Cricket......

['Dale]

Johnson is on fire. 10er!

Backed up by superb fielding.

With two centurions in the 1st innings.

 

I wonder what the SA selection panel will do after a rowwe 4 days as all departments failed, except the mercurial AB.

 

[Christie]

The #1 ranking is now just academic. Yes, without MJ Aus will not be so menacing, but the way we play him is humiliating.

Domingo said something like "there is nothing you can do when he bowls like that". What a useless thing to say for a coach - cant he find a bowling machine that gives 150kph and fire some bouncers at our batsmen?

 

Furthermore, the poor fielding made us look like idiots.

Are we looking at 3-0 here?

Edited February 15, 2014 by Christie

['Dale]

The #1 ranking is now just academic. Yes, without MJ Aus will not be so menacing, but the way we play him is humiliating.

Domingo said something like "there is nothing you can do when he bowls like that". What a useless thing to say for a coach - cant he find a bowling machine that gives 150kph and fire some bouncers at our batsmen?

 

Gary Kirsten is the batting consultant.

Hope he manages to spread some of AB's composure around the batting order.

 

Well earned Australian victory.

The margin is impressive.

 

How are the Proteas going to respond?

Gonna be interesting.

[Thug]

I wonder if our delightful Sports Minister will say something?

[Shebeen]

i love the usual kneejerk SA reaction. sure we got totally outplayed here, but EVERYTHING went wrong. i don't think the option of bowling first was right, but at 93/4 it was justified.

 

back to reality, even if we lose 3-0, we remain #1 team on the rankings by a mile. we got outplayed by pakistan in the first test in sharjah and came back from that.

 

Don't think johnson as scary as he is bowling is going to be the factor he's made out to be. Top order will play him better, his five wickets in the 2nd innings included three freak catches infront of the wicket - they might be behind his name but they are made by the fielders. those with a longer memory will realise that it's not the first time he might look like the world's best bowler, he only got into the ashes team due to injuries.

 

As bad as it looked out there, the proteas are FAR from done in this series.

[Cellar]

i love the usual kneejerk SA reaction. sure we got totally outplayed here, but EVERYTHING went wrong. i don't think the option of bowling first was right, but at 93/4 it was justified.

 

back to reality, even if we lose 3-0, we remain #1 team on the rankings by a mile. we got outplayed by pakistan in the first test in sharjah and came back from that.

 

Don't think johnson as scary as he is bowling is going to be the factor he's made out to be. Top order will play him better, his five wickets in the 2nd innings included three freak catches infront of the wicket - they might be behind his name but they are made by the fielders. those with a longer memory will realise that it's not the first time he might look like the world's best bowler, he only got into the ashes team due to injuries.

 

As bad as it looked out there, the proteas are FAR from done in this series.

 

You gunning for a job doing PR for JZ?

['Dale]

Lekka positivity there, Cellar

 

The 2nd Test is gonna be very decisive.

Hopefully their SA batsmen's footwork too (except for fantastic AB)

[Shebeen]

might as well nail flag to the mast, Aussies get all cocky(pretty sure they're hammered right now) and forget who they're playing Proteas to take the series 2-1.

 

You gunning for a job doing PR for JZ?

think Mac has got that covered like ink on MJ. But no seriously, it's not like he's all of a sudden unplayable. Just look at AB who (whilst did get out to him twice) handled the short ball with confidence and didn't really look that troubled. Even though he did take 37 of the 100 ashes wickets, a lot of the time it was siddle and harris knocking over the top six and Johnson mopping up the tail. I do back our top six to have a lot more backbone than they showed in this game.

[Christie]

I dont mind a loss, you can never win everything. But this was a thrashing. It is the manner of it that leaves a bad taste - we looked as spineless as England. I hope we fight back, but a 2-1 win for SA looks like a long shot today.

We have made a habbit in the past of going into series undercooked - Gary Kirsten reversed that in his time as coach, but it seems that under Domingo the team went back to old habits.

 

['Dale]

AB departs for 91 in the 1st innings

What a player.

 

Check Johnson's intensity.

Best Test bowling figures at Centurion now, snatching Steyn's top spot.

 

['Dale]

So true.

 

"There is nothing like genuine pace to expose areas of weakness in technique, temperament and physical courage."

 

Wessels on Supersport.com

 

 

 

 

['Dale]

How can the a Proteas turn this around.

A few thoughts and questions:

 

Solid opener partnership to flatten the seam and not expose the middle order.

SELECTION POSER - Should Alviro exit? Who comes in?

 

Bat with mental resolve against the fire balls of Jonno, as the Aussies call him.

INTERVENTION - urgent batting clinic to assist with bodyline deliveries

 

Exposing weaknesses in the Aussie batting line-up

Are bowlers hitting a consistent and dangerous length?

Field placings smart enough?

 

SA have never triumphed over Oz in SA

Mental block? Maybe. Dunno.

 

Hmmmm

[Christie]

Domingo' first series in charge was vs Pakistan in UAE - and we played p!ss poor cricket in the first test. VS India, we almost repeated. Now against Aus, we did.

 

I read that after Gary Kirsten left, the fielding coach left for Australia, and they have not replaced him. Fitness and conditioning coach also left to become head coach of the Titans.

 

I do however not think that is why they fielded badly. I think that they looked flat footed, low on commitment, in the same way England did in Aus. We have great players, but Domingo is not up to standard. I hope they have not signed him for 4 years, or something silly.

[Vetseun]

Domingo' first series in charge was vs Pakistan in UAE - and we played p!ss poor cricket in the first test. VS India, we almost repeated. Now against Aus, we did.

 

I read that after Gary Kirsten left, the fielding coach left for Australia, and they have not replaced him. Fitness and conditioning coach also left to become head coach of the Titans.

 

I do however not think that is why they fielded badly. I think that they looked flat footed, low on commitment, in the same way England did in Aus. We have great players, but Domingo is not up to standard. I hope they have not signed him for 4 years, or something silly.

I think you make valid points here. This is going to be an ugly series for us. Aus will smile.

[El Dodgius Bastardo]

I'm not one for massive changes after one game, but there's definitely a pattern here. Over the last few years, we have pretty much always been pretty poor in the first game of a series. The guys just don't look switched on a ready to go at it. Personally I blame this at the feet of team management, and this includes the captain.

 

That said, once we're down, we usually have a lot of fight in us and that is most probably due to the players themselves.

 

We need an opening pair that will see off the new ball and after that the guys can bat. Johnson is good, but no different to Brett Schultz a number of years ago. Fast left arm bowling always seems to intimidate batsmen and with Alviro, #, Faf, Smith having limited footwork will always prove to be difficult to play.

 

They have a better spinner than us and, as much as I like Morne, he really needs to get fired up in order for our bowling lineup to rip through teams.

 

I would really look to find a place for Stiaan van Zyl, the guy is too good to be playing provincial at the moment. It will however be tough for the youngster to get thrown into the mix in the place of Alviro, as the Ozzies will be in our faces come PE.

 

Edited: Repitition

Edited February 16, 2014 by El Dodgius Bastardo

[Christie]

Coach makes a big difference imo. Aus were useless with Arthur - got thrashed in India and England. New coach, same players and look at them now.

 

With Gary Kisten, we won the 1st test at home the last time the Aussies were here. Then went to NZ, and did well. After that, we thrashed England in the first test over there. Then we went to Aus, and fought well in test 1. Back home, we thrashed NZ and Pakistan, people said we started playing ruthless, dominating cricket like Aus at their best.

 

Then Domingo took over.