Test Squad for South African Tour - predictions & discussion

[mal]

OK
Mr Sleepy
Doggy
Jimbo
The Clarke critics in this innings


The South Africans will give Clarke more chin deliveries b4 this series has finished
They have won round 1
How should Clarke play from here on ?
Should he play the same shot ?
Should he pull and hook at everything ?
Should he fend them off defensively?
Should he just duck and Weave ?
Should he sway back to the legside and slash through the offside [like Bradman v Larwood] ?
Should he use a tactic I have not posted ?

WHUFC you can post as well

Can anyone post what Clarke should do ?
Clarke was caught at fine leg playing a pull shot off SSsSsSsteyn

[Mr Beefy]

OK
Mr Sleepy
Doggy
Jimbo
The Clarke critics in this innings


The South Africans will give Clarke more chin deliveries b4 this series has finished
They have won round 1
How should Clarke play from here on ?
Should he play the same shot ?
Should he pull and hook at everything ?
Should he fend them off defensively?
Should he just duck and Weave ?
Should he sway back to the legside and slash through the offside [like Bradman v Larwood] ?
Should he use a tactic I have not posted ?

WHUFC you can post as well

Can anyone post what Clarke should do ?
Clarke was caught at fine leg playing a pull shot off SSsSsSsteyn

Hit it over fine legs head for six

[Stumps]

OK
Mr Sleepy
Doggy
Jimbo
The Clarke critics in this innings


The South Africans will give Clarke more chin deliveries b4 this series has finished
They have won round 1
How should Clarke play from here on ?
Should he play the same shot ?
Should he pull and hook at everything ?
Should he fend them off defensively?
Should he just duck and Weave ?
Should he sway back to the legside and slash through the offside [like Bradman v Larwood] ?
Should he use a tactic I have not posted ?

WHUFC you can post as well

Can anyone post what Clarke should do ?
Clarke was caught at fine leg playing a pull shot off SSsSsSsteyn

Remember the ashes first innings dismissal MAL and how his next few innings' went. I have a feeling he will respond as all truly great players do, and continue to bat norMALly and do a combination of the above as he sees fit, and not premeditate too much at all

[mal]

4/297 Stumps
122 * Shaun Marsh
90 *East Coast Smith

Special thanks to Graham Smith after winning the toss and deciding to send Australia in

SA have won 9 out of 11 tests bowling first at Centurion.

I commend your research
BUT
Never said anywhere in this thread that putting Australia in to bat was a good or poor choice by Smith
But I am norMALly critical of Captains for sending the opposition in

So I will post the same again
Special thanks to Graham Smith for winning the toss and deciding to send Australia in

[Johno6]

mal - were you more of a hooker or a puller back in your day?

[rod_rooster]

4/297 Stumps
122 * Shaun Marsh
90 *East Coast Smith

Special thanks to Graham Smith after winning the toss and deciding to send Australia in

SA have won 9 out of 11 tests bowling first at Centurion.

Doesn't matter its the first Test of the series and it was far from a green top. All he's done from the toss is feed our Ego's and Clarke fired a shot @ the toss saying "We'd bat first anyway".

First day of a series @ home against capable opposition you go out and bat and take them on. Weak as piss...

South Africa are a very good team but they are conservative in their approach. They approach Test cricket with the mindset of not losing as their first priority as opposed to winning being their first priority. The recent fourth innings run chase against India where they opted not to go for the runs when they were odds on to win if they did is evidence of this.

[mal]

mal - were you more of a hooker or a puller back in your day?

HARD WICKETS
Step back to square leg and hit through the offside
A shot both Don Bradman and I used in our careers
It was not text book, but was my most prolific scoring shot
If the ball was aimed at my head , the first tactic was to get out of line , cant get hurt that way
I was scared of fast bowlers bouncing me

TURF WICKETS
Bounce was lower than hard wickets
The BradMal offside tactic was less successful
If the ball was short and wide would play cuts and pulls
If it was at the body would defend or move out of line
If the ball was aimed at my head , just get out of line


In answer to your question
Slasher YES
Puller YES[on hard wickets mainly]
Hooker RARELY

[whufc]

Is The Blonde Dons innings so far one of the most faultless 91 you have seen.

coming in at 4/100 against the worlds best attack on their deck.

iirc he hasn't given a dropped chance, a genuine lbw shout, catchable chances.

Has been a very very very good innings so far.

He has also decided to put away the cut shot as well until very late in the day when he was perfectly set.

[mal]

STEYN/PHILANDER/MORKEL
3/165 [54]

MCLAREN/PETERSON/DUMINY
1/121 [36]

Mclaren must be given time at this level
Looks a reasonable bowler
I would say most Test batsmen would like facing Peterson and Duminy though

[tigerpie]

Kudos Marsh. Got dropped early apparently (not sure if it was an easy catch or not) but a lot of blokes that arent up for test cricket would have detonated and got out soon after. He stuck it out and made a deserved ton, when Australia needed him to.
Steve Smith will be the next skipper...chanceless knock under pressure. He has the goods.

WTF would you send us in for?
No balls at all, and sent a very poor message....we dont wanna face your quicks on a slippery deck.
Today is crucial for us in the series. Make em bowl at us until at least tea and test their bowlers fitness or break em down.
Then attack Smith with a battery of quick hostile stuff and watch them fold.

[bennymacca]

Is The Blonde Dons innings so far one of the most faultless 91 you have seen.

coming in at 4/100 against the worlds best attack on their deck.

iirc he hasn't given a dropped chance, a genuine lbw shout, catchable chances.

