Zimbabwe Triangular Series (Zim, SAf, Aus), 6xODIs + Final, 25 Aug - 6 Sep, 2014

Crikey, what a tournament from Faf. Well done to the SAffers.

Red wrote:Faf gave his wicket away trying to get that fourth ton after AB had used up most of the runs. Will probably get MOTM though.  
Australia needs to fix the middle-order.

Actually too early in the morning, meant to say MOTS.  Steyn was clearly going to get MOTM.

Not sure about SA's hitting power though, still think they're too reliant on Faf and AB.

Australia struggled with the bat but always had to pad up first when it nipped around more after losing all the tosses.

Oz has been inconsistent but the likes of Johnson, Starc, Faulkner and Marsh offer power hitting, especially in the right conditions.

Will be interesting to see if Clarke, Warner, Coulter-Nile, McKay, Pattinson, Watson etc. slot into this team. Finch maybe has matured with some county cricket because he survived in these conditions which were alien to him.

Smith and Hughes struggled somewhat.

You've gotta love how Steyn has that extra gear he can slip into for the big occasions.

Aye, shame about this but...

"Seething South African firebrand Dale Steyn has revealed he may never forgive Michael Clarke for a personal sledge made by the Australian skipper during the Cape Town Test earlier this year.

Lifting the lid on the lingering bad blood between the pair, Steyn intimated he's never been more deeply offended by a comment on the cricket field than by what Clarke said to him in the final session of a bitter series won by Australia back in March.

Clarke claims he spoke to Steyn immediately after the match and also said sorry for overstepping the mark at a post-match press conference.

But Steyn clearly hasn't accepted Clarke's remorse as genuine."

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Maybe this is why everyone outside South Africa thinks Yarps are mentally soft and prone to crumbling. Clearly Pup has won this battle. It was clearly a grouse sledge to have Stain whinging about it 8 months later. To do a Smith and feel the need to sook to the media is just so typically mentally weak SAffer.

Stain should just do what he does best, let his class with the ball do the talking. This sort of whining is best left for an autobiography to help sell it.

And before anyone says "just Wozzie trolling", it got coverage in all the rags, but most of these qunts now seem to want you to subscribe.

There is no place in the game for personal sledging. I hope Steyn thumped the little shit in the changing rooms.

skully wrote:Aye, shame about this but...

"Seething South African firebrand Dale Steyn has revealed he may never forgive Michael Clarke for a personal sledge made by the Australian skipper during the Cape Town Test earlier this year.

Lifting the lid on the lingering bad blood between the pair, Steyn intimated he's never been more deeply offended by a comment on the cricket field than by what Clarke said to him in the final session of a bitter series won by Australia back in March.

Clarke claims he spoke to Steyn immediately after the match and also said sorry for overstepping the mark at a post-match press conference.

But Steyn clearly hasn't accepted Clarke's remorse as genuine."



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Maybe this is why everyone outside South Africa thinks Yarps are mentally soft and prone to crumbling. Clearly Pup has won this battle. It was clearly a grouse sledge to have Stain whinging about it 8 months later. To do a Smith and feel the need to sook to the media is just so typically mentally weak SAffer.



Stain should just do what he does best, let his class with the ball do the talking. This sort of whining is best left for an autobiography to help sell it.

And before anyone says "just Wozzie trolling", it got coverage in all the rags, but most of these qunts now seem to want you to subscribe.

Mentally soft or whatever the very personal sledging is bound to offend. Most of the players are tough enough to deal with banter but the personal edge says more about the person sledging than the sledged. It is what they really believe or think and no amount of pointing to the heat of the battle, what goes on out there stays out there etc. mantras can disguise the fact that the personal sledge that truly hurts is what the sledger really thinks.

What's your definition of "personal sledging". Usually a sledge is aimed fairly and squarely at that "person" and is therefore always "personal".

Dunno if you've played the game at a competitive level, Trev, but I've had things said to me that would curl your toes. I always just laughed or nodded knowingly.

No matter what anyone says, sledging will always be part of the game and will always be personal. I think all players know where the line is. Racist stuff is clearly a no go zone, but I doubt Pup's sledge was racial in any way. There seems to be a disagreement in this case on where the line is. Maybe he said Stain's Mama had a tasty wee-wee or somesuch?

