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The series moved to Adelaide, on Australia day. And what a fantastic day it turned out to be for all of us who wanted to ruin it!

Once again Australia won the toss and decided to bat first. They really must use a different coin! I wonder if Ricky Ponting calls the same side at each toss.
Although they weren’t great deliveries, the build up of pressure got Warner and Marsh cheaply. I think Warner gets frustrated if he has a few dot balls against him. He then goes to slog to get runs regardless of the delivery. Then you always have a chance to get him out. Although the run rate was still very high, the wickets were crucial as the longer those 2 stay in, the quicker they can almost take the game away from you.

In came Ponting and Hussey. Ponting has been sooo lucky this series. Once again he was out 3 times, yet couldn’t make a century. The lbw by Steyn was umpired by Gould, and at least he is consistent so it wasn’t too bad. But the caught behind was blatant. Ponting certainly wasn’t going to walk, but one wonders what would have happened with a more vociferous appeal. Although an appeal is an appeal no matter how loud. Ponting has had so many chances and decisions go his way this series, it is a credit to South Africa he hasn’t really been able to make them count. Why can’t Kallis or Duminy get that!

Ponting though was scoring at a quick rate and had the Aussies in prime position at 110 for 2 at about a run a ball. Australia should have been aiming for 300, minimum, but credit to the South African bowlers and especially Johan Botha. A constant flow of wickets saw Australia crumble to 222.

Why do the Aussies play Cameron White if he doesn’t bowl? To me he is not good enough to make the team as a specialist batter, or bowler, so I can only suggest he is an all rounder. They’d be better off with a specialist batter such as Brad Hodge. Still I am not complaining.

It was important our batters start well to put all the pressure on Australia and not give them a sniff. The wicket was very good, as was the outfield. Some inspired hitting by Gibbs got us off to a rollicking start. It was good he maintained the aggression throughout his innings, he simply couldn’t readjust his shot to Hilfenhaus and got undone by the ball being a bit short to drive.

It was also good to see Kallis look to maintain the run rate and be aggressive. A pity he got out. I think he was trying to work the ball squarer. At that point it was important to either maintain wickets or maintain the scoring rate and get to the target as quickly as possible. Amla and De Villiers played superbly. No unnecessary risks were taken, just common sense batting of working the ball around for ones and two’s and then putting the bad ball away. It shows how easy it can be to score around 5-6 an over with sensible batting. It does make it easier I think when you have momentum and a good start.

In the end we got there comfortably with plenty of wickets and overs in hand. It was pleasing to see us maintain our professionalism and rub salt into the wound with a resounding victory. We didn’t even need our power play!

It has been a superb series win. Our middle stage bowling and middle order batting has been our strength. We still have plenty to work on, but we are heading in the right direction. What I liked most was the last 2 games where we batted with greater purpose and looked to improve the run rate or maintain the run rate at a good level. Have we finally learn the lesson? I hope so.

I’d like to test that out and see us bat first in Perth. I think we’ll blood a few youngsters, Parnell and Tsotsobe. They deserve a run, and Steyn and Ntini could use a rest. Van Jaarsveld deserves a chance too, possibly at the extent of McKenzie or Kallis. Whatever the result is not as important as developing our youngsters for the future, although i’d be nice to see the Aussies lose another one…

The 3rd one dayer was always going to be crucial in the context of the series. Considering how closely fought the whole summer has been, going 2-1 up would be a massive advantage.

Australia once again batted first, as they have largely done all summer. They also got off to a great start again, this time courtesy of Warner who went berserk and Marsh who was the perfect foil. Once the hundred came up, the Aussies should have been looking at 300+. But all summer the South African bowlers have refused to give up. That we have come back time and time again speaks wonders for our fighting spirit and attitude. The Aussies however need to look hard at themselves as they have underdelivered immensely considering their batting lineup, and the wonderful starts they have had.

At the interval I thought 270 was very gettable considering the smallish boundaries at the SCG. Once again we would need a good start. Where we won this game compared to Hobart, was the first 15 overs. Getting the run rate up was so useful. Sure we had a little bit of luck in the Aussies coughing up two wickets in the first over (both Gibbs and Amla were dropped), but Gibbs made them pay. Gibbs played well before once again he got out when he needed to push on and make the game safe for us.

