Archive for the ‘News’ Category
Posted by Jayvan on December 31, 2008
South African Cricket will be celebrating for the next month after having won the second test giving the touring side an unassailable lead in the three test series against Australia. In the last days play, the South African’s never looked like getting the low run chase jitters that often plague teams and why should they having chased down 5 second innings totals of less then 200 this year.
The Australian bowlers, never looked close to taking a wicket and the team was definately without any luck. Brett Lee bowling McKenzie with a no ball and Matthew Hayden dropping a rare catch in at first slip.
The only real reflection I have of this game is that, whilst Australia has come back to the pack, South Africa has definately bridged the gap. Batsmen like, Duminy, Smith, De Villiers and bowlers such as Steyn and Ntini will be world champions for the next 5 or so years. Whilst Australia, have Hussey, Ponting, Clarke in the batting department and bowlers such as Johnson.
Stay tuned for more discussion about the teams and there performances over the last couple of tests, plus a bonus Ashes selection article outlining my thoughts for this years tour of England.
Posted in News | Tagged: Australia vs South Africa, Cricket Australia, second Test, South african cricket | Leave a Comment »
Posted by auscrickfan on December 29, 2008
2nd Test Australia vs South Africa: Game ripped out of Aussies hands.
A disappointing third day has seen the dominance Australia worked hard to place on the South African Cricket team ripped from them with a brilliant batting display by JP Duminy and Dale Steyn. The last four wickets put on more then 200 runs to take South Africa from 6-198 at stumps on day 2 to a first innings lead. A task that not even the South African Coach thought would be possible at the end of Day 2.
Siddle, who impressed the cricketing world with his fast, dangerous and accurate spells on day 2 could only be described as pedestrian and lack luster by the end of day 3. However, Johnson could not get the break through either. The Australian pace attack, hindered by the loss of Lee, seemed to lose their attacking instincts and relied on defensive bowling from the outset of the day. It seemed from the strategies employed on the field that the Australian’s were just biding time till the new ball and not focusing taking wickets. A strategy that most definitely worked against them, because by the time the new ball was able to be taken the South African Batsmen had their eye in and were able to wave of the challenge without even a second thought. What’s worse is the pedestrian spells by Johnson and Siddle with new ball did not even worry Steyn or Duminy.
However, Duminy’s batting display is not to be discounted. The Australians were at a completed loss of how to bowl to him and it was obvious to see that this completely through off the bowlers radars. The only exception to this was Hauritz, who bowled an extremely tight line and was difficult for the batsmen to get away all day. The only issue for Hauritz was that there was no bowler putting their hands up at the other end and aiding in continuing to build the pressure.
Day 4 brings about a massive challenge for the Australian batting line up. They desperately need to get away to a good start and Hayden and Hussey have most definitely been struggling with the bat lately. If Australia wants to win this game – which should be there goal – they will need to score at a strong rate to put the game back on the South African’s on day 5. The only issue for the Aussies is that Brett Lee will not be back for the game (and will probably be out for 6 weeks), leaving the Australians a bowler short for the second innings. This gives Ricky Ponting an interesting declaration decision (if the batting line up get to that point), does he trust Siddle, Johnson and Hauritz backed up with Clarke, Hussey and another injured player in Symmonds to take 10 wickets in an economical fashion? Or will he play the game out to a draw?
We will see very soon.
Posted in News | Tagged: Aus vs SA test, Australian Cricket, Cricket Aus, second Test | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Jayvan on December 22, 2008
South Africa has staged a record fourth innings run chase of 414 runs to win the first of three tests in Australia. In a fantastic and at times brilliant display of batting South Africa demoralised the Australian cricket bowlers and posted what could only be called an emphatic win.
Australia never looked capable of getting a wicket and when the luck didn’t go there way just after tea with a borderline missed run out and an inside edge that missed the stumps by less then 5cm, it was pretty obvious that South Africa was going to complete the run chase very comfortably.
It’s a pity the Johnsons best ever bowling figures will have been achieved in a losing test match but credit must go to Smith and De Villier’s who both posted centuries – Smith on day four to put them in a position to win and De Villier’s to bring them home. Credit must also go to Duminy, who on his debut played a fantastic innings to ensure his team achieved the victory in the easiest possible manner.
