titan_uranus

McGain faces uphill battle to debut Looks like Ponting wants to stick with the 11 that won at the Wanderers. According to the article, only Warne and Kumble have had any effect at Durban since 2002, and Sth Africa haven't played a specialist spinner in their last 2 tests at the venue. McGain's no certainty. This is worrying though. Magoffin has been called into the squad as cover. So it's conveivable that we could have another two debutants in Durban, should Siddle and Hilfenhaus be unfit. 5 debutants in 2 matches!

I said no, but I really dont' care. At first I thought maybe it might be seen as being pretentious or smug (i.e. we've been around since 1858), but it doesn't bother me.

I read on cricinfo.com that South Africa has come back from 1-0 down to win home series in the last two summers, against India and West Indies. Definitely no room for complacency. Agree that a lot went right for us, and South Africa played well below their capability. Morkel and Harris were nowhere near as good as they were in Australia. And the batsmen obviously were disappointing for them. The gloss seems to have come off Duminy a little: his last 4 innings have all been 24 or below. I'm with you deanox. McDonald's bowling was praised on cricinfo and on the ABC. We went into the match with 4 'pacemen' (McDonald gets included in that group) and they combined to take 19 wickets. Despite McDonald's poor batting, he vindicated his selection. By tying up one end in the 4th innings, he frustrated Kallis to the point of him playing the expansive drive that saw him get out. Part of our loss in Perth came from Krejza leaking runs far too easily. Defending a total in the 4th innings is much easier if the runs aren't flowing. It builds confidence in the bowling team to see the lead holding up. Disagree. Obviously if you bowl them out they lose, but if they're making runs a sense of confidence and a 'we can do this' attitude develops. It definitely helps the chasing team if they're scoring. Having said that, the pitch definitely helped us out. If the next pitch demands a spinner, though, I'm not convinced the selectors will play McGain anyway. McDonald's ability to get a wicket, combined with his super economy rate, should be helping him stay in the selector's minds.

I think Ponting has been vindicated: those runs from Hilfenhaus and Siddle could prove vital. At 2/178, with Amla and Kallis doing fine and de Villiers, Duminy and Boucher to come, Sth Africa can still win. A loss, or even a draw, from here would be morale-destroying for us. When you're in a position to enforce the follow-on, and don't go on to win the match, that hurts. We must take 2 or 3 wickets before lunch, else we'll either lose to Sth Africa or the weather/light. Agree re: Hussey though. He should be batting at 5. And why don't we have another specialist batsman in the squad? If one of our top 6 goes down with an injury we've got no cover.

Did anyone else see the article in the Sporting Life section of The Age last week about 'average' footy players? Based on team lists, the average height and weight and age were something like 187cm and 88kg (could be wrong), and Chris Johnson is both of those, making him the most 'average' football in the league. Justifies our decision. I find that funny and I'm in uni...

North is our no. 6. A composed batsman. Stabilises the order, has a cool head and knows the game well. And bowls handy off spin. The team is starting to come together nicely. We have a proper top 6 (though IMO Hussey should be batting at 5 and Clarke at 4), three good pacemen who all bring something different, and a wicket-keeper-batsman who can bat well enough at 7 but needs to work on his keeping. Johnson should bat at no.8, leaving the door open for another bowler. Having said that, McDonald does bowl well, has a habit of getting wickets when we need them, and, despite his two innings so far, can bat. McDonald could be played as a bowler at 9 if there was no need for a spinner. As for the match, we shouldn't lose from here, but I'm not convinced we're going to win. Bad light seems to end each day prematurely, there's been rain about, and South Africa won't be bowled out for 220 again I don't think. But the lead we've got should mean we can set a target of 450 and still have enough time to bowl them out.

Yes, it wouldn't work well if it was all the Victorian teams in one conference. You'd maybe split the two WA and SA teams, and the two Sydney and Qld teams, and then fill the rest with Victorian teams. You'd have to split Rich, Coll, Carl and Ess into 2 groups of 2 as well I'd think. The NFL's conference system is pretty complex. Just having 22 rounds where everyone plays everyone else at least once per year seems easier to me.

Not a bad idea, but it seems a little complex. Plus 9-9 doesn't work with 10 Victorian teams, unless Geelong gets the boot, which would be unfair for them.

Agreed. The midfield is not good, but the forward line makes the midfield look like gold. Disagree re: Warnock though, I think his 1 on 1 work is passable. Well we haven't had a win against a Victorian team in any form of competitive match (i.e. AFL, NAB cup or NAB challenge) since we beat Carlton in round 22 2007. So I guess that's not such a bad prediction BBP. Personally, I can't see us rising above 10th, but I think we can get 4-6 wins and get off the bottom.

First, I love Lost. Second, why does no-one know anything about Buckley? Why the secrecy?

OK, so he improved. Let's see what he does next week, and the week after that. That's the big test: any consistency?

I dunno, I feel more confident now. But we've heard plenty of rumours so far, so I'm not getting my hopes too far up.

Taken from a members' email: Good idea I think, get the kids involved, get more people to Family Day.

How is anyone surprised by this? I certainly didn't expect much from Watts this year. He's only 17, he might play a few games in the second half of the season. He's not doing enough training at the moment to either gel with the rest of the forward line or build up his body.

Where'd you hear that? I haven't heard a thing about Buckley all pre-season (except that he apparently looks like Franklin from a distance...) I don't think he has terribly good hands, and his kicking for goal throughout last year was unreliable at best. I really can't decide on where PJ's best football lies.

Spot on two sheds.

There's no clash with Sydney, we should be in our home strip (unless we're playing in alternate strips for the entire NAB Cup/Challenge series).

At 5/254, things could go either way, so I'm glad we've still got McDonald to come. It's not such a bad selection for mine, his bowling in Sydney was fine, he got Amla twice, got Kallis for almost nothing (with a great return catch), and broke the Steyn-Ntini partnership on Day 5. He takes wickets, and is accurate. But if McGain is to come back in, it's his spot he'll be taking. Well batted from Ponting and Clarke, but both had lapses in concentration to lose their wickets. It's a problem that's become more evident in recent months, as players who are set fail to get to 100. Clarke really threw his wicket away, Ponting's was a shocking error in judgement. North looks like he could be our answer at no. 6 (touch wood). Pity it's taken so long to find him (he's almost 30 years old).

Should happen. I can't see North taking too many wickets against the Proteas' batsmen. They're going to be much better at picking him off than the practice team was. They had no trouble with Krejza or Haurtiz, who specialise in bowling off-spin. Not such a bad plan, actually. I just would feel sad for McDonald for getting left out of the team after doing a pretty good job in Sydney.

Well that all sounds good. But we've been hearing rumours and speculation for weeks now, so it's hard to get excited about this.

You're not suggesting that the more goals you kick, the more worn out you become?

Good to see Bennell, Strauss and Jetta. Dandeeman must be right: either an injury they don't want to be aggravated, or they've seen what he can do and they're more interested in giving others a turn. I'd say a fitness issue.

And here I was, thinking there was an official statement or announcement or something, but just another rumour. I'll believe it when I see it.

The Age is one of our second or third tier sponsors. That would be why Martin Flanagan is 'embedded' in the club this year. By my reckoning, Melbourne had just as much, if not more newspaper coverage over summer than the other clubs (Cousins aside). I wouldn't be surprised if part of our deal with The Age is to have a minimum number of Melbourne stories per year. If it's not then it should be.

That's bad. Might be another delayed start to the season again for Whelan.