Gibbs’ partnership with Kallis was the critical one. Getting the run rate up put the pressure on the Aussies and allowed us to then keep the scoreboard ticking over quite easily and delayed the bowling powerplay. Gibbs eventually got out to a very poor shot. De Villiers looked to be aggressive which I thought was great, but simply got out to a poorly executed shot. Duminy got exposed to a lack of footwork on a track that was starting to become variable and then Kallis went straight after. Kallis was looking to bat though, and his wicket was a big one. I am not as critical against Kallis as I am of Gibbs, because Kallis is our banker. He consistently gets good scores which the rest of the team can bat around. Sure he could easily have won the game for us, but he had done his job. Whereas when someone like Gibbs makes a start he has to make the most of it.

With 5 wickets down we were in a bit of trouble. As I have mentioned previously, if the run rate is good it puts so much less pressure on the new batsmen when they come to the crease and it doesn’t get out of control. This was a perfect example of batsmen being able to consolidate under little pressure and set up another go at winning the game. McKenzie and Boucher ended up going too slow, for too long and the run rate threatened to get away for us. But Mckenzie got out at the right time, and in strode Albie.

It was an interesting decision to take the power play straight away with Albie’s arrival. I thought we should’ve given him an over or two to get his eye in. But Albie started hitting boundaries from the first over he was in. How good was that!! Within 5 overs of the powerplay he had smashed the Aussie bowlers all over the place and effectively won us the game. I was glad he remained aggressive and tried to win us the game, as opposed to taking the foot off the accelerator and simply trying to pace the innings, once the run rate got down to a very easy equation. He just couldn’t get the final big shot in, but Botha came in and did it easily.

It will be a blow having Boucher out for the final 2 games, but that could be a blessing as I have felt he hasn’t batted well all tour except for the 3rd test match. He has a very closed grip which limits his shot making to the leg side. As Bracken has worked out, if you bowl wide of off stump, Boucher struggles to hit through the cover region. Even in this game I thought Boucher batted too slowly and during the pwerplay, almost undid the good work of Albie.

With Boucher out our batting will hopefully be strengthened, and i’d like to see us bat first in Adelaide and get away to a strong start from Gibbs and co. If we can then save wickets and let the likes of Albie cause destruction with the short Adelaide boundaries it would be interesting to see Australia chase 300 odd, and we’d have a good chance of wrapping up the series…

Jacques only requires another 12 runs in test cricket and already has 250 wickets. In the one day format he is only 16 runs away and requires 4 wickets. He will definitely get the runs in the next one dayer but may require the rest of the series to get the 4 wickets. It will be a remarkable achievement for a player who is one of the all time greats (well in my view anyway). I don?t think you?ll see a more technically correct, eloquent batsmen, whilst his bowling seems to do just what is required when the situation demands it. He possesses good change up deliveries, but can also produce good swing or pace when required also.

To put his performances in perspective, Ricky Ponting has only just passed 10000 test runs at a similar average, whilst he has 12000 one day runs at a slightly inferior average. These 2 players have played a similar number of games and started their careers at around the same time. As a bastmen Kallis is the equal of the best in the world, over the course of history. Add to that his wonderful bowling achievements (requiring practice, mental stress and increased likelihood of injury) over a prolonged period of time and one can see the enormous value Kallis has to South African cricket. He has been the rock of the SA batting lineup for a decade, and has been invaluable as a 3rd or 4th bowler.

If there is one criticism (and some are calling for his omission from the SA one day team) of Kallis it is his slow batting rate, more so in the limited overs format. I would certainly not be dropping him. He has shown the ability to score quickly on occasion, so I would be working more on the mental approach. That other observation I have made of Kallis is that although he is super consistent and never really plays badly, he rarely takes a game by the scruff of the neck and closes it out/wins it. (It is the same reason I think Tendulkar is overrated and not an all time great). It is indeed a pity Kallis doesn?t have a test double hundred, or a big one day hundred. Which makes his averages even more remarkable. He doesn?t score big, but he gets a decent score almost all the time. With greater self-belief and a more dynamic approach I hope to see Kallis destroy attacks and allow SA to show why we are the greatest team of all!

The coverage of cricket in Australia is a joke…a bad joke…

For a start coverage certainly doesn’t cover much extra. I am yet to see the toss, and captains commenting before play. Pitch conditions…non existent. Why? For the second ODI on sunday we went straight to ball one with coverage. There was certainly nothing special on beforehand so why can’t it be shown earlier.

