[suhaas307]

Now when was the last time you saw Australia's test-match score reading: 21/7

EDIT: Make that 21/8!

[sam_boy]

I m working from home today and watched every ball bowled in this Aus-SA match. Have not seen anything similar in my whole life.

[suhaas307]

So Australia have somehow managed to get past the all-time lowest score. But they're still 41/9. And ironically, I believe that despite this score, they still have the upper hand!

[deky]

If SA comes to bat out again today, wouldnt it not make it all 4 innings being played in one day???

What are they bowling??? Hand grenades???

[StarrySky]

22 wickets falling on Day 2 (and it's not over yet)! Incredible!

This makes Clarke's innings yesterday (and earlier today) even more special. He has scored more runs in Australian 1st innings than the entire SA 1st innings and Aus 2nd innings put together!

Although if it had happened in India, everyone would be busy blaming the curator, state association, BCCI, GoI and India in general. Now it's happened in SA, so I guess they will be calling it a great game of cricket. This is as close to a farce as you can get.

[sam_boy]

All the so called greats of cricketing world blame subcontinent pitches for being square turners and dust bowls than why we are not blaming these green top pitches with pace and bounce rather than calling them sporty pitches. Is cricket all about playing fast rising ball and not about tackling the spinning ball ?

[karty_83]

Wow!! never seen anything like this before. The second day of a test match starts with the first innings and ends with the fourth innings. Quite remarkable.

[PPS]

Originally Posted by sam_boy

All the so called greats of cricketing world blame subcontinent pitches for being square turners and dust bowls than why we are not blaming these green top pitches with pace and bounce rather than calling them sporty pitches. Is cricket all about playing fast rising ball and not about tackling the spinning ball ?

Correct me if i am wrong, but i dont think it was a green top. I did not watch the day's play but only the fall of wickets in the 3rd innings. The ball just did enough. Don't think it was seaming all over the place,but the scoreline seems to suggest otherwise.

I love to see the Aussies loose!

[ampere]

Finally he says it! Greg Chappell in his new book, says his biggest regret was fallout
with Sachin over batting position at #4 in ODIs.

India news: Greg Chappell regrets fallout with Tendulkar | India Cricket News | ESPN Cricinfo

PS: Sorry if this has been shared already.

[hemanth.anand]

Originally Posted by sam_boy

Have not seen anything similar in my whole life.

Originally Posted by karty_83

Wow!! never seen anything like this before. The second day of a test match starts with the first innings and ends with the fourth innings. Quite remarkable.

I have witnessed all the matches with a similar story line.

In the History of test cricket, there are only 3 matches where all 4 innnings were played on a single day. (Links from Cricinfo are attched below)

1.England Vs West Indies(29 June-1 July 2000): 2nd day 21 wickets fell
2nd Test: England v West Indies at Lord's, Jun 29-Jul 1, 2000 | Cricket Scorecard | ESPN Cricinfo

2.India Vs NewZealand(19-22 December 2002): 3rd day 22 wickets fell
2nd Test: New Zealand v India at Hamilton, Dec 19-22, 2002 | Cricket Scorecard | ESPN Cricinfo

3.Australia Vs South Africa(9-11 November 2011): 2nd day 23 wickets fell
SA 81/1 (17.0 ov, GC Smith 36*, HM Amla 29*, RJ Harris 0/26) - Stumps | Live Scorecard | ESPN Cricinfo

The fact that all these 3 instances have happened after Y2K is a proof for me that it is the effect of shorter forms of the game on Test cricket.
Taking nothing away from the bowlwers, or criticising the pitch, It shows how the concentration of modern batsmen and their ability to bat for long periods of time has deteriorated.

[suhaas307]

Originally Posted by hemanth.anand

I have witnessed all the matches with a similar story line.

In the History of test cricket, there are only 3 matches where all 4 innnings were played on a single day. (Links from Cricinfo are attched below)

1.England Vs West Indies(29 June-1 July 2000): 2nd day 21 wickets fell
2nd Test: England v West Indies at Lord's, Jun 29-Jul 1, 2000 | Cricket Scorecard | ESPN Cricinfo

2.India Vs NewZealand(19-22 December 2002): 3rd day 22 wickets fell
2nd Test: New Zealand v India at Hamilton, Dec 19-22, 2002 | Cricket Scorecard | ESPN Cricinfo

3.Australia Vs South Africa(9-11 November 2011): 2nd day 23 wickets fell
SA 81/1 (17.0 ov, GC Smith 36*, HM Amla 29*, RJ Harris 0/26) - Stumps | Live Scorecard | ESPN Cricinfo

The fact that all these 3 instances have happened after Y2K is a proof for me that it is the effect of shorter forms of the game on Test cricket.
Taking nothing away from the bowlwers, or criticising the pitch, It shows how the concentration of modern batsmen and their ability to bat for long periods of time has deteriorated.

But then the lowest ever test scores in Cricketing history were recorded back in the early 1900s and late 1800. Scores as low as 26 and 32. NZ had slumped to a very low score sometime in the 1950s, if I'm not wrong. Well before the introduction of the ODI and T20 formats.

