3rd Test - South Africa v Australia

[The Coon Dog]

Interesting changes made by the South Africans for the 3rd test which starts next week in Cape Town.

Greame Smith has a broken finger & will miss, while Neil McKenzie & Morne Morkel have been dropped.

Vice Captain Ashwell Prince returns to the side & will open the batting. Interestingly South Africa have decided that Jacques Kallis will captian the side & allow Prince to concentrate on opening.

Imraan Khan will make his test debut & open the batting with Prince.

Left arm quick Wayne Parnell, just 19 years old is added to the 12 which also includes Albie Morkel who was 12th man in Durban.

A very different looking side indeed.

[Missing Dog]

Re: 3rd Test - South Africa v Australia

The real question is will we drop McDonald for McGain? What's the pitch like in Cape Town?

[hujsh]

Re: 3rd Test - South Africa v Australia

SA selectors don't look great flip-flopping like that. Don't get why they didn't take more time to get the decision right.

[Happy Days]

Re: 3rd Test - South Africa v Australia

The real question is will we drop McDonald for McGain? What's the pitch like in Cape Town?

Surely, if for no other reason than to see what McGain is like at international level. It is, after all, a dead rubber.

[GVGjr]

Re: 3rd Test - South Africa v Australia

Surely, if for no other reason than to see what McGain is like at international level. It is, after all, a dead rubber.

It's not a dead rubber in my opinion. Currently in 5 tests against SA we have won 3 and lost 2 so this game is still fairly important.

[lemmon]

Re: 3rd Test - South Africa v Australia

Shouldnt treat this as a dead rubber IMO, its an opportunity to white wash and leave it in no doubt that we are the best team in the world. Theres no arguing with a 3-0 result.

[Topdog]

Re: 3rd Test - South Africa v Australia

Shouldnt treat this as a dead rubber IMO, its an opportunity to white wash and leave it in no doubt that we are the best team in the world. Theres no arguing with a 3-0 result.

India would argue it.

We should play McGain though.

[The Coon Dog]

Re: 3rd Test - South Africa v Australia

Ricky Ponting has again won the toss & elected to bat.

Just the one change for Australia, Bryce McGain replaces Marcus North who is still suffering from gastro.


South Africa: 1 Imraan Khan, 2 Ashwell Prince, 3 Hashim Amla, 4 Jacques Kallis (capt), 5 AB de Villiers, 6 JP Duminy, 7 Mark Boucher (wk), 8 Albie Morkel, 9 Paul Harris, 10 Dale Steyn, 11 Makhaya Ntini.

Australia: 1 Phillip Hughes, 2 Simon Katich, 3 Ricky Ponting (capt), 4 Michael Hussey, 5 Michael Clarke, 6 Brad Haddin (wk), 7 Andrew McDonald, 8 Mitchell Johnson, 9 Peter Siddle, 10 Bryce McGain, 11 Ben Hilfenhaus.

[Sockeye Salmon]

Re: 3rd Test - South Africa v Australia

Ricky Ponting has again won the toss & elected to bat.

Just the one change for Australia, Bryce McGain replaces Marcus North who is still suffering from gastro.


South Africa: 1 Imraan Khan, 2 Ashwell Prince, 3 Hashim Amla, 4 Jacques Kallis (capt), 5 AB de Villiers, 6 JP Duminy, 7 Mark Boucher (wk), 8 Albie Morkel, 9 Paul Harris, 10 Dale Steyn, 11 Makhaya Ntini.

Australia: 1 Phillip Hughes, 2 Simon Katich, 3 Ricky Ponting (capt), 4 Michael Hussey, 5 Michael Clarke, 6 Brad Haddin (wk), 7 Andrew McDonald, 8 Mitchell Johnson, 9 Peter Siddle, 10 Bryce McGain, 11 Ben Hilfenhaus.

I like the balance. 5 genuine bowlers and McDonald is a decent no 7 bat.

[GVGjr]

Re: 3rd Test - South Africa v Australia

I like the balance. 5 genuine bowlers and McDonald is a decent no 7 bat.

The only problem is that with Hussey having questionable form if the openers don't get us off to a start then the batting depth is exposed. McDonald at 7 seems about right though.

[mighty_west]

Re: 3rd Test - South Africa v Australia

Surely, if for no other reason than to see what McGain is like at international level. It is, after all, a dead rubber.

May be a dead rubber as far as the series goes, but it's definatly not a dead match, you choose a team to win, not to develop, saying that, it's great to see McGain get a shot.

[ledge]

Re: 3rd Test - South Africa v Australia

Had to play McGain or it looked ridiculous taking him at his age.

[dog town]

Re: 3rd Test - South Africa v Australia

Regardless of whether you would have used a batsmen in this game it was ridiculous from the selectors to bring two specialist spinners rather than a back up batsmen. These are some of the most fast bowler friendly wickets in the world and arguably the only reason we have ended up using a spinner in this test is because a batsmen was crook. The selectors have also been quick to point out that they see North as an all rounder. If he is an all rounder it makes it even more absurd that we took 2 specialist spinners over.

They have got a hell of a lot right lately but that was a mistake.

[azabob]

Re: 3rd Test - South Africa v Australia

The only problem is that with Hussey having questionable form if the openers don't get us off to a start then the batting depth is exposed. McDonald at 7 seems about right though.

GCGjr I thought you wanted to have this balance all summer?
Now they are doing that you are questioning the batting depth.
Or am I mistaken?

[GVGjr]

Re: 3rd Test - South Africa v Australia

GCGjr I thought you wanted to have this balance all summer?
Now they are doing that you are questioning the batting depth.
Or am I mistaken?

If McDonald had shown a bit more with the bat in his 3 prior tests I'd be a bit more confident. I didn''t think he was a Test number 6 in his first test and unfortunately batting him at number 8 meant that he batted like a number 8 and just hasn't quite worked either. I think at number 7 it's the right spot for him to make the best of this chance.

To be honest, for this test I would have preferred that North played (obviously he couldn't) and McGain to replace McDonald. With North out this was the best side we could put on the park.

We are two wickets down and it will be interesting to see if we can still compile a good score.