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Australia tour of South Africa |OT| Battle of the Batsmen

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A

Antiwhippy

the holder of the trombone
Jeez, jammed that. That would smart for days.

Peterson is just straight out slogging everything.

Also I feel sorry for the rest of the australian bowlers. Great bowling sides still take some time to bowl out great batting sides, but mitch is just blowing everyone away and not giving anyone else a chance. :p
 
C

chicko1983

Member
Antiwhippy said:
Jeez, jammed that. That would smart for days.

Peterson is just straight out slogging everything.

Also I feel sorry for the rest of the australian bowlers. Great bowling sides still take some time to bowl out great batting sides, but mitch is just blowing everyone away and not giving anyone else a chance. :p
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dont worry about them collecting the winning bonus from taking the scrap wickets....theyll be fine!

but yeah, would be personally annoying not getting in the action when Johnson is.
 
P

params7

Banned
Congrats Australia. Was not expecting Saffers to be overwhelmed like this at all. Hopefully they pick it up in the remaining two tests.
 
A

Antiwhippy

the holder of the trombone
Morne seemingly ran himself out to save himself from the pain.

Overwhelming victory really. Both with bat and ball.
 
C

chicko1983

Member
params7 said:
Was not expecting Saffers to be overwhelmed like this at all. Hopefully they pick it up in the remaining two tests.
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well other than Johnson, the Aussie bowling was not as good as it was during the Ashes.

Siddle and Harris were nowhere near as accurate as they were, particularly the first innings, and they will improve.

It will only get harder for the Saffas.

Aussies bowled about 120 overs, SA bowled about 195 overs. This is another reason why it will be harder for SA to bounce back in the second test. Almost bowled and extra full day compared to the Aussies.

I am not surprised at the result at all, I knew that if Aussies played like they did during the Ashes and Saffas played like they did against India, Aussies would win.
 
C

chicko1983

Member
hamchan said:
No.1 team in the world just got absolutely thrashed this match.
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I read that if the Aussies win the series, they will not be the no1 team initially, but in March the rankings get recalculated and they will be no1 then. Im not sure how they are calculated though and someone else may be able to clarify it.
 
A

Antiwhippy

the holder of the trombone
Mitch's voice really doesn't fit the image he's projecting at the moment.

Then again the voice I'm imagining eats people's hearts while they're still beating.
 
M

Moxx19

Banned
It would be a mistake for South Africa to assume Johnson to be the only major threat. Although he didn't show it in this match, Harris is a brilliant bowler, right up there with Steyn in terms of skill and it's only going to be a matter of time before he fires again. I seriously think the commentators sold him way short this match.

EDIT: Lyon bowled exceptionally well in this match too I thought. Unsung hero.
 
M

master15

Member
I will admit I was one that thought South Africans would really test and show Australia's frailties, but boy was I glad to be proved wrong.

Amazing performance, so clinical. Now due to time game is played, here in Canada couldn't see much of the game live. How did Rhino and Siddle bowl? I think there was a comment earlier they weren't nearly as accurate as in Ashes. Rhino in particular looked surprisingly loose.

Nonetheless I expect Saffers to hit back, 2nd test.
 
I

ItAintEasyBeinCheesy

it's 4th of July in my asshole
Ah, should have stayed up but have to do heaps of driving today. Good win, Johnson is pretty damn amazing.

All the young guys are going to find it hard to get a look in for a bit. Maybe Johnson should show them all the exercises he does to stay fit.
 
T

toddhunter

Member
chicko1983 said:
I read that if the Aussies win the series, they will not be the no1 team initially, but in March the rankings get recalculated and they will be no1 then. Im not sure how they are calculated though and someone else may be able to clarify it.
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It is kind of like tennis in that it goes on a cycle (2 years I think). So after a certain period past wins and losses are erased and the ratings will be adjusted.

Seems like great work by Johnson once again. This test seemed a lot closer though because the others didn't bowl well. If SA had got one more wicket in the first innings? It probably would have been a very different test.

But then we spent like 5 tests saying that against England...
 
M

Moxx19

Banned
RespectfulCreativeFennecfox.gif
 
B

bobnowhere

Member
If Amla does have a weakness, it's his ability to read unexpected bounce. Though to be fair I imagine both balls would have gotten just about anyone in trouble!

amla.gif
 
T

toddhunter

Member
I wish it was on Australian TV. I've spent the whole day painting and a few hours sitting down to watch the cricket would have been perfect tonight.

Thanks South Africa.
 
H

H.Protagonist

[-_-]/
toddhunter said:
I wish it was on Australian TV. I've spent the whole day painting and a few hours sitting down to watch the cricket would have been perfect tonight.

