Rhino Richards

At the G now. Jackson Bird is an impressive sight. Johnson is just toooo expensive. Middle is a gem. Sangakarra is all class. The rest of the Lankans have been poor.

South Africa's 3 test series was too short played out of season (November rather than December/January) and did not include the MCG/SCG tests. Its a pity they are now wasted on a Sri Lankan side on the wane. Its a pity that Cummins and Pattinson have broken down. There is no doubt the novelty of 20/20 is losing its lustre. Its a game that suits short attention spans and the minds the like it before are not so enamored now.

So its got nothing to do with the promotion game at all. Cricket's popularity is restricted to England and its commonwealth countries by history. Its not easily solved in a lifetime I think CA have banked on Sri Lanka not turning the turnstiles this summer. The mild interest in 20/20 thus far is to be expected as real interest will come towards the final.

There are three major drawcards in cricket besides Australia. India....played them and beat them last year. They are on the wane. England....we tour there in June.....Good for TV. South Africa.......Wont tour Australia across Dec/January because it clashes with their season. Would have been a cracker series with 5 Tests. And then we have Sri Lanka........What a let down of a side after the Saffers. With the exception of Sangakarra who is top shelf their other players of note are at the tail end of their career at 35/36yo. Its a hard season to promote when you have a crud main act. And it has not helped Australia having Pattinson and Cummins injured. Ponting fading early to retirement and indifferent batting in the top order.

Siddle was not 100% fit and given the problems we have had with bowlers in the Tests this summer. Why would you risk it? Barring injury Siddle has booked his ticket to the Ashes. It would be great to have Patterson and another strike bowler with him.

Indifferent 2nd rate opposition, inclement weather and a pitch that all season has been heavily bowler favouring. Great knock by Hussey and Wade. Australia in the box seat. Hard to judge the bowling yesterday. Aside from Dilshan, the batting was limp. The score says we did well some of the bolwing was too short.

4/299 is a very good score on this wicket. Hughes made some runs. Cowan was headless. Watson was never comfortable. Where is he at? If you cant make runs against these bowlers then...... Once again we cant get an opening pair that gets a start Clarke and Hussey were class. But Hogg is right, this attack is pedestrian. This is a really tricky wicket with balls keeping low all day. Not good for 1st day. But when your attack bowls around !25kph then you are not going to exploit it too well I expect Siddle and Starc(particularly the left armer) to make hay with the variable bounce. The Test will be lucky to go more than 3.5 days

Likewise with me. Good luck with it, HT.

Agree Macca, Clarke stays at 5 imo. Looks better there. I am tempted to go for Khawaja at 3. Looks steady. 4 is a possibility for Watson. He needs runs. Cant bowl because of lack of fitness. Bellerive will be hard to bat on. Tempted to have 4 quicks given the bowler friendly surface. Siddle, Hilf, Starc and Johnson for mine. I would prefer to have Starc to Johnson. Johnson is just too hot and cold and I wont want to risk another Ashes contest with him in either. That goes for Hughes as well. Lyon really disappointed in the last test. Needs to do well in MEL and SYD. Not sure what the viable options are for England if he doesnt.

Hell, I wish the bowlers would pitch up. We have been too short too often during the series. And Michael Clarke by chance........

As a left armer Tim I share your frustration. When Clark bowls left arm orthodox over the wicket to a right hander he is giving up the LBW. On the other hand in a different situation, Clarke could effectively kill any offside play by bowling outside leg with the ball spinning back to leg stump, He could bowl like that all day and there could be little off side play unless the batsman reverse paddles the ball. In that situation, Clarke could close down the game with 8 to 9 players on the legside. It would not work with every batsman but the risk is that it kills the game. I would be disappointed if Mitch J is prefered over Mitch S.

Fully agree. One of the golden greats. Probably our greatest post WWII batsman (excluding the Don on his final tour)

Good question Tim. I will have a go at it. The issue of not playing shot and being given out LBW when the ball pitches outside the line of the stumps (off or leg) will depend upon whether the umpire believes that ball would have hit the stumps had the batsman not blocked it with his pads. The issue of whether it will hit the stumps when it pitches outside off or leg will depend upon the type of bowler (pace, off spin, leg spin), whether the bowler is bowling over or around the wicket and whether batsman is right or left handed too. There are a number of combinations to consider, but lets just say that its a right hand batsman and a right arm bowler bowling over the wicket. The bowler would have to naturally angle into the stumps so if the ball pitch outside off and the batsman padded it away without offering a shot then the umpire needs to be confident the ball hits the stump. If the ball had pitched outside leg then the umpire would have to be convinced (unlikey) that he could be confident that the ball was turning sufficiently to have hit the stumps without doubt. I am not sure an umpire could resolve that even if the great Shane Warne was bowling. Also I have in my mind that due to some of the dubious,anti competitive leg theory tactics employed over the years to the detriment of the game of cricket that umpire wont or reluctant to give LBWs where the ball pitches outside leg. Trust this helps.

