Graeme Smith's declaration was....

[brent]

Your thoughts?

[spell_check]

There was no way he was going to get anything out of the series if he declared any later.

[Punk Rooster]

Sporting.
Bayman is the only one with the right to sledge him, but for everyone else, he put cricket first & gave the Aussies a genuine chance of winning the game, and giving RSA a sniff in getting some wickets with attacking cricket. Unfortunately for him, Kallis & Prince batting like old ladies inthe 1st innings put some pressure on RSA, Ntini is out injured, Pollock is 43 yo, not 23 yo, the deck wasn't like a traditional Sydney wicket, and he was lacking quality spinners. Certainly with the series 1-0 in favour of the Aussies, he was entitled to throw the game away at the risk of wining it, he had nothing to lose. Smith also had history on his side, but for reasons I've outlined, the conditions were right for history to be made.
PS "Too Late" roflmao....

[MightyEagles]

I thought that it was a bit early. And to think that People bagged Ponting for declaring to late in Perth.

[JK]

To be honest I've thought for quite sometime there was a question mark over the Aussies ability to bat out a draw (no doubt we're not the only ones who find that difficult) so I think (and I thought at the time) Smiths declaration gave us too much of an opportunity to win, I think he would have been better served by having less overs at us, whilst in an impregnable position.

Don't get me wrong though, I think his declaration was very sporting, and I think he deserves credit for putting it all on the line to give his team the opportunity to square the series, and for that he should be roundly applauded!

[Booney]

With the marvel of glasses for hindsight,way too early.At the time they walked off I thought about 50 runs too few,anything over 300 would not have been as temtping for the Aussies.70 odd over and 320 would have been shut up shop time.But,keep in mind,the two blokes who scored the runs batted extrodinarily well.A good balance to keep in mind when thinking of Pontings declaration in Perth,Rudolph played an innings we rarely see,batting 20 overs late on day 4 and all of day 5,and well assisted by Kemp for 4+ hours on the last day.
So with Ponting and Hayden making 230 between them,not what Smith would have thought possible,and Rudolph and Kemp batting as they did a few weeks back,both declarations would have normally favoured the team feilding last,but,you never know.

[Ian]

With the marvel of glasses for hindsight,way too early............


But,keep in mind,the two blokes who scored the runs batted extrodinarily well.

Spot on, and the Springboks should be congratulated on making a game of it, looking back at the first 3 innings, and considering it was a 5th day Sydney wicket that was rain effected, who would have thought the Aussies could possibly score at that rate while keeping wickets in hand.


PS: Congratulations to Ricky Ponting, the first player to score 100 runs in each innings of his 100th Test.

[Wedgie]

I voted for spot on and commend him for it, there's not much difference between 2 nil down or 1 nil down at the end of a series.
The rain robbed them of making an even bigger lead and the Aussies did score a SCG record to chase.

[RustyCage]

If he declared any later he wouldn't have had enough time to take the 10 wickets. Kallis should have batted a bit quicker to get more of a lead, but the timing of the declaration was spot on.

[Rik E Boy]

If he declared any later he wouldn't have had enough time to take the 10 wickets. Kallis should have batted a bit quicker to get more of a lead, but the timing of the declaration was spot on.

OTM Paff. Kallis is the villian here, not Smith.

regards,

REB

[Jimmy]

he needed to declare to have a chance at winning, but they just werent good enough to win, stiff shit proteas

[scott]

There was no way he was going to get anything out of the series if he declared any later.

Bang. Spot on.

He took a much-needed risk, but unfortunately for him, it failed. At least he made a game of it.

[MagicKiwi]

I voted spot on. And agree very sporting of him. I thought it clearly stated "we will win or we will lose - no draw" and I like that.