It is time for Australia to ask serious questions of their bowling line up who struggled to get 20 wickets in India and in this test match only managed 14 wickets, 12 of which came from the hands of Johnson. Lee, whilst bowling well, never looked like taking a wicket and Siddle was nothing special – if not at times pedestrian. The answer to the spin in Krejza is hard to say that he didn’t bowl well – however, the selectors probably should’ve selected Watson as a fourth seemer and relied on Symmonds or Clarke for their slow bowling option in this test match.
Further questions need to be raised in relation to Hayden. With an important tour of the England coming up mid year selectors and he need to decide now whether he is going to be there or else they need to blood a new opening batsmen in Rogers, North or Jacques (currently Injured).
Stay tuned for more discussion of bowling options and a review of the batting line up.
Posted in News | Tagged: 1st test WACA, Australian Cricket, Cricket Australia, SA vs Aus, South Africa Verse Aus | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Jayvan on December 20, 2008
This cricket test match is shaping up to be an extremely exciting and traditional style test match. It seems every time one team starts to get the edge, the other fights back. The see-saw or rollercoaster hasn’t dissapointed with thrilling catches, tough knocks and long battles. Day 3 finished with Australia have a 2nd innings lead of over 300. However, a few quick wickets early on day 4 and a good batting display by South Africa will have Australia fighting to hold on to their lead.
Time will tell. Make sure you take the time to grab a beer and sit in a nice cool room and watch the fourth day. I’m sure its going to be when cracking day of cricket.
Posted in News | Tagged: Cricket | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Jayvan on December 18, 2008
The roller coaster ride at the WACa continues in the first Aus vs SA test. South Africa like indestructible in their run chase at 1 for 100 odd and found themselves in a lot of trouble by stumps. Mitchell Johnson bowled superbly to finish the day with 7 of the 8 wickets including 5 wickets in 20 balls.
Smith will be dissapointed with his batsmen who seemed to make poor batting decisions late in the day. Contrary to Smith, Ponting will be estactic with the fitness and concentration by the Australian team over a hot Perth day.
Posted in News | Tagged: Aus vs SA, Cricket, cricket news, first test, WACA test | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Jayvan on December 18, 2008
The South African cricket team came to Australian shores to prove a point. They are a champion team that can win any where and at any time. Whilst they haven’t given up on proving their point, yesterday, a series of slightly problematic issues arose.
After a brilliant start – losing the toss and claiming 3 for 17. They let Australia fight their way back in with a wonderful 149 run partnership between Clarke and Katich. However, they fought back late in the day to have Australia 9 wickets down. My argument at the end of day one is that South Africa missed an opportunity to dismiss Australia for less then 300.
Simple captaincy decisions, like bowling Steyn into the wind all day and not adjusting the field from impulse and not calculated moves. May have let Australia back into the game when they should never have been.
Posted in News | Tagged: Cricket, Cricket Australia, SA vs Aus, South Africa verse Australia | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Jayvan on December 17, 2008
Australian Captain Ricky Ponting has one the toss and decided to bat on the first day of the WACA test match. This sets up an exciting first session, with the pitch likely to be very lively for the first session and levelling out to become a fantastic batting wicket for the rest of the day.
South African cricket Captain Graeme Smith stated he would’ve batted first if he won the toss as well.
Hopefully for the Australian supporters the Toss is a sign of things to come.
And with this article, the start of the Australian test series verse South Africa has started. Stay tuned for more updates and information from the first test!!
Posted in News | Tagged: 1st test, Aus vs SA, Australia verse South Africa | Leave a Comment »
Posted by auscrickfan on November 26, 2008
Australian Cricket news: The Gabba crowd up to mischief again.
The Kiwi fast bowler Iain O’Brien was quoted in the Courier mail (26th November) as saying “I don’t know how many times I was called a ‘faggot’”. This issue is on top of the complaints of the South Africans, Sri Lankan’s and also the Indian cricket teams over the last few years that the Gabba crowd has a tendency to abuse the touring side. The problem, as always, is that it is only a small majority of the crowd that takes this path and what is more the majority of the crowd really dislikes this behavior and is often disgusted by the antics.
