Cricket: More Than a Game

The pitch isn't that bad. Just a complete lack of test standard cricket from players and umpires alike.

9 referrals in a day! 4 of them upheld! Dreadful work there.

15 batsmen in a row dismissed for less than 10. Did you see some of the shots for the wickets? Who are these charlatans posing as test cricketers? Ball watching and run out. Wide eyed slogs. Awful.

Where is my pitchfork and torch.

Agreed Bruce, some of the shots were unbelievable, right down to the last ball of the day when Amla thought it'd be a good idea to have a smash at a wide one, and was lucky to see it spilled. Some of the referrals were a bit close though...dismissals like Kallis's were almost imperceptible at full speed.

Utter humiliation.

There is an undercurrent of anger starting to creep into the reporting now as well as the 'man in the street' talk.

Haddin is about to feel a lot of heat in the press I think.

That was a seriously crazy game. Both teams were there own worst enemy.

Interesting that the weirdest day in South African cricket was the 20th anniversary of our readmission.

And some odd goings on out there as well, with the suicide of cricket writer Peter Roebuck. Some fairly distasteful rumours knocking about, but he chucked himself out of a 6th floor window while the police were present.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cric...

The second test is poised on a knife edge. Should be an exciting 5th day.

I reckon if Australia survive the first session the game is theirs, if our bowlers can get into the tail in that time the game is ours.

I just can't wait for South Africa to drop Boucher, he's being selected based on very old performances. Steyn is more dependable with the bat.

A lot of people are upset about yesterday's bad light call too.

Very exciting end to the game, Aussies did well to chase down 310. Thought they'd had it when Hussey was out, but Haddin and Johnson managed to stick in there.

About as good a finish as one could hope for. Funny how Australia was essentially saved by the tail, and our tail contributed meaningfully to the respectable total. I think both teams need to take long hard looks at their batting line ups.

Pity there's no third test to break the tie.

Both teams had great new talent emerge in Cummings and Philander, Cummings deserved his Man of the Match and Philander his Man of Series. One wit on twitter commented that the VB on the Aussie shirts stands for Vernon's Female Doggoes he got so many wickets.

The Shrees are here next, already looking forward to the boxing day test with the family.

So Australia has hired former SA coach Mickey Arthur. Interesting move, I always liked Arthur and thought he'd been sold down the river when he got axed.

MrDeVil909 wrote:

Both teams had great new talent emerge in Cummings and Philander, Cummings deserved his Man of the Match and Philander his Man of Series. One wit on twitter commented that the VB on the Aussie shirts stands for Vernon's Female Doggoes he got so many wickets.

I was really impressed with Philander. Thought he deserved quite a bit of credit for keeping you lot in the match. Steyn was less than his best, but I enjoyed the banter between him and Johnson in the final session.

Great match for a neutral, and yeah, I wish there was a 3rd to settle the issue.

I wish there were a few more kids knocking down the door for national selection.

I'm getting sick of hearing the term "career saving innings". 60-odd is not enough to save a career when it bumps your 18 month batting average above 20. One half decent knock and we seem doomed to carry the dead weight for another 12 months.

I think Steyn was carrying some sort of injury. He was his unplayable best at times but couldn't sustain it. Really liked what the new kids brought to the table too.

Well that was embarrassing. Test match batting seems a bridge too far for everyone in Australia at the moment.

Cow corner Warner was the only who could knuckle down. Just crazy.

So we handed out a nice beating to the Shrees. Vernon Philander collected two more five-fors.

Looking forward to going to the boxing day test. It's a pity I can only get to the first day.

Have a great day mate, Sri Lanka didn't look like they fancied it in this game but SA did bowl well.

Any news on Kallis ? That was a right clunk he took on the ear.

So who else is looking forward to the boxing day test?

Just watching the highlights of last year's

This one should be a good test of whether NZ can build on that win. I've not read the injury reports anywhere, so is Vettori back for this one ?

Our tour of Australia is over so Vettori has a nice rest period before our next game on the 26/1 against Zimbabwe, Australia is playing India today.With the rain and hail yesterday it will be interesting to see what the pitch conditions are like.

sitting at Kingsmead to watch the mighty Vernon Philander and friends play SL. Second row and watching SA fielding practice.

*edit*

Crap. Philander is out.

It's on the telly here - give us a wave DeVil !

The people in front of me waved at the camera, but I missed it. Got sunburn yesterday so it was a struggle sitting out there roasting today.

I am enjoying our new annual family tradition, despite the invasion of the white trash we had to deal with.

As for the game, something is up with Steyn, he's not himself. We've missed Philander, but de Lange is a promising new talent.

oy, we're in deep crap here. Allowed the Shrees to set a big total and then threw away 3 quick wickets.

Ashwell Prince has obviously decided he's got better things to do than play test match cricket - you have to question just what he was thinking to select that shot.

Yeah, for someone who was itching to get back into the test side he's not doing much to prove his value.

Our whole batting line-up is questionable at the moment. The only person in the top 6 I'm convinced deserves his place is Amla.

So I'm guessing Pattinson's orders for tomorrow are block, block and block

This has been a pretty good test match to watch as it has ebbed and flowed over the last 3 days an the prospect of more to come.

India's choice for no DRS may still come to haunt them. There have been a couple of howlers from umpire Erasmus who is now bottling every tough decision down to not out. Last time they were here and Morgan Freeman and Billy Clownden were having a bad run, India sooked like 2 year olds and had to be coaxed off the bus and there were rumours of a potential charter flight home. They are like those annoying idiots who complain about a problem and then reject all the options for solutions because they aren't perfect.

As for Durban - can the Proteas string 2 matches together? Capable of beating anyone one week and losing to anyone the next. There is some genuine class in the Shree's batting lineup though so if they fire up they can put up a strong score anywhere.

What a great win in a very interesting test match. More pitches like this one would do wonders for the game world wide.

We don't have a certified world beater in the fast bowlers right now - but they hunted as a pack today and ran through one of the best batting lineups in the world.

Super impressed.

Now about that batting.....

So about that batting...

Holy cow that was some batting. It has been a long time since an Australian batted more than a day.

But the bulk of the credit has to be given to the trio of quicks who were able to take the 20 wickets required on what was clearly a road. I am getting a feeling that there is a way up coming soon based on the new faces.

Might just have been that India are not exactly great at the moment....after all, England whitewashed them

Watching SA v SL. Blimey, that Kallis chap is quite good, pity we couldn't have found some English antecedents for him.

So, why did Clarke declare on 329? That's a once-in-a-lifetime score and it could have been even higher. 400+?

Surely he could have kept batting for a while longer, and it clearly didn't take much to knock the last 10 wickets over.

I don't think any captain wants to risk a draw and be pilloried for being a glory hound. It was a great captain's decision.

Glad with our result, our first test series victory at home in 3 years. I would have preferred an innings victory, but the Sri Lankans are real scrappers and never gave up. Nice to see Kallis get some wickets, he's been a holding bowler for a while now rather than a wicket taker, so it's refreshing. And Tahir got a few, looks like he's finding his place in the side.

Generally a really good team effort.