titan_uranus

Crazy Test. No doubt we have 'lost' this draw and they 'won' it, no one would have given them a chance when Amla and Smith fell before tea on Day 4 and they were 4 down at stumps. But you can't blame the bowlers, they genuinely gave it their best. The pitch didn't deteriorate at all (was probably at its worst yesterday; there was no up/down like when Steyn got Clarke lbw), du Plessis played the innings of his life, de Villiers and Kallis were in the zone, and with Pattinson down, we not only lacked a strike bowler, but it meant we had to run Siddle into the ground. Siddle was a legend, coming back late to take more wickets despite clearly having no energy left at all. Lyon got great spin and bounce where Tahir was completely ineffectual. Hilfenhaus was merely average and didn't threaten like he should have, but wasn't terrible. In the end, though it's harsh to say, Wade may have dropped the Test when he dropped du Plessis off the second last ball before Tea. A terribly tough chance, of course, but had he held that, we probably could have done it. He was the difference.

Indeed. Very reminiscent of McGain in 2009. Tahir tries to take a wicket with every delivery; he's very impatient and doesn't build pressure. Like any bad leggie, he overuses the googly and he can't get through an over without either a full toss or long hop. Lyon, on the other hand, reduces the bad balls (they're not completely gone, though) and is able to build pressure and bowl to a plan.

Fantastic declaration from Clarke. 430 should be enough, and we gave ourselves an hour before tea, duly getting rid of Smith and Amla, their two best batsmen who aren't injured. Hugely important wickets, and Lyon was a millimetre from getting Rudolph for 2. I'm such a big Lyon fan, so glad to see him get Amla. He can spin it and bounce it, whilst retaining control (unlike Tahir), and he works batsmen over. Should get a few more on this deck too. Pattinson apparently is out for the summer, which is disastrous. Horrendously, Mitchell Johnson's name is being bandied around the traps for Perth, apparently because he's taken wickets there before. Surely we've moved on from Mitch. Give Starc or Bird or Hazlewood a go.

Clarke gone for 38, which hurts, but Hussey looks solid and our lead is already almost 350, which is good. With the time left in the game, though, we'd want at least 400, if not 450.

It's rather ironic that the speed of us scoring our runs actually opened the door to a possible loss. Whatever target we set, there's going to be plenty of time for South Africa to chase it down.

I hate Hughes and don't want to see him back in the side, but there are two spots available I think: Quiney's and Ponting's. Ponting's not making runs, and his technique is completely shot.

Quiney and Ponting have to be close to gone. We're now 5/103, in huge trouble. Need the Hussey-Clarke partnership to net us about 100 runs. Game is on right now.

Sanchez running into his teammate was hilarious, it was like he had his eyes closed! The AFC is so weak, the Pats should at least make the Championship game. Ravens and Texans are the other threats but I don't know how I feel about the Texans right now, they've struggled to put away Detroit and Jacksonville the last two weeks. Yeh that rule is weird. I mean, I understand the general rule that you can't benefit from illegal conduct, but I'm not sure why throwing a flag after a TD is 'illegal'. I mean, in the heat of the moment, you want to get something checked, so you throw the flag. I don't see how that leads to a situation where you've waived your right to a challenge: you wanted it, it was going to come anyway, but now they're taking it away. Doesn't really make sense.

http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-game-highlights/0ap2000000099428/Patriots-vs-Jets-highlights Three TDs in 53 seconds. The Jets actually look like a rabble.

Kaepernick is apparently going to start for us this week vs New Orleans. Smith is no longer injured, he's been dropped. Amazing move from Harbaugh, will be interesting to see whether Kaepernick keeps up the form he showed vs Chicago. I feel bad for Smith, he's had a tough go at the position in his career and if we can put it together and take a run at the title this year, I'd like to see him get reward. Having said that, I want us to win more than anything, so if Kaepernick is better, so be it. In other news, I just saw Jim Schwartz give Houston a touchdown after trying to challenge a scoring play, which is illegal in the rules, meaning then that the NFL wouldn't review the decision of a touchdown as he'd acted illegally. A bit of a weird rule, but them's the rules, and if he'd not thrown the flag, they'd have overturned the touchdown. Redskins over Cowboys too...Dallas is so unpredictable.