Everyone knows that many people go to the cricket not for the cricket but for the banter that occurs between fans, players and the ‘ladies’ in the stands. However, it is far too common that the fans attending matches cross the line. Crowds in Australia are all ready policed to a point that is often frustrating to the civilized public and as can be shown these members of the public who put the game into disrepute would not do what they are doing if a member of the police force were standing right next to them.
Is there a solution? The ICC has implemented laws that allow them to ban locations if they do not meet a set of stringent requirements – including crowd behavior. This would be a travesty to the game in Australia if one of its best and most iconic grounds the Gabba was removed from the International grounds. Especially considering it is such a vast minority of the crowd involved in these incidents.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I do not consider any of the taunts to be trivial or warranted but I also believe that obviously untrue taunts should affect a player to the point of feeling the need to complain about it. A simple example of this is Murali’s complaint about being called a ‘f…ng, chucker’ in his last tour. Unless he was taking complaint to the first word I don’t see that he has anything to complain about. He has been cleared on two separate occasions and personally believes he is not a chucker (although the response to the taunts suggests some underlying guilt…).
Is the crowd to be told to hush? Is the crowd to be told not direct any comments towards the players? Or do policing levels need to be stepped up to allow a paid individual to sit in every row of the ground populated by people? Obviously, all of these solutions are impractical because the problem itself is impossible to police effectively without completing ruining the viewing spectacle. If, serious taunts are given that are insulting or a serious personal attack then I believe action should be taken but players should get a backbone and be able to take trivial, schoolyard insults as they come.
Related Articles:
– The cost of professionalism
– Top 10 tips on being a professional cricketer in this modern era.
Posted in Cricket Australia, News | Tagged: Australian Cricket, Cricket Australia, Gabba, Iain O'Brien, ICC, Kiwi's | Leave a Comment »
Posted by auscrickfan on November 25, 2008
Australian Cricket Players – Shane Watson… dumped!
It has been announced this week that Shane Watson will lose his place in the Australian Cricket team for the seemingly permanent return of Andrew Symmonds (off field misdemeanors aside). Many suggest that Shane Watson is extremely unlucky not to have been given a chance to years earlier and to not have a permanent spot in the Australian cricket team. Some argue that he is too injury prone and others suggest his batting average and bowling figures do not warrant selection.
His figures and batting averages this year have been comparable to Andrew Symmonds, so we can not use this argument at this time. He has just returned from a long period of rehabilitation, strengthening and conditioning and his lack on injuries in India shows promise that his injury plague could be over. This leaves one thing… he is just plain unlucky.
Personally, I feel Shane Watson does not deserve to be in the team. Not for any of the reasons mentioned above. I just feel that he doesn’t bring to the team the “complete package”. As an all rounder you are often held to extremely unreal expectations. You are expected to be involved in all four innings of a test match, being a key bowling option a (generally) middle order run scorer and probably more importantly a key fielding figure in the team. Any all rounder that can’t fulfill these requirements is not really going to be as effective as an all rounder… unless of course they are a freak talent that is extremely talented at bowling and batting – we can then forgive their fielding mishaps. In the case of Shane Watson, he can definitely be considered a front line bowling option for Ricky Ponting, he is capable of scoring fifties consistently but is yet to show the ability to score a big century in the international competition. Where he is being let down is purely the fact that right now the “complete package” for the Australian cricket team is an individual that is more of a batting all-rounder as opposed to a fielding all-rounder. This is what Andrew Symmonds is.
The other major benefit in selecting Symmonds over Watson is Roy’s ability to bowl medium pace as well as right arm off-spinners. On a traditional Adelaide wicket this is an extreme advantage as his seem up bowling will be more effective early on and the sideways seem be more advantageous to the team on days four and five.
It is also probably prudent to note that the Australian Cricket public is much more inclined to fork out the cost of a ticket to see Symmonds then his QLD counterpart Watson.
