South Africa stung Australia by dropping them to 3 for 15 in a frenetic opening to the top-of-the-table contest before the home team recovered to be 3 for 74 at lunch.
Peter English of Cricinfo reports that the tourists’ bid to topple the world champions, who are still trying to prove they are an all-conquering force following a subdued year, started in stunning style with Dale Steyn and Makhaya Ntini frightening the Australians with the early breakthroughs.
Simon Katich and Michael Clarke eased some of the pain during a 59-run partnership, with Katich posting 35 and Clarke 23, but there was still plenty of work to do to get the team to safety. After winning the toss Ricky Ponting said his senior batsmen had to stand up, but within 32 balls three of them, including the captain, had departed.
Ntini and Steyn were nervous initially, spraying their opening deliveries, and then suddenly, with help from the edgy Australians, they were world beaters. Matthew Hayden hit three fours from over-pitched Ntini deliveries, including two in the first over, before his career crisis worsened on 12 when his feet were stuck and his bat waved a catch to Graeme Smith at first slip. Hayden was stunned at the error to a reasonable delivery and it was the eighth time in the past ten innings against South Africa that Ntini had removed him.
Next ball Ricky Ponting took just a small step to an attempted off drive and his push was well taken by AB de Villiers at third slip. Ponting was too adventurous too soon and Ntini was on a hat-trick, with the following delivery being left by Michael Hussey.
Hussey received the best ball of the dismissed trio when Steyn angled one across him and the batsmen was forced to play, nibbling to de Villiers who accepted a stunning catch diving forward from third slip. It was Hussey’s second zero of the season and the South Africans could not believe their situation.
Clarke’s quick single from his first ball almost added to the home team’s woes, but Katich’s desperate dive saved him by a few centimetres. Once Katich was settled he started to score more freely.
He drove hard and well, starting with a push through cover off Steyn for a boundary, and then swung three fours in a row off Jacques Kallis. One was all-run to midwicket and then he pushed Kallis through cover and down the ground in a swift counter punch. Australia needed his fight on a pitch that was not as brutal as expected, but still offered enough bounce to make the fast men smile.
While Katich hit four crisp boundaries, Clarke was happier to work the ball around and was a mostly calm figure. He was hit on the thigh by Morne Morkel, who was gaining sharp lift, and the bowler will remain a threat during the game. At lunch Ntini had 2 for 18 from six overs and Steyn returned 1 for 13 from six.
South Africa were forced into a late change when the key batsman Ashwell Prince was ruled out with a cracked thumb suffered in the nets on Tuesday. Prince’s spot was filled by the debutant JP Duminy and he is expected to bat at No. 6.
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C’mon SA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I will be working from home today. 😎 😉
But first I have to go for a spin and a run. 😎
See ya later
Good morning…
Another wicket would be nice…
Australia 113/3 (36.1 ov)
Australia 144/3 (43.6 ov)
We’ve let them back into it…
@blckshrk – PROTEAS (Comment 4) :
Morkel and Harris need to step up to the plate NOW!
@wpw (Comment 5) : Yep…the runs are starting to flow easily now…
Australia 1st innings
ML Hayden c Smith b Ntini 12
SM Katich not out 81
RT Ponting c de Villiers b Ntini 0
MEK Hussey c de Villiers b Steyn 0
MJ Clarke not out 58
Extras (lb 4, w 2, nb 3) 9
Total (3 wickets; 48.5 overs) 160 (3.27 runs per over)
Finally…
From cricinfo.com
Katich goes for an excellent 83, South Africa have been boosted just before the tea break.
50.5 Morkel to Katich, OUT, Katich has missed a full toss and he’s lbw! Morkel delivers a low full toss from round the wicket and angles it into the left-hander, Katich moves across his stumps to flick but misses, the ball thuds into the pad in front of middle, would it have missed leg? Close call, it might have clipped leg stump
GO Morkel!!!
Australia 166/4 (51.1 ov)
Andrew Symonds is on.
I hope he won’t reach the 20’s.
166/5 😀
And Clarke is out???
51.5 Harris to Clarke, OUT, the double breakthrough! Clarke gives it away just before tea! He charges Harris and tries to go down the ground, he hits it with the inside part of the bat and lofts it straight to Smith who takes an easy catch at mid-on, he’s thrilled, what a strike just before tea
MJ Clarke c Smith b Harris 62 (141b 7×4 0x6) SR: 43.97
I think it is time to bring Steyn or Ntini back into the attack.