And I'm sure Pup is not losing any sleep over Stain saying he may "never forgive him".

skully wrote:Aye, shame about this but...

"Seething South African firebrand Dale Steyn has revealed he may never forgive Michael Clarke for a personal sledge made by the Australian skipper during the Cape Town Test earlier this year.

Lifting the lid on the lingering bad blood between the pair, Steyn intimated he's never been more deeply offended by a comment on the cricket field than by what Clarke said to him in the final session of a bitter series won by Australia back in March.

Clarke claims he spoke to Steyn immediately after the match and also said sorry for overstepping the mark at a post-match press conference.

But Steyn clearly hasn't accepted Clarke's remorse as genuine."

---------------------------------------

Maybe this is why everyone outside South Africa thinks Yarps are mentally soft and prone to crumbling. Clearly Pup has won this battle. It was clearly a grouse sledge to have Stain whinging about it 8 months later. To do a Smith and feel the need to sook to the media is just so typically mentally weak SAffer.

Stain should just do what he does best, let his class with the ball do the talking. This sort of whining is best left for an autobiography to help sell it.

And before anyone says "just Wozzie trolling", it got coverage in all the rags, but most of these qunts now seem to want you to subscribe.

And maybe this is why everyone outside Aus thinks the current Aus team is a bunch of Qunts. But of course there is no accounting for taste.

skully wrote:What's your definition of "personal sledging". Usually a sledge is aimed fairly and squarely at that "person" and is therefore always "personal".

Dunno if you've played the game at a competitive level, Trev, but I've had things said to me that would curl your toes. I always just laughed or nodded knowingly.

No matter what anyone says, sledging will always be part of the game and will always be personal. I think all players know where the line is. Racist stuff is clearly a no go zone, but I doubt Pup's sledge was racial in any way. There seems to be a disagreement in this case on where the line is. Maybe he said Stain's Mama had a tasty wee-wee or somesuch?

And I'm sure Pup is not losing any sleep over Stain saying he may "never forgive him".

On the field there will always be sledging relating to the perceived weaknesses of players aiming to test the opposition's mettle but there is a line to be crossed. For example Sarwan's sledge re. McGrath's wife was one though obviously at the time he wasn't aware of the nature of Jane McGrath's illness and one could argue that McGrath's own sledging  opened the door for that sort of comment.

There probably are words though which do strike at the emotional core of others when they clearly are meant to represent what the sledger really feels about the person he is sledging, not just throwaway banter lines that any cricketer uses to unsettle his opponent. Maybe Clarke unleashed something on Steyn that the latter construed as such. Steyn when interviewed here, has always come across as genial and down to earth, not some precious petal so it would have to be something significant to upset him.

Don't disagree with any of that, Red, but my point is you will never find an Aussie whinging to the media about something happening on the field. What happens on the field stays there. And I find it interesting that Clarke apologised (acknowledged by Stain) yet the SAffer quick chose not to accept the apology.

To me to not accept an apology and then to whinge about the sledge 8 months later (after SAf have beaten Aus comfortably - and taking the focus away from that win) says more about Stain than about anything else.

I rate Stain very highly so this article surprised me a lot. I opened it expecting it to be about Pup's tweet last night during the Final about being surprised at the reverse swing after 14 overs with 2 white balls.

skully wrote:What's your definition of "personal sledging". Usually a sledge is aimed fairly and squarely at that "person" and is therefore always "personal".

Dunno if you've played the game at a competitive level, Trev, but I've had things said to me that would curl your toes. I always just laughed or nodded knowingly.

No matter what anyone says, sledging will always be part of the game and will always be personal. I think all players know where the line is. Racist stuff is clearly a no go zone, but I doubt Pup's sledge was racial in any way. There seems to be a disagreement in this case on where the line is. Maybe he said Stain's Mama had a tasty wee-wee or somesuch?

And I'm sure Pup is not losing any sleep over Stain saying he may "never forgive him".

I played the game at a pretty decent level for a while, skully. 

If a sledge is aimed directly at something or someone in your personal life, it's too far.

Mate, in my much younger days I had my girlfriend (soon to be my wife) cheering on the sideline for me as I was batting and going OK and had a big mean snot-breathing fast bowler call her an "ugly pig dog". My response - "she is Ms Australia compared to your boyfriend". Even the slips laughed!!!!