Lost 5/22 to slump to a situation where we aren't going to get to 550 now, I doubt. Pattinson and Lyon can both bat, and this is a good pitch, but I don't think we'll hold on. Disappointing, Hussey getting out late yesterday was important to them, as I think if he'd been back today, we might still be 4 down. Wade was so disappointed to get out for 6, missed out on a big chance. Amazing that we've had the three centurions, but next best is Pattinson on 11. Looking forward to seeing us bowl on this deck, and more importantly, seeing how Lyon goes. Edit: Pattison is batting really nicely for a number 9. Just benefited from a drop (simple chance but du Plessis was looking into the sun). 539 now, which means 550 is now not impossible, which is nice. Edit: Took 3 minutes, but there you go. 550. And as I write, it's over. So there you go.

He's scored 1265 so far this year. I was wondering if he was a chance to take the record for most runs in a calendar year (since we have 3 more Tests after this one). The record is 1788 by Mohammad Yousuf in 2006. 3 Tests, potentially 7 more innings...it's not unfathomable, but still highly unlikely.

He's. A. Star. That many runs in one day is insane. If we can push on towards 650 then we'll have plenty of time to push for our wickets. Lyon is going to be important. Tahir was insipid today, but Lyon knows Adelaide and was quite good in Brisbane. If Kallis doesn't bat, his chief destroyer is out, which helps.

For me, it's Clarke and Amla. Chanderpaul and Kallis have also had good 2012s, but Amla pulls out 100s at the right times of series, and Clarke has been sensational. Not so sure about that. Tahir for Kleinveldt is clear, but don't be surprised if they play Tsolekeile instead of du Plessis, to relieve de Villiers of the keeping duties. I'm not sure how long de Villiers can keep batting at 5 for if he stays keeping wicket in long innings. His batting just isn't as good as it was when Boucher was around. So that one could go either way. The issue I have is that umpires are only checking when a wicket is taken. Once the ball becomes a wicket-taking ball, they then check to see if it's a no-ball. Ed Cowan was given four runs when he tried to pull a short ball. It didn't hit his bat, it hit his helmet. No one stepped in to review that. He kept runs he didn't deserve. Frankly, if the umpire doesn't have the confidence to call it live, and wouldn't think twice about it if the delivery wasn't a no ball, then I have a problem with them using the wicket as an excuse to check it. Of course, the solution to it all is to stop bowling no balls, and I don't disagree that bowlers shouldn't be allowed to get away with it, but I have a problem with the inconsistency in the way umpires check their decisions.

To move on from the above banter and assess the match, I thought Lyon did a pretty decent job when he was asked to this match, and rewarded the selectors' faith. I also think South Africa really messed up playing Kleinveldt over Tahir. Lyon got good bounce and spin, and didn't shy away from Amla and Kallis going after him, which they're going to keep doing, as they seem him as weaker than Siddle and Pattison (fair). I think he bowled quite well, to be honest, and he got Rudolph, the leftie, out twice. Thought Siddle and Pattison were enormous with their lines and lengths today. No balls killed us, but that's easier to fix (hopefully) than being crap. Hilfenhaus was ordinary and surely will be under pressure from Starc. Mitchell Johnson always bowled well against South Africa; I wonder if the left arm angle is something Amla/Kallis/de Villiers/etc don't like that much. Either way, I think Hilfy's in trouble. Batting wise, Clarke is just a legend (average now above 50, as deserved), and proved yet again that he is in the top 3 or 4 in the world right now, and that has come from batting where he belongs, at 5. Cowan showed he has the perfect opener's technique, leaving the wide stuff and defending when he has to (similar to Katich in that regard). If Watson's fit for Adelaide then sadly I think Quiney makes way, but Warner and Ponting need to make some runs. Ponting's age is a huge concern for him; despite the stack he made last summer, if he slips out of form he can't hold his spot forever. Warner is on thin ice IMO: one proper opener's innings (v NZ last year). The 180 in Perth was amazing, but he's not Hayden and can't do that regularly. The rest of his career is all little innings with no substance. Isn't there yet.

According to this, you will only enjoy Tests whereby the game goes into the last session of Day 5, and all wickets fall to good balls and not batsmen undoing themselves. I don't think that's really fair or realistic, do you? Fact is, despite losing a day, this Test was still completely alive on Day 5, and that's surely all anyone can ask for.

The 'conditions' you speak of were primarily, if not solely, the weather, not the pitch. At tea on Day 5 a result was a distinct possibility, and you're whinging about the game being dead. This was not a road. The bowlers bowled well and would have taken more wickets if they'd not bowled no balls. As I said, and you conveniently ignored, if Kallis had gone for 43 on Day 1, this game would have been entirely different.

