South Africa vs Australia | 2nd Test | Johannesburg | 17-21 Nov 2011

Less than 100 to win for Australia - can they do it?


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Ponting out for a duck. Will there be another collapse in this match?
 
Watson really should have carried on after Hughes fell. I just get the feeling with Watson that he doesn't know how to construct an innings sometimes. He'll very often get through the new ball; more so than many more established openers. He'll blast the bowlers around for a 50,60,70. Then once there's a quiet spell -which inevitably happens in tests - he'll find a way to get out.

I don't want to knock a fine player, who played a good innings to set Australia up. I just can't help but feel he'd be more dangerous coming down at 6 or 7 against tiring bowlers or a second new ball.
 
This may be the last we see of Ponting after this match. I'm really saddened. This isn't befitting of such a great batsman and stalwart for his country.

Yeah he's been a great servant for his country. He should have called it a day months ago though. If he leaves now, people are going to think that he's been pressured into retiring.
 
S.A back in the game! Not 1st time Punter has gone lbw due to over shuffling!
 
Ouch, Clarke gets hit in the pecker. The dressing room and Billy Bowden have a laugh about it :D
 
Watson really should have carried on after Hughes fell. I just get the feeling with Watson that he doesn't know how to construct an innings sometimes. He'll very often get through the new ball; more so than many more established openers. He'll blast the bowlers around for a 50,60,70. Then once there's a quiet spell -which inevitably happens in tests - he'll find a way to get out.

I don't want to knock a fine player, who played a good innings to set Australia up. I just can't help but feel he'd be more dangerous coming down at 6 or 7 against tiring bowlers or a second new ball.

He's a good bowler, maybe even developing into a match-winning one, and a good batsman too - but I'm not convinced he's a match-winner with the bat, which at the end of the day is all that matters. He doesn't quite 'get' test match batting - in spite of his otherwise impressive statistics, his conversion rate from the half-ton to the ton is very poor indeed, and this is a huge thing for a top-order batsman.

This is why I would have the likes of Sehwag, Graeme Smith and Cookie ahead of him as opening batsmen - they probably get more single-figure scores than Watson, but they also actually score a few hundreds, and their team will win when this happens. Nobody ever won a test match because their opening batsman scored a flashy forty, or even a solid sixty-five.
 
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Usman needs to stay solid and its a chance for him to stake a long term place in Aussie team here!
 
Very big day for both Usman and Clarkey, for similar yet different reasons.
 
Koala gone.

Really overrated player on PP. Looks like a decent prospect, but he's got nothing on Hughes or Marsh.
 
Yeah Khawaja is nothing compared to Marsh or Hughes, I think Warner will fare better than him
 
Beauty by Steyn to get rid of Hussey. 3 more wickets to become the equal fastest to 250.
 
Beautiful ball. He was on the back foot to morkel and I reckon it's because of morkel's spell he Didn't get onto the front foot against steyn.
 
As I've said earlier, Tahir will shine and Khawaja will fail. I am always right. Another wicket for Tahir :warne :out
 
Aus 267/8

Lead by 1 run, looks like we will have a 2nd inns shoot out here.

S.A lost most of their wickets through bat shots.

Aussies have lost theres to some decent bowling.

If S.A werent so reckelss they would be ahead in this test!
 
Sean: "Does anyone else think that Tahir's reactions - celebrating wickets, that near-bowled off Mitch, are a bit overly dramatic?" from cricinfo

Yes I do Sean, I think his celebrations are over the top. It's like he got the wicket of :don but it was only Siddle.
 
2 more for Steyn to become the equal fastest to 250. He'll have to wait until the 2nd innings though.

Shaping up to be a great match now.
 
I have a feeling 2nd Innings Mitch is going to rip apart South Africa. Whenever Mitch shines with the bat he does so with the ball too, scored a 96 on this ground last time also took 8 wickets.
 
75.5
Steyn to Lyon, no run, a sitter has been dropped at cover by the substitute fielder. Lyon spooned a good length ball on the up gently towards cover and the fielder (no one has named and shamed him yet) fumbled the first attempt, and the second attempted and grassed the ball

Unlucky Steyn - Deserved a 5fer
 
:out it's all over

Tahir picks up his 3rd wicket

Australia lead by 30 runs.
 
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South Africa took 10 wickets for 122 runs after lunch

Best bowling attack at the moment with Steyn ( :waqar) , Morkel :rana , Phillander :sami and :warne (Tahir)
 
In both tests Aussies have had chances to put S.A away and they havent!

Go back 5/6 years and aussies would have ruthlessly finished off S.A

Sadly now they dont have that cutting edge to take chances when they have the oppostion on the ropes.
 
