leeubok

I hope that Faf and Dean comes out this morning and score at more than just 2 runs an over.. I get that our bowlers are tired (although they didn't bowl nearly as many overs as the Aussies did), but they've had an afternoon and evening and most of this morning to rest. One thing that really annoys me with SA sides is that they are not ruthless. If Aus were in the position we were in yesterday their batsman would've scored at a healthy rate to further crush and demoralize us. Anyway, it seems like we're on our way to a 3-1 series win. Well done blommetjies! We may suck at ODI's and T20's, but test cricket is where it matters the most!

Yeah they seem to be a bit flat. No surprise though after what happened during the last week. I like the idea of their new captain shaking hands with all our players before the game started. It was a nice gesture, just to clear the air a little bit. With all the rain forecast for the next 3 days we better bowl them out cheaply and enforce the follow on

From a Bavuma critic, well played! Now go on and convert that fifty into a 100

Faf.. Sheez oke, go back to primary school to learn how to bat Bavuma.. Let's see what he can do

Yeah, watching that I actually felt sorry for the guy. Warner and the other oke though I have so sympathy for. Hanscome has a real "kom moer my gesiggie"

Well, if they set clear targets for the national teams (which they have, even if it is across the 3 formats) then they are implementing from top down.. Anyways, enough of that nonsense for now. Have you heard about those cheating Aussies?

Yes in theory they said the target is across all 3 formats. But it's not only the T20 team that gets loaded, the ODI team as well and to a lesser extent the test team. Hmmm... such a difficult and emotional subject this one.. All I'm going to say is that at the end of the day I want the national team picked on merit. Not on skin colour. Not on a ratio of so many of this colour people vs so many of this colour people in SA. We are all South African. Transformation should start at school level. Not picking kids of colour only for school teams, but giving them the resources to play the game on a similar footing as more privileged schools. Thats all. You do that and enough players of colour will come through the system

Unfortunately, thanks to CSA's transformation targets, that is not true. Or rather, it places a seed of doubt in supporters' minds. Because this is the exact scenario that played out: Bavuma gets injured, De Bruyn has to come in for him. Morkel gets dropped for Ngidi. Ngidi gets injured and Morkel replaces him, so TDB gets dropped for Bavuma who is still not 100% over his niggle it seems. When these sort of selections happen you can't but help wonder if the best 11 players are on the field.. And I like Ngidi. I think once Morkel goes and he gets an extended run he'll get better and better. But do I think he was good enough to replace Morkel? No..

Mntboy, it seems you're the only Bavuma fan around here.. I hope CA now shift their focus to the coaching staff..

I don't agree Mntboy. Bavuma has had 44 innings to prove himself. And for me, the only thing he has proved is that he is average. He scored 1 hundred early on, and that has kept him in the side for how long now? He is a specialist batsman, and should have a much higher avg by now. TDB has only played 10 innings. 4 of those against Aus. Granted, he hasn't scored any meaningful runs yet, but his test career has just started. That's why I think it is better to compare their first class averages. If Bavuma can only score 12 hundreds in 194 inns against mediocre opposition, what makes you think he's going to score more hundreds against world class international opposition? Perhaps TDB isn't good enough either, but until he's had proper time to prove himself then you can't say that. I just don't know what should be deemed as enough time.. Even Amla struggled early on in his career..

Exactly. 9 hundreds for TDB in 88 inns VS 12 hundreds in 194 inns for TB pretty much sums it up.

I'm with you guys, everyone in that team knew what they were doing with the ball. Including the coach. The coach sending a msg to Bancroft after he got caught was clear as daylight. I think they are making Warner the scapegoat here (and rightly so), just because they cannot suspend the entire team and management. Rather single out a couple of players and focus on them.. I think there's more to come.. Fans, and Aussie fans too, want Lehman gone. I think he's going to resign after the SA series.. And I bet we'll here more about what really happened as players start to turn on each other. Which they already have by the sounds of it. At some stage Warner is going to open that big mouth of his and spill the beans..

