Darrell Hair gets hot under the collar

“It’s quite clear-cut. His [Haddin's] gloves were in front of the stumps and the ball hadn’t passed the line of stumps, so he’s in breach of the law and it should have just been an automatic no-ball. Of all the people on the ground, he would have been the one who was best positioned to know. I think he should have owned up to it. I saw that Ponting has gone into bat for him after the Kiwis called him [Haddin] a cheat, but I can understand why the Kiwis would be livid about it.”

“People think the square leg umpire [Bruce Oxenford] is out there for a rest, but the most important thing the square leg umpire is out there to look for are the things that happen the least and that’s hit wicket and the wicketkeeper encroaching. It should have just been called a no-ball from the square leg umpire. You can’t be stumped and you can’t be bowled off a no-ball. But it’s obvious that the ball missed the stump as well.”

Darrell, as usual, is absolutely correct. Haddin had a deadset shocker, and his being upset at Vettori for calling him a cheat is laughable.

I noticed at the end of this article that Darrell is now the “executive officer of the NSW Cricket Umpires and Scorers Association”, so it’s good to have him back home if the ICC are too easily influenced by politics to utilise their best umpire.

Had we won this game, it could have been up there with the underarm ball and another 25 years of Kiwi’s being bitter could be enjoyed by all. Nice.

Australia

Our bowling lineup looks at it’s strongest so far in the series with Shaun Tait and Mitchell Johnson playing together at last. Mitchell’s troubled the Saffas more than any other bowler on this tour so having him back after a rest will be a big bonus.

Hilfenhaus has shown some of the potential that I keep talking up this series, and bowled a heap of garbage too. He and Ryan Harris have been dropped for tomorrow’s game to make room for Tait and Johnson. I’d really like to see ‘Dirty’ Dirk Nannes given a shot, preferably in a way that forces him to miss tomorrow night’s Twenty20 final at the SCG

Shaun Marsh has blasted off the cobwebs of his sub-par domestic season with 78 and 79, here’s to a century from the Son of Swampy. The only question remaining in our lineup is which Queenslander to not play at number 8. Here’s hoping my boy Dave Warner starts middling them again tonight, if not can we have him back for tomorrow?

South Africa

Johan Botha throws like a girl, and his action is dodgy as hell but at least the teams over rate is improving. AB ‘c’ DeVilliers should be be getting back on the horse that threw him, look for Ricky to bring Tait on as soon as he’s in. The overly hyped Vaughn van Jaarsveld has been dropped, much like the multiple chances that have fallen through his hands and snuck past his bat.

We’re still looking for a way to negate JP Duminy, hopefully Tait can maim him as I just can’t see us getting him out the old fashioned way.

Free Stuff

If you’re going to the match tonight, hold on to your ticket as it’ll work at Homebush for the Twenty20 final tomorrow as well. We’re hoping to take the record for highest attendance at a domestic Twenty20 game from the Vics in addition to the Big Bash Trophy, so giving tickets away seemed like a good plan. To be honest I reckon they should give all tickets away and make cash off food/drink/merchandise, or charge a token amount to get the bums on seats. Still, $20 aint too bad..

The Teams

Australia 1 Shaun Marsh, 2 David Warner, 3 Ricky Ponting (capt), 4 Michael Hussey, 5 David Hussey, 6 Cameron White, 7 Brad Haddin (wk), 8 James Hopes/Nathan Hauritz, 9 Mitchell Johnson, 10 Nathan Bracken, 11 Shaun Tait.

South Africa (possible) 1 Herschelle Gibbs, 2 Hashim Amla, 3 Jacques Kallis, 4 AB de Villiers, 5 JP Duminy, 6 Neil McKenzie, 7 Mark Boucher (wk), 8 Albie Morkel, 9 Johan Botha (capt), 10 Dale Steyn/Morne Morkel, 11 Makhaya Ntini.