Thanks South Africa.
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:( Seriously? That's a huge bummer. I totally feel ya. Cricket makes the best working background. Maybe try an option like the one Antiwhippy suggested?


Antiwhippy said:
Willow cricket is available for americans, but I dunno how you subscribe to them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willow_Cricket

Otherwise you can catch highlights on their youtube channel.

https://www.youtube.com/user/willow/videos
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Ah, much appreciation, Anti. I'll look into their subscription service. Just sat and watched the wicket highlights. I guess Johnson's mo' is magical, after all. :D
 
T

toddhunter

Member
H.Protagonist said:
:( Seriously? That's a huge bummer. I totally feel ya. Cricket makes the best working background. Maybe try an option like the one Antiwhippy suggested?
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Nah I'm able to watch it. It is just literally not on tonight because it is over ;)

It is always an internal conflict between Australia winning so well and now having absolutely nothing to watch.
 
captainnapalm

captainnapalm

Member
What a reaming that was. We haven't been made to look that ordinary in a long time.

Mitchell Johnson's turnaround is unbelievable. I remember him being a basically ok bowler.

Really don't know if we can turn this around. It would be nice if we still had Kallis. Either way, we will have to learn how to play Johnson better, and quickly.
 
C

chicko1983

Member
captainnapalm said:
What a reaming that was. We haven't been made to look that ordinary in a long time.

Mitchell Johnson's turnaround is unbelievable. I remember him being a basically ok bowler.

Really don't know if we can turn this around. It would be nice if we still had Kallis. Either way, we will have to learn how to play Johnson better, and quickly.
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One thing that seems to annoy me is when people call this good "form" for MJ.

For a bowler to win the overall ICC player of the year award is something special. Flintoff did in 2005, and think about how well he bowled that Ashes, but other than that no other bowler has won it, including Steyn and Warne and McGrath. He did that in 2009.

Then he went crap after family issues and people tried to change his action.

To save me typing it all over again, this is what I said after day one of the Gabba Ashes test match.

I disagree with your assessment of Mitchell Johnson. Yes, today was an anomaly compared to his last couple of years but it was close to some of those spells in 2009. He got over 50 wickets that year and was the world cricketer of the year. You don't do that from one or two spells only.

Everyone knows the rift he had with his mum which brought about his bad form, but it's pretty clear his problems were more mental than anything, he still took wickets even though he took them expensively (he had the most wickets in 2011 ashes by an Aussie). As he now said he is happier than ever and he is bowling well again.

I had my doubts until I recently saw his pitch map during the odi series in india. They showed his end of 2009 to 2012 pitch map and it was all over the shop and average speed of high 130s. Then they compared it to his last year of odi bowling and he was a lot more controlled and average speed of mid-high 140s. The difference was crazy and you would have sworn it was two different bowlers.

He is back to bowling a lot more consistently quick and controlled than he has in years and the sample size was large (part of Aussie summer, england series and Indian series) so I am confident that yesterday won't be an anomaly. As long as he stays mentally in a good place, Australia will be doing well.
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The other thing is that he was back in the test team in the 2012 South African series and played against Sri Lanka in the 2012/13 test series in Australia. He even won a man of the match award then and broke Sangakarra's hand with a bouncer.

He was taken on tour to India in 2013 and probably would have gone to the English Ashes if he was sent home from India as part of Homework-gate.

What I am trying to say is that in my opinion, this "form" is not fleeting and he has been building up to this point for the last 18mths. He is finally living up to his potential, what he showed in 2008/09.

As for learning how to play Johnson better. Good luck.
South Africa have had the last month to prepare a plan and themselves what what they saw happened in the Ashes yet look what happened. They wont turn it around much more than what England did from test 1 to test 5.
 
T

toddhunter

Member
one area Johnson hasn't quite kicked on is his batting. He is still more than handy, but he really should have been batting 6 by now.
 
J

jambo

Member
Does anyone here know if the Cricket Australia app is live streaming the SA tour?

It mentions the Ashes in the subscription part of the app, but not the SA tour. I just don't want to pay the $20 and then find out it's not included.
 
R

reptilescorpio

Member
In other news NZ has resurrected their test

McCullum becomes the first NZ player to hit back to back doubles. Watling has played the longest innings by an NZ wicketkeeper. the partnership is 346, the highest for the sixth wicket ever and the third highest overall. India have bowled 120.4 overs without a wicket. Also the best sixth-wicket partnership in Test history
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To go from 5/94 to 5/446 is insane. Especially since they were blown out for 192 in the first innings!

McCullum on 229 and Watling on 124. Well on the way to saving this test match for them if they can bat out the day!
 
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