SA 94-2. Saffa need 188 runs to win.
Big session ahead. If the South Africa can make 80+ run and lose fewer than two wickets, they will be in the driving seat and firm favourites to win this competition.
Australia have slowed South Africa but need wickets.
A wonderful hour for South Africa since tea. SA 154-2. Steve Smith off the field with a compound finger fracture and off to hospital.
All going wrong for the Aussies.
South Africa need 124 to win with 8 wickets remaining. Unless they choke big time, they are heading to victory.
@MN5 said in Cricket: WTC Final Oz vs SA:
South Africa don't like playing in cricket finals much
They are this afternoon.
Steve Smith did his finger dropping what should have been a routine slip catch. What's got to hurt!
Hundred partnership up. Markram and Bavuma are making this look easy. 173-2. South Africa on top. Australia desperately need a wicket.
Strange field by Australia. Gaps all over the place. South Africa have been able to rotate the strike easily.
What an afternoon for South Africa. 93 more runs needed to win.
@KiwiMurph said in Cricket: WTC Final Oz vs SA:
@MajorRage said in Cricket: WTC Final Oz vs SA:
Aussie tail frustrating the jaaps.
Starting to get near 250 lead which will be difficult to get.
It's been difficult to get for a long time. Proteas don't have the batting class against this all time bowling line-up.
Well it didn't take very long for this comment to look utterly stupid.
@sparky said in Cricket: WTC Final Oz vs SA:
Mick Jagger was at the WTC final today.
Australia would have been hoping for loads more wickets but just goes to show you can’t always get what you want.
As the morning session showed with Starc and Hazlewood - scoring wasn't easy but threats were few.
Smith's dropped catch could be crucial, but to be fair he was standing very close to try and combat the drop shorts that have been a hallmark of this game. And that one flew at him.
Generally from what I saw in the second session, we simply lacked the discipline of line and length to build pressure. Lyon got some nice ones away and was a touch unlucky, but the Proteas stuck at it.
Hopefully this loss will finally be the wake up call for selectors about our bathing lineup. A bit late, and with no bowlers under 30 we are probably about to have a period of rebuild
@NTA said in Cricket: WTC Final Oz vs SA:
As the morning session showed with Starc and Hazlewood - scoring wasn't easy but threats were few.
Smith's dropped catch could be crucial, but to be fair he was standing very close to try and combat the drop shorts that have been a hallmark of this game. And that one flew at him.
Generally from what I saw in the second session, we simply lacked the discipline of line and length to build pressure. Lyon got some nice ones away and was a touch unlucky, but the Proteas stuck at it.
Hopefully this loss will finally be the wake up call for selectors about our bathing lineup. A bit late, and with no bowlers under 30 we are probably about to have a period of rebuild
It’s only fair. It’s the best bowling line up Aus have ever fielded consistently with all due respect to McGrath, Warne, Gillespie and Lee ( actually is it better than that line up of about equal ? )
Today’s three pacers are probably better as a unit but Warne beats Lyon, tough to pick overall
@MN5 said in Cricket: WTC Final Oz vs SA:
@sparky said in Cricket: WTC Final Oz vs SA:
Mick Jagger was at the WTC final today.
Australia would have been hoping for loads more wickets but just goes to show you can’t always get what you want.
So far they can't get no satisfaction
If South Africa can get over the line, this will be massive for them after so many hard luck stories and near misses
@canefan said in Cricket: WTC Final Oz vs SA:
If South Africa can get over the line, this will be massive for them after so many hard luck stories and near misses
They're not a great team.
Rabada is absolutely world class, who out of the rest of them are though ? Jansen is still pretty green, Mulder looks an all rounder of real promise. It's the batting which is ordinary.
The two guys at the crease currently average a very Henry Nicholls like 38 and 36 respectively. They're two of the better ones !
But that's sport, they got in the final and they're a real chance.
A lot of these ageing Aussies are living purely off their reputations.
If SA win I hope they send the Black Caps a bottle of something nice for beating India 3-0 in India
( sorry, thread derail from a NZ perspective again )
Bavuma playing with an injured hamstring.
Seems there were some runs left out there from SA as there were shots where 3 runs were possible but they only ran two due to Bavuma's injury
Looks like being another sunny day and still 24 overs to the new ball. If the Aussies get it there should only be a handful of runs required.
Looks mainly about whether SA can hold their nerve.
They've done extremely well to fight back - I doubted they had it in them.
@Chris-B said in Cricket: WTC Final Oz vs SA:
Looks like being another sunny day and still 24 overs to the new ball. If the Aussies get it there should only be a handful of runs required.
Looks mainly about whether SA can hold their nerve.
They've done extremely well to fight back - I doubted they had it in them.
