So I went to bed after Warner's dismissal and then taped and watched the rest this morning when I got up.
Doolan, bad luck getting out to an uncharacteristicly loose shot for the inning he was playing. I guess he started to feel comfortable out there, too comfortable, and got out to a wide delivery.
He and Marsh (the way he batted in the first innings) are really what is needed at the first and second drop.
They prize their wicket early on, are really good leavers of the ball, and it doesnt look like they are fussed when they are 0-10 runs at a strikerate of 20 or less.
They are good fit if they ever bat with Warner.
If Doolan get a ton on debut what on earth are they going to do if/when Watson is fit for the next test?
You can't drop Dools or Marsh. I say never bring Watson back.
The commentators talked about this briefly. They said, jokingly, that they would tell Watson to make sure he is extra fit and sit out the next one.
I still think Watson is in our best XI. However, he should be coming in the lower order and try to keep Doolan and Marsh going at the top.
If they play Watson, I would look to drop Rogers.
It would be a big call, however, he can only play as opener and doesnt bowl. Also, he was dissmissed twice from short balls bowled into him and not getting out of the way. If there is any plan which SA will be confident in using in the next test, it will be to bowl around the wicket and short to Rogers, its looks like a bit of weakness.
So I would then open with Warner and Marsh, keep Doolan third and then bring in Watson at four or six (depending on where Clarke wants to bat) and make him bowl 20-30 overs for the match.
So the IX would be something like:
Warner, Marsh, Doolan, Clarke, Smith, Watson, Haddin, Johnson, Harris, Siddle, Lyon.
My ideal IX at the moment would be the above but dropping either Doolan or Marsh for Phil Hughes.
Why have South Africa imploded so badly? Especially when they are playing at home? The fielding and captaincy last night was horrendous. So many dropped catches.
This is what happens when you are getting thrashed. It seems like you cant ever get a wicket so you start to day dream or let your mind wander, and then you get catch come your way and you are not 100% ready for it.
The Warner dropped catches ranged from easy (the Elgar dropped one), one should have been caught by a test fieldsman (Smiths) and one was more difficult but should be taken at test level (Petersons).
Also, this is only the fifth test match SA have played since their last summer finished in the end of Feb last year. Australia have played 4 in India, 5 in England and 5 at home, so almost three times as much test cricket as SA have at this stage. This is a huge advantage to Australia in my opinion.
Even though you can argue that SA should be more fresh physically (although in this day and age every test player is extremely fit), I argue that the sharpness of the two teams is on a different level and a major contributor to that is the amount that the Aussies have played together as a team and trained as a squad in that time.
Some SA players were also given extra leave from the first class season so that they could be "fresh" for the series.
I think that for cricket skills, you need the most regular optimal practice you can get. This doesnt mean that you need to trian for two hours a day, but instead you need to play intensely or train intensely regularly to keep your skills up.
SA have not done this as well as they should have and so I think this is a contributor to the decline in their level of performance.
As for the captaincy, Smith has never been a good strategist and tactician. He is a good leader of men and leads by example, much like Cook. I also think that he is the captain because the admistrators like him 'cause he will not rock the boat, much like Cook.
However, he has had a great team to captain with AB, Amla, Kallis, Steyn and Philander, and himself, being good enough to win on their ability and not tactics.
Clarke is currently the best test captain by a mile. Sure he has lost matches in recent times to Cook, Smith and Dhoni, but given what he has had personnel wise, and how much he should have lost to those teams by, you can see the difference between the four captains in terms of strategy and tactics.
What has been the best bit of captaining in the match so far? Straight after the toss, when they were interviewed, Smith sounded a bit cautious about sending Australia into bat. The first question the commentator asks Clarke is "Sent into bat, what do you think?" and Clarkey adamently said "Its good, we wanted to bat first on this pitch".
This is a great mind game and there was pressure on SA from the start by not bowling the Aussies out on day one. They will be batting on day 4 and 5 of pitch with a tinge of green and cracks opening up. Smith will not want to win the next toss that is for sure.
Another thing which I saw in yesteday's play which I have never seen before in my time watching tests is that the offspinner, peterson, was called repeatidly for wides for defensive bowling. He was bowling around the wicket to Doolan, pitching it well outside leg and because they werent turning or turning slightly away from Doolan, they were being called wide. They were only just missing doolans pads as he moved across to try to paddle them around the corner.