It's about context, mate. I have no clue what Clarke said, but I find it hard to believe any international cricketer hasn't heard stuff aimed at their loved ones. If you read some of the stuff Jimmeh said to Mike Hussey doing the 1st Test in 10-11 (apparently* very personal) you'd be surprised, I think. Hussey's response was to shrug and get on with his 100. I'm betting Clarke himself heard a pile of guff about Lara when he was shagging her. Through the ages "how is your wife and my kids" has been a staple.

I reiterate, it just makes Stain look soft.

skully wrote:Mate, in my much younger days I had my girlfriend (soon to be my wife) cheering on the sideline for me as I was batting and going OK and had a big mean snot-breathing fast bowler call her an "ugly pig dog". My response - "she is Ms Australia compared to your boyfriend". Even the slips laughed!!!!

It's about context, mate. I have no clue what Clarke said, but I find it hard to believe any international cricketer hasn't heard stuff aimed at their loved ones. If you read some of the stuff Jimmeh said to Mike Hussey doing the 1st Test in 10-11 (apparently* very personal) you'd be surprised, I think. Hussey's response was to shrug and get on with his 100. I'm betting Clarke himself heard a pile of guff about Lara when he was shagging her. Through the ages "how is your wife and my kids" has been a staple.

I reiterate, it just makes Stain look soft.

I think that that is the nub of it though, most of that is generic and the guys know it is aimed at distracting them but the uniquely personal probably cannot be brushed off so easily.  And Skully your riposte was perfect. The other common form of sledging is quick-wittedness which forms the cornerstone of the Aussie humour.

Looks like Steyn normally ignores sledging but the Clarke jibe really hit the mark.

“I don’t take many things personally, but what he did say to me I did take personally,” said Steyn after claiming man-of-the-match honours with 4-35.

“I know he apologised in the media and I should be playing this down.

“But the day he comes and shakes my hand and says ‘I really mean what I said’ and behaves like the way he should, maybe then I will (forgive him).

Guess the other issue is that people are within their rights not to accept an apology if they feel the other person isn't genuine.

So you don't find it odd that in a post-match interview after SAf have comprehensively outplayed Australia, he chose to talk about the Clarke sledge that has clearly been festering in him since we toured 8 months ago?? That just plays up to all the "mentally fragile" stereotypes that have been aimed at the SAffers since the 99 World Cup semi.

Weird if you ask me. Shirley, even if a journo's question somehow prompted this response (and there's no context in the article) he would have been far better off saying "I reckon my 4-35 says everything it needs to."

Anywho, an interesting, if bizarrely tangential talking point. Again, well played to the Yarps.

Of course the fact that Clarke has already been to the media twice about this before the Steyn interview is neither here nor there.

skully wrote:So you don't find it odd that in a post-match interview after SAf have comprehensively outplayed Australia, he chose to talk about the Clarke sledge that has clearly been festering in him since we toured 8 months ago?? That just plays up to all the "mentally fragile" stereotypes that have been aimed at the SAffers since the 99 World Cup semi.

Weird if you ask me. Shirley, even if a journo's question somehow prompted this response (and there's no context in the article) he would have been far better off saying "I reckon my 4-35 says everything it needs to."

Anywho, an interesting, if bizarrely tangential talking point. Again, well played to the Yarps.

As I said before Skully, some may construe it as soft but maybe Steyn is making the point that some sledging is definitely below the belt and guys can't simply expect players always to share a beer as if those hurtful words were never said. In real life this probably wouldn't happen. In a similar vein guys on the street who hit each other the way AFL players do which might attract a couple of games rest would possibly end up in court.

http://www.smh.com.au/sport/cricket/why-dale-steyn-wont-forgive-michael-clarke-20140911-10fhme.html

Update on Clarke and Steyn affair.

So he called Stain a cheat, (which to me is no where mean as having a shot at his family) and he's still sooking about it, and also apparently being less than honest about Clarke apologising.

As I said, I'm very surprised that this modern legend is being so precious. He's done himself no favours giving this story legs.

Steyn is clearly the new sniffy

Ah, some more twisting of facts.

or of the tissues in your case

Nobody would ever accuse horrie of being unpredictable.

now, there is an unusual comment from Taips