Tour Match: South Africa A vs. Australians at Potchefstroom 20-22 Feb

[JJ]

McGain certainly has made a difference :lol:

 

[Collingwood Storm]

McGain and Siddle were riding the porcelain bus on the final day while Ponting, McDonald and a couple of others had to take regular breaks from the field. In the end one of the conditioning coaches had to be a substitute fielder.

This game was a 'first class' match with XI vs XI, not some mickey mouse game where the whole squad plays, XI bat and XI bowl, which is why the batsmen officially 'retired hurt' rather than just 'retired'.

 

[lockyno1]

Bollinger - 3/29

Hilfy got top order wickets when the pitch was at its flattest. Plus he is a GENUINE SWING BOWLER!

 

[Twizzle]

so is Bollinger

 

[lockyno1]

Not as much as Hilfenhaus, hardly swung the ball at all at the SCG and that is his best venue. I'd rather go to the form bowler in the Pura Cup- Hilfenhaus

 

[aussies1st]

Hilfy got top order wickets when the pitch was at its flattest. Plus he is a GENUINE SWING BOWLER!

Wickets? He only got 1 top order wicket. There isn't much you can take out of the match in the battle between the two Bollinger had a shocker 1st inns but adjusted in the 2nd while Hilfy went wicketless. The Wanderers is a seamers pitch so both should play anyway which gives a final shoot out.

 

[lockyno1]

Gosh I hate playing 4 quicks, it is ridiculously boring to watch.

 

[HevyDevy]

Gosh I hate playing 4 quicks, it is ridiculously boring to watch.

If you compare that with how boring your posts are you might start to understand what we go through having to read your dribble every day.

 

[Big Mick]

Play Hilfry, Bollinger, Siddle and Johnson. Put North in the #6..he's the best spinner in the country anyway...and took 6 wickets for 11 each that McGain took 2 @ 60 on...don't see the point in picking that Victorian over him..

4 strike bowlers and North's spin, along with Clarke's makes a reasonable attack imo.

1. Phil Hughes
2. Simon Katich
3. Ricky Ponting
4. Michael Hussey
5. Marcus North
6. Brad Haddin
7. Andrew McDonald
8. Mitchell Johnson
9. Peter Siddle
10. Ben Hilfenhaus
11. Doug Bollinger
12th Man - Bryce McGain

If Clarke is fit, put him in instead of McDonald, and up to #5. Everyone else shifts down 1.

Thats the best we got. McGain is a nothing bowler. Sorry...but he was just as expensive as Krejza with less wickets...North is better than both and 10x better bat. No brainer imo.

 

[lockyno1]

I would rather have North at 4, and drop Hussey back to 6 where he was amazingly successful. North suits no4.

 

[hineyrulz]

McGain will definately play, they won't risk just playing North as the spinner. Because Clarke will not bowl do to his back still being no good.

 

[Twizzle]

McGain, Sidle and Punter are all sick with a stomach bug according to Foxsports

not looking good

 

[GTF]

its because they can only retire hurt..theres no such thing as 'retiring because i wanna give our other batters a go'...it'd be good and funny though haha

Wrong

Australians 2nd innings (target: 226 runs) R M B 4s 6s SR
PJ Hughes retired out 53 93 79 8 0 67.08
MJ North retired out 50 95 83 5 0 60.24

 

[Collingwood Storm]

McGain will definately play, they won't risk just playing North as the spinner. Because Clarke will not bowl do to his back still being no good.

Yeah, someone made a good point on radio today. That was North's first 5 wicket haul in his FC career and he has played over 120 FC matches, would you bank on him as your only spinner in a test match?

 

[caylo]

Clarke has been ruled fit to play, unless something unexpected occurs. McGain and Siddle are said to have Gastro but should be oh k. I think a side similar to:

Hughes
Katich
Ponting
Hussey
Clarke
North
Haddin
Johnston/McGain
Siddle
Hilfenhuas
Bollinger


I think Hilfy and Bollinger should play as the pitch will seam and swing, and Siddle will be important to seam the ball around. Johnson would be the player i wouldn't bowl... but that will never happen. Johnson may get some reverse and seam movement, but he still needs to work on his wrist position because bowling srambled seam will not get much swing or seam movement. His best balls are when he bowls cutter (at 145km mind you), and the movement is difficult to control. If he could spend a period to fix up his action (not be so round arm, etc) he would be a left arm Styne, but atm good batsmen work him out to easy.

 

[Twizzle]

the problem with Johnson playing on a seaming pitch is that he very rarely hits the seam

 

[aussies1st]

Yeah, someone made a good point on radio today. That was North's first 5 wicket haul in his FC career and he has played over 120 FC matches, would you bank on him as your only spinner in a test match?

When you have 4 seamers you aren't looking at him to take a 5 fer. 1 or 2 wickets and keeping it tight is all he needs to do. In SA last test at the Wanderers Harris only bowled 7 overs for the whole match.

 

[Tonearm Terrorwrist]

Yeah, someone made a good point on radio today. That was North's first 5 wicket haul in his FC career and he has played over 120 FC matches, would you bank on him as your only spinner in a test match?

he's not going at 6 an over like mcgain, krejza and hauritz

yes, i would bank on him ...apparently krejza and hauritz get played to tie down one end, north can do it better ... you Victorians give the excuse "left handers" for mcgain being belted, so that rules him out

 

[Bazal]

When you have 4 seamers you aren't looking at him to take a 5 fer. 1 or 2 wickets and keeping it tight is all he needs to do. In SA last test at the Wanderers Harris only bowled 7 overs for the whole match.

Exactly. Wanderers is not a spinners pitch, we're better off with 4 quicks and then using North and Clarke to give them some relief if need be. Anyone bar Shane Warne is wasted as a spinner on the Wanderers pitch. We're more likely to take 20 wickets with 4 quicks and who knows, Clarke or North might chip in with a few as well

 

[pnub]

he's not going at 6 an over like mcgain, krejza and hauritz

yes, i would bank on him ...apparently krejza and hauritz get played to tie down one end, north can do it better ... you Victorians give the excuse "left handers" for mcgain being belted, so that rules him out

Actually I think you'll find that he did go for over 6 an over in the second innings of the match.

11 overs 0 maidens 6 wickets for 69 with a economy of 6.27 so really that’s only .4 better than McGain.

Now if your referring to his state record as not going for that many runs an over well McGains Economy in his first class matches is 3.28 compared to North’s 3.12 so once again pretty much the same. Its only when you look at the simple fact that in 21 first class games Mcgain has taken 64 wickets compared to 96 in 126 matches for North that you see McGain is the better wicket taking bowler by far out of the two.

Now who they go for in the test match well I think that depends on the wicket, if its the greentop that they are expecting well the best choice would be North with the four seamers because why bother with a spinner if your not going to bowl them. But when the pitch shows promise of spin later in the game well the obvious choice would be to play McGain instead of one of the quicks and then choose between McDonald or North for the all rounders position.