2nd Test: South Africa v Australia at Port Elizabeth Feb 20-24, 2014

[El Diablo]

sheep rooters still masturbating over the pie chucker

 

[lockyno1]

Philander somehow jags 1 wicket and he is the best ever according to NZ lol! Seriously Parnell and Steyn were the most dangerous!

 

[JJ]

Good chance for Lyon to occupy the crease here.

Reminds me a bit of Gillespie.

Lot to like about Nathan Lyon, as the was with Gillespie (hair style aside).

Lyon's turned into a decent test spinner, I could never understand why there was this desperation to try a range of other options

 

[JJ]

Philander somehow jags 1 wicket and he is the best ever according to NZ lol! Seriously Parnell and Steyn were the most dangerous!

Nobody said best ever... Official rankings say he is currently #2... but good to see facts never get in way of imbeciles

 

[El Diablo]

Philander somehow jags 1 wicket and he is the best ever according to NZ lol! Seriously Parnell and Steyn were the most dangerous!

they're a sad bunch of backward bastards

 

[man2iel_]

I know very little about Parnell outside the fact he earned a recall and he looked really, really good on that pitch whilst Philander is the World Class bowler his record suggests he is.

 

[BunniesMan]

Anyone who thinks Philander isn't one of the best bowlers in the world needs their head checked.

 

[El Diablo]

piss off mucus

 

[JJ]

some interesting points being made, El Diablo responding with some true gems, love it

 

[herbert henry1908]

Lot to like about Nathan Lyon, as the was with Gillespie (hair style aside).

Lyon's turned into a decent test spinner, I could never understand why there was this desperation to try a range of other options

I like how he gives 100% every single match.


But finger spinners are always walking a tightrope. That's the nature of the beast.

 

[JJ]

I like how he gives 100⅝ every single match.


But finger spinners are always walking a tightrope. That's the nature of the beast.

They are, but I don't think they should be... most wrist spinners are pretty ordinary tbh, far too many bad balls.

You had a freakish era, and amongst that were Warne and MacGill, but wrist spinners of that quality are pretty rare, before that it was probably Benaud (not sure he was in that class as a bowler, but obviously a fine all-rounder and leader) and then O'Reilly and Grimmett (who was actually a Kiwi ) Wrist spinners are more often like Bryce McGain and Peter Sleep than Shane Warne.

Lyon's an honest cricketer, and become a very good test offie IMO... plus, obviously a good team man, and that cannot be underrated

 

[Tonearm Terrorwrist]

its about time Clarkey stood up and made some runs, he is one of the reasons our top order is not firing atm

You can not be serious?

 

[herbert henry1908]

They are, but I don't think they should be... most wrist spinners are pretty ordinary tbh, far too many bad balls.

You had a freakish era, and amongst that were Warne and MacGill, but wrist spinners of that quality are pretty rare, before that it was probably Benaud (not sure he was in that class as a bowler, but obviously a fine all-rounder and leader) and then O'Reilly and Grimmett (who was actually a Kiwi ) Wrist spinners are more often like Bryce McGain and Peter Sleep than Shane Warne.

Lyon's an honest cricketer, and become a very good test offie IMO... plus, obviously a good team man, and that cannot be underrated

Most of the spinners we've tried since warne & McGill have been finger spinners.


There's never really been a long term finger spinner in Australian cricket, so that might explain why people don't expect anyone to last.

 

[BunniesMan]

People are less than excited about Lyon because for obvious reasons a top class leggie is better than a top class offie. We basically play offies until we find another wrist spinner who has got the goods.

Lyon is doing a good job and there is nobody else in contention. But hopefully before long there will be a good wrist spinner pushing for selection.

You can not be serious?

He's not wrong. Clarke's been there all along. He's now on a bit of a run of poor scores. So yes he is part of the problem.

Obviously nobody in their right mind is saying to drop him. That doesn't mean he's not adding to our top order issues.

 

[Tonearm Terrorwrist]

Clarke's poor form is in no way an excuse for the poor form of the top order, that's absurd.

He's out of form yes, he's not the reason the others usually are.

 

[JJ]

Most of the spinners we've tried since warne & McGill have been finger spinners.


There's never really been a long term finger spinner in Australian cricket, so that might explain why people don't expect anyone to last.

Not long-term or great in the Warne, O'Reilly, Grimmett moulds... But the likes of Bruce Yardley and Ashley Mallett were good bowlers...

Anyway, I hope your selectors retain faith in Lyon, it's the top 6 where there should be concern

 

[TheParraboy]

Too many cricket fans demonstrate "prisoner of the moment" mentality when discussing our opposition and our very own players. The SA bowling attack has been consistently the best attack in the world for a couple years at least now yet some wrote them off as a Zimbabwe type attack after one test.

If we are to climb to the top of the cricketing world we need to show we have the metal to come back from this type of spot away from home. I love Test cricket and we are neck deep in one right now. I look forward to seeing how far we have come as a Test cricket playing nation in a few days time...

Goes both ways champ

If you are no1, and get spanked on your own deck, then have the need to doctor the next deck to make sure the opposition don't win, all ain't rosy either

They have clearly the better batting lineup. They clearly have the better bowling lineup (according to rankings). It on their home soil. They are clearly the favourites for this series. You would imagine they will comeback and win it. Or will they use niggling injuries and gastro as excuses?

Sure it is up to us to see how well we do, but as reminded by plenty we aint a great side playing against a great side.

And one last humbling thing, when your no1 on the rankings for a while, it doesn't stay there forever, eventually there is only one way the arrow can move, and it ain't up

 

[man2iel_]

Clarke's best score in his last 10 Test innings is 24. Fact.

Clark is not our problem nor would we entertain dropping him though he, like others have pointed out, is part of the problem in the top order of late. We need a big score from our skipper and it will come sooner rather than later.

 

[TheParraboy]

sack Clarke, smith captain

bring in the big show

 

[El Diablo]

Clarke's best score in his last 10 Test innings is 24. Fact.

:lol:

he has scored 2 centuries in his last 12 innings. fact