Australia v South Africa | 4th ODI | Adelaide | 26/1/09

[Easa]

If its any consolation RA, pick the 11 worst players you can find in Australia and make them play against Pakistan and we will still lose by 200 plus runs or 10 wickets. Thats how bad we are right now.

lol calm down.

Yes, Lanka gave us a bit of a thrashing in the last two games, but that doesn't mean suddenly we're the worst side ever. We also won the first game... remember? Against the exact same team.

 

[Savak]

lol calm down.

Yes, Lanka gave us a bit of a thrashing in the last two games, but that doesn't mean suddenly we're the worst side ever. We also won the first game... remember? Against the exact same team.

More frustration then anything else. I seriously want some heads to roll for this. For far to long we have seen such disgraceful ridiculous performances from all our players and our captains, coaches but no one has ever been held to account for it. Its time to put the fear of god in some people.

 

[Poison]

Ponting needs to accelerate if he wants the record. Aussies need 340

I quote myself. This pitch was flat as. They needed at least another 120 runs.

 

[Amjid Javed]

Congrats to S.A on series win. Australias batting simply havent put enough runs on board in games. No batsmen has scored a ton in the series. In addition the bowling attack lacks all round potency. S.A continue to enjoy playing ODI series here!

Hope they win series 4-1

 

[rhussain33]

Amla, played good, glad he got some good runs. He needs to be just a bit more brave with some big hits, in the ODI and T20.

He was on strike with a couple of runs required for the win, he could have easily gone for a boundary and be the highest scorer of SA innings probably taking the Man of the Match as him and de villiers were both on 80. However he just took a single and left it to de-villiers who already scored his 80 with less balls then what Amla took. Respect to Amla in any case, he reminds me of M Yousef, that goes for beard as well as style of play.

 

[Keith]

Amla, played good, glad he got some good runs. He needs to be just a bit more brave with some big hits, in the ODI and T20.

He was on strike with a couple of runs required for the win, he could have easily gone for a boundary and be the highest scorer of SA innings probably taking the Man of the Match as him and de villiers were both on 80. However he just took a single and left it to de-villiers who already scored his 80 with less balls then what Amla took. Respect to Amla in any case, he reminds me of M Yousef, that goes for beard as well as style of play.

I would like to think that it shows the true mentality of this SA side. They play for the team and not for themselves.

 

[Savak]

Its not easy to adjust after losing so many class players. This Aussie team will take some time before they start dominating again. Guys like Tait, Johnson, Hilfenhaus, Lee are quick but they arent line and length bowlers, either they are going to demolish teams or go for plenty of runs. There is nothing in between.

And the fact the bowling is so inconsistent is now starting to take a toll on the Aussie batters who are under severe pressure on a daily basis to perform well. But the Aussie's need to find a couple of good spinners, i think it is atrocious that there is not a single decent leg spinner anymore.

The Aussies need to be patient and will have to get used to defeats for a while now. Where they really stand will only become apparent when they play other teams but so far the signs are not good. They even had to scrounge against the lowly ranked sides like the WI and NZ. But i am sure they can beat Pakistan easily right now.

As for the Proteas, i only see them going strength to strength from here. But a word of caution. They need to plan for the departure of Kallis, Boucher e.t.c.

 

[Amjid Javed]

Savak,

As far as boucher going it looks like AB will done gloves aslong as his batting sint effect. In regards to kallis am sure they can bring in other batsmen to play in middle order.

 

[OZGOD]

Embarrassing defeat. We were never in it, and the effort was disappointing given that this was a decider.

 

[Savak]

Savak,

As far as boucher going it looks like AB will done gloves aslong as his batting sint effect. In regards to kallis am sure they can bring in other batsmen to play in middle order.

Boucher is the man of crisis. Replacing him will not be as simple as it looks. Replacing Kallis will be even more difficult. We are talking about the best batsman in the world here. Besides lets not forget Kallis played a key role as 3rd/4rth seamer. It will be difficult to replace someone of his calibre.

 

[Savak]

Embarrassing defeat. We were never in it, and the effort was disappointing given that this was a decider.

So what do u think is the way forward?

I think you guys should persist with Tait, Johnson, Hilfenhaus, Siddle, R.Harris, S.Clarke because they will only improve with experience. But playing more than two 90 mph bowlers is not wise because they will go for runs in exchange for wickets. Best to look for bowlers in Stuart Clarke mold.

But you guys definitely need a leg spinner from somewhere.

 

[saffer]

Speakig of spinners ! Johna Botha is a demon ! Spins it a mile...

 

[OZGOD]

So what do u think is the way forward?

I think you guys should persist with Tait, Johnson, Hilfenhaus, Siddle, R.Harris, S.Clarke because they will only improve with experience. But playing more than two 90 mph bowlers is not wise because they will go for runs in exchange for wickets. Best to look for bowlers in Stuart Clarke mold.

But you guys definitely need a leg spinner from somewhere.

What's lacking is the confidence and consistency. Obviously there are some key members of the ODI side who are not there at the moment, such as Symonds, Clarke and Lee, and there's a lack of experience at the top of the order with Marsh and Warner, and the bowling also lacks experience.

You expect a learning curve from some of the newer blokes, such as Marsh, Warner (who I don't think should have been picked anyway, yet another misjudgment from Hilditch and his clowns), Hilfenhaus, etc which is why senior players like Hussey, Ponting as well as Haddin and MJ (I count him as a senior player in the ODI side now) NEED to be the ones delivering. And guys like White and Hopeless who have been in the team for a while now NEED to contribute.

It's essentially a new team, bar a few players like Ponting, Hussey, MJ etc. There'll be a few losses until they figure out how to play together. But the effort is what is disappointing - bar Ponting nobody really had a go.

I think they went a bit overboard and picked too many new players at once. Maybe they should have picked someone like Brad Stodge who has scored mountains of runs over his career and has done well for the OZ ODI side to create some stability in that middle order.