Australia vs South Africa

[diggedy derek]

Australia vs South Africa

This was a weirdly fascinating game to follow online. No fireworks, but all the more compelling because of the slow nature of the chase, like that indefatigable posse in Butch Cassidy And the Sundance Kid.

England could have done with a De Villiers character today. Like G-Man, I really admire his dogged, robotic consistency.

[diggedy derek]

Australia vs South Africa

Regarding speed cameras, the impression I got is that once they were widely introduced, they rarely verified the kind of one-off 95 mph readings that had been taken before. They were consistently less than that. It's probably sensible to assume readings these days are more accurate than in the old days.

[ursus arctos]

Australia vs South Africa

FWIW, there has been a similar phenomenon in baseball, with earlier results well in excess of 100 mph (including Bob Feller's 107.9 mph) having been largely discredited.

Article from Baseball Almanac here.

My guess is that in-game readings in baseball are likely to be somewhat more precise than those in cricket, if only for the reason that one is able to position the "speed gun" closer to the flight of the ball as a result of differences in the relative architecture of the grounds.

It's interesting that the incremental speed advantage afforded baseball pitchers by being allowed to "throw" and pitching off of a raised mound is only about 5 mph over their cricketing counterparts (who of course benefit from a run-up).

[The Purple Cow]

Australia vs South Africa

Cricket doesn't use one speed-gun though. Hawkeye relies on a variety of speed-guns placed around the field.

They are not common-or-garden speed-guns either. The one I brought for my kids pretty much only works in the nets, because the square is too far from the boundary for something as small as a cricket ball to register.

[G-Man]

Australia vs South Africa

Australia are now dropping one mediocre spinner for another mediocre spinner (who will now probably finish the Melbourne test with 12 wickets for 26 runs). The memory of the days when MacGill had to sit on his hands waiting for Bowldwarney's should to get fucked are becoming a distant memory.

[The Purple Cow]

Australia vs South Africa

And Bowledwarney's assesment of Punter's captaincy - that he was a mediocre captain and "a panicker" - has proven entirely correct.

[E10 Rifle]

Australia vs South Africa

Well done SA. Two memorable matches in the space of a fortnight is exactly what Test cricket needs at the moment.

Though it does perhaps highlight the fact that we're entering another era in which there's no really outstanding bowling side in the world. Batting won the day in Chennai and Perth, against attacks that couldn't find the answers or the energy.

Who the best bowling side in the world is at the moment is a tough one to answer.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Australia vs South Africa

Indeed.

Some absurd talk of dropping Brett Lee. From what I saw, he bowled well and was unlucky.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Australia vs South Africa

For me this will always be the runchase Daddy:

http://uk.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1970S/1975-76/IND_IN_WI/IND_WI_T3_07-12APR1976.html

Heroic failure, from 1979. Only 9 more needed, and would still be the record now.

http://uk.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1970S/1979/IND_IN_ENG/IND_ENG_T4_30AUG-04SEP1979.html

Another heroic failure:

http://uk.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1970S/1973/NZ_IN_ENG/NZ_ENG_T1_07-12JUN1973.html

NZ chase 479, and reach 402-5, before losing last 5 for 38. Lucky for England Richard Hadlee wasn't a batter in those days.

England were lucky to in having possibly their two greatest test captains while they tried to defend those scores, Brearley and Illy. For some reason, the latter seems to have been reluctant to use spin in that game.

[G-Man]

Australia vs South Africa

Damn, Ponting made it a point of showing that he was not one of the passenger today. But unless Hayden and Hussey do something dramatic in the second innings, he might ask to see their tickets.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Australia vs South Africa

Well as Ponting played, I think Katich was even better until he got out.

[The Purple Cow]

Australia vs South Africa

I brought Ian Pont's fast bowling book for my son, Sean for Christmas, and Pont says if you adopt the maximum allowed 15 degree elbow bend you can throw the cricket ball at 100 mph with a six pace run up.

He was the only pro cricketer to play major league baseball in the modern era.

[G-Man]

Australia vs South Africa

SA have been playing so poorly in the first two days, I hinge my hopes on the idea that this a cunning plan by Smith to really humiliate Ponting by chasing down a target of 535 in the fourth innings.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Australia vs South Africa

You want a book about fast bowling in the golden age, TPC, then Letting Rip by Simon Wilde is good. Wonderful photos, some good anecdotes, albeit slightly overwritten.

SA were poor in the morning session. Steyn has a lot of moderate spells for someone so good, doesn't he? He's the best in the world at the moment, but he could be the great bowler we need to balance all these batters.

[E10 Rifle]

Australia vs South Africa

I reckon Zaheer Khan would give Steyn a run for his money at the moment, Tubbs.

