Cricket: South Africa vs Australia - Test Series

[kevshat]

After their limited overs games of a couple of weeks ago South Africa now host Australia in a shamefully short 2 match test series which begins on Wednesday. As with all SA home games both matches are live on Sky and with both sides having busy winter campaigns this should be fully competitive as a build up for those. Schedule:

Wed Nov 9 - Sun Nov 13 08:30 GMT | 10:30 local 08:30 GMT	1st Test - South Africa v Australia Newlands, Cape Town	11 - 18° C
Thu Nov 17 - Mon Nov 21 08:00 GMT | 10:00 local 08:00 GMT	2nd Test - South Africa v Australia New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg	N/A

[Tyler]

Re: Cricket: South Africa vs Australia - Test Series It annoys me how this is a two match Test Series. The ICC need to address this kind of shit very soon. Won't be getting into any outrights, just two ahead of the 1st Test. - 3pts South Africa to win the 1st Test @ 7/4 [bet365] South Africa have a fantastic record at Newlands. Out of all their Test venues, they have the best record there. They have won 4 of the last 7 tests their and drawn the remainder. Incidentally the last time South Africa lost here, Australia were the victors. However, that was back in 2006 and since then, the Langers and the Haydens and the Martyns and the Gilchrists and the Symonds and the Warnes have all moved on. Australia come into this with the majority of their players in very short-term form from their warm-up match last week. Dealing with Steyn, Morkel and the potential assisted threat from Tahir and Harris is a whole different story though and I think they'll struggle. I really like the look of the South African unit here and I am going to side with them. There is rain about in the 1st Day but despite that, I still think we'll get a result. There should be spark for the bowlers and that should be enough to see a result being produced, hopefully in favour of the home side. - 4pts Player Performance: Hashim Amla Under 91 @ 5/6 [bet365] Pretty straight-forward this one really. I haven't been wholly convinced by Amla's form since South Africa started playing cricket again and this line is high enough for me to shoot under. The statsguru at Cricinfo tells us that in the eight times he's played here, he's cleared this line only twice. Being an opener as well, he is almost guaranteed to bat in both innings aswell which makes 91 a touch too high for me. I am not doubting Amla's class as a batsman one bit, he's one of the best around but he has looked very rusty recently with scores of 4, 4, 24, 0 and 52 in the limited overs side of the game. I expect Mitchell Johnson to be fired up on in conditions that suit him to the floor early doors and I see trouble for South Africa's resident bearded batsman. Unders for me here.

[kevshat]

Re: Cricket: South Africa vs Australia - Test Series Same with me. No outrights because the series is too short. I am going with 4 in the opening test though. 5pts J.Kallis' Performance Pts - 125&Over 5/6 Bet365 1pt J.Kallis Man of the Match 9/1 Ladbrokes Points are scored as follows: 1pt per run, 10pts per catch & 20pts per wicket. Jacques Kallis is an exceptional cricketer. He's arguably better than people give him credit for and could even be called underrated which is just insane for a man with his stats. It's his stats on this ground which I'm worried about for this bet but even they are insane. Sick really. He averages just the 74.88 with the bat in test cricket on this ground and that's not over a small sample period either. That's over 18 matches which just makes his record here even more remarkable. As well as that batting average he's got 37 wickets at 30.59 on this ground and 29 catches so he has 3 scoring methods and scores well with all of them on this ground. He's in decent nick having hit half centuries in the second and third ODI's against the Aussies. We can almost rule out the first one anyway because SA were chasing a stupid number due to Duckworth/Lewis. I really think even at 125 this total is too low and I expect Kallis to cover it. Kallis is just 53 runs away from 12000 runs in test cricket and given that four of his last five knocks on this ground have been centuries I think he's a real standout candidate for the man of the match award here. If a couple are in the mix a good milestone always sways it so I'll take Kallis to reach his performance target and to sneak the MOM here. 4pts M.Johnson's Performance Pts - 111&Over 5/6 Bet365 Points are scored as follows: 1pt per run, 10pts per catch & 20pts per wicket. This isn't a phrase you hear regularly but Mitchell Johnson is in decent form with the ball. He took 9 wickets in the warm up game on this tour and he took 3/20 and 2/37 in the ODI series. He bowls well in South African conditions and left South Africa the number one bowler in world cricket in 2009. I'm sure those memories will come back to Johnson who seems to have brought his radar to South Africa with him, the one that works. What we've also got to consider is his batting potential and he could well knock of a significant chunk of this total with the willow. When he played here in 2009 he scored 238pts and he only bowled once. He took 4 wickets in that innings though and were he to take 4 wickets in this match I'd expect this to be covered. If he gets 5 it definitely will be and 6 covers it. I think this line is more than achievable even for someone who has been a bit of a shitheap for the last 12 months or so. He's in conditions he enjoys here and we should see the best of him in this match. 4pts P.Hughes' 1st Inns Runs - Under 27.5 5/6 Ladbrokes Speaking of shitheaps here's the batting version :lol. This line looks too high to me. Hughes scored a ton in Sri Lanka in his last test match but I'd be disappointed if I didn't score a ton against that attack. Even Stevie Wonder fancies a knock against that attack. Hughes could only get 4 and 19 in the warm up match last week and that's more like his true form. Even in Sri Lanka that ton came in the second innings after a first innings duck. He got 12 and 36 in the first innings of the other two tests with the 36 coming on the road at Pallekele. I always thinks he struggles against the swinging ball. He did in England and against England in Australia and I think Dale Steyn will be lining up a rabbit here. Barring some unforeseen luck I don't think Hughes gets to 28 with a technique as poor as the one he carries around with him.

