Wonderful afternoon of cricket here. Aussies 7 down. They’ll be trying to cling on til stumps and pray for rain tomorrow. Big storm on the way apparently. They should get the extra half hour if they pick up one more, so potentially an hour left, light permitting. Steyn is back, he was sensational earlier.
Rogers run out! Nine down now, three overs left light permitting. Light is getting bad. Huge tension.
Can only bowl spin. That’s a big result for the Aussies.
Elgar traps him lbw! Great ending and brilliantly set up for Cape Town. Superb show by the Saffers today, especially Steyn. Excellent reverse swing bowling.
Oh he hit it, and they had no reviews left. Fucking hell. Looked a bit high too.
It was a superb performance from Steyn after tea after been quiet enough for nearly all of first two tests. Australia’s old failing of batting collapses returned in a big way. Good opening partnership from Warner & Rogers, after that utter carnage, scorecard read 5 0 1 0 1 6 6 3 0.
Brad Haddin has scored 10 runs in the series at an average of 3.33. Funny how quickly things can turn around.
Excellent 
Steyn again proving why he’s the world’s best bowler. Australia’s top order kills them again. Nicely set up for the third test now.
Australia 7-494 at the end of a rain affected day 2 of the third test. Michael Clarke 162 NO and possibly his best ever innings. SA have gone after him big time and hit him mercilessly, but Clarke is unbowed. He may not reach his double ton as a declaration will be on the cards.
Clarke still had time to have a laugh at Shane Warne.
Dale Steyn’s injury has robbed us of what should have been a dramatic decider. South Africa have a big task on their hands now to save the test and get a draw. Batting first has become absolutely crucial in test cricket. Michael Clarke has been a lucky general in that regard. Australia have batted first now in 7 of their last 9 tests.
good news, the sheffield shield will be playing night games soon
people who are against night tests are luddites & will lead to the death of test cricket
warner completely molligated the S African cheats in this match
How does that tally in with your analysis recently that the Australian top order hasn’t performed well for quite sometime?
Surely a lucky general winning the toss is immaterial if the top order is failing?
Forgive the question marks, but is there any angle you won’t go down to take from this Australian team and what they have achieved in their last two test series?
I feel an asterix coming on (6/146 BTW)
[quote=“Special Olympiakos, post: 911274, member: 366”]How does that tally in with your analysis recently that the Australian top order hasn’t performed well for quite sometime?
Surely a lucky general winning the toss is immaterial if the top order is failing?
Forgive the question marks, but is there any angle you won’t go down to take from this Australian team and what they have achieved in their last two test series?[/quote]
My analysis has been that Australia’s top order is brittle and its difficult to reach any other conclusion. I know you don’t follow cricket much beyond the headline of whether or not Australia win so you wouldn’t be well versed in what’s actually happening on the field of play. Top order batting collapses like what happened at Trent Bridge, Lords, Durham & Port Elizabeth suggest a brittle top order. In fact during the 5-0 whitewash of England in the Ashes, over the 5 tests in their first innings, Australia were on average over the 5 tests had 142 runs on the board when the fifth wicket fell. At the Gabba, there were 100/5, Adelaide 257/5, Perth 143/5, MCG 112/5 and Sydney 97/5. This is not a Langer, Hayden, Ponting, Mark & Steve Waugh top order we’re looking at.
Australia’s good form over the last 3 months after being wretched for the last 4-5 years is primarily down to their fast bowlers finding a rich vein of form.
[quote=“Manuel Zelaya, post: 911308, member: 377”]My analysis has been that Australia’s top order is brittle and its difficult to reach any other conclusion. I know you don’t follow cricket much beyond the headline of whether or not Australia win so you wouldn’t be well versed in what’s actually happening on the field of play. Top order batting collapses like what happened at Trent Bridge, Lords, Durham & Port Elizabeth suggest a brittle top order. In fact during the 5-0 whitewash of England in the Ashes, over the 5 tests in their first innings, Australia were on average over the 5 tests had 142 runs on the board when the fifth wicket fell. At the Gabba, there were 100/5, Adelaide 257/5, Perth 143/5, MCG 112/5 and Sydney 97/5. This is not a Langer, Hayden, Ponting, Mark & Steve Waugh top order we’re looking at.
Australia’s good form over the last 3 months after being wretched for the last 4-5 years is primarily down to their fast bowlers finding a rich vein of form.[/quote]
And with this indisputable fact why is the toss so important to win? If anything batting first with a “brittle” top order is a disadvantage surely. Nobody disputes you know your cricket its just your selective use of that knowledge to make a point that lets you down.
Its a contradiction to call Clarke lucky for winning a few tosses as it means the non performing top order gets to bat first.
[quote=“Special Olympiakos, post: 911318, member: 366”]And with this indisputable fact why is the toss so important to win? If anything batting first with a “brittle” top order is a disadvantage surely. Nobody disputes you know your cricket its just your selective use of that knowledge to make a point that lets you down.
Its a contradiction to call Clarke lucky for winning a few tosses as it means the non performing top order gets to bat first.[/quote]
read back over the thread mate, ever since the 1st test of the gabba he has piped in to say Australia were about to collapse and lose, 8 tests later & its happened once yet he keeps coming in with those predictions
my 2 year old has only started watching test cricket this summer and she has got it right on more occasions than him
[quote=“The Wild Colonial Bhoy, post: 911322, member: 80”]read back over the thread mate, ever since the 1st test of the gabba he has piped in to say Australia were about to collapse and lose, 8 tests later & its happened once yet he keeps coming in with those predictions
my 2 year old has only started watching test cricket this summer and she has got it right on more occasions than him[/quote]
Manuel spent the whole summer writing off the Clare hurlers as well and predicting that they would be beaten in the lead up to pretty much very match they played waiting for them to lose so he could say I told ye so and prove how knowledgable he was.
There was a great post by him on how he predicted that JBM would win the sideline battle due to his superior record in All Ireland finals as a player and some other contrived bullshit. Needless to say he was very quiet in the aftermath
Anyway, Australia have a 234 run lead after day 3, bowled excellently again. Bat till lunch now, they can afford to throw away wickets in persuing a big lead. Then they’ll have a day and a half to bowl SA out.
Manuel is correct about the brittle Australian top order, but to call Clarke a lucky general is highly insulting. He’s been an excellent captain, always looking for a result and if he wins this series it will be an outstanding result.
This just in - Graeme Smith is to retire from international cricket after the third test against Australia! I don’t particuarly like the man, but he has an incredible record and haseen one of the giants of the game for the last 12 years, a huge loss to the saffers so soon after Kallis retiring.
http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/mar/03/graeme-smith-retiring-south-africa-australia
The truly sensational news from Cape Town tonight is that Graeme Smith has announced his retirement from cricket at the end of this test. With the retirement of Jacques Kallis and Dale Steyn’s increasing susceptibility to injury, its the end of an era for this South African team that has dominated test cricket for the last 5-6 years.