Just under a year out from making their first-ever ICC World Cup final, the Proteas have another chance at history when they take on Australia in the World Test Championship Final at Lord’s.
Their opponents are Australia – a country with a rich history of winning big finals. Their record has been outstanding.
Watch the WTC Final live right here
Great start from Rabada.
bump
Need another wicket here, Smith is looking dangerous
I KNEW IT
As Markram camer on to bowl, i said to your wife that Smith would lose concentration against him and would present us with a chance.
Temba looks like he's been following the DDD.
Dangerous David's Diet...
Yes man, Smith gone
Fuck this SA batting side is pathetic - 30 for 4
Its why I can’t be asked to watch SA cricket anymore - I watched a bit today but won’t be wasting any more time on this
Markram fails..YET AGAIN!!!
Why is he still there?
He should have be dropped four years ago.
And for heaven's sake, why is he opening the batting?
What he averaging now? I'm sure it's like 32 or something. The DDA of the Proteas.
If he was the DA of cricket he wouid be on a 100 and averaging over 50
Unfortunately he is the Mostert of cricket - all heart and show with no substance
Markram is an enigma - gifted, attractive bat that has disappointed beyond words - Bavuma is similar - Markram averages 35, Bavuma 37 - both below the acceptable 40 but then not a single one of our bats averages over 40
Forget Markram, what the fuck is Mulder doing at 3 - a serial failure at test level shoved into the 3 spot - fucking sums up the coach
Pity they never appealed the one lbw that would have been out. Batting fourth to make a high score, which looks likely, is going to be tough
I was wrong Rickelton averages 41
What is Beddingham still doing in the side he averages 33
"What is Bedingham still doing in the side he averages 33"
Fair question, but he certainly has the pedigree to kick on.
Lets be patient with him.
it's time to blood Brevis and Pretorius in to the system and get rid of the deadwood.
I'm happy to note that they have both been included in the SA team to play Zimbabwe in a 2 test series.
Their time is now.
As for the bowling, Ngidi isnt a bad 3rd seamer... but his current form isn't fantastic. Paterson would certainly have been aa better option in English conditions.
That being said, we did bowl a strong Aussie line up out for under 250 which is remarkable.
Hopefully today is our day. Bavuma and DB need to step up with a big partnership.
Nah Flash Beddingham is already 31 move on
Add Hernan to your list of youngsters to invest in
Stubbs is not a test bat in my opinion
de Zorzi is also not test standard
Dave, I didn't watch yesterday but I'm assuming Wiaan was sent in as nightwatchman...
Time for Bavuma and the rest to fail, leaving Ozzi with a nice 100 run lead to start their second innings.
Bavuma with some West Indian style shots this morning
And Bavuma goes.
LBW...reviewed...
My word he got the faintest of edges on that...I swear, a fairy fart on a bat would make more contact.
I've always wondered if the compressing of air between the bat the ball isn't picked up on the microphone when the ball passes the bat very closely.
Change of mindset by the bats this morning
Far more positive and it’s paying off
It’s one hell of a bowling attack this
Proteas trail by 136.
Bavuma and Bedhead still there with Bavuma taking it to the Ozzies a little.
Bavuma hitting the first 6 of the game.
He's nearing 50 now and it might be the main important one of his life.
He needs to stay calm because since opening up more his play and miss rate has gone up a lot.
"Nah Flash Beddingham is already 31 move on"
Patience dear friend. He's a really good player.
Hope he proves you wrong today.
Good session! LETS GO BOYS.
As predicted, Bavuma fails. Gets a start, can't come from his mindset and then gets out.
Same old same old.
We need to get rid of Bavuma and Markram ASAP
A 70 plus lead on this wicket is absolute gold........
Not a great performance from SA, and any run out in a test match is just unforgiveable
My prediction of a hundred run lead for the Ozzies was only 12 runs short...
LOL
"We need to get rid of Bavuma and Markram ASAP" shows a lot of naivity and "bandwagon supporter syndrome" ...
Temba is an easy target because he is black.
Truth remains, he is by far our most consistent batsman.
Here are his last 13 matches:
His test scores since March 2023:
Since July 2022 Temba averages 51 in 13 tests with 3 hundreds and 5 fifties.
Not a bad average for Bavuma
Ngidi has absolutely no place in this pace attack ......... he is limp on this wicket
"Ngidi has absolutely no place in this pace attack ......... he is limp on this wicket"
And he gets the BIG wicket of Smith next ball!
haha
Still even stevens ATM....Aus slightly ahead.
Getting Carey at the close of play was important. Looks like a 250 or so target in the 4th innings. But these have been such short innings, batting fourth doesn’t have the usual pitch implications….the Proteas have a genuine chance to finally win a big one, but somebody will have to play a substantial innings.
I have to say, one person I’ll never argue with when it comes to cricket, is Flashman.
He very politely put plum in his place by stating simple fact.
i respect flash for always being decent and polite in discussions and this is just another example.
so fuck you david.
Bavuma and Markram are bad apples. They are the senior batters in the team and under them the batting has been an abject failure for far too long.
Markram is complete and utter no-hoper.
Bavuma has scored a mammoth 4 test centuries in a decade of Test cricket. All of those centuries have been in SA and two of those against horrendous opposition.
Nobody put me in my place, Chippo. Unless you believe that my place is agreeing that 4 hundreds is enough over ten years.
The dead batting weight needs to be cut from this team. It should have been cut yonks ago.
...and just to go a little deeper on why Bavuma has never convinced me. Today was a perfect example. The idea was right - Settle in and then take it to the Ozzies a bit and let them panic as their small total looks smaller and smaller after every 5 overs that go by. But you need to be able to execute. I watched Bavuma and he was fine when he was trying to block tears of boredom out of the crowd. But the moment he tried to up the scoring rate he immediately played and missed far too many times. It was just a matter of time until he got out. The right idea, the right moment to execute it, but simply not enough skill and talent to execute.
It's got absolutely zero to do with him being black.
Well done Ngidi, you certainly proved me wrong
Those wickets he got were absolutely vital, in fact, because of his spell with those wickets at that time, we actually have a chance to win this, but it will be a bloody hard chase....
Very glad to be proven wrong
Let's hope the Ozzie tale doesn't wag and that the target is sub 250.
If it turns out that way I would simply tell the batters that they have 50 overs to go out and chase those runs.
Any idea if trying to get there at test pace will flop. Apparently nobody can bat properly on this pitch, so why try?
Go out, free the hands, and bliksim the ball.
Must say, quite a lot of people are complaining that this wicket is not the best example or condusive to play the test final on, and it's easy to understand why, given how so many wickets have already fallen.
I don't buy that, I get that most of the batsmen on either side are test cricket shy playing on foreign soil and facing the unfamiliar Duke ball.
It's a result wicket, the bowler gets a lot out of it if he gets his length and line right(Ngidi is a fair example of a tale of two innings) whereas the batters like Steve Smith for example works hard at shot selection.
Oh well just my opinion.
Fair point, provided the game is not over in 2 - 3 days
When you get 14 wickets on the 1st day and 14 wickets again on the 2nd day, that is not a great advertisement of a decent wicket
Crazy stat
Most no-balls in Tests since October 2024
57 - Kagiso Rabada
24 - Jasprit Bumrah
20 - Gus Atkinson
19 - Marco Jansen
18 - Wiaan Mulder
17 - Dane Paterson
These Aussie tailenders are really being stubborn and could be the difference in this game, especially that 61 run partnership between Carey and Starc yesterday
To think that they were 28/ 0 and then 77/7... and now 175/9
