South Africa v Australia, 2nd Test, Port Elizabeth, 20-24 February, 2014

horace wrote:Having wiped the unfortunate Flynn off the face of the cricketing world, what manner of complaint has Sniffy in store to remove Midge from test cricket?

A solid ton would be a good start. Followed by "And your tache is shite, too".

ashamed to admit to being tached up at various chunks of my life

Nothing wrong with a good tache.

Just as there's nothing wrong with good edges.

McLaren has been ruled out with concussion following the hit from Johnson.

Red wrote:McLaren has been ruled out with concussion following the hit from Johnson.

So who's next?

JGK wrote:

Red wrote:McLaren has been ruled out with concussion following the hit from Johnson.

So who's next?

If the pattern follows the Ashes they drop off progressively - McLaren is Trotting off. 

BTW I notice that Cullinan suggests that they pick that Thami guy. Given that he among others is talking about shoring up the batting, it's hard to see how this helps. They need to make changes but this doesn't appear to improve their chances.

Watto out apparently*

http://www.smh.com.au/sport/cricket/watson-to-stay-on-sidelines-for-second-test-20140218-32yds.html

Yes I heard Jesse Hogan the Fairfax Journo who wrote the piece in the link talking on radio from the practice session where Watto only ran laps. Lehmann likes to keep a winning team so if we win in PE you can't see him changing the lineup but moreover Watto won't have played any cricket that he managed to get through for a couple of weeks. It might be a risk to play him.'

And Jesse Hogan also said that he could hear the ball thud into McLaren from where he was sitting so he's not surprised that he is suffering from concussion.

parnell....rofl....apparently...he always struck me as a Twatto type character

taips will know, if the meerkat still posts on Saf v Oz threads

Red wrote:

JGK wrote:

Red wrote:McLaren has been ruled out with concussion following the hit from Johnson.

So who's next?

If the pattern follows the Ashes they drop off progressively - McLaren is Trotting off. 

BTW I notice that Cullinan suggests that they pick that Thami guy. Given that he among others is talking about shoring up the batting, it's hard to see how this helps. They need to make changes but this doesn't appear to improve their chances.

Nobody takes Cullinan seriously. He has become a media whore to make money. He is also involved in a sequestration scam.

http://www.moneyweb.co.za/moneyweb-special-investigations/getridofcreditorsscheme-busted

Of course this will or stop Red taking everything he says as gospel and posting the shit here.

Saffers better extract their digit Taips . . . the last bloody thing we need is a rampant Aussie team kicking arse - again!
Bring Jackie back . . . drag him outta retirement . . . Duminy ? . . . I mean FFS !

Merlin wrote:Saffers better extract their digit Taips  . . . the last bloody thing we need is a rampant Aussie team kicking arse - again!
Bring Jackie back . . . drag him outta retirement . . . Duminy ? . . . I mean FFS !

I have been saying he must go for two years. But we have to keep the quota up somehow.

Well at least de Kock along with Miller, has been given a central contract so that could indicate what's to come in the keeping department. Thami no longer has one. Sooner or later they might opt for some fresh talent. I see where some experts think that Elgar and Parnell should replace McLaren and Peterson which should strengthen the line-up in theory but still leaves the problem of Petersen.  Agree with Merlin that Duminy is on extremely shaky ground but it's hard to imagine they would replace him with a white player.

Watto is on the outer and Steve Smith and others interviewed have indicated that he may not get a berth in the third test because of the lack of cricket. Certainly not while he is failing to bowl during practice. His days of commanding a place on batting alone are surely over, much to his chagrin one suspects given that he used to think he could dictate when and where he played.

Rumours abounding that a greentop was ordered. The top order batsmen would hardly be relishing that thought.

Rain is forecast at least intermittently, on the first two days of the match.

I shall be there tomorrow, looks like rain all day though! Hope I get to see at least a few overs, should be treated to at least one of the best 3 bowlers in the world right now if the rain farks off for a bit.

From Cricket Australia fb page.

If the pitch for the Test that starts in Port Elizabeth Thursday, which head groundsman Adrian Carter has claimed carries so much grass at present it “scares” him, bears the same characteristics of its predecessor of 17 years ago then Clarke’s prediction of a three-day Test might yet prove correct.