@wpw (Comment 13) : Almost tea time …so Biff will probably bring them back when they return.
A bit weird listening to the game on radio. 🙁
Symonds 1*
Haddin 4*
To bat B Lee, JJ Krejza, MG Johnson, PM Siddle
And we’re back in it again…come on Proteas!!!
@blckshrk – PROTEAS (Comment 15) :
If we can get these two we might knock them over for less than 250.
We can only hope our batsmen do well this time around. A lead of at least 150 is non negotiable.
Come On Proteas!!! 😎 😎
@wpw (Comment 16) : We need to work on Symonds – he’ll try his best to hurt us so we need to win the mental battle with him upfront.
I really hope the batting will not let us down. We do have a long line.
The skipper must really lead by example and put the pressure on the Aussies.
Where’s everybody else anyway?
@blckshrk – PROTEAS (Comment 17) : I’m here
@robdylan (Comment 18) : Oh, there you are… 🙂
@robdylan (Comment 18) :
Hey Rob.
How long before ‘mini me’ makes an appearance???
Okay i am back. 😳
C’mon proteas!
A few more wickets now please.
@blckshrk – PROTEAS (Comment 19) : oh here I am 🙂
@wpw (Comment 20) : About 5 weeks, Wezza…
@robdylan (Comment 22) : There’s a “Mini-me” coming ?
@robdylan (Comment 22) :
5 weeks? That soon? Time flies when you having fun. 😯
Are you gonna call him Wezza? 😯
Kallis and Ntini in attack.
2 slips and a gully waiting…
Aus 191 for 5.
@robdylan (Comment 22) :
Well I hope it all goes well Rob. 😉
@KSA Shark © (Comment 24) :
hehehe
How about calling him Luke???
Luke-Robert Otto.
@blckshrk – PROTEAS (Comment 25) :
Symonds seems to be breaking out of his shell… we need to be careful that he doesn’t take the game away from us. 👿
Australia 232/5 (65.6 ov)
Haddin 20*
Symonds 44*
Morkel back on.
One slip and one gully :yawn:
@wpw (Comment 27) :
Maybe Duke would be a good name a combo of Luke and something else.
But that is only if a father doesn’t like his kid 😛
Last 10 Over 48 Runs. 😯 👿
Wakker Wakker die dag raak al hoe kakker!!!!!!
Symonds goes to 50. 👿
51 off 63 balls
@KSA Shark © (Comment 31) :
Spot on!
I know a guy called Andre… 😯
I mean really now… how can you do that to your kid by naming her Andre??
Starting to go a bit pear shaped now
@wpw (Comment 35) :
😆 😆 I mean yeah which true Saffa would give his kid a French name.
250 comes up with a 6.
Symonds OUT caught by Kallis!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Luke was an option, but given the recent soiling of that name, we’ll call him something else, if he happens to be a boy.
@KSA Shark © (Comment 39) : Better – now we must knock them over for under 3 hundred – we have let it slip after 175/5
9.5 Harris to Symonds, OUT
A Symonds c McKenzie b Harris 57 (68b 6×4 0x6) SR: 83.82
Thank you!!!! 👿
cricket is dumb 😈
Jeez here i was hoping theyd be all out for 200
@robdylan (Comment 43) : Cricket is currently all we have.
@PJLD (Comment 44) :
Me as well, then i changed to 250 now 300 will do. 🙄
@robdylan (Comment 43) :
NOPE!
I think it is cool in all forms of the game but especially double wicket comps.
@robdylan (Comment 43) : I tend to agree. But Better than round ball.
@robdylan (Comment 43) :
I hate Brett Lee 👿
@Worcestershire Sauce (Comment 48) :
All sports are equal – but others sports are more equal than others.
Mum, can I please have a cat for Christmas?
Ans: No. You’ll have turkey the same us the rest of us.
@blckshrk – PROTEAS (Comment 50) : AJAX CT !!!!!!!!
@PJLD (Comment 52) : Dude, you subscribe to Behind The Times ? 👿
@blckshrk – PROTEAS (Comment 53) :
@blckshrk – PROTEAS (Comment 50) : Thanks George, how the eighties?
@robdylan (Comment 40) : Jeez give him a sporting chance – no need to saddle him with baggage from birth…. How about Bradley Jean Otto – that way he is named after both of your love childs and they won’t be hurt 😈 😆
@PJLD (Comment 54) :
Lucky buggers… 😈
I thought the Sharks had broken the curse…eish…
How do snails keep their shells shiny?