It hasn't 'heavily' favoured the batsmen. All five centurions were either out to a no ball (Kallis, Cowan) or dropped (Amla, Clarke) or extraordinarily close to being out LBW (Amla, Hussey). Today we knocked over their top 3 in short succession. There has been some great batting, sure, and it's been a good deck to bat on, but this game would have played out very differently if Siddle hadn't overstepped on Day 1 when he got Kallis out. As for your crowd rubbish, the initial 25,000 happened to be the best non-Ashes crowd in years. And then you're surprised people haven't come back after whole day's play was lost? The result was nearly put beyond doubt because of that, and you're surprised people didn't come. Wow.

Best team - Houston. Atlanta is the most underrated team, despite the Saints loss. Worst team - Kansas City (just so that I don't say Jacksonville like everyone else). Mind you, they put in a good show on MNF today. Biggest surprise (positive) - Indianapolis (didn't think Luck could get them from 2-12 to 6-3 so far. And it's not just Luck either). Biggest surprise (negative) - toss up between Carolina, New Orleans (although they could yet make a run at a wild card; this is mainly for the 0-4 start), Cincinnati (alleviated by the win this week) and Washington (RG3 should mean more wins).

They never upped the tempo. Look at their strike rates. de Villiers, Rudolph, Philander and Steyn all struggled to make runs. Two wickets off no balls, dropped catches, edges between slips and poor umpiring decisions on LBWs have meant batsmen have had a lot of luck. Of the 4 centurions, Amla could easily have been given out for 0 (look at it live, it was close enough to be out) and should have been caught on 75, Kallis was out on 43 but for the no ball, Cowan was out for 40-odd but for the no ball, and Clarke edged about 10 deliveries and a decent fielder at mid on would have caught him for 50-odd (or whatever he was on when he skied the edge to mid on and Philander insipidly tried running back to get it). This pitch wasn't the road you make it out to be. Cowan, Clarke, Amla and Kallis batted enormously well (Hussey and Peterson too). Note that South Africa lost 6/74 from when Kallis went out. Our bowlers took regular wickets but for that partnership, which should have ended well earlier anyway. South Africa erred by not playing Tahir; if they'd had him, things would be different I suspect.

What a week so far. I'm crapping myself watching this OT finish between St Louis and SF. Missed field goals by both sides. Smith down with concussion. What a game. Bengals over Giants is huge. Giants falling apart (I hope. I hate them). Saints over Falcons is enormous, Saints have Oakland next week to go 5-5 after being 0-4. Wildcard chance for sure. Bills almost finally won at New England, but didn't. Vikings over Lions puts the Lions almost out of it. Huge. Edit: AS IF HE PULLED THAT OUT! 24 yard pass on 3rd and 23 at the STL 25 with 10 seconds left in the OT period. We're baked I feel. Edit 2: They have ties in the NFL?! How did I not know this? We just tied. Wtf. I thought they played till there was a score. Wow.

Haha 'noodle arm'. He went 18 of 19 against Arizona though! Had a great game, got NFC Offensive player of the week for that effort. Our offence goes well beyond Smith though. Gore, Moss, Davis, Crabtree...not so bad. That was such a disgusting blip though. I hope we learnt some lessons from that game. I didn't see it, and pretty confident I don't want to.

Fair comment, I think Jacksonville's secondary made some of his throws look better than they actually were. Agree re: the athleticism, he moved out of the pocket really well and knew when to move and when to throw. Also: no. We've got your mob covered, thanks. Also coming of a bye week, so we'll be eager to beat up on your travelling crew.

Can't wait for Houston-Chicago, should be a corker. The Colts looked pretty good on TNF, even if it was against the Jaguars. If Playoffs started today they'd be in there, so that's a testament to Luck and their improved defence from last year.

Day 1 really wasn't as bad for us as people seem to think. Amla was one millimetre from being out LBW for 0, Peterson should have been given out LBW for a bit less than what he made, Amla also edged one between Wade and Clarke which Clarke should have gone for, and had he, could have caught him, and Kallis was saved by the most minute of no-balls which Rauf wasn't prepared to call at the time (and which, IMO, should therefore mean it's not a no ball and so be it. Let the on field umpire decide. If it's too close to call, or even if he misses a bad one, so be it. None of this referring it upstairs or, as is now the law, requiring the third umpire to check each delivery). People seem to hate Lyon but he bowled well yesterday. Got good bounce, which is a weapon he needs. It was that bounce which got Amla's edge, and Clarke should have gone for it. Hilfenhaus was pretty average yesterday, if he doesn't lift I don't see him holding his spot over Starc (or Hazlewood/Harris/Cutting). As much as I am sorry for Greig's terrible sickness, I really am not missing his voice at all, nor his 'banter' with Lawry (or anyone). I would never wish that illness upon anyone, and I hope he recovers 100%. But I do not miss his commentary one bit.