1st Test: Australia v South Africa at Brisbane 9-13 Nov

[some11]

Who could hate him after last summer?

 

[Mr Angry]

Seems keeping himself fresh for tests, appears to work for his batting pretty well too.

 

[Canard]

Faf Du Plessis is my new favourite name in world cricket?

I wonder if Faf is a common nickname for Francios in Afrikaans?

 

[Mr Angry]

Well now it just needs setting it up for a choke.

Doubt it will happen but the only path to victory, as it stands.

Pitch is good, but a choke is in the head. These boys (RSA) should be too good and experienced for that, but hey couple of early wickets, game on!

Now 250 for Clarke, as he accelerates for the team.

 

[Danish]

Australia's last test match before this game was back in April where Clarke performed averagely in the West Indies. South Africa's last game was in August against England where Amla averaged 120 including a 300 not out.
But yeah - probably racism

Clarke isn't just ranked below Amla, he is ranked below 5 other batsmen.

This despite hitting between 300 and 400 more runs than all of them, as well as averaging 30-60 more than them and only playing a couple less tests.

There is no legitimate ranking system imaginable that could see him ranked below the rest of them unless they want to throw a whole bunch of subjective bullshit into the equation

 

[Canard]

Be good to compare the stats and the teams played against

Will his "ranking" not go up dramatically after the conclusion of this test though?

 

[Danish]

Who knows. They'll probably decide that the Saffers were off their game and the pitch was a flat track or something and give him bugger all points for it.

 

[Twizzle]

Wade starting to play a few shots now

ball is actually starting to do a bit, slight hope but still a draw for mine with our bowlers

 

[snoozer]

wade has woken up!

 

[Hutty1986]

f**k I love reading the Cricinfo comments. So many bitter, bitter Indian fans on there

 

[BunniesMan]

Clarke should get 300 at the very least if we're going to make a useless declaration today.

 

[El Diablo]

why the long face?

declared

 

[Hutty1986]

Steyn going for plenty. It's a world away from his cocky reaction after catching Quiney :lol: How things have changed

 

[BunniesMan]

Stupidity. I don't blame Clarke. He would have been attacked by idiots like the majority of people on this forum if he didn't declare.

Pointless declaration. Now our quicks will have to bowl on this road under this sun. Stupidity. Karma will see us get an injury.

 

[AlwaysGreen]

Clarke should get 300 at the very least if we're going to make a useless declaration today.

Derp.

 

[some11]

Stupidity. I don't blame Clarke. He would have been attacked by idiots like the majority of people on this forum if he didn't declare.

Pointless declaration. Now our quicks will have to bowl on this road under this sun. Stupidity. Karma will see us get an injury.

Calm the f**k down, you're making a mountain out of a mole hill.

 

[jargan83]

f**k I love reading the Cricinfo comments. So many bitter, bitter Indian fans on there

+1

It's great fun :lol:

 

[BunniesMan]

You bowl to win. Odds of us winning are astronomical. If you can't win you avoid bowling if it's possible. Make the opposition tire themselves out for no reward.

 

[AlwaysGreen]

Smith for mine is the key in this innings. If he plays aggressively they'll get over the 115 pretty quick. If he gets out early the likes of Peterson, Kallis and Amla will be under real pressure to diddle around for 4 or 5 hours.

 

[AlwaysGreen]

You bowl to win. Odds of us winning are astronomical. If you can't win you avoid bowling if it's possible. Make the opposition tire themselves out for no reward.

These are professional athletes we're talking about here, not pencil necked geeks who don't venture out of their boyfriend's Coffs Harbour basement for weeks on end.