Lee targets Smith
15 Dec 2008
Brett Lee says Australia’s bowlers will back the plan that has nullified Graeme Smith in the past.
Smith has been in good form in 2008, averaging 71.73, but has struggled against the Aussies over eight Tests, averaging just 22.25.
Smith has played down his form against Australia saying that he has developed significantly since the last test series. Lee, however, believes they have a plan that works against him and they will again look to exploit perceived technical flaws.
“We know what we’re up against with Graeme Smith,” Lee said ahead of Wednesday’s first Test in Perth. “The reason why we’ve had success on him in the past is because we’ve done our homework. We’ll be trying our hardest to try and do the things that we’ve done in previous games to try and knock him over.
“He has got some big scores against us as well, but the first Test I think, especially the first session, is going to sum up the whole series. If we happen to bowl first, then we have to really set the tone. If Graeme Smith gets away, which he’s shown on a number of occasions especially against other countries, he can lock himself in for the big score.”
Meanwhile, Australia captain Ricky Ponting has confirmed that seamer Peter Siddle will replace the injured Stuart Clark. The remaining spot in the line-up will be contested between Shane Watson and Jason Krejza.
286 Comments
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16 Dec 2008, 21:41 pm
#250 SpringbokSarah: We’re not together…
16 Dec 2008, 21:42 pm
#251 Dyl: and it took you 2 weeks to realise this?
16 Dec 2008, 21:45 pm
#252 SpringbokSarah: no we’re not together for our anniverssary
16 Dec 2008, 21:46 pm
#253 Dyl: I know… but there’s nothing we can do right?
16 Dec 2008, 21:48 pm
#254 SpringbokSarah: no but it still sux… I tried writing you a poem you know
16 Dec 2008, 21:49 pm
#255 Dyl: YOU? How did that go?
16 Dec 2008, 21:50 pm
#256 SpringbokSarah: I’ll leave the poem writing to you
16 Dec 2008, 21:51 pm
#257 Dyl: poetry is about expressing yourself… what did you come with? 10 minutes
16 Dec 2008, 21:52 pm
#258 SpringbokSarah: I’ll email you
16 Dec 2008, 21:53 pm
#259 Dyl: oki………
16 Dec 2008, 21:54 pm
#260 SpringbokSarah: I miss you
16 Dec 2008, 21:57 pm
#261 Dyl: I miss you too… 4 minutes
16 Dec 2008, 21:58 pm
2…
16 Dec 2008, 22:01 pm
Happy anniversary!
16 Dec 2008, 22:02 pm
#264 SpringbokSarah: Happy anniversary sweety, I’ll skype you later…. when your dad’s at work
16 Dec 2008, 22:03 pm
#265 Dyl: lol… ok I’ll wait
16 Dec 2008, 22:05 pm
#266 SpringbokSarah: Go sleep sweety…
16 Dec 2008, 22:06 pm
#267 Dyl: no
16 Dec 2008, 22:07 pm
#268 SpringbokSarah:
who do you plan on talking to?
16 Dec 2008, 22:08 pm
#269 Dyl: You know SpringbokSarah and I have long conversations
16 Dec 2008, 22:11 pm
#270 SpringbokSarah:
If asked why I love her I would say
It’s the sway in her hips,
It’s the lust in her lips,
It’s the softness of her skin,
the silk in her hair.
It’s the twist in her walk;
it’s the sweetness in her talk.
It’s the way she loves me
that makes me love her each day.
That is what I would say.
I love you Sarah
Now and forever….
Now go sleep
16 Dec 2008, 22:12 pm
#271 Dyl: Way to kill the mood
16 Dec 2008, 22:13 pm
#272 SpringbokSarah: go please, for me?
16 Dec 2008, 22:15 pm
#273 Dyl: going going zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Night Dyl
16 Dec 2008, 22:15 pm
#274 SpringbokSarah: Night sweety
16 Dec 2008, 22:24 pm
#271 Dyl:
WTF?? I nearly spewed in my coffee!! Thought maybe I’d logged onto one of Skoppies “late night relief” sites in error………..
16 Dec 2008, 22:29 pm
#271 Dyl: #272 SpringbokSarah: #273 Dyl: #273 Dyl: #274 SpringbokSarah: #275 Dyl:
sweet you two
now keep it under wraps
don’t go throwing your precious hearts all over cyberspace for others to make little of
keep such endearing pains close to your own breaths, as much as it ravages your hearts to do so
keep them silent and strong, then they cherish and grow
else they run the risk of dissipating into less than the heart wrenching strings that bind and encapsulate love to all eternity
hold steady and quiet, know that if it is true, it is indestructible
so fear not about losses and gains
only be rich in the moment
and in your own pain of separation within
such privileges are only for those that dare to hold love sacred.
