South Africa v Australia, 2nd Test, Johannesburg, 17-21 November, 2011

Taips, genuine question here- Do you think the South Africans talk up the contest with Australia too much? I heard a few of them talking about it being the "ultimate" to play against Australia, despite the Aussies now being a middle of the road team.

Do you think they put too much pressure on themselves to perform against them? And do you think they respect the Aussies too much to the point where they have created an unnecessary aura around them?

Personally, I think yes.

Henry wrote:Taips, genuine question here- Do you think the South Africans talk up the contest with Australia too much? I heard a few of them talking about it being the "ultimate" to play against Australia, despite the Aussies now being a middle of the road team.

Do you think they put too much pressure on themselves to perform against them? And do you think they respect the Aussies too much to the point where they have created an unnecessary aura around them?

Personally, I think yes.

I think the ultimate rivalry for us is against Aus, as you always want to beat the top team. England would run second.

I don't think it's a respect thing. As you pointed out earlier this test was decided by millimetres. It could easily have been a SA win by a 100. It was like one of those football matches where you dominate, have 20 shots and the opposition has one breakaway and wins 1-0.

The problem was definitely in the preparation. The batsmen were not test sharp. And for that I blame CSA. This is the 4th year in a row it happened.

The bowlers looked tired by the end but SA's batsmen threw it away, including the needless run out of Prince. There was talk last week about beating oz being the pinnacle. I think Henry's right. Australia still seem to have some hex over SA. When it was 2/19, you would have expected them to go for the jugular. Strangely they kept releasing the pressure with bat and ball.

Damn - Elle has some fine cans.

Aye, even better when she put a bit of weight on.

Anyway, Pat Cummins - seriously good prospect. Just so long as some numpty coach doesn't get hold of him.

He's a very good prospect indeed. I noticed that his pace dropped quite a bit, reasonably quickly. If he was English, I'm sure he'd already be on some strength and conditioning programme.

I feel some of these cricinfo ratings are rather generous.

Aussie players out of ten
http://www.espncricinfo.com/south-africa-v-australia-2011/content/story/541605.html
Saffie players out of ten
http://www.espncricinfo.com/south-africa-v-australia-2011/content/story/541639.html

For example Punter, Prince, Boucher could be a three. Hughes only performed in one innings. Clarke at seven perhaps a tad high also.

Another (comparatively minor) problem that comes with a two-Test series: in four innings there's just not enough exposed form for that kind of judgement.

If Clarke for instance had made two centuries in a four-Test series it'd be easier to call that a good effort. If Amla had made four in four, it would have put him on a par with Pollock and Richards in 1970.