The Australian captain was trying his hardest to toe the line of diplomacy yesterday when asked about the state of the deck, and the fact that Carter was awaiting further instructions from the South African brainstrust as to what happens to it next.

That assessment was made prior to the Proteas training at the ground later in the day, and their coach Russell Domingo – who conceded pre-series that he had placed an order with each of the curators at the three Test venues for seamer-friendly conditions – had inspected the surface.

“I had a chat to the groundsman today – at the moment the grass is 8mm high,” Clarke said, with an element of surprise given that’s a level of grass that would not look out of place on centre court during Wimbledon’s first week.

“I asked what he's going to do with that (and) he said he's going to speak to their (South Africa’s) captain and coach before (he) makes a decision.

“So I'm interested to see what the South African captain and coach's plans are for this wicket.”

For his part, South Africa captain Graeme Smith denied his side had made any demands. "One thing I've learned is that when you ask for things you generally don't get them," he said. "We just requested a good Test wicket."

The notion of the home team requesting conditions that best suit their own strengths and exposes their touring rivals’ frailties is nothing new.

Trips to the sub-continent have been based on that premise for more than half a century, while England took the concept to a new level during the recent Ashes series in England in order to blunt Australia’s pace attack and make hay for their then world-class off-spinner, Graeme Swann.

But it has become so overt in recent years that Clarke felt compelled to wonder aloud if it might not be time that Australian teams began to enter into a far more conspiratorial relationship with curators who are among a few on the world scene who believe their job is to serve the best interests of the game rather than the home players.

“It doesn’t bother me, that’s a big part of playing international cricket, you travel the world and play in different conditions,” Clarke said.

“I think it’s a big part our game that the captain, especially, can communicate with the groundsman in his home country and produce the wicket that is best suited to their team.

“I would like to see it happen more that way in Australia but in saying that I think the wickets in Australia … we’re very lucky compared to a lot of other countries around the world.

“We get very good Test cricket wickets, there’s normally enough in there for quicks and spin bowling but generally if you get in it’s a beautiful place to bat.

“So it’s not like I don’t communicate (with Australian groundsmen), I speak very openly and honestly with our groundsmen but I’m confident that they’ll produce a great cricket wicket anyway.”

The problem for South Africa, as became brutally apparent during the first Test at Centurion when they were confronted by the fastest pitch many had seen there in years, was that it plays more snugly into the hands of the team that includes Mitchell Johnson than it does the local quicks.


For that reason, Clarke is expecting the pitch at St George’s Park will be subjected to a fairly major, and reasonably urgent haircut as soon as the ground is sufficiently dry for the groundsmen to go about their work.

What he’s not expecting is a repeat of the Centurion pitch, largely because of the vastly different climatic conditions between the Highveld and the Eastern Cape, but also because of the damage that Johnson and others were able to inflict on the fourth – and as it transpired, final – day.

“I thought it was a nasty wicket to be honest,” Clarke said of the strip at Centurion where his team completed an emphatic 281-run victory last Saturday.

“I think in our first innings it was probably at its best, especially after lunch when it hardened up a bit and then it was ugly.

“It was up and down through the whole match (and) I don’t think either team were comfortable batting on it to be honest. A lot of blokes got hit.

“The hardest thing on that wicket was it wasn’t consistent, some balls were staying low some were bouncing, that as a batsman was hard to work out - do you stand up and try and block it or do you try and duck?

“I think why you saw blokes from both teams cop bruises.

“That’s why we lasted three overs (before declaring on the fourth morning), I saw enough and thought if we bowl the way I thought we could bowl I didn’t think it would go into day five.”

But it has become so overt in recent years that Clarke felt compelled to wonder aloud if it might not be time that Australian teams began to enter into a far more conspiratorial relationship with curators who are among a few on the world scene who believe their job is to serve the best interests of the game rather than the home players.

 
What absolute bullshit.
 
Further, that's the most one-sided commentary I have ever read . . . and Clarke playing the prima donner-khebab!
Poor diddums.
 
FFS - the above reads like it's the world versus the poor dinky little over-suffering Australian team.
 
Poor little mites . . .

Merlin wrote:

But it has become so overt in recent years that Clarke felt compelled to wonder aloud if it might not be time that Australian teams began to enter into a far more conspiratorial relationship with curators who are among a few on the world scene who believe their job is to serve the best interests of the game rather than the home players.

