Clarke -401* tomorrow. You read it here first
 

Lara to tweet congratulations around 4pm AEST tomorrow.

The opposite of a ghambiring thread.

I'd ghamble on it.

What odds would you give me?

He needs someone else to hold up an end for him. And he has the keeper and the bowlers so that is one thing against him.

Also he will have an awkward first 30 minutes to his inning where he is trying to get his eye in again.

I would give you 4-1. If they had more wickets in hand I would give you 2-1.

This Australian unit is really hitting its gears under Clarke's leadership. A few guys have probably locked spots/shown what they've got already in this SA series. Hussey looks like he could play for another year or two. And the openers have both played to their potential now.

Locks in the team-


- Warner
- Cowan
-
-
- Clarke
- M. Hussey
- Wade
- Siddle
- Pattinson
- Hilf/Starc
- Lyon


Glaring deficiency at 3 and 4 atm. The robot might return to #3 sometimes.

Hard to write Ponting off, cos it'll bite you later, but having a guy that age in the team at #4 not making runs doesn't make a heap of sense. Better to be developing someone in their mid twenties. Big pressure on him to do something this series.

6 pack on it? :)

I'll have a bet with you on it.

Either

a) I deposit $20 into the cancer society charity web site if he makes 401 and you deposit $10 if he doesn't.

or

b) A two week avatar bet.

Deal, I'll put $10 in to Oxfam though. You're on!

i hope he's smarter than lara and moves to 399 and hits a 6.

If he gets that far I reckon he'll declare on 334

Agreed, I reckon he won't pass Bradman.

Makes Matthew Hayden look like a right **** as well, which is a bonus.

I would love to see him go on to get 400+, but realistically by the time he gets to 334 we'll have around 650-700 runs, would probably be overkill to surpass that.

Needs to leave time to get another double in the second innings tbf.

i don't think clarke cares about 334 or 400. if it makes sense for the team to bat on, he'll bat on and pass 334

that said, i don't think clarke really believes in going past 700. who knows though. it's not like we go at 5 an over very often

If all goes to plan (not all out), I reckon his declaration will come with an hour or two left tomorrow.

This is day 1 of a 5 day test and he's already 224. He could bat all day tomorrow and still leave enough time to dismiss South Africa twice, especially if Kallis is injured and can't play. Still, he should declare with an hour to an hour and a half left tomorrow, if we can bat that long.