They use snail varnish.
Australia 288/6 (76.3 ov)
Kallis and Harris bowling…
2nd new ball coming shortly…hope Ntini and Steyn can cause some damage…
Aus will probably make 350-400. 👿
…and at a rate of 3.5 – 4 runs an over.
Ntini gets Haddin off the new ball. 🙂
@blckshrk – PROTEAS (Comment 61) : Excellent. 😀
Australia 298/7 (80.4 ov)
80.4 Ntini to Haddin, OUT, caught in the deep! The new ball does it for South Africa! Ntini bowls a short and wide ball, Haddin goes after it and slashes, he slices it in the air towards deep backward point where Duminy holds the catch, yet another batsman gets caught in the deep after getting well set
BJ Haddin c Duminy b Ntini 46 (68b 4×4 2×6) SR: 67.64
New Batsman – JJ Krejza
A year before his Test call-up, Krejza was caught drink-driving and speeding, and lost his licence for seven months. Tasmania imposed their own punishment on him – he was suspended from their pre-season training and banned from alcohol for the whole summer.
300 up…
Australia 303/7 (81.2 ov)
Steyn is back… 😎
@blckshrk – PROTEAS (Comment 65) : …and he gets Lee… 😎
@blckshrk – PROTEAS (Comment 66) : Yeah baby! 😀 😀 😀
Australia 303/8 (81.6 ov
81.5 Steyn to Lee, OUT, Lee is steyned. Kicks up from a length, 143 kmph delivery and the pace and the bounce off a length did the job. Lee stabbed it off the outside edge to gully. Gone. Eight down. 300 up. Runs and wickets. Lovely Test match day.
B Lee c Duminy b Steyn 29 (46b 4×4 0x6) SR: 63.04
Nothing over 330 pleeeeaaase!!! 😡
@blckshrk – PROTEAS (Comment 68) : Actually…make that 320.
Did you hear about the optometrist who fell into a lens grinder and made a spectacle of himself?
JP Duminy doing well on the field – hope he’ll do the same with the bat….
@McLovin (Comment 70) :
Australia have now raced to 323/8 (85.3 ov
Few overs left in the day…
@blckshrk – PROTEAS (Comment 73) : this is my surprised face… they’ll get to 380 before we manage to get them out
88.6 Morkel to Johnson, OUT, Morkel strikes with the last ball of the day! Finally he bowls a yorker which smashes into Johnson’s pad right in front of the stumps, that’s plumb, South Africa end on a high after a frustrating few overs
MG Johnson lbw b Morkel 18
Australia 341/9
@KSA Shark © (Comment 46) :
350 it will have to be then. 😳
@KSA Shark © (Comment 76) : we always do this… let the tail score a quick 80 runs.
Sounds like a great day of test cricket all round.
@robdylan (Comment 77) :
I was having lunch so don’t know how it ended but I think if Amla, Smith and Kallis fire properly we could do well.
I DO like that we have all but wrapped up their first innings in less than a day though.
This game could have a result. 😎
I think this new poll is going to be a little onesided 😆
Working is seriously interfering with my cricket. 👿
@KSA Shark © (Comment 80) : I voted. Trying to bring some balance.
damb aussies have a long tail, just like some monkeys! apes on the other hand, do not have tails at all.
good days play, smith rotated his bowlers well and harris did a good job. hope the bowlers don’t think they have it in the bag already, still one wicket to get.
if smith and mac can see off the new ball tomorrow we can get some good runs, 2nd and 3rd day will be the best time to bat on this pitch, before it starts deteriorating.
@KSA Shark © (Comment 80) : ya reckon? 🙂
The big question is can the Proteas get to 400+?
Will Smith be out LBW for little or no runs?
Will Kallis come to the party?
Australia 341/9 (89.0 ov)
I thought there was supposed to be 90 overs in a day? Surely they could have bowled one more over?
Yea, saw that and also wondered about it.
@McLovin (Comment 86) :
Umpires must have felt the Aussies shouldn’t get bowled out on Day one.
Interesting that. Would like to know how that happened.
@KSA Shark © (Comment 88) : Heaven forbid they should go past close of play. 👿
@KSA Shark © (Comment 88) : They really need to sort that out. For the life of me cannot understand why they can’t start an hour earlier and simply keep going until 90 overs are bowled. 👿
@McLovin (Comment 89) :
I was of the impression you could bowl the required overs if the light was sufficient.