[skanchan95]

South Africa batted poorly in the first innings, Australia's 2nd innings was even poorer. It was complete madness & lack of application by batsmen of both teams. Aus with that 194 run lead took things way to easy. Look at the way Hussey & Haddin got out( its high time they drop Haddin, he's been playing irresponsibly for too long). Wickets started falling in a heap if one wicket fell or one ball bounced/swung awkwardly.

The chaos had nothing to do with the pitch , but the lack of application by batsmen of both sides. A look at SAF's 2nd inns proves this. In SAF's 2nd innings, Smith & Amla batted well and all of a sudden, the gremlins in the pitch seemed to have vanished.

Had Hussey held on to Amla's catch on the last ball of the day, it would have made things interesting heading into Day 3. But at this stage, I am afraid it looks like a one sided six or seven wicket win for SAF. The test looked so promising once Aus made 284, but alas, it would be a complete one sided contest on the last day.

[hemanth.anand]

Originally Posted by suhaas307

But then the lowest ever test scores in Cricketing history were recorded back in the early 1900s and late 1800. Scores as low as 26 and 32. NZ had slumped to a very low score sometime in the 1950s, if I'm not wrong. Well before the introduction of the ODI and T20 formats.

You are right Suhaas about the totals.
One innings in a test match ending in a low score will not produce a situation like yesterday.
After your reply I checked out the lowest totals(below 100) in a test match before 05-01-1971 (start of ODIs).
No two low totals are from the same test.

What I said was, if you have four innnings in a day on a pitch where one player has scored 150+, Shows that the other batsmen in both the teams have not applied themselves.

[suhaas307]

Originally Posted by skanchan95

South Africa batted poorly in the first innings, Australia's 2nd innings was even poorer. It was complete madness & lack of application by batsmen of both teams. Aus with that 194 run lead took things way to easy. Look at the way Hussey & Haddin got out( its high time they drop Haddin, he's been playing irresponsibly for too long). Wickets started falling in a heap if one wicket fell or one ball bounced/swung awkwardly.

The chaos had nothing to do with the pitch , but the lack of application by batsmen of both sides. A look at SAF's 2nd inns proves this. In SAF's 2nd innings, Smith & Amla batted well and all of a sudden, the gremlins in the pitch seemed to have vanished.

Had Hussey held on to Amla's catch on the last ball of the day, it would have made things interesting heading into Day 3. But at this stage, I am afraid it looks like a one sided six or seven wicket win for SAF. The test looked so promising once Aus made 284, but alas, it would be a complete one sided contest on the last day.

Originally Posted by hemanth.anand

You are right Suhaas about the totals.
One innings in a test match ending in a low score will not produce a situation like yesterday.
After your reply I checked out the lowest totals(below 100) in a test match before 05-01-1971 (start of ODIs).
No two low totals are from the same test.

What I said was, if you have four innnings in a day on a pitch where one player has scored 150+, Shows that the other batsmen in both the teams have not applied themselves.

with both of you!

When I logged onto Facebook yesterday, I saw dozens of status updates that bashed the pitch and the curator, and how it would be different if the match were played in India. Pitch? Really?

I don't think the Durban pitch had anything to do with this spectacular batting collapse by both teams. This is what actually happened, IMO:

- After scoring 280 odd, Australia were pretty happy and would have wanted to restrict SA to a total under 200 or thereabouts.

- But SA's batsmen did not apply themselves at all, and threw away their wickets on a pitch that helped the bowlers. That doesn't mean the pitch was hostile. It was perfectly alright. Much like the Kotla pitch in Delhi. There is assistance. There is purchase. But you need to bowl in the right areas to get maximum out of it. Bowl badly, and you will be put away.

- Australia came out to bat, after shooting SA out for under 100, and with a lead of 180 odd, Australia had the upper hand! This 'upper-hand' feeling got to their heads, I suppose. They became very over-confident and felt invincible all of a sudden. You should have watched some of those shots played by the Aus batsmen. Dismal, to say the least. And SA bowled in the right areas and got their wickets. I'm sure there was a team-meeting in the SA dressing room. Their aim was to try and bowl as well as they could. What else could they do. I don't think they would have expected Australia's score card to read 21/9!

- SA's 2nd innings shows that the pitch isn't bad at all. If the pitch is really that bad, it would be impossible to get to a comfortable 81/1 at the end of the 2nd day of the match! SA applied themselves this time, that's the only difference!

[sam_boy]

Originally Posted by PPS

Correct me if i am wrong, but i dont think it was a green top. I did not watch the day's play but only the fall of wickets in the 3rd innings. The ball just did enough. Don't think it was seaming all over the place,but the scoreline seems to suggest otherwise.

I love to see the Aussies loose!

Its not exactly a green top, in the post match session some one correctly pointed out had it been a green top these many wickets would not have fallen. In that case there would have been a lot many balls down the leg swinging too much, or too many edges flying above the slip cordon. The ball just did enough.

I admit its not a green pitch but again a green pitch is subjective. Ask Indian captains .. ( is Saurav Ganguly listening ? )