Australia Day – Spoiling the Party
We had to win the match to level the series. We may have lost our test cricket muscle but we were still a formidable one day side. Supposedly. The Australia I know didn’t even show up. Where was the intensity? The determination? The common sense? Australia Day should have seen all of that but we insisted on inviting South Africa to the party. They came and they watched the host staggering around and falling all over. Then they stole the silverware.
Watching Australia bat was an exercise in torture once Ponting and Mike Hussey lost their wickets. The level of ineptitude displayed by our middle order was breathtaking. They heaved. They flailed. They missed. On a good batting deck, in front of a parochial Australia Day crowd, we could only manage 28 off a slow bowler’s ten overs. We now have the happy knack of setting up scores in excess of three hundred only to fall well short. Spectacularly short in this case. The final score of 222 was an apology of a run chase: “sorry about making you bat lads but they did pay their money.”
I didn’t get a chance to further torture myself by watching our bowlers trying to defend 222. I might have lost a perfectly good flat screen TV if I had. South Africa only lost two wickets. They passed the total with more than ten overs to spare. I wonder if we can even defend 400.
Well done, South Africa.
Australia, take a good, long look at yourselves.
So where do you see the ashes going this year Rick? On one side you have you guys misfiring a little, and on the other side you have England. A team that either plays great….or horrendously bad. There is no middle ground.
I wouldn’t be at all surprised if that little urn returned to English soil. Our guys are carrying battle wounds at the moment and if South Africa trounce us next month those wounds may well be too deep. It’s very depressing watching our bowlers run in with abject fear written across their faces.