@McLovin (Comment 85) : will I stay awake long enough to notice?
Minimum Overs in the Day
Subject to clause 16.1.2 below:
(a) On days other than the last day, play shall continue on
each day until the completion of a minimum target of 90
overs (or a minimum of 15 overs per hour) or the
completion of the scheduled or rescheduled cessation
time, which ever is the later but provided that play shall
not continue for more than 30 minutes beyond the
scheduled or rescheduled cessation time (permitted
overtime). For the sake of clarity, if any of the
minimum target number of overs have not been bowled
at the completion of the permitted overtime, play shall
cease upon completion of the over in progress. The
overs not bowled shall not be made up on any
subsequent day.
@McLovin (Comment 93) : Test match regulations is a real page turner. 🙄
I hope we can score some decent runs in the first innings. We need the likes of Kallis, Smith, AB and Amla to come to the party.
COme on Proteas!!! Whoo whoo 🙄
Thought of the day!!
Did you know that in the human body there is a nerve that connects the
eyeball to the anus? It is called the anal optic nerve. It is responsible
for giving people a shitty outlook on life. If you do not believe it, Pull a
hair from your ass, and see if it doesn’t bring a tear to your eye.
The owner of a bar in Wanaka is holding a competition to find the ‘ perfect woman’ , the prize is $NZ 1,000 and tickets for a rugby game.
Amongst the tasks the aspirants will be expected to undertake are:
back a trailer load of hay
change a car tyre
clear a pool table
darn a sock
lift a ram into shearing position
@wpw (Comment 96) : I can’t see shit.
Early this year, two employees at an airfield near Prestwick, Scotland, apparently decided to steal a life raft from one of the planes. They were successful in getting it out of the plane and home. Some days later they took it for a sail on the river. Soon they noticed a RAF rescue helicopter coming towards them.
It turned out that the chopper was homing in on the emergency locator beacon that activated when the raft was inflated. They are no longer employed at the airfield
The Ann Arbor News crime column reported that a man walked into a Burger King in Ypsilanti, Michigan at 12:50am., flashed a gun and demanded cash. The clerk turned him down because he said he couldn’t open the cash register without a food order. When the man ordered onion rings, the cashier said they weren’t available for breakfast. The man, frustrated, walked away.
If all is not lost, where is it?
@McLovin (Comment 99) : you surf the coolest news sites 🙂
@McLovin (Comment 98) :
@robdylan (Comment 102) : Trying to pass the time without actually doing any work.
My friend Eddie has kleptomania, but when it gets bad, Eddie takes something for it.
I read this bit as: play shall continue until all overs are bowled
On days other than the last day, play shall continue on
each day until the completion of a minimum target of 90
overs (or a minimum of 15 overs per hour) or the
completion of the scheduled or rescheduled cessation
time, which ever is the later but provided that play shall
not continue for more than 30 minutes beyond the
scheduled or rescheduled cessation time
Then this bit contradicts it unless OVERTIME is the key to this passage:
For the sake of clarity, if any of the
minimum target number of overs have not been bowled
at the completion of the permitted overtime, play shall
cease upon completion of the over in progress. The
overs not bowled shall not be made up on any
subsequent day.
@wpw (Comment 96) :
Duke must have a real strong anal optic nerve. 🙄
Three animals were having a huge argument over who was the best.
The first, a hawk, claimed that because of his ability to fly, he could attack anything repeatedly from above, and his prey had nary a chance.
The second, a lion, based his claim on his strength … None in the forest dared to challenge him.
The third, a skunk, insisted he needed neither flight nor strength to frighten off any creature.
As the trio debated the issue, an alligator came along and swallowed them all … hawk, lion and stinker
@McLovin (Comment 105) : BRILLIANT!!! 😆
@McLovin (Comment 97) :
Is that a typo?
Should it not read? lift a ram into shagging position.
@McLovin (Comment 108) : 🙄 🙄
@KSA Shark © (Comment 110) :
@KSA Shark © (Comment 106) : I’ve given up trying to understand it all. 😐
@McLovin (Comment 113) :
I have sent the Cricinfo commentary guys an email. I hope they reply.
@wpw (Comment 111) : Have you voted on the new poll?
@McLovin (Comment 115) :
I did now.
You better have voted for our team!!! 👿
@wpw (Comment 116) : Yip, indeed. 😎
He – Go on, don’t be shy. Ask me out.
She – Okay, get out.
Cricket in perth starts at 11:30 thats a bit different-lunch at 13:30