Because how many games has Bavuma played by now to score 1 hundred? And De Bruyn? I was actually more referring to the fact that Bavuma just got back from injury, and with no cricket under his belt walked straight back into the test team. And failed dismally. The guys must surely realise that whoever it is coming back from injury, be it AB, FAF, Bavuma, Steyn or whoever, needs to play a game or two franchise cricket before playing international cricket again. But in general, yeah, I also think Bavuma isn't good enough. There was a lot of hype around him when he came onto the scene but he hasn't lived up to expectations. So for how long do you stick with him...? De Bruyn hasn't really done much either in his first few games, but if they give a player say 10 tests to prove himself, then he should be given a chance as well. Or try the next best batsman in line..

In my opinion Lehman is to blame for this boorish, bullying and cheating culture of the aussies. And now he's hiding away, instead of standing up and taking it on the chin. Looks like a horrible human being

Yeah, Smith was amazing in the Ashes at home. Faf seriously needs to score some runs. And so does Amla, although he's getting starts at least. I hope they keep Morkel for the last test at the Wanderers instead of bringing Ngidi back. Morkel deserves one last crack, and surely you can't drop the man of the match? Ngidi's time will come.. I would also drop Bavuma, send him to play some franchise cricket and get his form back. Give Theunis de Bruyn another chance. Although I suspect this won't be done because of "numbers"...

I must say, kudos to the Aussies for coming down hard on their cricket team. It could've been too easy to just say ja but everyone else is doing it, we're just the only ones who got caught. Amidst all the drama, I'm a little worried about the third test. It seems pretty certain that Aus will field a very different team, with a couple of guys flying out from Aus before the game. Nobody is giving them a chance, so I'm sure these guys are going to play with a no fear attitude.. If SA is over complacent the new look Aussies might just surprise them. On the other hand, I hope they crumble and we mop the floor with them!

The problem with including Steyn in the team is that you don't know if he's going to make it a full 5 days without breaking down.. If you select Steyn you have to include an extra bowler/allrounder to lessen the load if Steyn pulls up again. But yes I agree with you guys, a fit Steyn will always make my team Perhaps Dale is right, maybe De Bruyn deserves to play the remaining two tests to have a decent chance of proving himself. And perhaps Klaasen will have to wait a little longer before he gets his chance. Whatever the selectors decide, they better get it right. We can't lose the series to these aussie a-holes!

That's a pretty good team selection, probably better than mine. My only concern is I don't have faith in those 4 bowlers to bowl the aussies out twice, cheaply enough to win a test. At Newlands big Vern should be a handful, and Morkel should be pumped up to perform in his 2nd last game for SA. But I think we miss that Kallis type allrounder who can score some big runs plus take a wicket or 3. De Kock has opened the batting plenty times before, but because he's wicketkeeper they move him down the order to lessen his load. Perhaps keep Markram and Elgar as openers but then have Faf, AB, De Kock, Klaasen/Bavuma/De Bruyn, Morris, Philander, Maharaj, Ngidi, Morkel. Bavuma probably deserves to come back into the 6 spot, although his stats show he hasn't quite lived up to expectations. But they probably won't make any changes. Amla will never get dropped. Morkel will probably come in for Rabada and Bavuma for De Bruyn if he is 100% over his finger injury.

All the non cricket stuff aside, good win! We still have a couple of weaknesses to sort out if we wish to win this series. Amla needs to urgently find form or get dropped. Perhaps time to let De Kock open with Elgar and bring in Klaasen? Klaasen can even share keeping duties with de Kock Elgar also needs to score some runs. He just doesn't look comfortable, ever. Actually, I'll have to mention every batsman except AB. If it wasn't for AB's 100 we would've lost this game as well. Assuming Rabada gets banned, I would bring Morkel back in his place and Morris for de Bruyn. And Klaasen for Amla.