Good research Nozz. Kerry O'Keeffe and Jim Maxwell discussed Jackson Bird during a slow patch in the last Test. The dubious state of Bellerive does put a negative relative weighting on wickets taken by any bowler there. Its unfortunate that Bird has a lot of cricket there. He has not put a foot wrong and continued performance and gaps opening up in the Test side may give him a chance.

Ahh...definitely not Laura Bingle. :wub:

Its great the selectors actually go and watch the players rather than just reading the scores in the paper. Jackson Bird is a potential talent but havent a number of his wickets have come on the newly relaid Bellerive oval which is proving to be a batsman's graveyard. FWIW, I was a huge fan of Mitchell Johnson but this has tempered with the rollercoaster performances and attitude.

In: Watson and Starc. Out: Quiney and Pattinson. 12th man Hastings. Mitchell Johnson is a media beat up. If Pattinson/Cummins werent injured then we would not be talking about Johnson. Watson (hopefully fit) should support Siddle and Hilfenhaus.

FAF may have won SA the series and maintained their No1 test team ranking. If they go on and win/draw in Perth then he should be their man of the series. What a truly great replacement for Duminy. A truly epic battle between 2 top competitive teams. I blame the pitch.......

Absorbing battle. Really admire the SAs for their fight. They did it years ago with Rudolph against Warne on a flat dead deck in Perth. Barring the unusual (yes cricket is a strange game) I think they will draw it. FWIW, Australia is really missing Pattinson. The ability to bowl near or above 140kph (5 to 10kph faster than the other bowlers) is critical on 5 day old wickets that wear. Damn you Faf!! But really well played in your first test. Outstanding 1st and 2nd innings. If it was not for Clarke's stamp on the series, I would have him for man of the match.

Agree HT. I was looking longer term. This summer would have been a wonderful primer to both bowlers. I hate it when bowlers bowl no balls. Its unforgivable when a spinner no balls. Tahir has bowled 7 no balls in the Test.

Its a disaster to have both Cummins and Pattinson out for the summer. Damn Starc will come in for Pattinson. I would give Hazlewood the 12th man role. Johnson is too mentally fragile to me. Bird at this stage has taken alot of wicket quickly but most would have been on the batting graveyard that is Bellerive Oval.

No its worse that McGain. I think we gave McGain only 11 overs in his debut..... Tahir comes here with some overseas form. The only ball I reckon he overuses is the full toss and the short one. He is unable to string decent Test standard deliveries together. He is chopped liver. And the lack of a capable front line spinner could cost SA the series.

Clarks efforts in the past 12 months have made him the leading batsman in the world. Stellar performances against ranking top sides. He is a star and his elite performances have come as a Captain. Nothing should take away from the efforts of Clarke, Warner and once again Michael Hussey. Absolutely top shelf. But the South Africans coming to Australia after demolishing England in England comprehensively and having the No 1 bowling attack have been woeful. Their coach Allan Donald described it as one of the best ever on arrival to Australia. Humpf Well, on todays effort its bowling would ranked behind Kenya and B'desh. Undisciplined, unthinking and uncommitted. Aside from Kallis's brief spell and the stanza of stupidity by 3 Australian batsmen, they bowled pathetically. I dont accept the injury issue for SA as Australia is missing Watson and Cummins (both best 11 if fully fit). Adelaide is a known batting pitch which demands good line and length bowling. In all cases, SA could not provide it. Given we were 3-55 after 13 overs, Australia hit 430 for 2 off the remaining 73 overs at nearly a run a ball. The SAs were shameful today...really shameful. Some of their bowling was club level. They will have to bat well just to hold some respect and save the game. There is a weak streak that runs through SA cricket over the years....Cronje, S. Pollock, A Donald, H Gibbs now this lot. When the pressure is really on, the chink in their armour clicks and they melt. Test cricket, Australian cricket and the Australian public deserves better competition than what was served up today. But it should not take away from the Michael Clarke leadership and batting performance..... Top of his class I hope we set them 600+ and blow'em away.

January 2011 is a good vintage AoB. Classic stuff indeed.

On a more serious and relevant note..... What a complete day of disaster for South Africa. After having Australia 3/55, they have conceded around six runs an over since and Australia is looking at 400+ on the first day. Kallis is injured.....Duminy gone. Kleinweldt, Philander and Tahir have all come up short in Australia. Tahirs efforts are reminiscent of the debut of McGain. Awkward and embarrassing. And Tahir comes with some rating and pedigree. Morkel is just awful having just conceded 4,4,4,4,.,4 in an over to Clarke. Awesome batting supremacy I am struggling to think of a worse 1st day bowling performance by a visiting team. They have left themselves in a terrible position for this Test where they will have to bat themselves out of a hole. Clarke has got the bowlers where he wants them. At this point he has 413 runs in 2 digs without having looked like going out.