In Australia all the different states get slightly different coverage. In Queensland which is an hour different to Melbourne and Sydney, ODI day nighters are a pain in the ass. They show the news while the game is being played. Why not show it during the innings break?? Instead they put pointless programs like temptation on. I was appalled in the first ODI to not be able to see the start of the South African innings. If Channel nine (which is absolute rubbish) can’t do justice to having the rights, rather let someone else have it. I’d prefer to see it on fox sports personally.

There is barely any post match coverage, except if Australia win. If South Africa win, the coverage simply ends. At the end of the Perth test match there were no interviews, wrap ups or anything of the like. Duminy hit the winning runs and that was the end of the coverage. Considering the game finished early and nothing else was scheduled, surely they could wrap the game up. After all we had just seen the second largest run chase in the history of test cricket…oh I forgot, Australia lost. Come on be a bit more professional than that Australia!

Melbourne wasn’t much better. The first series win by an overseas team in 16 years…oh no one in Australia wants to see that…

The commentary team is also pathetic. Channel nine’s team used to be highly respected. I’ve always liked Bill Lawry, he’s a straight shooter. Richie Benaud is too old and past it now. Tony Grieg is confused. He is pretty average and is South African born, captained England and loves Australia. He supports whoever is winning. Ian Chappell is another one i’ve always liked, but he is also getting to the end of his use by date.

The newer, younger commentators are pretty pathetic. I have always liked Mark Taylor as a captain and commentator. Insightful and honest. Ian Healy is a waste of time. Thinks he is a doctor, tries to always be enthusiastic and may as well simply wearing his canary yellow Australian colours each time he is on air. Michael Slater is much the same. And Mark Nicholas is an Englishman who now loves Australia. Overall they are all way too biased, and simply take something one person has picked up on (rightly or wrongly…usually wrongly) and simply each repeat it every time one of them comes on air. eg Duminy is a real find (well we’ve known about him for ages. And he had played 37 one dayers before this series), Harris is much improved (he’s never been bad, just that no one in Australia knew who he was or had seen him play), Herschelle Gibbs is great to watch (he has no footwork and pokes at the ball, and rarely ever comes off). I can’t stand their dribble…

Speaking of commentators there are not many good ones around. I love listening to Barry Richards (not just because he is South African, but because he is very astute and very fair), Robin Jackman isn’t bad, Ravi Shastri, and David Lloyd is another excellent observer too…I’ll be glad when the series starts in South Africa and I won’t have to watch nine or listen to their verbal garbage…

I also never knew Australia was the centre of the universe. Here they don?t even mention other international cricket games yet alone give you any coverage of them (except for fox sports which has some, but never the ones you really want to see!). Sports news only cover Australians. I think it’s disgraceful this so-called country that is sporting mad has such a biased view of the world. Prehaps when they are knocked back to the rest of the field that may change…

A Critical game in the context of the series saw Australia get home more as a result of South African ineptitude than Australian brilliance.

Australia overcame the early loss of Warner brilliantly through Ponting and Marsh. Although the South African catching was disgraceful. 3 dropped catches at this level is disgraceful. It ultimately cost us the game. Some of the fielding has been outstanding, especially a lot of the ground work. It kills the team when you give players of the calibre of Ponting and co. second and even third chances. Why after the test series has it become so bad? Change of personnel…well not that many have changed. I put it down to the loss of Smith and lack of focus and intensity.

We came back well in the bowling department to limit the Aussies to 250. At one stage I thought they’d get 320+ so we did really well. At the innings break I was reasonably confident we would win if we had a half decent start.

I’m used to us not trying to force the pace early and keep wickets in hand. As I have mentioned, I don’t think this strategy works. It puts too much pressure on the lower order and if you lose wickets you are screwed. I’d rather see a more even pace, and even better take the attack to the opposition and put them under pressure. If you start off well and go at 7-8 an over you open up the field (they won’t use their power play early either which means you can keep the batting and bowling power plays up your sleeve), you don’t need to take risks to get 6 an over comfortably, and in a worst case scenario if you do lose wickets you are still ahead of the rate and don’t put pressure on the new batsmen. The problem is the Proteas are conservative by nature, and always have been. We gotta change that asap…for me the coach Arthur has to go. I can’t see that happening. Without an agressive individual such as Smith (and I still think he is not aggressive enough) we will always be a shadow of the team we can be.

