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Newlands Stadium, Cape Town 3rd Test Aus vs Sth Africa

South Africa have moved into the most commanding of positions in Cape Town, with their batsmen having displayed an absolute disregard for the talents of newcomers Bryce McGain and Andrew MacDonald.

At the close of day 2 McGain was staring down the barrel of owning one of the least desired of test records – the worst ever economy rate in a test innings. And while he was able to avoid that distinction by the end of the innings it will provide little joy having been taken for 149 runs from his 18 overs.

Unfortunately for McGain this may well end his chances of a trip to England later this year, and Australia will go back to the drawing board in their search for a tweaker.

Andrew MacDonald did not fare much better and at one stage was hit for four consecutive sixes by A.B DeVillers – only the third time in test cricket that has been achieved.

In the end the South Africans racked up their highest ever total against the Aussies and finished the third day in style by claiming the wickets of Phillip Hughes and Ricky Ponting, leaving the visitors needing a further 336 runs just to force the Proteas to square up for a second innings.

Of the bowlers Siddle was the standout, managing to concede just over two runs per over amidst the carnage going on around him. Johnson was the leading wicket taker with figures of 4-149.

The Australians will now turn to Katich to take his overnight score of 44 well past three figures, and Michael Hussey will be looking to remind people why he is such a vital cog in this Australian middle order. We are about to discover how much fight there really is in this Aussie outfit.

In Other News

IPL Looking At A Move To South Africa

With The Champions Trophy tournament having been shifted from the sub-continent to South Africa after the recent events in Pakistan, the IPL is now seriously considering a similar move.

Apparently IPL officials have been shopping around for security cars and it has also been noted that the IPL has made approaches to a South African security firm to negotiate the procurement of a fleet of armoured SUV’s and specially fitted buses.

While no announcement has officially been made, these preparations would seem to indicate that one may not be too far away. The preparations come amidst recent revelations that Sachin Tnedulkar & Sourav Ganguly were targets of a kidnapping plot organised by a Kashmari Separist organisation in 2007.

Tendulkar At His Sublime Best

Speaking of Tendulkar, the supreme batsmen of his generation was at it again in NZ, notching his 42nd test century with his 160 in India’s first innings against the Kiwi’s in Hamilton.

Tendulkar was his usual modest self, downplaying his innings claiming he was a little slow to get going.

“But once the new ball was taken I was timing it much better,” he said, while pointing out that “every hundred is not fluent”.

He was then straight back into the thick of the action taking a low catch at slip to dismiss opener Tim McIntosh. Tendulkar was adamant the catch had been taken and while the Kiwi’s disagreed they blamed only themselves for their poor showing so far in this test. They will resume play still requiring 166 runs to get past the Indians with 7 wickets in hand.

Crooksy

The cricketing boards of Australia and South Africa have wasted no time in putting plans in place to take advantage of the growing rivalry between the top two ranked teams in world cricket. From the 2012 season onwards these two giants of the game will square off on an annual basis, avoiding the current situation of back to back test series.

While Cricket Australia has not yet released the exact details of the arrangement, it is understood that each country will host the other every second year, with possible separate tours for tests and one dayers.

One of the big complaints from the South African camp is that there was no time to come down from their historic tour to Australian shores earlier in the year.

The new set-up would prevent this from occurring in the future…but it will also prevent these two teams from competing against each other in a Boxing Day test. The only time South Africa plays away from home over Christmas is when they tour Down Under, and the new arrangement would see tours between the two countries taking place in either Oct/Nov or Feb/Mar.

This is the main drawback of the set-up as the Boxing Day and New Years tests in Australia are by far the most well attended in world cricket, with the possible exception being the manic atmosphere of the sub-continent.

For a cricket fan there is no greater prospect than watching the world’s top two teams battle it out in Melbourne as they recover from the festivities of the previous day. Hopefully some arrangement can be made to ensure this fixture is played by these two teams at least once every four years.

In Other Cricket News

The Australian cricket team have returned from a four day break after wrapping up the series in the second test at Durban. They have arrived in Cape Town where they will play the third test at Newlands Stadium, one of world sports most picturesque settings.

It is amazing to think of the turn around that has occurred in the past fortnight – in both the performances of the team, and the writings of the press. Having been slated by journalists in the month leading up to the series, there have been large mouthfuls of humble pie consumed by journo’s who have already turned their focus to how the Aussies are a near certainty to claim victory in the Ashes later this year.

And while I agree that the team probably deserves to be favourites, I think the past six months in cricket, and the shocking events in Pakistan in particular, have taught us that there are presently no certainties in the sport.

We would seem to have entered a period of more even competition than the cricket world has seen in some time. Australia has been dominant since the late 1990′s, and before that the Calypso Kings reigned supreme for a similar length of time.

Today we have Australia, India and South Africa as rivals capable of snatching victory from their opponents on any given day in any part of the world. Strong in both tests and limited over matches, these teams should generate great excitement in cricket over the next four or five years.

And while England are a step or two off the pace at the moment, a home series where they will attempt to match their mighty deeds of four years ago, should at least give them motivation enough to play above the level we have seen from them of late.

But for now we should just admire the deeds of this young generation wearing the Baggy Green who are finding their feet at test level in a most convincing fashion against the toughest of opponents.

Crooksy

The first cricket test against South Africa is under way in Johannesburg, and the rocky start to the Australian innings indicates that this is more than likely going to be match where we see a result.

Early Wickets Lost

Three Australian wickets were lost early on after Ponting won the toss and decided to bat, including that of test debutant Phillip Hughes who faced just four balls before being dismissed. He was soon followed by Katich and Mike Hussey. Ponting and Clarke are putting on a solid show and have steadied to see the Aussies get to 3-147.

There was plenty of swing early on for the South African quicks, but a worrying sign was the turn generated by spinner Paul Harris on a first session pitch. Australia have gone into this test without a spinner, and with part-timer Michael Clarke recovering from a back injury, options in this regard are limited to Marcus North’s little tweakers. Andrew Macdonald is also playing and he will probably be needed to do a good amount of bowling.

The Aussies are fiedling three debutant in this test, with Ben Hilfenhaus also being presented with his baggy green. The last time three players debuted in the same test for Australia was in 1985 when Merv Hughes, Geoff Marsh and Bruce Reid began their careers.

Where Australia Can Win This Series

A quick look at the stats from the tour played here last month will reveal exacly where Australia lost that series. Apart from Steyn no South African bowler averaged less than 38 runs a wicket, while four of their batsmen dominated the Aussie attack with an average of over 50.

So what does this mean

Well we couldn’t get them out basically. With those bowling numbers they should not really have beaten us, but our bowling didn’t couldn’t get the job done, and how we go over the next couple of weeks will largely depend on improvements we can make in this area.

At the start of play the betting had the South Africans at about $2.70, with Australia further out at around $4. The longest odds were for the draw at just under $5, and with the way this test has started you can see that the market has that about right.

The only questions now is whether the Aussies can prove the market, and pretty much the entire cricket public wrong and put in a strong showing at a ground on which traditionally the South Africans don’t fare as well as you’d think they should. Their last ten test matches at The Wanderers has seen them walk away with a win on only 5 occasions, with 4 losses and a draw making up the other results.

As I write this article Ponting and Clarke are at bat, with both players having reached their half centuries. If the two leaders of the team can take a stand early on in this series, it might be all the encouragement the younger players need to focus their enthusiasm into a winning performance.

At least that’s what Aussie cricket fans will be hoping for.

Crooksy