this set. Lee is the only common factor. I might have jumped the gun sooner since few more tests to go. But that 414 chase in the 4th innings was probably the lowest point Then Australia had Bracken, McGill, Lee. Some kind of variety was there. Infact the test that was won by Australia did not have Gillespie either. Brad williams took 4 for 53. Everyone else chipped in.
 
Random Aussie said:
I do not understand why they are not playing at least a couple of Tests against Bangladesh. Madness. That would make 11 Tests for the year which is good. 9 is OK, 11 would be good.

Bangladesh are minnow sure but every team plays them (except great noble we are here to help cricket India).

Question is has PCB scheduled any cricket for 2010? Aside from Australia tour which will not happen. And England tour which should go ahead.
Anyone else?
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In a certain period of time(not sure how many years) PAK were OFFICIALLY only going to get 54 tests while even a team like WI was given 67 tests. Now with teams not coming to PAK even that number of 54 is going down in to the 40s....
 
Random Aussie said:
Still higher than Sehwag I might point out :D
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Hayden = 51.08, Sehwag = 51.06

P.S. The way Hayden is going, it would drop below 50 if he keeps playing till the Ashes.
 
Random Aussie said:
Yes but as PP said, Gillespie was struggling with injury and McGill bowled pies.

Was mostly Lee, Williams, Bracken, McGill.

Current attack is better than that rubbish.
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Mcgill was made to bowl Pies. His record against other countries except SL are not this bad. .
 
IronMan2009[B said:
]I would definitely take that set of bowlers than this set.[/B] Lee is the only common factor. I might have jumped the gun sooner since few more tests to go. But that 414 chase in the 4th innings was probably the lowest point Then Australia had Bracken, McGill, Lee. Some kind of variety was there. Infact the test that was won by Australia did not have Gillespie either. Brad williams took 4 for 53. Everyone else chipped in.
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I am glad you do not select the Aus team then :D

That was one of the worst Australian attacks I have ever seen.

Probably only bettered by the Aus bowlers in 1998 in India - Robertson, Paul Wilson, Kasper (to be fair he did get better as the tour went on and finished his career a fine subcontinent pitch bowler) - no wonder Warne got pulverised bowling alongside them.
 
Random Aussie said:
I am glad you do not select the Aus team then :D

That was one of the worst Australian attacks I have ever seen.

Probably only bettered by the Aus bowlers in 1998 in India - Robertson, Paul Wilson, Kasper (to be fair he did get better as the tour went on and finished his career a fine subcontinent pitch bowler) - no wonder Warne got pulverised bowling alongside them.
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RA, Australia has 3 or 4 more tests to prove you right. Let us wait and see which bunch is the worst. If Australia manages to lose the series this will be officially tagged as the worst.
 
IronMan2009 said:
Why don't you point out it is higher than Gayle or Alistair cook :P
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Because there is some debate about Hayden and Sehwag. Some say Sehwag better, some say Hayden.

Little bit of niggle as we might say here :P
 
Random Aussie said:
Knowing PCB the Pakistan team will arrive with no warm up matches planned.
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I seriously hope this changes with the new administration.. even our best batsmen look like sitting ducks on those pitches. They will have to play more (warm-up) matches to get accustomed to those pitches.
 
lollol said:
I seriously hope this changes with the new administration.. even our best batsmen look like sitting ducks on those pitches. They will have to play more (warm-up) matches to get accustomed to those pitches.
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What pitches. They are all flat now.
 
IronMan2009 said:
I would definitely take that set of bowlers than this set. Lee is the only common factor. I might have jumped the gun sooner since few more tests to go. But that 414 chase in the 4th innings was probably the lowest point Then Australia had Bracken, McGill, Lee. Some kind of variety was there. Infact the test that was won by Australia did not have Gillespie either. Brad williams took 4 for 53. Everyone else chipped in.
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The test that AUS won was turned on its head by a Simon Katich full toss
 
PlanetPakistan said:
The test that AUS won was turned on its head by a Simon Katich full toss
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Katich managed to take 5 wickets in that series. He was OK.

For the bowling, the best average for the Aussies was Gillespie who averaged 37.7.

Then Katich - average 43
Williams - average 45
Bichel - average 49
McGill - average 50.78
Bracken - average 58.8 (and people call for him to be in the Test team lolz)
Lee - average 59.50

That bowling attack absolutely stunk.
 