16 Dec 2008, 22:31 pm
#276 whatever:
see I tried to warn you #275 Dyl:
so try keep your inner secrets secret, it helps to prolong its bitter sweetness
16 Dec 2008, 22:38 pm
#276 whatever: dude I could never come up with that stuff… copy and paste except the Sarah part
#277 jerimiyah: shot
16 Dec 2008, 23:09 pm
DAY OF RECONCILIATION
If I made friends of my enemies
And let my disappointments go,
If I could travel the circumference of forgiveness
And let my heart glow.
If my mind threw away all the clinging
Of my ego’s idea of justice,
Perhaps I could cut through
The tension of my prejudice.
If I could empty personal history
See the shimmer of new vision,
Where the melting pot of people chose
To abandon victimhood’s territorial division.
If I absorbed the wind in the mountains,
Cried tears of deep longing,
Saw my footsteps story gaining
Strength in my belonging.
That place of peace where the Atonement
In the veld was true soul education,
I’d be transformed to receive the gifts
From my country’s Day of Reconciliation.
Jinxie…(just another Bok-heart on the run)
16/12/2008
16 Dec 2008, 23:49 pm
#280 Jinxie: thanks jinx
17 Dec 2008, 02:20 am
Ricky striem Proteas
Dec 16 2008 08:17:30:833PM – (SA)
Eduan Roos
Perth. ?– Australië se krieketkaptein, Ricky Ponting, het gister gal gebraak oor Suid-Afrika se krieketspan.
Dit was net ’n kwessie van tyd voordat Ponting sy stilswye voor vandag se eerste toets hier met ’n striemende aanval op die Proteas verbreek het.
Ponting, wat tot dusver nie juis betrokke was by die voortslepende sielkundige oorlogvoering tussen dié twee spanne nie, het gekap na verskeie Protea-spelers.
Suid-Afrika se kaptein, Graeme Smith, was in die voorste linie. Ponting het ook gesê dat die tuisspan steeds maal in die Suid-Afrikaners se koppe.
“Ons smokkel al ’n ruk lank met hul koppe en veral in groot oomblikke soos Wêreldbeker-halfeindstryde en belangrike toetse het ons nog altyd bo uitgekom,” het Ponting gesê.
Die Proteas het in verlede jaar se Wêreldbeker-halfeindstryd, en ook in 1999, teen die kampioenspan vasgeval en kon boonop nog nooit ’n toetsreeks in Australië wen nie.
“Baie van hul spelers het gereeld teen Australië verloor en hulle sal dié letsels hier op die Waca met hul saamdra. Dit is belangrik dat ons daardie ou wonde sommer vroeg weer oopkrap.
“Ek is bly om te **** dat Smith dié keer nie soveel te sê het nie en dat hy net konsentreer op sy eie en sy span se spel.”
Smith en Ponting was, met die Proteas se laaste besoek hier drie jaar gelede, gereeld in die openbaar haaks.
Die besoekers het dié reeks met 0-2 verloor.
“Sy vertoningslys teen ons is beskeie en ons sal in die eerste uur se spel reeds wil teer op sy onsekerheid om in Australië teen ons te speel,” het Ponting dit uitgeblaker.
Hy het ook gekap na Dale Steyn, Morné Morkel en Makhaya Ntini.
“Daar word ’n groot ophef gemaak van hul boulaanval, maar hulle het nog niks in Australië bewys nie. Steyn het dalk ’n uitstekende jaar agter die rug, maar hy sal dit hier moet doen, in die groot oomblikke wanneer dit werklik saakmaak.
“Ek sal verbaas wees as Ntini enigsins naby aan 140 kilometer per uur (met sy boulwerk) kom. Hul boulaanval word reeds vergelyk met ván die bestes ooit, maar hulle is nog jonk en het alles om te bewys voordat hulle dit verdien.”
Volgens Ponting is Jacques Kallis se dae ook getel.
“Hy neem baie lank om sy lopies aan te teken. Dit plaas hul ander kolwers onder geweldige druk en ons gaan hom hieraan herinner.
“Hy voel waarskynlik die druk meer as enigiemand anders, want dit gebeur nie sommer dat vyf van hul kolwers meer lopies as hy in ’n kalenderjaar aanteken nie.”
Selfs sonder Shane Warne en Glenn McGrath is die Proteas steeds die Aussies se strooipop, meen Ponting.
“Hulle het ’n sielkundige houvas op die Suid-Afrikaners gehad, maar selfs al het hulle uitgetree, sal baie van die Suid-Afrikaners bekommerd wees oor hul vertoningslys teen Australië. Dit is iets wat jy nie maklik vergeet nie,” het hy gesê.