Has been a very very very good innings so far.

He has also decided to put away the cut shot as well until very late in the day when he was perfectly set.

Smith was one that everyone said a few years ago shouldn't be in the team but they stuck with him and he has been proving us all wrong ever since. Love watching him bat too, has a lot of enthusiasm, you can tell he just loves being out there, not unlike hussey in that regard

[mal]

A few posters bagged the crap out of Steve Smith, and look how that turned out.
Marsh has a good technique against the quicks. Growing up on the bouncy decks has helped.
Not saying he deserves his spot but the guy can bat and at his best will score big runs. Another bloody left hander though!

Come on Tigerpie
When your right quote forward !

[whufc]

Is The Blonde Dons innings so far one of the most faultless 91 you have seen.

coming in at 4/100 against the worlds best attack on their deck.

iirc he hasn't given a dropped chance, a genuine lbw shout, catchable chances.

Has been a very very very good innings so far.

He has also decided to put away the cut shot as well until very late in the day when he was perfectly set.

Smith was one that everyone said a few years ago shouldn't be in the team but they stuck with him and he has been proving us all wrong ever since. Love watching him bat too, has a lot of enthusiasm, you can tell he just loves being out there, not unlike hussey in that regard

Not everyone Benny!!!!!!

[Footy Smart]

Kudos Marsh. Got dropped early apparently (not sure if it was an easy catch or not) but a lot of blokes that arent up for test cricket would have detonated and got out soon after. He stuck it out and made a deserved ton, when Australia needed him to.
Steve Smith will be the next skipper...chanceless knock under pressure. He has the goods.

WTF would you send us in for?
No balls at all, and sent a very poor message....we dont wanna face your quicks on a slippery deck.
Today is crucial for us in the series. Make em bowl at us until at least tea and test their bowlers fitness or break em down.Then attack Smith with a battery of quick hostile stuff and watch them fold.

You bring up an important point here TP

Australia ran the English bowlers into the ground due to batting for a day and a half regularly and skittling their batters and forcing them back into the field. Would love to see us do that again!

[whufc]

I view Marsh how alot of people view Ferguson i think.

Everytime i see him bat i think geez this guy has the perfect technique and range of shots to make it a test level, when day he will be a quality test bat.

BUT

He just hasnt put the runs on the board to warrant selection. As others have sad nothing has been learnt from the Bailey experience which is my biggest critism of this decision.

While we have the ultimate success there have been a couple of baffling decisions since Boof took over, the Agar selction and now this one.

Geez whufc 50% strike rate in that post!!!!

[Johno6]

Kudos Marsh. Got dropped early apparently (not sure if it was an easy catch or not) but a lot of blokes that arent up for test cricket would have detonated and got out soon after. He stuck it out and made a deserved ton, when Australia needed him to.
Steve Smith will be the next skipper...chanceless knock under pressure. He has the goods.

WTF would you send us in for?
No balls at all, and sent a very poor message....we dont wanna face your quicks on a slippery deck.
Today is crucial for us in the series. Make em bowl at us until at least tea and test their bowlers fitness or break em down.
Then attack Smith with a battery of quick hostile stuff and watch them fold.

didn't see it but heard if amla (I think) took that catch from marsh woulda been an absolute belter.

[tigerpie]

A few posters bagged the crap out of Steve Smith, and look how that turned out.
Marsh has a good technique against the quicks. Growing up on the bouncy decks has helped.
Not saying he deserves his spot but the guy can bat and at his best will score big runs. Another bloody left hander though!

Come on Tigerpie
When your right quote forward !

Haha forgot i wrote that?
No one likes a smart ass Mal
Cheers.

[The Sleeping Giant]

OK
Mr Sleepy
Doggy
Jimbo
The Clarke critics in this innings


The South Africans will give Clarke more chin deliveries b4 this series has finished
They have won round 1
How should Clarke play from here on ?
Should he play the same shot ?
Should he pull and hook at everything ?
Should he fend them off defensively?
Should he just duck and Weave ?
Should he sway back to the legside and slash through the offside [like Bradman v Larwood] ?
Should he use a tactic I have not posted ?

WHUFC you can post as well

Can anyone post what Clarke should do ?
Clarke was caught at fine leg playing a pull shot off SSsSsSsteyn

Put the shot away for the rest of the series.

[mal]

If I was Clarke
Keep playing the pull and hook for at least the second innings or next innings he plays
If he is out in a similar way
Then have a think about his approach perhaps

[whufc]

OK
Mr Sleepy
Doggy
Jimbo
The Clarke critics in this innings


The South Africans will give Clarke more chin deliveries b4 this series has finished
They have won round 1
How should Clarke play from here on ?
Should he play the same shot ?
Should he pull and hook at everything ?
Should he fend them off defensively?
Should he just duck and Weave ?
Should he sway back to the legside and slash through the offside [like Bradman v Larwood] ?
Should he use a tactic I have not posted ?

WHUFC you can post as well

Can anyone post what Clarke should do ?
Clarke was caught at fine leg playing a pull shot off SSsSsSsteyn

Put the shot away for the rest of the series.

And what happens when he bobs one up to short leg again like he did in brissie against Broad, does he bring the shot back

What happens if he gets caught at second slip driving next innings, does he put away the drives as well as the pull shot.

imho he is a natural puller of the ball, the second batsmen start going against there instincts then they are in trouble.

He needs to be more selective with when he plays the shot by now way should he put the shot away.

Im sure Ponting got out once or twice pulling the ball as well, he would never have considered putting the shot away. It happens, next time you have to execute better.