Nielson warns SA that talk is cheap.

It seems SA if falling for the trash talk trick again. It backfired miserably on Smith the last time they came here.
Nielsen warns South Africa over 'cheap' talk

Brydon Coverdale

December 2, 2008



Australia and South Africa are incapable of competing without pre-series bluster but Tim Nielsen, the Australia coach, has said Graeme Smith's men face an enormous task to back up their words with on-field success. South Africa's coach Mickey Arthur said earlier this week his side would try to exploit Andrew Symonds' temperament and the uncertainty over Matthew Hayden's future when the first Test starts in Perth on December 17.

Arthur labelled South Africa's fast-bowling line-up as the most exciting group he had been around and Smith has spoken of the team's confidence in the lead-up to the tour. However, Smith had also sparked a pre-series war of words in 2005-06 only for his side to lose 2-0 and Nielsen said the Australians would not hesitate to remind South Africa of their poor record in Australia, where they have won one Test in the post-isolation era.

"They better be ready. They're talking themselves up a lot at the moment," Nielsen said after Australia wrapped up a 2-0 series win over New Zealand in Adelaide. "There's no doubt they've got some good bowling but they've never won over here before, so they'd better play better than they've ever played before. We've got some high-quality players in our top order that are ready for the challenge of South Africa."

Although Hayden and Symonds are still short on runs, several of their team-mates found form against New Zealand including the wicketkeeper Brad Haddin, who posted his first Test century in Adelaide. Nielsen said it was important for the squad to build confidence following the tough tour of India, where they lost 2-0 and some key members of the team struggled.

"We had a couple of guys who got some real personal success as well over the last two Test matches, which is a real fillip for them," Nielsen said. "Hadds obviously getting his big score and Mitchell [Johnson] getting his first five-for and then Brett [Lee] getting nine wickets here, Andrew Symonds coming back into the team. All those things add up to us being in a much better place than when we left Nagpur a month or so ago."

Form and confidence will be crucial in the three Tests against South Africa, who have not lost a Test series since visiting Sri Lanka in 2006 and are now the second-ranked side behind Australia. Smith, Hashim Amla, Neil McKenzie, Ashwell Prince and AB de Villiers are all in the top ten run scorers in Tests for 2008 and helped South Africa do what Australia could not achieve this year - they drew a series in India.

The attack based around Dale Steyn, Makhaya Ntini and Morne Morkel will also be a threat. However, Australia's captain Ricky Ponting said his men were not concerned about handling the fast bowlers on what is likely to be a bouncy WACA surface.

"It's on paper a very good attack," Ponting said. "It's an attack, though, that hasn't played in Australia, that's the other thing. We all know that it's pretty easy to get carried away with conditions in Perth if you haven't played there before."

The WACA can even trick the home team and last summer Australia played four fast bowlers there, including Shaun Tait, only to lose to India when the pitch failed to offer as much pace as expected. Although Ponting said they would consider a four-man fast-bowling line-up again this year, Nielsen prefers the balance of including a spinner.

"It allows us to get through some overs without being totally defensive at times as well," Nielsen said. "It balances us up nicely and gives us those options if they do get partnerships going that we have something a bit different rather than keep slogging away with the same style of bowling."

A four-man pace attack worked against New Zealand at the Gabba before the offspinner Nathan Hauritz was surprisingly called into the team for Adelaide when Jason Krejza hurt his ankle. Australia are likely to be given a much more rigorous examination by South Africa than they were by New Zealand, who are now ranked eighth, but Nielsen is confident his men can deliver.

"The great thing about these sort of series is that our senior players have shown time and time again when the game's on the line they're willing to stand up and do the job," Nielsen said. "That'll be the challenge for South Africa. Talk is pretty cheap at this time of the summer."

Wasn't this posted over a week ago?

taipan wrote:Wasn't this posted over a week ago?

Must have been by someone prescient because it was published today.

Well it was a very similar article about Nielson mouthing off.

Obviously talk is cheap in Ausssie.

More cheap talk

Rob Houwing

Cape Town – Australian captain Ricky Ponting has begun turning up the psychological heat a fortnight ahead of the first Test against the Proteas in Perth.

Quoted in the Sydney Morning Herald after his team clinically polished off New Zealand in Adelaide to secure that series 2-0, Ponting said that South Africa had a “very good attack on paper”.

But he qualified the statement by adding: “It’s an attack that hasn’t played in Australia. We all know that it’s pretty easy to get carried away with conditions in Perth if you haven’t played there before.

“We all know as a batting group what we need to do, and we know as a bowling group what we need to do in Perth, so that’s one advantage we’ll probably have over the South Africans.”

Ponting is mostly correct in his assessment of the Proteas’ likely first-choice attack: none of Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel or Paul Harris has yet played a Test on Australian soil.

And even all-rounder Jacques Kallis, a veteran of 125 Test appearances, has not played a Test at Perth’s famously pace-friendly WACA ground: he was injured when South Africa played the first Test there in the 2005/06 series.

Some comfort is the fact that Makhaya Ntini picked up a “five-for” in the Aussie first innings on his own maiden WACA Test appearance.

Ponting admitted his team were “a fair bit below our best” in losing the series in India 2-0. “We have taken a step closer here (the innings victory over the Black Caps at Adelaide) to being at our best.

“It is great to see Brett (Lee) running back into some real rhythm and good form, taking nine wickets. His pace was probably higher in this game than it has been in a while, and that is a really good sign for us.”

Lee himself offered slightly kinder words to the Proteas attack. “They have got an amazing bowling line-up. I’m looking forward to watching Dale Steyn bowl, he’s got great pace. Morkel is a guy who is 6'6" – he’ll be pretty challe
ging at the WACA if it promises to be a nice, bouncy wicket.”