***Official*** Australia in South Africa + South Africa in Australia 2016/17

[Black_Warrior]

I have a feeling Cook is going to get the chop for no fault of his own other than the quota and the fact that SA might opt for Elgar given he can sort of be a 5th bowler.

Elgar
DeKock
Amla
AB
Faf
Bavuma
Duminy
Philander
Steyn
Piedt
Rabada

 

[StephenZA]

I have a feeling Cook is going to get the chop for no fault of his own other than the quota and the fact that SA might opt for Elgar given he can sort of be a 5th bowler.

Elgar
DeKock
Amla
AB
Faf
Bavuma
Duminy
Philander
Steyn
Piedt
Rabada

SA went for an entire year (2015) without a proper opening batsmen in Cook when everybody (outside the selectors) was calling for one and SA were sticking van Zyl into the cauldron. When eventually the selectors 'listened' and played him beginning of 2016 in the match we beat England, you could just see the difference in confidence at the top of the order. Final reason is SA like the left/right opening combinations....SA selectors and team selection is very loyal actually, they don`t drop and change often unless they really forced to. In the end the decision will most likely be between Faf/Duminy.. both scored runs in the last game.. both of whom had their head on the chopping block, prior to that. I think that Faf should be in front of Duminy but that does leave the 'quota' dilemma on the table.

 

[Shady Slim]

quinny d said that he wouldn't like to open permanently so i doubt he'll be opening in aus

 

[StephenZA]

quinny d said that he wouldn't like to open permanently so i doubt he'll be opening in aus

I know he said this... but he was also being loyal to his team mate Elgar in that interview... if he was asked to do this for the team I don`t think he would say no. Maybe he would prefer and it would be better if he did not.. but if it was for the balance of SA team? Who knows.

 

[Shady Slim]

fair enough... though considering the talent in him you'd think keeping and opening would probably lower his batting potency, unless he was to split keeping duties with ABDV (but that could lead to two "masters of none" scenarios)

 

[marc71178]

Dropping Faf is bonkers, come on now.

Not as bonkers as batting Philander at 7.

 

[StephenZA]

So the Aus bowling rot continues...
Starc suffers shin laceration at training, injured Shaun Marsh and Faulkner out of South Africa tour | Cricket | ESPN Cricinfo

 

[Daemon]

Struggling to think of training equipment that could give you a deep laceration. I'm guessing it was something like the edges of a heavy roller that was lying about.

 

[TheJediBrah]

this Australia team is just getting weaker and weaker

it's literally looking like a D or E team bowling attack

 

[mr_mister]

I actually think Duminy's test career will be completely saved by this quota rule and he won't be dropped again until he retires or gets injured

 

[Starfighter]

When's the last time the Australian bowling was this weak? (on paper)
It's all up and down right arm fast medium. Never thought the day would come when Boland was our second most experienced pacer, unless you count MMarsh.

 

[Zinzan]

Let's get loud, says captain Steven Smith

'It might be just about having a bit more presence and the old Australian way of puffing your chest out' - Steven Smith

It's almost as if he's saying, unless we carry on like loud obnoxious thugs, we can't be any good at cricket...


Let's get loud, says captain Steven Smith, demanding his players find their voices and energy | Cricket | ESPN Cricinfo

An Australian Test team described as quiet? No, really.

Australia's captain Steven Smith has demanded his players find their voices and energy in the lead-up to the home summer, having pinpointed a flat and uninspiring on-field attitude as one of the reasons for the team's recent defeat in Sri Lanka.

There was a marked contrast between the lack of assertiveness shown during those matches after the second day of the series, and the more aggressive posture of the limited-overs teams that won 50-over and Twenty20 contests in the aftermath of the Tests.

Rested after the second ODI, Smith watched on television from his home in Sydney as the vice-captain David Warner led a far more demonstrative effort. Smith wants that to be the template for the way the Test players carry themselves in future, indicating that a more boisterous, aggressive attitude is critical to the way Australia play their best cricket.

"I thought his energy was magnificent throughout those games and looking forward that's the sort of energy we want from him and all of the other senior players," Smith said of Warner, in Sydney ahead of the ODI team's departure for South Africa, where they will also play a match against Ireland. "We've got a pretty quiet group and we need that sort of energy come South Africa and the summer as well. I thought in the Test series in Sri Lanka we lacked a fair bit of energy in the field and that probably cost us at times. We put down a few crucial chances and in the grand scheme of things that could have made a difference."

The raft of retirements that followed the 2015 Ashes series did serve to trip the national side of plenty of outsized characters, from the captain Michael Clarke and the wicketkeeper Brad Haddin to Shane Watson and Mitchell Johnson - all featured in various on-field confrontations with opponents down the years. The likes of Peter Nevill, Adam Voges and Nathan Lyon are less likely to raise their voices, but Smith was firm in stating that they need to.

"It's difficult," he said. "We've got some pretty quiet characters, so even if it's not making noise verbally it might be just about having a bit more presence and the old Australian way of puffing your chest out and making your presence felt for the quieter guys. It's trying to do that, get into the game that way and try to provide some sort of energy that way."

Communication was raised in another sense by Smith, when reflecting on the decision to rest him from the latter part of the Sri Lanka tour. The timing was queried by many around the world, even if the game's crowded schedule makes such decisions more or less inevitable lest players like Smith or the fast bowlers be burned out well before their careers have run a natural course.

"For me it was just about getting the messaging across and I think we could have got the messaging across a fair bit better," Smith said. "We knew a fair way out that I was going to leave after the second one-day game. The fact we only brought it out the day before probably shocked a few people, so in future if this sort of thing pops up and someone's having a rest ... it's about getting it out a little bit earlier.

"I watched every ball that was bowled in the one-day series and I did miss it, but having said that it probably will do me the world of good looking at what's coming up. Particularly the fast bowlers, it's very difficult for them to sustain it for long periods of time and go full tilt, which we want those guys doing. Having said that, for this series it gives a couple of guys an opportunity, we get a look at the likes of Tremain, Worrall and Mennie."

 

[Jono]

can he be any more of a twerp?

Great song by JLo though.

 

[Spikey]

i think i've said it before, but the central thing I got out of Bretig's Whitewash to Whitewash book is how sincerely they believe in that nonsense

 

[vic_orthdox]

A lot of different characters come in for the ODI team. And it's a lot easier to be acting in that manner when you're winning. Correlation doesn't equal causation.

 

[Top_Cat]

Should gee themselves up to pick the straight ball first.

 

[Gnske]

I wonder if Nevill has ever said anything aggressive in his entire life.

Well after the article I hope he's absolutely filthy this summer otherwise I want Wade back so we can detect the cowards in opposition teams.

 

[Flem274*]

I'm looking forward to Amla politely ending some Australian careers.

 

[vic_orthdox]

i think i've said it before, but the central thing I got out of Bretig's Whitewash to Whitewash book is how sincerely they believe in that nonsense

Doesn't it show a bit in how poorly they play when they're behind? Like, what Tests in the past decade have Australia won after going behind in the Test? Best example I can think of is Melbourne in the Ashes whitewash (Flower version).

 

[Top_Cat]

Was winning Gilchrist's 2nd Test a curse in that respect then? Game was even until Inzi smashed them then the seamers picked up 5 quick wickets. The Aussies seemed dusted until Langer and Gilchrist basically willed their way home, thus proving once and for all that the difference between winning and losing is how much you want it.

or something.