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*Official* WTC FINAL Australia vs South Africa 2025
- Thread starter Gob
- Start date
Son Of Coco
Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
I knew the devil was involved in this!
Don't disagree with that. He was underwhelming in this test, but that doesn't mean he isn't a quality bowler. Can't expect every bowler to perform in every test andhaving a good 5th bowler gives you a bit insurance if one of the main bowlers has a bad test.
Son Of Coco
Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Come on mate.
Don't get jealous because he has straight teeth and doesn't have a head like a dropped pie.
Fuller Pilch
Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
@Skyliner
Who are the 6 cricketers in Australia that you’d replace this lot with?
Random thoughts as a non Aussie
Starc - 35
Spencer Johnson
Hazelwood - 34
Lance Morris
Smith - 36
No idea - perhaps Kurtis Patterson/McSweeney
Cooper Connolly as a roughie
Lyon - 38
Todd Murphy / Matthew Khuneman
Khawaja - 38
Marcus Harris again?? Renshaw seemed OK to me
Boland - 36
Xavier Bartlett
Who are the 6 cricketers in Australia that you’d replace this lot with?
Random thoughts as a non Aussie
Starc - 35
Spencer Johnson
Hazelwood - 34
Lance Morris
Smith - 36
No idea - perhaps Kurtis Patterson/McSweeney
Cooper Connolly as a roughie
Lyon - 38
Todd Murphy / Matthew Khuneman
Khawaja - 38
Marcus Harris again?? Renshaw seemed OK to me
Boland - 36
Xavier Bartlett
duffer
Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Going to be a bit of a transition here...
Nintendo
Cricketer Of The Year
Smith will be a straight swap for green. We know he can make runs at this level batting 4. Lyon could also be corey rocconcholi. Off spinner from WA who has had two good shield seasons in a row and did well when they toured. Some people have said Fergus O'Neill is too slow for international cricket, but I reckon he could cover for Boland.
kyear2
Hall of Fame Member
Precisely and arguments can be made for either of the three.
Though it should be noted that only one is baked into team construction and as you noted, even a decent 6th option felt viable at times during the match. But yes, at some points you need all 3.
But marvelous win for SA here, Markham was absolutely brilliant, the pressures of the situation overrides any proposed arguments around the flatness of the pitch.
The MOM really could have been either him or Rabada, who set up the possibility for Markham and of course Buvuma.
Legendary innings,discarding the choker label, Rabada likely passing Pollock and challenging Donald for the 2nd best from SA tag, and Buvuma keeping his streak alive, just unbelievable day for SA and their fans. Well done.
Bartlett, Morris, Johnson are not long term picks for Tests. Limited overs or T20 only. They are mostly on the bench injured.
McAndrew, Steketee, Doggett can be used for rotation if they retire. They are a few years younger. These are the top ranked shield bowlers.
Harris wont be picked. They will try Inglis and Konstas for the WI series & Ashes up top. Give it a trial run for these two - 10 tests. These two are the spare batters in the squad, usually they will try the existing squad members first before looking outside.
For Starc, Joel Paris is the best left armer in the country for Shield. But he is already 32, but still a few years younger and he will be given priority i imagine. He is a world class bowler. Pace isnt as fast Starc is the main issue but he can move on the ball in favourable conditions. He too is injury prone.
For Smith- Kurtis Patterson/McSweeney would be the replacement longer term. Mcsweeney is mid 20s, Patterson is already in his 30s and only has a few years left.
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Nintendo
Cricketer Of The Year
Would require SA to go back on there national duty vs franchise stance and also hope the new coach can get klassen back. Doubt they do all of that but it's not impossible.
the big bambino
Cricketer Of The Year
Cricket is only about fast bowlers don't you know. They have to be molly coddled to the exclusion of everyone else. Pitches like these are the norm nowadays and I suppose you can argue for an extra batsmen or AR as you only need 3 pacemen on seaming pitches. Might have to start thinking that way for future tests. Playing Neser (if he was fit) over Lyon would've been justifiable.
Congratulations to SA for a wonderful win. I think chasing close to 300 in the 4th innings pretty much slays the choker bogey. Their batting is as flaky as ours but I think some of their batsmen are on the up tick while ours are on the down turn. Markram was their silent ace imo. A mid 30s ave but he does well against us.
Pace friendly pitches are changing a few old cricket cliches. You can almost wish to field first to guarantee 2 good bowling innings and batting last when the pitch may eventually settle. Teams are getting better at chasing biggish 4th innings targets as well. Bowl first might be the way to go if you win the toss.
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Coronis
Hall of Fame Member
This decade:
73 successful 4th innings chases. 20 of them are 200+ totals
Last decade:
98 successful 4th innings chases. 19 of them 200+ totals
the big bambino
Cricketer Of The Year
Kudos to you for pulling these kind of stats out of a hat.
I vote this to be one of the worst shots in Test history, up there with Shannon Gabriel's wipe at 9 down. I know it was at a less impactful time but geez, a ramp/scoop (whatever you call that) when you could knock a single anywhere and you have two days to do it, was crazy.
And so Australian that they'd already burnt their reviews.
Anyway, well done SA, making match-winning fourth innings' hundreds no matter how flat the deck is a mammoth effort, so kudos to Markram and Bavuma as well.
In other news, NZ is still the inaugural WTC champion
Coronis
Hall of Fame Member
Some fun stats for SA this cycle:
Only one player played in all of their matches (Bedingham)
Bavuma with 711 @ 59.25 had the second highest average of any batter to play 10+ innings (behind Kuldeep)
Rabada with 56 @ 18.73 had the 5th lowest average of any bowler to take 20 wickets (behind Noman, Bumrah, Warrican and Henry)
Only one player played in all of their matches (Bedingham)
Bavuma with 711 @ 59.25 had the second highest average of any batter to play 10+ innings (behind Kuldeep)
Rabada with 56 @ 18.73 had the 5th lowest average of any bowler to take 20 wickets (behind Noman, Bumrah, Warrican and Henry)
Bahseph
International Debutant
Bedingham played so uncharacteristically in this match from what we have seen of him. He had a point to prove and he was better for it. Going from trying to qualify for England to Conrad giving him his backing for every Test in the cycle and then winning the WTC is an insane turn of events.
Josh Inglis will replace Marnus at no,3 looks likely. Back to Konstas /KHawaja for the Ashes like BGT same combo used from the 4th test. Khawaja has been assured of an Ashes farewell series.
Marnus test career is almost certainly over.