The Lillee imprimatur: Steyn is fantastic

About time another thread was started to annoy Tac.

He can't pick a winner between the two teams. Hughes thinks Morkel could be the big dangers, as do Hayden and Langer who were speaking about the SA attack on Inside Cricket. Hayden was amused when told that Steyn was targeting him. He said with him being the opening batsman and Steyn the opening bowler, it would be strange if he wasn't.

Steyn earns Lillee nod





Proteas speedster Dale Steyn (Gallo Images)



Australia v South Africa
Rob Houwing’s Oz press-watch

Cape Town – Dale Steyn is worthy of his ICC Test Player of the Year hype, says Australian pace bowling legend Dennis Lillee.

Lillee told a luncheon at the WACA ground in Perth on Monday, scene of the first Test against the Proteas from Wednesday, that Steyn was “fantastic”.

Quoted by the AAP news agency, Lillee said: “He skids more than bounces although he has got a good bouncer too.”

The thing he liked about the South African spearhead, he said, was that he offered a lot of wicket-taking balls rather than falling into the trap of bowling too much short stuff.

“It’s the ones who learn quickly about the upper length, which makes the (batsman) play the ball more, and fuller … the better a fast bowler becomes.

“He has that ability and he bowls a lovely little late out-swinger with that length and that’s his secret.”

Interestingly, Lillee said he could not pick a winner of the three-Test series between the two top-ranked teams.

“I just think it’s up in the air. Both sides are very competitive. They are very closely matches. I just don’t think I could pick it.”

Former Aussie captain and also “rebel” skipper in South Africa in the mid-1980s, Kim Hughes, shared Lillee’s view that the Proteas pace attack were in awesome form.

“Fellows like Steyn particularly with the new ball are going to be a handful. You are going to see the nicks carry (to slip) at the WACA.

“If Morne Morkel can have a look at Ishant Sharma who bowled beautifully here last year (in India’s WACA Test victory) … Morkel I think is going to be a real handful, six-foot seven around the wicket to the left-handers.”

Let's hope the Yarp quicks believe all the hype, swagger out and bowl short tripe for 2 days after Drunky finally wins a toss.

Do you think Punter will bat if he wins the toss?

I liked when Hayden said he was adamant that Harris will play and the panellists replied that he meant he was hoping he would play. There was a barely submerged cheeky grin there. You can tell that Harris will be targeted.

The old adage hold in Aus. You win the toss, you think about it for a second, and then you bat.

skully wrote:Let's hope the Yarp quicks believe all the hype, swagger out and bowl short tripe for 2 days after Drunky finally wins a toss.

You mean like Australia did against India last time at Perth?

They showed the pitch tonight for the first time and it's got a very green tinge about it. The curator said it won't deteriorate and it will definitely be quick with a lot of bounce on offer.