Related Articles:
– Player Review: Watson
– Player Review: Symmonds
– 2nd Test Preview: Australia vs New Zealand, Adelaide, 2008
Posted in News | Tagged: Andrew Symmonds, Australian Cricket, Australian Cricket team, Cricket Australia, Ricky Ponting, Shane Watson | Leave a Comment »
Posted by auscrickfan on November 19, 2008
1st test – Australia Vs NZ, Brisbane 2008
The start of the Australian test summer, an old Australian rivalry, two teams in a period of transition. On one hand we have the Kiwi’s, an extremely young team with plenty of potential, skill, solid technique and no experience, competing against an average ages Australian team with a mixture of players trying to get used to a leading role after years in the backgrounds, fresh faces trying to play for their test survival and the every concerning lack of a spinner in the side. History shows us that NZ generally do not have a great time at the Gabba with Australia having won at greater then 50%. However, history also shows us that NZ have an uncanny knack of raising their ability when playing Australia. If NZ can’t win the game Australia will have a tough time beating them.
The lead up to the test has shown some dreadful weather in the Brisbane region, with them recently experiencing one of their most dreadful storms in decades. This will practically ensure the deck to have a lot of moisture underneath and if we get some sun in the next few days a wonderful green top. This will give plenty of encouragement to the pacers and ensure that the toss of the coin becomes a very important part of the match. If the sun stays hidden away we could very much experience one of the pitches that has plagued the domestic competition at the start of the last couple of seasons. A low playing, variable, moist and extremely bowler friendly pitch. Traditionally the Gabba makes life very difficult for the first innings opening batsmen and the relatively untested Katich at the top of the order may find himself in some very testing circumstances. Hayden, on the other hand calls the Gabba home and whilst not having the most exciting record at the Gabba is used to playing out the first session and handing the mantle over to the middle order to score the runs in the easy conditions. It is any bodies bet how an extremely inexperienced top order NZ batting line up will cope against the Australian bowlers if put in at the toss.
The lead up to this test has revolved around the issues facing the Australian team and the team itself must be looking at this as an opportunity to reaffirm themselves in their minds, their fans minds and the worlds minds as the worlds number one team. Strong performances against NZ are a must to give them a psychological edge against a strong SA touring party later in the year. The NZ squad will be looking at this game as a chance to stamp their authority on world cricket. They are playing one of the worlds best teams and the younger players will be relishing the chance to prove they are capable of playing at this level against the best. The result of this first test could very well determine the result of the second. If it is close NZ will go into the second game with a positive buoyant attitude, however, if Australia were to win comprehensively the young NZ team will have to overcome a lot of mental hurdles to perform at their best.
The cricketing world are strongly expecting the Australians to win this test and expect to see them put to bed any demons picked up from their relatively poor performances in India. The players to look out for in the Australian squad are Andrew “roy” Symmonds (if given the nod), Stuart Clark who should be extremely potent on the seem friendly Gabba wickets and Ricky Ponting who could have a field day if his opening batsmen do their job. For the Kiwi’s, Daniel Vettori whose economical bowling will be very important to make his wicket taking options effective, Jamie How whose ability at the top of the batting order will be extremely important – Jamie is known as an explosive batsmen and will have to be very intelligent with his offensive decisions to survive early on in his innings, expect the Australians to set an aggressive field and make every effort to tie him down and expect Dale Steyn to be extremely effective at the start of the Australian batting innings with his swing and bounce.
All in all, we have to suggest that the Australians are up for an extremely strong battle but not against NZ but the Australian media who are expecting nothing short of a devastating performance. Anything short of this could very well sign the papers for us losing the top spot in test cricket rankings later in the Australian summer.
Posted in Australia cricket reviews, Cricket Australia, International matches, News | Tagged: 1st test, Andrew Symmonds, Australia, Australian Cricket, Australian Test summer, Brisbane, Cricket, Cricket Australia, Dale Steyn, Daniel Vettori, Gabba, Hayden, Jamie How, Katich, Kiwi, Kiwi's, Matthew Hayden, New Zealand, NZ, Ricky Ponting, Roy, SA, Simon Katich, south african, Stuart Clark, Symmonds | Leave a Comment »