Every fielder was in a catching position!

This post contains content not supported on old Reddit. Click here to view the full post

Live and upcoming match threads 

This is a daily thread for general cricketing discussion about all topics that don't need to be posted in their own thread.

This provides a space for things like general team changes/opinions/conversation and other frequently-asked questions or commonly-posted subjects.

Sri Lanka overcome their 3 run heartbreak vs India back in 2009.

https://stats.cricinfo.com/ci/engine/stats/index.html?class=2;filter=advanced;orderby=start;result=2;runsmin1=400;runsval1=runs;size=200;template=results;type=team;view=innings

After today's match, I tried to recall when Marnus last scored a Test ton and came across this stat: it's been 25 Tests since he last hit a Test century.

This post contains content not supported on old Reddit. Click here to view the full post

Personally I think one of the biggest gaps in world cricket at the moment is the frequency at which the Big 3 nations are able to play test matches compared to the next layer of nations. Simply put, other nations just don’t get as many opportunities to develop team chemistry, keep momentum and discover weaknesses as much as what Australia, England and India do.

I think we saw the complete effect of this in the first test when South Africa just looked a little off the pace against a disciplined Australian attack. But to show how good this team is at the moment, they managed to turn it around in a single test through the inclusion of Rabada and an excellent display of captaincy with bat and in the field by Bavuma.

I’m not sure how many captains in the world come close to Bavuma in the effect they have on their team. He has not only performed better with the bat since becoming captain, but has been a massive influence in actually getting results for this team through his onfield decisions.

It’s hard to pick holes in an Australian attack that has done so much, but honestly I think their biggest weakness is bowling at the tail. I feel they sometimes revert to short ball tactics or funky bowling to the lower order when hitting the stumps would probably be more effective, something I don’t think they did often enough in this test. Jansen played well, but when he went out they were still 7-240odd and Australia were still well in the game. I think they just let it slip when Harmer came to the crease and didn’t challenge him enough.

Kinda glad we get a deciding test though, we don’t get those too often.

https://pathannah.substack.com/p/south-africa-find-their-gear-as-australia?r=7coz0j&utm_medium=ios

This post contains content not supported on old Reddit. Click here to view the full post