< 1 minute readAustralia were probably down to their third-string attack in the third Test. We’re not sure how deep ‘bench strength’ needs to be these days, but they might want to stay shallower next time they play. This bowling attack was Australia’s choice, but Mitchell Johnson is basically a bowling machine set
Continue readingCategory: South Africa
Should Test cricket be about identifying the best team or the best squad?
< 1 minute readA couple of days ago, we wrote about the slow erosion of a Test team over the course of a series. This is part of the game, but at what point does it become too pronounced? Australia have omitted their two main pace bowlers for the third and final Test
Continue readingA three-Test marathon for Australia and South Africa
2 minute readThe modern Test series is more about endurance than ever before. It may feature fewer matches, but with little pause between them, it is more like one ongoing slog than a sequence of distinct skirmishes. We’ll see this vividly in the third and decisive Test between Australia and South Africa
Continue readingSouth Africa don’t really get spin bowling
< 1 minute readDo you see what happens, Larry? Do you see what happens? This is what happens. This is what happens when you pick an all-pace attack. Always pick a spinner. No matter how good your fast bowlers are, if the batsmen get into a rhythm, you can find yourself on the
Continue readingAustralia stick to their plans against Amla and Kallis
< 1 minute readThe plan was to target Jacques Kallis with lots of short stuff. Kallis has now faced lots and lots and lots of short stuff. Meanwhile, we dread to think how much verbal aggression Hashim Amla’s had to counter over the course of his 207-ball unbeaten innings. We imagine that verbal
Continue readingBrace yourselves – Australia have a dossier
< 1 minute readAnd it’s been leaked! We don’t really know what a dossier is. Is it just a piece of paper with a list on it? Whatever it is, it contains some staggering revelations: Australian bowlers are going to bowl some bouncers Australian cricketers are going to call an opponent names Apparently,
Continue readingJos Buttler dismantles Wayne Parnell
< 1 minute readWayne Parnell went for 37 off two overs yesterday. He conceded five in the first. In the second, Jos Buttler took him apart as if he were an old, rotten shed which had tried to have sex with his daughter. We’re not exactly sure how a shed would go about
Continue readingWhat are England and South Africa playing for tonight?
< 1 minute readAre they playing for pride, honour, a trophy? No! They’re playing for momentum. Going into the Twenty20 World Cup with this batting line-up, England will need as much momentum as they can get, because it rather feels like they’re about to roll into a brick wall rather than a little
Continue readingHashim Amla WILL NOT GO AWAY
< 1 minute readWe really like Hashim Amla, but by the box of Dujon, will he EVER stop batting? There’s one more match this summer and we have every reason to believe that he’ll bat out the overs and make a hundred. It seems the most likely outcome, even if it’s another nine
Continue readingCricket’s schadenfreude production line
2 minute readCongratulations, South Africa. Prepare for people to delight in your fall. In recent years, the Test rankings have been a kind of schadenfreude production line. One nation gets to the top and promptly celebrates and then everyone else celebrates even more heartily when the team in question drops down again.
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