Interesting...very interesting

[Reg Smeeton]

That was quality last night...the Aussies are ther for the taking next Ashes...they dont seem to have a plan B now he has retired....there all busy watching musicals about him...that Steyne has got real balls the way he played after the hits his hands took.

 Convicts are right in the shitter...the problem is England are still in worse shape.

[Scot Munroe]

looks like South Africa will win series bowled aussies out for 247. Dale Steyn took another 5 wickets. Close SA 30-0 chasing 183.

[alanmayes]

Clarke century boosts Australia

Australia gave themselves a good chance of earning a consolation victory in the final test
against South Africa on the back of Michael Clarke's fine 138.

The Aussie vice captain,dropped twice on the first day,converted an unbeaten 73 into his
10th first class century.

And with further runs from Mitchell Johnson (64) and Nathan Hauritz (41) the Australians
totalled a solid 445.

South Africa replied with 125 - 1 Graeme Smith retiring with a broken hand that will keep him
out for six weeks.

[leefer]

Johnson is going to be a real handfull in English conditions.

[Scot Munroe]

also Brett Lee is out for 5 months having ankle surgery.

[alanmayes]

There's a new kid on the block for Australia, in the shape of 22 yr old batsman David Warner.
He played on sunday in the 20/20 game against S Africa, scoring 89 of just 43 balls.He hit his
first two balls from Dale Steyn both for six.

What also marks Warner out from others, is that he is ambidextrous and has been working on
batting both left and right handed.Gray-Nicholls have manufactured a double sided bat for him.

[leefer]

Going to be abit complicated when he plays the reverse sweep!....he looks good though.

[Boeta]

Warner doesn't bat left and right handed. That bat has been given to 5 or 6 of young Australian batters for their domestic Twenty20 comp, but none of them have played using the back of it so far

[Reg Smeeton]

   Convicts batter Saffas with a newish looking line up.

 England looking a bit of a rudderless ship off the field right now...on it very patchy at best.

[Reg Smeeton]

 Cunty cunts...looks like we're in for a right battering in the summer.  The Convicts look to have replaced a generation with some fresh talent, like Philip Hughes 20 years old and a century v Saffas.

 They're probably not as strong as old, but look to have the makings of a decent team.

 Hughes has been lined up to play for Middlesex, early season just so he can get used to English conditions....great.

[michael]

Why aren't we 'declaring' already?

Prior has his 100, we're well ahead, we've scored slowly... and need to win.

[michael]

Oh, we've now declared.

They must have seen my post on their laptops.

[Reg Smeeton]

  Well it was interesting....England now up to 5 in the Test rankings, Convicts down to 4.

  In many ways a strange series, apart from Strauss and to a lesser extent Prior, no England player had much more than one decent showing....it was just these happened at key times.

 Strauss did a good job with the coin...which was a help apart from Headingley..

 We have made some progress, insofar as Strauss/Flower seems a decent management team, Onions came in and did OK, Trott will now get a run, and Swann has had a decent year, and Broad has come on.

 Against that, Flintoff has gone, Monty has gone backwards, and Boparda seems to have completely imploded....not at game and not mentioned in credits...Flower even talking of 14 players used when it was 15.

 It was nice to see Harmy clean up at the end, but we don't seem to have a young quick on the horizon.

 The boy Meaker at Surrey, may fit the bill, Saffa and gets it through at 90 mph, but only 20 and lacks experience...I had hopes for Finn at Middlesex, but he doesn't seem to have progressed.

[santasdead]

  Well it was interesting....England now up to 5 in the Test rankings, Convicts down to 4.

  In many ways a strange series, apart from Strauss and to a lesser extent Prior, no England player had much more than one decent showing....it was just these happened at key times.

 Strauss did a good job with the coin...which was a help apart from Headingley..

 We have made some progress, insofar as Strauss/Flower seems a decent management team, Onions came in and did OK, Trott will now get a run, and Swann has had a decent year, and Broad has come on.

 Against that, Flintoff has gone, Monty has gone backwards, and Boparda seems to have completely imploded....not at game and not mentioned in credits...Flower even talking of 14 players used when it was 15.

 It was nice to see Harmy clean up at the end, but we don't seem to have a young quick on the horizon.

Agreed. Altough i'd add that alistair cooke also seems to be going backwards too, maybe time away from the big test arena will suit him,but he hasn't looked at all like he was when he first played international cricket.

[DMR]

Haha, well done IOB, once again making a total chode of yourself in this section!!