***Official*** South Africa in Australia 2012

[uvelocity]

Originally Posted by Briony

Really should have had to rescue. Poor top order performance really on this sort of deck. And once the shine goes off there's nothing there for the bowlers.

not sure what game you were watching buddy

[Spikey]

classic briony

[Burgey]

Originally Posted by Briony

Adelaide.

Factoring in Adelaide as a draw already.

[Noble One]

Originally Posted by Briony

Looks like a tame draw from here. Pitch is simply too flat as per usual at the Gabba.


Must be flat if a plodder like Cowan can survive.

The Gabba in general is a result orientated pitch. Cannot do much about the weather bringing the draw into play.

Judging by the last 2 or 3 overs of the day - the ball is still nipping around on the seam if you find the right length.

[Briony]

Originally Posted by Noble One

The Gabba in general is a result orientated pitch. Cannot do much about the weather bringing the draw into play.

Judging by the last 2 or 3 overs of the day - the ball is still nipping around on the seam if you find the right length.

Well Hilfenhaus was just interviewed and he said that the pitch was very slow.

The Gabba does produce results when Australia plays the undercard as they often do but many of the pitches fade to nothing after day one.

Remember the last time England came here?

[Son Of Coco]

Originally Posted by Briony

Remember the last time England came here?

Never happened...


The last time England did anything of any significance on a tour to Australia was 1788. And even then they were ****s.

[Ruckus]

Hmm getting a bit concerned over Warner's form. Hasn't anything of note for a while now, even domestically. Needs to work it quick, cause SA in Australia really shouldn't be the worst match up for him.

Not sure what to make of Ponting...whatever the case, it sure as hell isn't what he needs now. Feeling confident after a string of good form in the shield, then getting a duck in his first test back after ages...gonna be hard for him not to let the old demons creep back.

[Hurricane]

Originally Posted by morgieb

Clarke's gonna ton up here. I can feel it.

He impresses me - one of Aussie's few world class players.

[robelinda]

If the #3 spot isnt owned by the end of this series, and Clarke gets runs, he really does need to man up and move to #3, looks all class, and so he should at his age and at this stage of his career.

[Noble One]

The best batsman deserves the right to choose his position. Prefer to continue our search for a number three over the risk of exposing our one class batsman in Clarke to an unfamiliar role.

Khawaja should be our man eventually - I fail to see how he won't have a successful Test career. The early career jitters will pass; as they did with all our recent past greats.

[flibbertyjibber]

Also it seems strange that Khawaja hasn't been given the chances some others have to take a place in the side even though they have done worse than he did and looked worse too. Think he will be a good test player eventually and think he should be playing now.

[Spikey]

well he shot himself in the foot by playing (and judging by what the nsw captain said, behaving) like a dick after he got dropped last year

[Andre]

Yep think he's a way off a recall yet. His attitude hasn't impressed many insiders at all in he team. Needs to acknowledge some faults with the bat and work hard on his fielding before they look to him again. Didn't make a great impression in and around the squad last time.

[flibbertyjibber]

Fair enough, didn't know that. hope he learns as he clearly has talent.

[Spikey]

this is what sok said

"It's not selfish, it's just natural to play that way. We had Usman and Hughesy come back after being dropped, we had Watto (Shane Watson) who was coming back from injury, we had Hadds (Brad Haddin) and Hauri (Nathan Hauritz) - all these guys had different mindsets.

"Me and the coaching staff had to deal with that and say to them 'this is the way NSW wants you to play' and to take all the distractions out of it, whereas we sort of expected that these guys with all their experience and enthusiasm would get on and do the job at hand. But we quickly found out you can't assume anything and you have to spell out what is important to us, our values."

Khawaja really struggled and did not handle the transition well. O'Keefe admits the pair got it wrong. "Basically Usman and I didn't see eye to eye on a few things," he said.

"We have played a lot of cricket together and we are mates but when it came to that professional side there was a fair bit of finger pointing done on both sides and we took our eye off what was important in cricket. And that may have been the issue that not necessarily was the main reason for him going but it might have been behind it.

"There were things that Ussie and I both could have done better and if he thinks Queensland is a better place for him then I wish him the best of luck."

which i guess doesn't seem that bad for an outsider, but the thing is, i don't think any nsw fan who, in the 2nd half of the season, watched usman play on that crappy little CA stream was shocked by it. it was perfectly obvious he was behaving like a cry baby.