David Warner

This fucking rocks! David Warner, what a superb debut. There was only one Australian who didn’t enjoy that innings last night, and with 89 off 43 balls it’d be pretty tough for the selectors to not add Dave to the ODI squad now, as I suggested over at Well Pitched on Friday.

The highlight for me was his first ball facing Dale Steyn, knowing this guy is rated as the best quick on earth so he paddles a six over fine leg. Next ball, now that he’s got his eye in, he tonks him over mid wicket for another 6!

Warner faced just 1/4 of the balls bowled to Australia to score 1/2 the runs, this in a team of his childhood heros who he wanted to get autographs from in the changerooms.

Well that’s enough gloating for now, I can’t wait till the second T20 on Tuesday in Brisbane – one scary thought for South Africans is the ball that Warner was eventually caught off in Melbourne at deep long on would have gone for another 6 at the Gabba!

One thing that could be interesting later this year is the IPL as Dave has signed with the Delhi Daredevils and will open the batting with Virender Sehwag – hopefully Sehwag can teach him some restraint!

I’m getting very excited by the prospect of seeing David Warner take on Steyn and Morkel come Sunday night, hopefully this bástardised version of cricket lives up to excitement from the Test Series.

Oh, and reformed chucker Johan Botha’s been named captain of the Saffas. One must wonder wtf Boucher did to piss off the hierachy…

Shot Dave

Not to say Dave hasn’t earnt this selection, his form in the shorter versions of he game is undeniable.

In late November he broke the NSW One Day record in 34.1 overs by hitting 165* (112) That innings included 19 fours and 9 sixes against the (then) table topping Tasmanian attack. One can only speculate how many he would have scored had we batted first!

This week he took apart a South Australian attack that included a devastating Shaun Tait and Pakistani import Sohail Tanvir with 65(35). He did have some luck, playing on to be bowled by Tait off a no-ball then smashing the free hit over mid-on for one of his 7 fours. Of the 4 sixes Dave hit the highlight was a Tait delivery which he dispatched onto the roof of the Adelaide Oval!

He started the match with that stupid double sided T20 specialist bat, then changed it after a few overs for a real lump of willow.

He’s also a handy slow bowling option, capable of ripping leggies and tight offies depending on his mood. So congrats on the selection Dave, and it’s good to see we are still breeding the big names.

Used Car Salesman

Our chase tactics yesterday worked very well, one batsman grafting and the other dominating. Katich played a superb knock and ensured there was no batting collapse while Hayden and Ponting rocketed along at close to a run a ball.

Then Ponting got out and the wheels came off. Michael Hussey joined Simon Katich and we had two grafters happy to leave the short and wide balls in the pursuit of a big total. Had Ponting shown some flexibility and identified roles for his batsmen, Michael Clarke, Brad Haddin or Mitchell Johnson would have been the next man in and we’d have a further 50 runs in the bank.

I’m really missing the pre-declaration slog, we’ve got the cattle in our squad and to declare without giving Haddin or Johnson a swing makes no sense to me. Perhaps it’s bought about through denial of Hussey’s form?

This would have pushed their required run rate closer to 3.75, a considerable lift from 3.30. Plus we’d have handed them the opportunity to chase the highest 4th innings total of all time to go with the ODI record we gave them in Joburg.

Either way, if this had stuck we’d be sitting a lot happier

9.4 Siddle to Amla, 2 runs, Haddin’s dropped him! Thats a good delivery from Siddle, pitching and straightening off a length, Amla pushes at it off the back foot and gets a healthy edge but Haddin, diving low to his right, fluffs the take, tough though it was

So now we declare giving them 24 overs today and a further 90 tomorrow totalling around 114. The target is 375 so they’ll need to score at 3.3 rpo to win the test! Given the history of this series so far that’s not even a long shot!

So now Ponting finds some balls! A shame he didn’t use them in the 4th Test in India, but balls are balls. The Saffas have a real shot at winning this test now. Personally I’d have batted another hour till we were 450 ahead then let em have it.

