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Freeze: good post, I agree with you particularlly on the need to pick Travis Head.

5 sessions to bat....either to win or draw....SA one bowler short......surely Warner and S Marsh job would be to bat and bat....grind the new ball and then once in bat like Duminy and Elgar did....christ Philander hit 70 odd and the spinner hit 40 odd.....fark if these guys are worth the six figure salaries they are on then actually go out and farking work for your money like most employees do.....touch wood the skipper contains his fetish for dancing till he has made a 100.

If ever there was an opportunity for Mitch Marsh to repay some of the faith that the selectors have shown in him, it is tomorrow. Probably won't be enough to save the game but a solid batting performance by the remaining batsmen would at least give them some positive momentum going into the next test. If they fold up by lunch time, South Africa will be favoured to wrap up the series against the same Australian 12. Warner was the victim of some brilliant fielding, but SA's bowlers have worked Smith out. Rabada is something special, he is going to win a lot of tests for his country.
The Proteas have completely outplayed the Australians since the end of day 1 and will claim a well deserved victory at some stage tomorrow. Lets hope we can make them work for it a bit.

Also I'm starting to wonder about Smith as Captain. Maybe its no coincidence that the only victories that Australia had in Sri Lanka were under Warner. Smith's body language is appalling at times and the team seems uninspired and lacking confidence.

The frightenning thing is that South Africa has shown they can play test cricket both ways, their bowllers and batsman can defend and attack depending on the state of the game. De Kock batted with great control on the third night to make sure South Africa prosperred well into the fourth day, in spite of his natural inclinations.

Steyn's injurred and Devilliers has not come to our shores at all. We need to keep that in mind too.

I will defend Smith as captain: he has one of the weakest sides since the mid 80s and his players are pitted against a good side.

You could put SR Waugh or MA Taylor in this team as captain and they would still lose the series.

One last thing on Smith: he was the victim of the most ridiculous decision ever given against an Australian batsman on this soil in the history of test cricket.

ArkRoyal wrote: The frightenning thing is that South Africa has shown they can play test cricket both ways, their bowllers and batsman can defend and attack depending on the state of the game. De Kock batted with great control on the third night to make sure South Africa prosperred well into the fourth day, in spite of his natural inclinations.

Steyn's injurred and Devilliers has not come to our shores at all. We need to keep that in mind too.

I will defend Smith as captain: he has one of the weakest sides since the mid 80s and his players are pitted against a good side.

You could put SR Waugh or MA Taylor in this team as captain and they would still lose the series.

One last thing on Smith: he was the victim of the most ridiculous decision ever given against an Australian batsman on this soil in the history of test cricket.

Yes Aleem Dar would have to be looking at a career in fortune telling when he retires, if he can predict that a ball will hit the stumps when it strikes a batsman 3 metres down the pitch!
I think only Smith, Warner and Starc would be good enough to be selected in the current South African team, so that is pretty instructive about where this Australian team is ranked at the moment

Despite the fact everyone is moaning the NSW factor in the Australian Cricket Team where the fark would we be without the likes of Warner, Smith, Starc ..and then also Hazlewood, Khawaja & Lyon on the next rung!

Exactly BH.....NSW may be the chosen state for Baggy Green representation, but not too sure where folk want to look for alternatives....only SA provide immeadiate non NSW alternatives batting and bowling wise for next in line players.....eg Head, Ferguson, Sayers, Zampa and Mennie.....Tassie have Bird, WA have Berendhorf & Agar, Vic have Pattinson, Handscomb and at a desperate push Maxwell, Boland and Holland, ditto for Burns at Qld.....the latter four are really scraping the barrel TBH......then you go back to NSW with OKeefe,Maddinson, Cummins, Patterson, Hughes and Henriques.......the first 3 definitely right up there for next in line duties.

Youngster wise Qld have Heazlett, Renshaw,Swepson, Wildermuth & Stanlake,SA have Weathereld, Cary & Lehmann, WA have Paris, Cartright,Whiteman & Bancroft, Vic have Harris and Stoinis.....Tassie have fark all....perhaps Doran.......NSW have probably a few youngsters who may get a look in, if playing at other states, like Arjun Nair, Jason Sangha, Ryan Gibson and Jonte Pattison......

I know with losing Smith and Voges late, Aust has fark all chance of batting all day, but Mitch has the perfect chance here to show some test ticker and bat all day for a a maiden test 100......though any score above 23 will have selectors in Lehmann, Waugh and Marsh all patting themselves on the back telling all n sundry "I told you so" about Mitch's selection.....we know Kwahaja can bat big......Nevill too has a chance today to prove his status as a wickie who can bat.....fark Philander made 70 odd and the spinner 40 odd.....

Rabada. De Kock and Bavuma are going to be absolute stars for SA.

Smith seems to have to no confidence in Lyon, which is a major issue, time for Zampa I reckon.

Aussie batting has been awful, no patience.

SA will probably end up winning with no contribution from their best player Amla!..that says alot.

Well batted number 6.....lets see what number 7 can bring to the table

Freezin wrote: Well batted number 6.....lets see what number 7 can bring to the table

Yep I reckon Mitch needs to be dropped but geez that was an iffy decision, I can see why the Indians don't want DRS it works well with snicko and hot spot but still a lot of question marks with lbw's that ball Marsh got was definately hooping down leg side and not to mention it was bordering on being a no ball.