South Africa v Australia | 2nd Test | Port Elizabeth | Day 1 | 20/02/2014

[Convict]

5/200 here. We're well placed.

 

[Justcrazy]

SA in good position

 

[Justcrazy]

SA should go and get 350 here at least.

 

[Convict]

SA in good position

5/200 on this wicket?

 

[Glory Of '09]

Whitewash on the cards. ...

 

[Strike Rate]

Clarke sledging AB

 

[Pantani]

New ball coming soon, too. They're in trouble.

 

[Mr Consistent]

de Kock gone

wicket for smith

 

[Justcrazy]

If Aussies can get another one here , they will bring in bowling all rounders.

 

[Justcrazy]

5/200 on this wicket?

Considering the way they lost last game

 

[Mr Consistent]

200 up for SA

 

[Buffet]

Two stupid shots and two wickets before the new ball is due.

 

[Convict]

Smith is a man of many variations- two types of full tosses, the long hop and the wicket taker

 

[Justcrazy]

SA must be careful , if they loose another here , it may lead to more.

 

[Justcrazy]

New ball would be critical

 

[IndianWillow]

SA have lost the advantage. They could fold for 250.

 

[trogger]

Even slowing down the runs before the new ball would have been nice, 2 wickets added to it certainly brightens the day for us.

SA need to make use of that extra bat and have these two still in at stumps.

 

[Justcrazy]

Smith is a part timer.

 

[Justcrazy]

One over before new ball

 

[Justcrazy]

Light not good , spinners may continue

 

[Justcrazy]

Aussies continue with old ball.

 

[Buffet]

Smith is a man of many variations- two types of full tosses, the long hop and the wicket taker

Stupidity by Quinton, you know that Smith is going to anyway bowl few long hops. There was no need to try to play stupid shots to score against Smith.

 

[Justcrazy]

SA now can breathe easily , No fast bowlers

 

[Justcrazy]

:4

213 / 5

 

[Mr Consistent]

:4 by ab

 

[Mr Consistent]

Match delayed by bad light

 

[Justcrazy]

That is the end .

 

[Justcrazy]

Clarke made right decision , he should not allow these overs , better come fresh tomorrow

 

[Justcrazy]

So at stumps SA 214 / 5

 

[soso_killer]

Disappointing for SA to lose wickets when they've look set to none threatening deliviries at that. They just could not get away, all in all the game is evenly poised.

 

[Pantani]

Even Faf's dismissal was pretty soft.

 

[trogger]

Lost the toss on a decent batting wicket and it's 5/214 with the new ball due first thing we will take that for sure.

 

[Buffet]

So at stumps SA 214 / 5

Game in balance. If SA can avoid losing wickets in the first 10 overs in the morning then it will be great. Aus won't be too unhappy with current score.

 

[mithun_minhas]

Why did the pitches in SA have become so flat all of a sudden?

Did SA fear Aus bowling?

 

[Pantani]

Why did the pitches in SA have become so flat all of a sudden?

Did SA fear Aus bowling?

It's only one pitch, and Port Elizabeth has a reputation for being low and slow.

 

[trogger]

It's the sort of pitch our bats sometimes have issues with as well, our blokes like to score and score quick and they are prone to do some very silly stuff when they can't easily force the pace on these sorts of tracks.

 

[Bilal7]

Why did the pitches in SA have become so flat all of a sudden?

Did SA fear Aus bowling?

They were like this during the India series as well.

 

[OZGOD]

I avoided everything, Cricinfo, this thread, all the sports sites till I had a chance to watch the day's play I recorded. Not a bad day's play, good tough attritional Test cricket.

The biggest compliment that SA could give us was to have the groundsman shave off all the grass from the wicket. It's always been a slow wicket anyway but they've decided to nullify some of their own strengths to negate ours. It's been a long time since I've seen a St George wicket as slow as this and Elgar said the same. Going with a four man pace attack is risky but they have a lot of part time bowling options too. But they must have lost a lot of confidence in R Peterson if they dropped him with this type of wicket.

This is the type of wicket where Lyon has to shine. It's also going to be a challenge for Jonno. He may as well get used to this type of wicket if he wants to lead us to victories in the UAE and the subcontinent. It's really been a day where you have to be patient, bowl in the right areas and wait for a mistake. I think we're in a pretty good position to have them 5 down right now, getting de Kock and Elgar near the end was a huge bonus. SA would be very disappointed by losing those two wickets at the end. As Soso said it's the type of wicket where both sides might struggle to take 20 so losing wickets to nothing shots would be extremely disappointing.

The OZ will have to do the same. As Trogs said above we tend to have a lot more "restless bats" - that said I think Rogers, Doolan, Marsh and Clarke have a lot of patience. The key here for SA will be the new ball. The openers have to get through that new ball period when it is swinging. I think it's a pretty good wicket for batting, the bounce is very low and consistent, it's very much of a subcontinental wicket.

Should also remind Proteyeah if he is feeling a bit butthurt about the Cricinfo articles not showing respect to the Yarps that the person writing the majority of SA-related articles is Firdose Moonda, she is actually a Saffer journalist not Australian. I'm pretty sure the Ozzies all have a lot of respect for the Saffers, Clarke himself said he expects SA to bounce back and not roll over like they did at Centurion.

Overall a good day's play, got rid of the top order early but once the ball stopped swinging it was pretty attritional cricket.