What a game by the Proteas! AB you beauty! You too Rabada, just leave out the off the ball stuff! Seems like Rabada is definitely going to miss the rest of the series. There goes our best bowler and best chance of winning the series. From espn: "While Kagiso Rabada awaits the ruling on the Level 2 charge against him - for having brushed Australian captain Steven Smith in the shoulder - he has been hit by another charge: a Level 1 offence for the send-off he gave David Warner in the second innings in Port Elizabeth. Rabada is currently on five demerit points and could earn three more if found guilty of the Level 2 charge, which would see him banned for the next two Tests. He has yet to respond to the Level 1 charge. Australia allrounder Mitchell Marsh, meanwhile, added to the growing list of this series' unsavoury moments when television cameras captured his verbal riposte to Rabada after he was bowled on the fourth morning in Port Elizabeth. In the first over of the day, Marsh was comprehensively bowled by a ball that sliced between his bat and pad, and, as Rabada ran past in celebration, the Australian was seen mouthing the words "f*** you c***" while turning his head towards the bowler." They better site Marsh as well! It always feels like our players cop bans much quicker than players from other countries. Remember Faf and Kohli chewing gum, only Faf got banned. Smith said before this series they will intentionally target Rabada to get him banned. So their shoulders clash, and guess what, it's all Rabada's fault! Why was Smith not also cited???? He openly admitted before the series he would do crap like that!!! If Rabada is out, I would bring Morkel back in plus Morris for de Bruyn. We're going to need an extra bowler plus Morris is handy with the bat too. De Bruyn has unfortunately not taken his chances in the test team. If Steyn is fit I'd replace him with Ngidi perhaps.

So we lost the toss again, even though Faf says he would've bowled first any way. Not a good start though, after blocking out the first hour the aussie openers are now smacking 4's at will. We should've had 3-4 wickets by lunch as conditions are perfect for bowling, but seems like Aus will go in without losing a wicket. Sigh..

Very good article this: http://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/22684273/problem-australian-line-control The other thing about the aussies that I despise is, every time another country tours there, that country gets accused of cheating. Remember Faf and his bubblegum last time we were there? Couple days later Kohli is shown doing the exact same thing, but no ban... Even the last ashes, Eng was accused of doing something to the ball again. If I remember it was Anderson, but whatever he was doing he was doing right in front of the umpire.

Sheez and we thought Virat Kohli was bad! Compared to the aussies, I now actually like him! What a little turd that Warner! Typical short guy syndrome.. Pity his teammates stopped him on the stairs, because I think one more physical altercation with another player and his career is over. I know our guys should be focusing on the cricket, but I hope they give it to him good during the next game! I've seen some brilliant memes on twitter, I hope there is a good crowd in the next game and that there are a few banners welcoming Warner... Back to the cricket.. I honestly think Hash needs a break. Perhaps go back to domestic cricket to regain his form. Elgar has to scratch around for some runs like he usually does. Faf, he just got back from injury so hopefully he'll come right in the 2nd test. AB, stop taking unnecessary risks when running between the wickets!!!! I'm glad De Kock managed to regain his form, and ditto Markram. Our bowlers also need to step up, we're missing Dale Steyn's aggressiveness.

LOL, our cricket is so k.k at the moment that not even the groundsmen can get it right! But even if they did manage to prepare a proper South African wicket with good pace and bounce (and no spin), India would still beat us at that too. I can't wait for the tests vs Aus to start. At least there we're playing close to our best 11 players.

Ai blommetjies, what a disappointment again. During the pink ODI you gave as a glimmer of hope, just to be squashed again the very next game. Poor bowling (I think it was close to 20 extras again), dropped catches and poor fielding. And then very poor batting again. As usual Markram gets it, looks set to score big, then gets out. Amla run out again. AB gets out to a very poor shot. Miller - never lived up to the expectations. Only positive for me was the promise shown by Klaassen. His wicket keeping can be improved though.. This team will never win a WC. We must make peace with that, and be happy with ad hoc wins against top opposition.