We should still win, and with a slight possibility of showers tomorrow Pontings’ given us the best chance of taking 20 wickets. If we are to lose though….

Edit: Douggie just got his first Test wicket! Sure it’s Morne Morkel but he’s an opening batsman now.

Boony reckons he got a roughie on this lbw decision, to be honest it looked pretty out to me – maybe struck him outside the line of off but it doesn’t even approach Aleem Dar’s level of incompetence circa 2005.

What I love about this clip though is just how pissed off the little Tasmanian gets. Swearing his head off at the umpire and all the way to the boundary and then some. The crowd duly pitch in with the búllshít chant and everyone gets on with the game.

I wonder what penalty Boony would cop for this under today’s ICC Code of Conduct? It’d have to be a Level 2 offence minimum as he is definitely “showing serious dissent at an umpire’s decision by word or action” in addition to “using language or a gesture that is obscene, offensive or of a seriously insulting nature to another player, umpire, referee, team official or spectator.” A Level 2 offence would cop a 50% to 100% of match fee fine in addition to a 1 Test or 2 ODI ban.

Here’s a few recent examples of dissent and the penalty imposed

Level 1 offences

Lecture

Stuart Broad questioned the verdict of umpire Russell Tiffin to award a wide.
“I got called into the match referees’ office for dissent, but it was just a talking-to, nothing more than that.” said Broad “I’d have probably been fined my whole match fee if my dad had been the ref”

20% fine

Jacob Oram was given lbw by Australian umpire Steve Davis and openly showed his disgust at the decision by glaring at his bat then punching it on his walk away from the crease.

30% fine

Ricky Ponting was fined for moving from his fielding position towards the pitch as part of his appeal, appearing dismayed by the umpire’s decision and in the wake of that decision appearing to make a comment to the official.

40% fine

Adam Gilchrist pleaded guilty and was found by match referee Jeff Crowe to have breached the ICC’s code of conduct when he questioned a run-out decision by umpire Aleem Dar during a one-day international against South Africa.

Level 2 offences

65% fine

Virender Sehwag was on Sunday docked 65 per cent of his match fee for exchanging words with Umpire Billy Bowden after he was declared leg before wicket on the fourth day’s play on Saturday. Considering his past record, it was decided to only penalise him with a fine.

75% fine

Moin Khan stood his ground after being given out leg-before to Irfan Pathan by Simon Taufel on the fourth day of the match.

Left Arm Chinaman

Sure our spinning stocks look depleted, but replacing a genuine attacking off-spinner for Ashley fúcking Giles is beyond obscene. This Queensland reject can’t even get a start for his new state who already depleted with 5 players on National Service. To look at the spinning options available he’s unlikely to feature in a top 5 of those who are actually playing domestic cricket, many of whom can also bat. Anyway, looks like we’re stuck with the prick while the quicks take wickets from the other end, and at least he can help us draw matches with his defensive lines.

What really has me stumped though, is what the hell is wrong with Ponting that he just refuses to bowl Simon Katich? After giving him for a few overs early on in India and seeing how well he turned the ball he’s been pretty much completely ignored with the ball. Perhaps the aggression that Katto brings to the task of bowling that doens’t fit with Pontings ideals of a metrosexual bollywood singing bowler?

If fit, Katto’s bowling record should at the very least get him at few token overs. Let us compare him to our specialist spinner, Nathan Hauritz.

Katich has taken 87 1st class wickets to Hauritz’ 81, despite Hauritz having bowled 40% more deliveries. Katto averages 37.8 compared to Hauritz 47.2, roughly 20% less. His strike Rate is 62.5 compared to Hauritz 93.8, which is to say it takes Hauritz approximately 1/3 more deliveries to pick up a wicket than Katich.

Katich has bowled fewer balls in 4.5 times more matches, so it’d be a safe assumption that he bowls many fewer overs per match. In spite of this, Katto has three 5 wicket hauls to Hauritz none.

Best figures in a first class match? 7/130 for Katto, again shades the Queenslanders best figures of 4/95.