In both tests Aussies have had chances to put S.A away and they havent!

Go back 5/6 years and aussies would have ruthlessly finished off S.A

Sadly now they dont have that cutting edge to take chances when they have the oppostion on the ropes.

Well to their credit it was mainly due to good bowling in the 2nd and 3rd sessions today.
 
In both tests Aussies have had chances to put S.A away and they havent!

Go back 5/6 years and aussies would have ruthlessly finished off S.A

Sadly now they dont have that cutting edge to take chances when they have the oppostion on the ropes.

Well during that time most oppositions looking at the Australian side knew it was a suicide mission. They knew they were going to lose regardless of their effort. Maybe win once in a blue moon. Most team looked like Bangladesh in front of the Legendary Aussies team.
A team consisting of Hayden, Langer, Punter, Martyn, Clarke, S. Waugh, A. Gilchrist S. Warne, B, Lee, Gilespie, Mc.Grath , you knew the result right away after seeing the Aussie squad.

Not even exaggerating here. :rana

I miss the old Australian team too.
 
In both tests Aussies have had chances to put S.A away and they havent!

Go back 5/6 years and aussies would have ruthlessly finished off S.A

Sadly now they dont have that cutting edge to take chances when they have the oppostion on the ropes.

It's called "killer instinct".

In the 30+ years since I've been watching cricket the only teams I saw who really had it in spades were the West Indies and Australia. And you not only have to have the desire to finish the opposition off, you need to have the firepower to do it. This mob doesn't have it, not by a long way.
 
These days i really dont have any idea what a days play will bring.

Score could be anything by the end of todays play.
 
Aussie decline has bought many a teams on level playing field. Few years back, it was all too predictable when OZ used to play:butt
 
Someone please break Mitch's leg or something.
 
Anything above 200 will be difficult for Aussies to chase.

However, I want Sticky Something to bat freely for one last time in this match because his career is anyway going down the mandy lane...:akhtar
 
Australia, South Africa & Pakistan: the three countries that consistently churn out decent pace bowlers! I think Aussies should win this one, barring a huge amla/abd partnership... this is the one to break!!
 
Top-class working over and dismissal of Kallis from the young man.

We shall watch his career with great interest...

: Palpatine
: Dark Side
: Imported players
 
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I do think Sa have better chance of winning this any lead close to 250-300 will be hard for struggling Aus batsman..
 
Cummins is a gun, aus got that selection right. A class above our other bowlers.

UDRS is a total joke please get rid of it. Farcical.

Haddin has lost the plot big time.

Lyon looks ok spinner by our standards.

We will lose this match.
 
Cummins to Kallis, OUT, 86.8 mph, and a fantastic reward for the young man! He set it up beautifully by peppering him with short deliveries, this time he angles it on the corridor outside off, Kallis pokes at it, hew doesn't have much time to react and the ball takes the edge and flies to Clarke at first slip. This reminds me of the way Ishant Sharma foxed Ponting at the WACA

Big LOL at CricIndia.
 
Not had a chance to watch him bowl but if RA is impressed he must be a find :Mitch
 
what the heck is wrong with both teams? why are they in such a hurry?!

:amla playing reverse sweeps! :facepalm:
 
partnership may have taken the game away from the Aussies...but with these 2 batting lineups you never know!
 
Johnson starting to swing it in a fraction. This could be interesting :wasim
 
he's been getting some shape on them all day.

back to back :fours

:amla
 
RSA are mastering second inning batsmanship, how many times have they got back into the game like that in recent times :13:
 
Clarke is really overbowling Cummins, this is his 4th First Class game, one wonders how many times he's even bowled 20 overs in a day.
 
Lots of Empty stands even though it was Saturday and mouth watering Aus vs. SA. I am hoping for better crowd on Sunday.
 
I predict south africa will be all out for 350 leaving australia a target of 320 to level the series.
But they won't.
 
this series justifies the case that Test cricket should be given most priority by cricketers!
Unfortunate that it has only 2 tests to be played, nevertheless a great encounter between 2 top test sides.

everytime you think Australia are getting over the top to finish it once and for all, RSA has fought back tremendously!

anything above 300 is going to be extremely difficult for Australia, unless we're due to watch a a career saving innings from a great batsman of his time Ponting!
 
PC has struck again, de Villiers gone for 73. Japies 4/237
 
Cummins!

Pace gets wickets :imran

We gotta get rid of the Mitch....

The Mitch needs to be sent back to domestic cricket to find his form. He's had enough chances. He's conceded twice as many runs as PC and has taken 3 less wickets.

That said, the "newness" of PC is probably a factor. None of these Japie batsmen have really seen him yet.
 
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