Carnage in Cape Town

[Stuge]

Both team played poor cricket today .After getting SA out cheaply ,Australia went over the moon and forgot that they need at least 150-200 runs to put themselves in front . Tomorrows first hour or so will be very important ,and will decide the fate of this test match .

[julianlev]

For all the talk of DRS being a success today' date=' it took a wrong decision by the umpire (Watson's lbw which was not referred) to trigger the Aussie collapse in the 2nd innings, once again highlighting the deficiencies in current rules on DRS.[/quote'] no offence, but you'r contradicting yourself. the call was made by the on-field umpire, a referal would have reversed the decision. UDRS works, but Watson didn't choose to use it, which would have saved him. however, I do believe that a wider camera is needed for hotspot, as then Morkel would have picked up that wicket. Why Snicko wasn't used I'll never know.

[Karan114]

Flat-track bullies meet their match Flat-track bullies meet their match Malcom Conn From: Herald Sun November 11, 2011 MALCOLM Conn says the staggering day of cricket in South Africa is an indictment of flawed modern batsmen. -------------------- THE cricket world is now inhabited by flat-track bullies ... batsmen brought up on a glut of short-form cricket and easy Twenty20 money who are unwilling or unable to deal with the moving ball. That 23 wickets can fall on a single day of Test cricket in this modern age of covered pitches and full-time professional players is an indictment on every batsman involved. That Australia can collapse to 9-21 after almost making South Africa follow on in the second day of the first Test in Cape Town is utterly shameful. How is it that multi-million dollar batsmen cannot register a double-figure score between them before tailenders Peter Siddle (12) and Nathan Lyon (14) dragged the score to 47? Most worrying of all, this is not an aberration but increasingly Australia's norm as soon as the ball starts to move consistently. The last two Ashes series highlight that. It's the third time in little more than a year that Australia has been bowled out for under 100 once the ball started to deviate. The Aussies were dismissed for 88 against Pakistan at Headingley and 98 against England in Melbourne. By contrast, Australia had been bowled out for under 100 just once in the preceding 25 years, against consistently better attacks, and that was on a raging turner in India. Whatever hollow platitudes administrators and players may mumble about Test cricket being the pinnacle of the game, it is increasingly being treated with contempt. This South Africa-Australia Test series is a beacon to the marginalisation of the once-sacred game. Just two Tests were squeezed into unseasonally early November because the money-making Champions League, a glorified domestic Twenty20 competition of peripheral interest, is now an annual event set in stone. Even so, there was still room on the South African tour for two Twenty20 matches and three spaced-out one-day games before jamming the Tests into a fortnight. Test cricket is called Test cricket because it is the ultimate test of skill and courage. Does anyone remember Steve Waugh's twin centuries against the moving ball in Manchester on the 1997 Ashes tour? They were great innings of concentration, fortitude and resolve. One of the best match performances I have seen by a batsman in almost 30 years of covering international cricket. Michael Clarke showed all those qualities during his epic first innings of 151 in the current match. But now his greatest moment has been engulfed by his darkest day. Of the 31 wickets to fall on the first two days of the Test, Clarke is the only player to pass 50. This not only highlights the quality of Clarke's innings but the failure of every other batsman in the game to adapt to the conditions when it mattered. But with Clarke falling for two in the second innings as the entire Australian team failed to manage a third of his score, that sparkling century will be forgotten among the wreckage of Australia's lowest score in 109 years. Redemption could take some time to achieve. http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/sport/flat-track-bullies-meet-their-match/story-e6frecj3-1226192276713

[Utalk]

Completely agree with the writer. Batting was pathetic from SA and Aus today. Yes pitch was spicy but in no way it was a 140/20 wicket. Batsmen have forgotten art of fighting it out. This is the reason I rate Steve Waugh and Rahul Dravid higher then their more flamboyant compatriots. Welcome to ODI cricket,land of talentless wonders and sloggers.

[BERGKAMP]

test cricket is dying. once the tendulkar, kallis, ponting generation is gone there is very little waiting in the wings.

[Stuge]

clarke did manage to score 151 runs in the first innigns .SO he is one good player with good technique .

[Bradman99]

47? Please that is a disgrace. This is not the Australia I grew up watching. I went to bed after watching us bowl them out for 96 but when I saw our score I was shocked. Reminds me of the day when we scored 400 and south africa chased it down. Hopefully something amazing happens again, however we don't deserve to win the match after that performance. One man who pissed me off the most was Haddin. What kind of a shot was that in that situation when he has been playing like crap anyway.. Time to drop him from tests and bring in T Paine.

[BeautifulGame]

test cricket is dying. once the tendulkar, kallis, ponting generation is gone there is very little waiting in the wings.

Tendulkar played in different generation to kallis and Ponting too.He also played in 90s when most teams had fearsome fast bowlers at their peak and pitches were mostly bowler friendly.Like Lara and Steve waugh. Kallis and Ponting(Steyn apart ) hardly played against any great fast bowler at their peak and made merry of weak bowling attacks and flat wickets just like current generation.