“As Suid-Afrika die afgelope ruk die koerante gelees het, sal hulle weet dat hulle alles het om te bewys. Dit (die reeks) gaan net oor óns en nie hulle nie,” sê Ponting.
17 Dec 2008, 02:50 am
Calm Smith shakes off mind games
Brydon Coverdale in Perth
December 16, 2008
Graeme Smith feels much happier about this series than when South Africa last toured Australia in 2005-06 © Getty Images
The last time South Africa visited Australia Graeme Smith tried to talk the series up as an action-packed thriller that might just have a surprise ending. Five losses in the six home-and-away Tests in 2005-06 turned the picture into a bloodbath for South Africa and, while many of the performers have changed, Ricky Ponting hopes the script will remain the same when the contest starts in Perth on Wednesday.
“There’s no doubt a lot of those guys in the South African side have played a lot of cricket against us and would be carrying some of the scars from previous series,” Ponting said. “It’s up to us to make sure we start the game well enough on Wednesday to open some of those scars again.”
The difficulty for Australia will be in instilling the same fear into the visitors with an attack that now features Jason Krejza and Peter Siddle where once it boasted Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath. The success of the two superstars contributed to several of the South Africa batsmen having much lower averages against Australia than in their overall records.
Smith averages 22.25 in eight Tests against Australia, Jacques Kallis 38.32 from 18 games, AB de Villiers 23.25 in six Tests and Ashwell Prince 30.33 from nine matches. Ponting conceded it was Warne and McGrath who largely had the stranglehold on the batsmen but he did not believe that made the past history irrelevant.
“I know as a batsman you are always aware of what your record is like against different countries, whether it’s against the guys that got you out in the past or not, or whether it’s just about the team you’re playing against,” Ponting said. “All their batsmen will be aware that their records against us probably aren’t as good as they are against some of the other countries.
“That’s something that may be weighing on their minds. If we happen to bowl first hopefully we can do some damage early on and some of the batters, if we knock them over early, will start having all those doubts back in their mind again about competing against Australia in Australia.”
Be it World Cup semi-finals or important Tests, Australia have had an edge over South Africa. Often it has been the South Africans who have talked up their chances only to fall when it came to performing on the field, but this time Smith has been noticeably quiet, which could be a worrying sign for Australia.
Ponting and the coach Tim Nielsen have both done their best to continue Australia’s mental advantage over South Africa by putting the pressure squarely back on the visitors. Smith and his coach Mickey Arthur haven’t exactly taken the bait. Smith is leading a side that has not lost a Test series since 2006 and mind games are not on his radar.
“The guys are far more settled now than they ever have been,” Smith said. “Over the last year and a half, two years, the team has developed nicely and just moved forward. We’re in a really good space. In terms of that [mental] stuff I don’t think it’s even been raised in our environment. We’re all just looking forward to what’s coming.”
Smith’s calm and composed attitude makes it hard to believe he is the same man who was at the centre of the pre-series bluster leading into the 2005-06 tour, when he felt he had to distract Australia’s attention. After they drew the first Test in Perth during that trip, the rest of the season went downhill. Smith said his players were better off now.
“The lessons the guys have learnt are invaluable for our team, the experience they’ve gained,” he said. “Even though it’s not always on a positive front you learn a lot about yourself. You learn a lot about your team and how you’ve developed over the time, even to the point where you actually know how much better you are now.”
Far from feeling that his own squad is under pressure, Smith believes Australia’s evolving line-up will face a tough examination. Krejza and Siddle are playing their first Tests in Australia and without Stuart Clark, who Smith earlier in the week labelled Australia’s most dangerous bowler, they could have a hard time containing a powerful batting order.
“The calibre of bowler that was on offer for Australia last time we were here was incredible,” Smith said. “The likes of McGrath, Warne, those are very difficult people to replace. The guys who are coming in have obviously got big boots to fill. That’s a pressure on them more than us. Them trying to step into that limelight is something that might be difficult for them.”
But while each side has tried to deflect attention towards their opponents, the reality is that both teams are under significant pressure. South Africa are the No. 2 side in the world but strong tours of England and India could quickly be forgotten if they maintain their poor record against Australia. At least they will provide an unusually tough challenge at home for Ponting’s men, whose steady decline would be complete if they became the first Australian side to lose a home Test series since 1992-93. It’s time to find out if there is a new twist to the old script.
Brydon Coverdale is a staff writer at Cricinfo
17 Dec 2008, 03:42 am
#280 Jeez Jinxie, that was deep, where’s it from ?
17 Dec 2008, 04:09 am
#276 whatever:
You have…
17 Dec 2008, 10:00 am
#284 Manlybok:
Yesterday was a SA public holiday…The Day of Reconciliation. I write a lot. That was something from last night after returning home from the day out. Glad you liked it.
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