[meatman]

Re: Cricket: South Africa vs Australia - Test Series I'm actually really looking forward to this small series. It should be proper test match cricket involving big nations. Those who know me well,will know that I do indeed like a bit of test cricket :p shame its only 2 games :( Mike Hussey player performance 80& over @ 1.83 Bet365 This line looks a bit low to me for someone of his experience. Fresh from a decent tour of SL and having picked up some good knocks in the recent ODI series, I think he might be a pain in the arse for SA in the middle order here. The key against SA is to avoid the new ball, but once things have settled down it should get easier. He's just usually so dependable for Australia and I can see him having at least one decent knock in this game. Also worth noting that Hussey has taken at least one catch in 14 of his last 16 test matches, so based on that stat he should be able to pick at least 10 points up via that way too. Best of luck everyone :ok

[ani_lfc]

Re: Cricket: South Africa vs Australia - Test Series One in play bet for me... 8 Points Micheal Hussey to score over 27.5 Runs @ 1.85 Wills Im taking this bet with a high stake because i think this line is well below what is usually expected from Mr Cricket. Looking in comparison Paddy Power have this line at 37.5 which is a massive difference of 10 runs. Micheal Hussey is excellent in all 3 formats of the game but I think he excels at Test Cricket where he averages around 53. Currently Australia have lost 4 wickets however the last partnership between Marsh and Clarke was worth 103 runs at 4.51 runs an over, clearly the pitch isnt playing as bad as it looks on the scoreboard. No matter how anyone else plays Hussey will play at his usual self, not taking any unnessecary risks and making sure hes there until the close of play today. Even if Clarke goes early we still have Haddin & Johnson to come who can both bat well enough for Hussey to get to a very low score of 28 runs.

[meatman]

Re: Cricket: South Africa vs Australia - Test Series

Mike Hussey player performance 80& over @ 1.83 Bet365

A shocking bet. He scored 1 and a golden duck and by all accounts dropped a sitter of a catch today too. Apologies to anyone who followed, Mr Cricket just simply wasn't at the races in this test (well not many batsman have been to be honest!)

[kevshat]

Re: Cricket: South Africa vs Australia - Test Series Pretty horrible first test all round really except Tyler's excellent shout on South Africa :clap. -6.66pts for that first test for me which I'm hoping to get back this week. I'll take 3 to begin with. Going with first innings bets because the forecast is none too pretty. 5pts South Africa 1st Inns Lead 4/5 Blue Square I think this is an acceptable price even though South Africa were shelled out for 96 in their first innings in Cape Town. That second day in that test match was just ridiculously insane and was a day which we won't see the likes of again I don't think. Even then but for Michael Clarke's outstanding 150 odd Australia won't have got a lot more in their first innings. Coming into this second test I think it's the Aussies who have the bigger problems. Shaun Marsh, one of the few Australia batsmen to have looked half decent in that first test, has been ruled out and he'll be replaced by Usman Khawaja who never pulled up any trees in his last test out in Sri Lanka. Since then he's been home and scored a shitload for NSW but this is totally different. Here he faces a rampant South Africa side who have a bowling attack to be feared. Fear isn't a word I'd use for this Australia bowling attack. The main 3 seamers looked crap in the first test although Ryan Harris did go through the tail in the first innings. He went at nearly 5 an over in the second innings though. South Africa have a settled batting line up which should be even better in this test now the rustiness is out of their systems while Australia's top 7 have struggled in the main on this tour. It's hard for the Australian middle order in series like this because they effectively begin 1 down with Hughes in the team and Watson is going backwards with the bat quicker than Sepp Blatter's reputation. There is massive pressure on Ponting, Clarke and Hussey to score big runs here because most of the South African top 7 will against this bowling attack. In that situation I've got to take the South Africans to prevail in the first innings. 4pts P.Hughes 1st Inns Runs - Under 26.5 runs 5/6 Ladbrokes I've hinted it above but what the Australian selectors see in Philip Hughes I don't think I'll ever know. It isn't that he's in a bad run of form, he technically isn't good enough for test cricket. Certainly not as an opener anyway. He might make a competent no11 if he's lucky :lol. When you open the batting in places like England, Australia and South Africa you need to be positive with your footwork but most of all know where your off stump is. I noticed in his 3 week stint with Hampshire that Hughes' footwork is all over the place and he wouldn't know where his off stump is if you drew it on the ground in flourescent highlighter pen for him. In these conditions, which are likely to favour the new ball bowlers with the overhead conditions too, I can't see Hughes making 27 runs in the first innings. I would struggle to think he could make 27 in a week let alone an innings. They could make the line 2.65 and I'd still be interested in the unders so I'm happy to be on the unders here. 1pt S.Watson Top Australia Bowler (1st Inns Only) 11/2 Skybet Shane Watson took this market down in the first test with a five for in about 4 overs and with the tameness the Australian attack had in that second innings I see no reason why Watson should be a price this big here. With the altitude and the overhead conditions the ball will move around in the air in this match and it could be that Watson's more medium pace has more effect than Australia's hit the deck bowlers in Siddle and Johnson, when he hits the deck and not the grassy bit 3 strips away :lol. I can see Clarke turning to Watson fairly early and with spin unlikely to be a player I think as a solid 4th bowling option Watson is overpriced here for sure and well worth a small punt to see how many wickets he can take.

[GoldenEye]

Re: Cricket: South Africa vs Australia - Test Series What a game of cricket :clap:clap:clap

[kevshat]

Re: Cricket: South Africa vs Australia - Test Series That was a complete blowout of a series for me from a betting point of view. -16.67 overall for it and just couldn't get anything going from anywhere. It didn't help that both my bets went considerably better in the second innings but that's how it goes. From a cricket point of view what a series it was. An absolutely travesty that there isn't a deciding test match if not a few more :sad.