 
What absolute bullshit.
 
Further, that's the most one-sided commentary I have ever read . . . and Clarke playing the prima donner-khebab!
Poor diddums.
 
FFS - the above reads like it's the world versus the poor dinky little over-suffering Australian team.
 
Poor little mites . . .

Sounds like a sook to me.

5 dust bowls served in the english hosted ashes - it was the drought!!!!

I am convinced that Oz, the Saffies and the snoozies are the only nations to not have pitches made to order - oops forgot the stannies

Dear Fromage

could you please 'rikki' this thread

yours sincerely
Horace

Wow!!!!

Fromage is truly a legendary old cheese

oh dear...the saffies may be going down the Bannie and Pomgolian pitch doctoring route, disappointing if this is the case...from ABC Online
 
"So green and furry is the pitch at Port Elizabeth that it even has its curator scared.
 
But it is unlikely to stay unshaven for much longer, with groundsman Adrian Carter admitting he is awaiting instructions from the South African camp to "see what they want" ahead of their second Test against Australia on Thursday.
 
The strip at St George's Park had a thick covering of grass when both teams arrived on Tuesday for their first training session in Port Elizabeth.
 
Carter told ESPNcricinfo he would like to "give it a cut" but not before speaking to Proteas coach Russell Domingo and captain Graeme Smith.
 
"That pitch scares me at the moment," Carter said.
 
"If it was left like this, I'd be sceptical even for the franchise game because I think there would be a lot of assistance for the seamers.
 
"It's very furry and it's green.
 
"I have had a phone call from the South African camp and I'll talk to them again and see what they want.
 
"There's a lot of experience in (assistant coach) Adrian Birrell and Russell - between them they've coached here for over 10 years - so they know St George's as well as anyone."
 
It is understood the Proteas were disappointed with the bouncy Centurion surface for the first Test, which Mitchell Johnson took advantage of to claim career-best match figures of 12 for 127 and guide Australia to a 281-run victory.
 
Carter said that even with the grass covering, St George's would never behave like Centurion.
 
"This pitch has been slow for 114 years. I can't get it quicker," he added.
 
If South Africa are defeated in this week's clash at Port Elizabeth, it will be their first Test series loss since 2009."

horace wrote:5 dust bowls served in the english hosted ashes - it was the drought!!!!

I am convinced that Oz, the Saffies and the snoozies are the only nations to not have pitches made to order - oops forgot the stannies

Check the snoozie media all through the Indian tour there (even McCullum's interviews). As for Australia, the regular Warne Athers exchanges through the English summer.

horace wrote:oh dear...the saffies may be going down the Bannie and Pomgolian pitch doctoring route, disappointing if this is the case...from ABC Online
 
"So green and furry is the pitch at Port Elizabeth that it even has its curator scared.
 
But it is unlikely to stay unshaven for much longer, with groundsman Adrian Carter admitting he is awaiting instructions from the South African camp to "see what they want" ahead of their second Test against Australia on Thursday.
 
The strip at St George's Park had a thick covering of grass when both teams arrived on Tuesday for their first training session in Port Elizabeth.
 
Carter told ESPNcricinfo he would like to "give it a cut" but not before speaking to Proteas coach Russell Domingo and captain Graeme Smith.
 
"That pitch scares me at the moment," Carter said.
 
"If it was left like this, I'd be sceptical even for the franchise game because I think there would be a lot of assistance for the seamers.
 
"It's very furry and it's green.
 
"I have had a phone call from the South African camp and I'll talk to them again and see what they want.
 
"There's a lot of experience in (assistant coach) Adrian Birrell and Russell - between them they've coached here for over 10 years - so they know St George's as well as anyone."
 
It is understood the Proteas were disappointed with the bouncy Centurion surface for the first Test, which Mitchell Johnson took advantage of to claim career-best match figures of 12 for 127 and guide Australia to a 281-run victory.
 
Carter said that even with the grass covering, St George's would never behave like Centurion.
 
"This pitch has been slow for 114 years. I can't get it quicker," he added.
 
If South Africa are defeated in this week's clash at Port Elizabeth, it will be their first Test series loss since 2009."

Who wrote this shit. Firdose Moonda?