[99.94]

A list of amazing statistics from Day 2 of the Cape Town test 23: Wickets that fell on day two. The fourth time 23 wickets or more have fallen on one day, the first time since 1903 3: Occasions Australia have been dismissed for under 100 in past 12 Tests. Before that, just once since 1984. 47: Australia's second-innings total. Their lowest score since 1902 and fourth-lowest ever (lowest is 36) 24.3: Overs South Africa faced in their first innings. Their shortest Test innings since readmission in 1991 14: Runs scored by Nathan Lyon. The eighth time in Test history a No.11 batsman has top scored 21: Runs scored by Australia's top nine batsmen. 26: Partnership between Nathan Lyon and Peter Siddle. The second time in Test history the final-wicket partnership have scored more runs than the previous nine wickets 4: Innings that featured on day two. The third time in history all four innings have featured on the same day 2: Times Michael Clarke and Jacques Rudolph were dismissed on day two. The first time in Test history a batsman from either team has been dismissed twice on the same day 17: Number of batsmen who fell for single-figure scores between Graeme Smith (37) and Nathan Lyon (14) 9: The average number of minutes between wickets from the start of the second session until the end of Australia's second innings. In that time, 19 wickets were taken for 94 runs. 0: Runs made my Jacques Kallis. The first time in 56 innings he has been dismissed without soring 28: Balls it took Shane Watson to take five wickets. The second-fastest five-wicket haul claimed from the start of a spell.

[PAA-G]

what a test it is....looks like a t20...n the wickets falling like nine pins...it has been an interesting game...but seriously want aussies to win the series

[vamos_rafa]

Tendulkar played in different generation to kallis and Ponting too.He also played in 90s when most teams had fearsome fast bowlers at their peak and pitches were mostly bowler friendly.Like Lara and Steve waugh. Kallis and Ponting(Steyn apart ) hardly played against any great fast bowler at their peak and made merry of weak bowling attacks and flat wickets just like current generation.

ponting was phenomenol in the 2005 Ashes series against some high quality pace bowling. Kallis is one player who has always struggled in England and his record against Australia is nothing to boast about.

[Cricket Tragic]

:nice:

[BeautifulGame]

ponting was phenomenol in the 2005 Ashes series against some high quality pace bowling. Kallis is one player who has always struggled in England and his record against Australia is nothing to boast about.

The England attack of 2005 was very good but no where near the bowlers of 90's.Tell me how many of the bowlers that played in the England team would u consider greats? None. In 90's almost every team had 2 bolwers who would walk into the all time XI of their nations and most of them were all time greats.England didnt have an attack any where near that.What ENgland had was very good attack in favourable conditions. And IIRC Ponting had a decent series with the bat but nowhere near phenominal in 2005 Ashes.Apart from his magnificent century in 3rd test i cant remember anything special from him.Only other thing that struck ur mind is him being worked over by Flintoff in a over and getting out. Hardly phenomenal series.Maybe u are confusing with 2007 series?

[BeautifulGame]

:nice:

[vamos_rafa]

The England attack of 2005 was very good but no where near the bowlers of 90's.Tell me how many of the bowlers that played in the England team would u consider greats? None. In 90's almost every team had 2 bolwers who would walk into the all time XI of their nations and most of them were all time greats.England didnt have an attack any where near that.What ENgland had was very good attack in favourable conditions. And IIRC Ponting had a decent series with the bat but nowhere near phenominal in 2005 Ashes.Apart from his magnificent century in 3rd test i cant remember anything special from him.Only other thing that struck ur mind is him being worked over by Flintoff in a over and getting out. Hardly phenomenal series.Maybe u are confusing with 2007 series?

Yes, my bad!! I could only recall that one inning where he had helped them to save the test match. But that attack was a very potent attack under the conditions.

[gaurav92]

:nice:

[Trichromatic]

Indian team of 2002 with SRT, Dravid, Laxman in form and Bhajji, Kumble at their peak with Zaheer and other pacers would have destroyed the so called no 1 team of India in any condition.

[rkt.india]

In 90's almost every team had 2 bolwers who would walk into the all time XI of their nations and most of them were all time greats.England didnt have an attack any where near that.What ENgland had was very good attack in favourable conditions.

I think India, England, Srilanka, New Zealand, and Bangladesh did not have any great fast bowlers in 90s.

[Tiger80]

I think India' date=' England, Srilanka, New Zealand, and Bangladesh did not have any great fast bowlers in 90s.[/quote'] India's best ever fastest bowler Srinath was in 90s

[BeautifulGame]

I think India' date=' England, Srilanka, New Zealand, and Bangladesh did not have any great fast bowlers in 90s.[/quote'] I said every team had 2 bolwers who would walk into the all time XI of their nations and most of them were all time greats.Not just referring to fast bowlers. India had Srinath and Kumble who would certainly walk into Indian all time XI.Sri Lanka had Vaas and Murali who would walk into Sri Lankan all time XI.Of these Murali and Kumble are all time greats.Srinath and Vaas even if underrated were great bowlers IMO. Agree England and New Zea land didnt have any great bowlers.But all other teams India(Kumble and Srinath ) Pakistan(Wasim and waqar) West Indies(Walsh and Ambrose) Sri Lanka(vaas and Murali) SA (Pollack and Donald )and Aus(Mcgrath and Warne) had atleast one all time great in their attack apart from few other great bowlers too. 90's was the golden period of bowlers IMO.And pitches were great too.Today's bowling attacks of respective teams are very inferior to their attacks in 90s(maybe apart from England).