Random Aussie said:
Did you watch Brisbane Test?
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I did. That was more due to under-preparation of India. Could have happened on any surface. To add to that India opened with Dravid and Jaffer. That was a suicide mission.
 
Ian Chappel spouting out some rubbish about legislating 6-3 max. field settings. Probably the worst cricketing idea since the IPL.
 
f.b.m said:
Ian Chappel spouting out some rubbish about legislating 6-3 max. field settings. Probably the worst cricketing idea since the IPL.
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That's right, nothing better than watching a fast bowler bowl four foot outside off stump to an 8-1 field.
 
Steyn has bowled pretty badly so far in Australia but what he does have is the ability to bowl the ball that can get a settled good player out.

Big wicket.
 
And that must be time to sleep for me, almost 4 am here.

I hope to see something like 280/8 when i wake up :D
 
Lovely bowling.

Come on now boy. Clarke's a sissy anyway.

edit: Damn, its Hussey.
 
Great throat clencher by Morkel.

Maybe these two can produce some magic.
 
yeah AP is missing....

Steyn(2 wickets so far) bowling really well but Ponting has managed him well with the exception of one drop catch by Mckenize.
 
I'm slightly disappointed by Morkel today. I mean yeah he isnt your Shaun Pollock or Chaminda Vaas but a few unplayable balls every day is what I've come to expect of him.

Edit: Nice hurry and lift from him now. The bad spells might have been him settling in to a rythm.

That being said though, brilliant stuff from Steyn. Looks like the old ball is taking shape. Lively too.
 
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PlanetPakistan said:
yeah AP is missing....

Steyn(2 wickets so far) bowling really well but Ponting has managed him well with the exception of one drop catch by Mckenize.
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Yeah that drop might have cost the saffers something.

I reckon there might have been a collapse if he held on to that.
 
f.b.m said:
I'm slightly disappointed by Morkel today. I mean yeah he isnt your Shaun Pollock or Chaminda Vaas but a few unplayable balls every day is what I've come to expect of him.

Edit: Nice hurry and lift from him now. The bad spells might have been him settling in to a rythm.

That being said though, brilliant stuff from Steyn. Looks like the old ball is taking shape. Lively too.
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Morkel will find his length soon...

Ponting is really punishing the Saffers.
 
Ponting playing a really good (if not a little lucky) innings.

ps

If i go quiet it's only because i'm camped out on an island in tyhe philippines and there's not much internet access.
 
PlanetPakistan said:
Ponting is really punishing the Saffers.
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Yeah his driving has been imperious today. Hated every moment of it.

Funny field settings from Smith now. I get the feeling that he's trying to make something happen now.
 
PlanetPakistan said:
yeah AP is missing....

Steyn(2 wickets so far) bowling really well but Ponting has managed him well with the exception of one drop catch by Mckenize.
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How much was Punter at that time?
 
This is why Ponting is my favourite batsman... my goodness what a player!! Such an array of strokes, it's just a treat to watch him bat when he's on.
 
100 for Ricky Ponting!

This was much needed for him, in front of 66 000 at the MCG.
 
CENTURYYYY... legend... pure genius... what an inning!!... I hope he goes on to a much bigger score!!
 
^Thanks. What I have noticed alot in cricket and test match is that once a catch of any player is dropped, then he ends up scoring alot in that innings
 
minhasuz said:
^Thanks. What I have noticed alot in cricket and test match is that once a catch of any player is dropped, then he ends up scoring alot in that innings
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not any player... but definitely the good ones cash in. Those batsman that score centuries after being dropped are the ones that are good batsman... because it's a real test of character to go and smash a century after being dropped. Also, it shows the opposition that you drop me, you drop the match.
 
McKenzie, not the most popular South African amongst his peers on the field right now.
 
kingusama92 said:
not any player... but definitely the good ones cash in. Those batsman that score centuries after being dropped are the ones that are good batsman... because it's a real test of character to go and smash a century after being dropped. Also, it shows the opposition that you drop me, you drop the match.
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Like :moyo
 
Paul Harris with the dagger ball! Ricky Ponting out right before tea, big big wicket for South Africa!

Australia 184/4 - Tea
 
After 2am in the morning when Hayden lost his wicket my eyes and I fell off to sleep and watched very little of this test match.
 
I`m looking forward to see Amla batting, he has really impressed the last year or so
 
Steyn is bowling much much better this game. Got some real fire in the belly.
 
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