Yeh but thought those niggly runs from Starc would have completely derailed things. Not to be. They’ve done brilliantly so far.
@nzzp said in Cricket: WTC Final Oz vs SA:
@MN5 said in Cricket: WTC Final Oz vs SA:
Oz to still win pretty comfortably.
You'd think so, but chasing a low total you just need one person to go big and it's done. I like low scoring games - runs are properly valuable and the bowlers are in the game. Better than 19 sixes in an innings ...
Well.
@Chris-B said in Cricket: WTC Final Oz vs SA:
Looks like being another sunny day and still 24 overs to the new ball. If the Aussies get it there should only be a handful of runs required.
Looks mainly about whether SA can hold their nerve.
They've done extremely well to fight back - I doubted they had it in them.
Rain and lots of it through overnight. The atmospheric conditions are going to be very different this morning to yesterday. If the Australian bowler can hit the seam, especially bowling down the slope, there will be movement, especially in the first hour.
After that it's going to be sunny intervals, some cloud, 22 degrees at peak. Decent batting conditions but not as good as yesterday. The South Africans still have lots of batting to come and should do this before the new ball arrives, but nothing in Cricket is certain.
In summary, Australia can win this if they get an early break through or two, but probably need two wickets in the first half hour. Perfect line and length is required. They really don't have many runs left to play with.
Yeah first half hour or so will be crucial. Batters will be readjusting to today's conditions, and any nerves will be the highest at the start of the innings. Once they get through a few overs all that will ease.
That said, this is an epic choke if South Africa lose from here. As a stats nerd, I have a formula for the 'life' left in a chase, which is runs remaining divided by wickets remaining minus two. If that's 10 or less, then it's game over. More than that the batting team might be the favourites, but the bowling team have a chance. Right now it's 11.5, but 9 more runs gets it below 10.
Oh man that potentially sets up the juiciest final day. The cricketing worlds biggest chokers have given themselves a chance at the biggest choke in their history to really cement that legacy. If there has been rain overnight then conditions will be more bowler friendly in the first session,. and if there's any bowling lineup in history that could pull this off, it's these bastards. An early wicket or two and she's going to be all on, I hope Aus have been practicing their choke sledges.
@No-Quarter said in Cricket: WTC Final Oz vs SA:
Oh man that potentially sets up the juiciest final day. The cricketing world’s biggest chokers have given themselves a chance at the biggest choke in their history to really cement that legacy. If there has been rain overnight then conditions will be more bowler friendly in the first session,. and if there's any bowling lineup in history that could pull this off, it's these bastards. An early wicket or two and she's going to be all on, I hope Aus have been practicing their choke sledges.
Outstanding summary.
It just takes one of that Aussie bowling line up to get their tails up for shit to get really interesting.
SA huge favourites from here on in though.
Best UK odds are 20-1 for Oz which is about right. Starc, Hazelwood and Cummins are more than capable of running through them this morning, but SA are the firm favourite. 69 runs is not much to chase on a 4th day pitch with 8 wickets in hand.
@sparky said in Cricket: WTC Final Oz vs SA:
Best UK odds are 20-1 for Oz which is about right. Starc, Hazelwood and Cummins are more than capable of running through them this morning, but SA are the firm favourite. 69 runs is not much to chase on a 4th day pitch with 8 wickets in hand.
You're forgetting Lyon, 3rd highest wicket taker in Australian history.
Starc 4th, Cummins 8th and Hazelwood 10th. That's some pedigree all in the same team at the same time.
@sparky said in Cricket: WTC Final Oz vs SA:
@MN5 No, the pitch wasn't taking much spin yesterday. I thought if anything Australia over bowled Nathan Lyons yesterday.
On the Lords slope, trust your quicks down the slope. Use the slower bowler up the slope, but don't have gaps in the field.
Fair enough.
I note Cameron Green hasn't bowled a single over this test.
Is he already a Ben Stokes type all rounder, ie one who doesn't bowl ?
Three hours to the start of Day Four, but recent cloud cover this morning in North London. It'll swing and seam I reckon.
@sparky said in Cricket: WTC Final Oz vs SA:
Three hours to the start of Day Four, but recent cloud cover this morning in North London. It'll swing and seam I reckon.
You have to love modern test cricket and the fact we're 100% sure of a result in this one.
If you look at the five wicket hauls at Lord's since the late 1970s they've been overwhelming by medium fast bowlers or quick bowlers rather than spinners.
None of Warne, Muralitharan or Lyon achieved five-wickets in a Test innings at Lords.
I did wonder if the Oz tail wagging last night was a sign of good batting conditions.
Rather be in SA's shoes based on the scorecard, but an early wicket plus cloud cover could get interesting.