What's happened to Simon Katich? He's always struck me as a thoroughly unremarkable batsman, but he's now looking a much more accomplished top of the order player than Hayden.

[tee rex]

Australia vs South Africa

Ah, there's nothing like a good tail-wag to put the Schadenfreude in the festive spirit.

Quality batting - check. Lucky batting - check. Poor bowling - check. Dropped catches - check. Overthrows, hit the helmet, captain's teapot ... the works - check.

Of course I'll jinx it now, but it's still been great fun.

[Guest]

Australia vs South Africa

My son's attending his first test match today. One of the neighbours very kindly offerred to take him. He's a Melbourne Cricket Club member so my boy was under strict instructions to wear smart trousers and and a collared shirt - they really are a snooty bunch at the MCC.

As we were driving to the Melbourne Victory game last night, he was praying for SA to be all out so he could have a day watching Australia bat. It's now after 3pm and SA are still batting.

I'm reassured that teerex says it's great fun. I know nothing about cricket and I was just wondering how the boy would be coping with the mindnumbing tedium of it all. On the few occasions I've switched the tv on today, absolutely nothing seems to be happening. Very slowly.

[tee rex]

Australia vs South Africa

Well, in football parlance, it's great fun in the same way that the Premier League team losing 1-0 in the cup to an offside goal is more entertaining than a 3-3 draw ... all the more fun because it just shouldn't be happening. South Africa's Steyn is the non-league postman scoring the winner.

If Australia keep up this performance, chances are your son will be witnessing a riot, so it could turn out pretty memorable for him yet.

[G-Man]

Australia vs South Africa

Well, that was cheerful stuff. Michael Hussey's non-caught catch was very amusing, as was his celebration when he took Harris' wicket.

There is a little compartment built into the pitch behind the wicketkeeper in which one can store helmets. The South Africans used it in Australia's first innings. What idiocy is this with SA being gifted five runs for a hit helmet?

JP Duminy is really making an impression. His talent has always been beyond doubt; his mental toughness less so. The man clearly is ready for a permanent spot. But might that unsettle SA's batting line-up? Prince must come back; he is the back-bone of the middle order. I suspect that Duminy will be test-driven as an opener in place of Neil McKenzie.

[Guest]

Australia vs South Africa

Despite seeing Australia score just 4 runs, my son enjoyed the day. He was particularly struck by the fact that the South African players took time out to sign autographs while the Australian players ignored the fans.

I suspect he now has the only autograph book in the world with the signatures of both Craig Easton and AB de Villiers.

[The Purple Cow]

Australia vs South Africa

That's interesting about the Aussies and their fans. Two mates of mine who played against both teams at the last World Cup found the Saffers to be arrogant and distant, while the Aussies were quite affable and approachable.

[G-Man]

Australia vs South Africa

Ponting out for 99, trying to become the first player ever to score centuries in both innings of a test for the fourth time. Schadenfreude rarely gets as good as this.

[Uncle Ethan]

Australia vs South Africa

Anyone picking Symonds after his recent behaviour - and while he is carrying an injury too - deserves everything they get.

Hayden will go, Lee will be out for a few weeks and might never come back, Symonds has done his dash, whatever the bizarre fixation Ponting has with him and Horritz spins the ball even less than Cameron White.

And all of that happens regardless of whether SA actually make the runs, which they certainly should.

[G-Man]

Australia vs South Africa

Brett Lee has been exposed as a bit of a sidekick bully since McGrath and Warne retired. A bit like the guy wearing the 3-D glasses in Biff's posse in Back To The Future. He's not a leader of the gang.

[Rory Bunk]

Australia vs South Africa

I think that's a bit harsh, G-Man. I've never been a fan of his but Brett Lee has never come across as a bully character. Sure, he has always been disappointing and a bit shit and definitely carried by the Warne/McGrath/Gillespie trio. He's been able to do that being fast and expensive routine bcause there were people there to make up for it but he was never particularly snide or nasty with it.

In fact, often when the going has been testy in the past, Lee has always been quite gracious and friendly to opponents. If we try and judge him on this year alone, can we do that with Smith? Real world-beater, except every single time he faced a non-shit Australian side. Yep, he's great now but against whom?

On to the positive talking point of this match, Duminy. I'd never heard of him before, but all the talk here has rightly been about the maturity of his innings, so it looks like your fears about his temperament may have been unfounded.

Bugger the rankings. Going on the last 12 months, you'd have to have SA and India as fighting it out for #1 and Australia and England battling it out for the Bronze next year. Lucky that Pakistan and SL are too obsessed with hit and run or we may be lower.