How a team can end 6 down in a run chase is beyond me. It says we were not aggressive enough. We didn’t take enough risks and try and win the game. I’d rather see us try to force the pace and get out. There is no use having wickets left. It’s like a runner still having gas in the tank at the end of the race…pointless. Didn’t try hard enough. We should have been forcing the pace earlier. Why we do this year after year is beyond me…could be the reason my hair is starting to grey prematurely…

Sydney looms as a crunch game on friday night…come on boys lets maak a bietjie noise!!!

JP Duminy has been a revelation on this tour. Many in SA have always believed he has the talent. He himself probably has not believed how good he is. I believe that is because he has never had the confidence of being a permanent fixture in the team. It shows how being in both the test and limited overs team can inspire the confidence to allow a player to exhibit his natural skills. Duminy has simply gone about doing his job, which he has done regardless of what is happening down the other end.

As with many South Africans he also misses home It has been wonderful for him to be able to play in front of his mother, which has also brought out the best in him.

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Duminy could quite easily have been another brilliant talent that slipped through SA’s grasp. Had it not been for an injury to Prince he may not have played test cricket for another couple of years.

 There is a message here for the SA selectors. Reward form. Pick on potential for the future and develop it. Get rid of those who don’t perform consistently ie Gibbs, De Villiers, Morne Morkel.

I was pleased Albie Morkel won us the game in Melbourne. He is such a talent too. I had the pleasure of meeting him and kicking a rugby ball around with him (well embarrassing myself really…) at the Basin Reserve 4 years ago. He can do anything. He kicks extremely well. I have no doubt if he wasn’t a cricketer, he’d probably be a Springbok. He needs to be a permanent fixture in the ODI team, and I believe he’d be a fantastic all rounder in the test team too. Get rid of his brother Morne and put in Albie. He bowls a bit slower, but has better accuracy and great variations (something many SA bowlers don’t work on enough), and he’d be a fantastic number 7 or 8, capable of scoring hundreds. I am sure he’ll gain a lot of confidence from Melbourne, and after winning us a few more games we may have another star too…

One thing I find strange in the world of cricket is how often the pyjama uniforms change (ODI playing strip). Why another strip is used for 20/20 is beyond me too.

We have seen some teams have many different shades of their national colours, or in New Zealand’s case experiment with any colour they can. They have had grey, white, teal (who in NZ believes that teal is their national colour?) and black.

And now we have Australia trying to go green. For the record there is only one green and gold. Australia should go back to their canary yellow!

The whole point of your uniform is to wear your national colours. You can’t simply decide you want a change and wear another colour. The ICC should have rules on these sorts of things.

A tight, tense affair at the MCG…as in the test series it came down to brilliance when it mattered most.

South Africa bowled ok, with Australia threatening at many stages to get a massive total. In the end our bowlers managed to keep the aussies in check and allow us a chance at a total of 270. In could have been much better had we field better and taken our catches. Van Jaarsveld dropped 2 sitters. What has happened to our fielding since the test matches??? I think the lack of Smith in the field is no coincidence to our drop off in intensity.

Our batting started our slowly as it usually does in run chases. After putting pressure on ourselves, Kallis and Duminy batted well to get the scoreboard ticking over and build a foundation. Unfortunately Kallis got undone by a slightly quicker ball from Clarke. However is was still short and should’ve gone to the boundary. That is the difference between the greats and the rest (I still class Kallis as a great but his average iof 31 against Australia which is 14 below his career shows he has to step up more often when needed)

Duminy and McKenzie batted well to put us in a winning position, but then after Duminy got out we tried as hard as possible to lose the game. With 5 overs left, 50 needed and only 3 wickets, we had a 20% chance of winning. We needed a hero. Step up Albie Morkel. What a great innings. Powerful, clean hitting, all around the park. One of the best sixes you’ll ever see 30 rows back down the ground at the MCG. A beautiful 4 over cover, a deft touch between gully and keeper, past short fine leg, Albie had all the strokes.

Even better than beating Australia and getting a 1-0 lead in the series was maintaining our unbeaten record against Australia at the MCG. 6 and 0. Heading to Hobart, a chance to make it all count and heap the pressure right on the enemy…

Disappointing…South Africa lost to Australia in the second 20/20 match at the Gabba. Not surprising really as we didn’t even try to win.

The game was only about 3km from where we live, I am glad I didn’t go as I would have been very disappointed. Losing I can deal with…well with time anyway the pain lessens slightly…but not trying hard enough to win kills me. It has been our problem since readdmission. Conservatism, trying not to lose instead of going out to win. Instead of backing ourselves to get 200 we aim to get 150. 

