Cricket: South African Leather Hunt

I was lucky to see the entire match. Ponting played an ballistic innings.Gibbs slogged his way to a all-important 160. But it was very sad to see the piquant state of bowlers of the either side. Seeing a classy batsmen like Gibbs slogging like a butcher using his sledge hammer was odd.

How many of you sat through the match? At the end of day, my sympathy goes to Aussies. The LBW of Mark Boucher, Dropped catch of Gibbs would have given us a different result.

Let us hope that Aussies get their act together during test series.

I missed it...

Yeah,
The match was SUPERB and was really a nail biter. In fact, when Hall fell to Brett Lee with 2 runs still to require, I was thinking about the Aus-SA matches of WC1999. BUT the result was different this time.

HOWEVER,900 RUNS in a single ODI. Is Cricket becoming an ALL batsmen game? I wonder if this blind scoring will take some of the charm away from this beautiful game.

- Ramy..

I think NITINI was a key man...he took a single at a very crutial time that leveled the scores and rotated the strike also.

I followed almost the entire game via cricinfo, I'd love to know what they did to that pitch, both teams played it like a Twenty20 match

I was astounded by RSA's chase. Batting first and posting totals like that (although not quite to that extent) is one of the scariest things about the Australian team, but to match the performance under the pressure of a run chase has never been matched. I believe there were also some captaining decisions made by Ponting which contributed, but full marks to South Africa; after seeing Oz's total I didn't give them any hope.

Bowling Lewis to that extent and not switching Lee back in so that Lee couldn't finish his 10 overs was a very poor choice. Those last four or five overs were critical, and Ponting didn't manage it well. I believe McGrath and Hogg would have made a difference, but atleast Murali no longer has the worst one day figures in history (0/99 v Oz), Lewis managed it well

Oh:

, etc

I only watched last part of it...and thoroughly enjoyed it!!!

Sympathy for Aussies cricket team??? No!! never!!

It's heartening to see SA breaking mental barriers and fighting till the end...no more loosers!!! Hats off to SA for their gutsy performance!!!

- Manish

Australia lost Ashes.
Australia lost to Bangladesh.
Australia lost to SA in high score game.

Wake-up India, next word cup is yours.

Bowling Lewis to that extent and not switching Lee back in so that Lee couldn't finish his 10 overs was a very poor choice. Those last four or five overs were critical, and Ponting didn't manage it well. I believe McGrath and Hogg would have made a difference,

True. Ponting seems to have preferred experience(In Domestic cricket) of Lewis. But the situation was so horrible that the only way to escape a thrashing was to bowl a yorker or a wide

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I though Ponting played some proper cricketing shots. Others slogged their way through.

This victory will make cricket more popular in SA. It will help to forget 22 runs in 1 ball match and later on match fixing episode.

I watched Gibbs batting and the most the SA teams batting. But missed Ponting's batting. It was a great match. Truly refreshing.

Australia lost Ashes.
Australia lost to Bangladesh.
Australia lost to SA in high score game.

Wake-up India, next word cup is yours.

I still bet on Australia,South Africa, or Pakistan. We have a pop gun attack,which may be slaughtered.

Australia with McGrath is a different unit altogether. McGrath's fitness will ensure a hatrick for australia.

I think the rules should be stricter than the one's they have right now for ODI cricket. Most of the teams seem to be scoring 280 or more as if its a regular score, and watching the games over the last 6 months, every bowler is getting creamed. Sure the game should be more entertaining, but not on the bowler's expense.

I couldnt see the match yesterday, but finally someone gave a reply to the Aussies. Unbeleivable performance by South Africa. It was truly the Greatest game in cricket.

Wow!! What a game. A record set and broken in the same day. Good game, Australia and SA.

The Aussies have always had one over on us mentally, even at a time when our cricket was incredible consistently it would drop terribly against the Aussies. That was the effect it had, those days are over now. Make no mistake they are still a better side than we are.

The slogging was needed, it kept the pressure on the bowlers who in turn kept bowling full tosses instead of yorkers, short and wide instead of full and straight.
Many classy cricket shots were played too, by both sides.

I watched the game and saw the highlights twice now, just can't get enough of it, well done boys.

one freaking awesome match.
sad that i didnt get to watch it, waiting for the highlights or the DVD

awesome show by the south africans in the end

waiting for the highlights or the DVD

Highlights package will be no less than 8 hours.

Hey guys,

I have a link to the highlights. Picture quality is sort of choppy for some parts, but overall its ok. I can post the link tomorrow in the forum if anyone wants it.