The problem when we bat first (and even when we bat second to an extent) is that we bat to slowly. Our game plan in limited over formats is to conserve wickets for a heave at the end of the innings. It doesn’t work. A more evenpace is much better.  Going at 5 an over for the first 10 with wickets in hand means that even if you accelerate (and it is often hard to change that momentum) and get 10 an over for the last 10, you still only end up with a score of 150. This strategy is highly risky in that if you lose wickets…you are screwed. You have no come back. Rather go hard early. Aim for 8-10 an over for the first ten. Get momentum…put pressure on the opposition. Get easier runs in the middle of the innings as the field spreads more, and the bowlers then strive harder to try for that wicket delivery. Even if you lose 4-5 wickets, you can still bat sensibly say  5 overs at 8 an over, and get 10 an over for the last 5. That gets you 170 conservatively.

Overall SA cricket needs a change of attitude as Coach Arthur aims to build his 2011 world cup winning team. Nothing will change until we try winning games, take more risks and believe in our ability more.

As I stated after the tests, Johan Botha is not the right man to lead us. In Melbourne he said he struggled to get the attention of his fielders. That is one of the worst excuses for leadership I have heard. At the Gabba, it was evident he had no control. Boucher and McKenzie tried hard to show some leadership. The fact we struggle without Smith is a sad endictment for our team.

It was also sad that Parnell got a laser light shone in his eyes while trying to take a catch. I knew I should have gone to the Gabba and abused the Australians! However even I wouldn’t stoop to their level…

On to Melbourne for the ODI’s. We have never lost a ODI to Australia there. We are 5 from 5. I fear for that record on friday night. We will need better selection (I am not sure Van Jaarsveld looks to have the right technique to score quickly, Parnell looks like he will be better in a longer format of the game, and i’d like to see tsotsobe given a run); a better attitude and our big guns to fire. Gibbs will produce his customary 1 good innings in the series and struggle in 3-4 of his other innings, but Kallis, Duminy, and Amla have to make hundreds if we have any chance. Unfortunately I predict  a 4-1 series win to Australia. I hope I am wrong…go Proteas!!!

The first 20/20 fixture turned out to be a disaster for us. 2 weeks ago the MCG was a ground were history was made, and the gods smiled upon us. Since then we have been very average, on the decline and allowing Australia to gain momentum which we will find hard to turn around.

Overall we were outplayed…Batting, bowling and fielding. Losing Smith is a major setback, but we have enough experience to deal with it better than we have. I have never felt Johan Botha is a man to lead us…I think he’s lucky to be in the side.  I didn’t think his explanation that we were taken by surprise was adequate. Does he think the game is played according to a script? All in all I felt he was too reactive.

Once Warner got going, granted he was hard to stop. But bowling to his strengths is not the best tactic. All of our bowlers (other than Morkel who changed his pace effectively) bowled length balls in his hitting zone. Why not bowl yorkers??? Stem the flow of runs and the pressure turns back to the batters. Allow him a boundary or 2 an over and the fielding side wants to hide. Ntini and Steyn showed how effective they can be by bowling the right length, unfortunately they waited until the 16th over.  It is a pity Tsotsobe has been dropped for Brisbane. I thought he had a decent debut, and got the early wicket too. Why he only got 2 overs i’ll never know. Why do we never give these black bowlers much of a chance?

So after a bad start I thought we fought back well, to have a 50/50 chance at the interval. Unfortunately our fielding was a bit poor and didn’t apply enough pressure.

On the batting front, what a dismal effort. Other than Duminy who is a star, we were shambolic. As I have mentioned many a time, why do we persist with Gibbs? De Villiers was awful…what an embarrassment having to leave the field and barely be able to walk off. As I mentioned last week, where has his game gone since Perth. He is another player to promise so much yet deliver so haphazardly (interestingly him and Duminy are the same age yet how long did we wait to give Duminy a go? yet we have persisted so long with De Villiers). Once Kallis went, we had put pressure on ourselves with wickets and run rate. The match was effectively over. Even a brilliant innings from Duminy couldn’t rescue us. By the way was I the only one who thought the ball that got Duminy out was going down leg?? Where is hawkeye when you want it?

In the field I thought the Aussies were brilliant. Where they got lots of 2′s, we only picked up singles. They displayed better field placement awareness and bowled to their field better.

So to Brisbane on tuesday…a chance for redemption and to halt the slide. I’d like to see us bat first, but more importantly take our chances. Put the pressure on them and get some momentum back heading into the ODI’s…