Actually, Trescothick ended up being a far better player than I imagined- with that stance I thought a bowler like NcGrath would shorten his career dramatically. He did pretty well and unfortunately illness curtailed his career.
On a lighter note as the Test only went fr a few days, the cable television channel - to fill the programming- are replaying the game. I can’t imagine many Australians wanting to watch that second innings again.
Extremely well until he developed a mental illness. I guess that would be one-up to those Australians who were said to pride themselves on inducing “complete mental disintegration” in the opposition, unless that had nothing to do with it, in which case it’s entirely beside the point whether anyone would pride themselves or be ashamed. But as to what I think of you for ragging on a sick man… :dubious:
I have the same illness as he does. I wouldn’t trust myself under pressure.
What on earth are you talking about? You are blaming the Australian players - unless of course they had nothing to do with it- for someones mental illness? And for good measure, if they had nothing to do with it, it’s beside the point whether they would pride themselves or be ashamed. Of what? If they had nothing to do with it why should they be proud of themselves or ashamed for anything?
The man had / has a mental illness that manifested itself against several teams.
I know. If they (and not just the players; I’ve seen, quite possibly on these very boards, Aussies priding themselves on the stick Poms get from the entire country from the moment they arrive until they’re on the plane home) had anything to do with Tresco’s illness then I would be happy to spit on them. But I don’t think mental illness works that way. Don’t mind me, I mainly resent AK84’s classy comment.
Apologies- I wasn’t intentionally snarky. Trescothick was a good player and seemed a nice guy
It is such a shame that the illness prevented him from touring.
He toured Pakistan in 2000 and 2005.And Aus in 2002.
His illness kicked in on the tour of India in early 2006 when he returned home after a few weeks. From then on he really was not a tourist.
A friend of mine had tickets to Newlands for the Thursday, but work commitments kept him away from the game for most of the day and he could only get there for a couple of hours in the afternoon - as a result, he only saw 19 wickets falling…
Oh, you’re a real pal aren’t you? 
I am not a stranger to Australia being flogged by RSA. When I was a mere child (child I say) I remember listening to the Australia versus RSA matches in 1969/70. There was no television broadcast. Australia were a team of good players, but not a good team. There was a lot of internal arguments and they had endured a long tour of the sub continent before that.
I don’t think it mattered much. The Springboks (as they were then) were a really top team and flogged us 4-0 from memory. They had some really top class players.
Very well indeed. His best ever performance was a brutal 180 in South Africa, well over half of England’s total in that innings. It was absolutely crucial in winning the series. Later that year he played some key innings in the biggest series of his life, the 2005 Ashes. He was the best of the four openers in that series. He wasn’t a great player as his form was inconsistent, but he was a very good one, and well capable of making scores when it really mattered. In response to comments above, I don’t think his anxiety problems had much to do with anything that happened on the pitch.
Trescothick is the most extreme example of a player with a terrible average making an impact in international cricket, but there are plenty of others. Vaughan and Collingwood immediately spring to mind.
Australia are a team in transition at the moment. They’ve just won a series in Sri Lanka, so it’s not all gloom and doom. The batting is a bit shaky, with two makeshift openers and a Ponting-shaped hole, but it’s the bowling that’s the real concern. Johnson is erratic, but he’s difficult to leave out when he is capable of winning matches. I suspect the failure to pick Hauritz is for non-cricket reasons, as he has a proven record at test level. If Austrlia’s spinner of the week isn’t performing then it just puts more pressure on the rest. Siddle is willing but unspectacular. Players such as Marsh, who came in and immediately made an impact, deserve to be supported rather than castigated.
If the world had not chosen that exact moment to finally get sick of apartheid (rightly), I suspect the Kings of the seventies and eighties would have been SA not the Windies. the players of that time and the ones immidietly after, men like Jimmy Cook, Clive Rice and Garth le Roux.
I agree and disagree- hows that for a bit each way?
RSA had potential greats like the two Pollocks, Barry Richards and Mike Proctor plus a good wicket keeper in Lindsay and a very good captain in Ali Bacher. However, this was 1970 and the Windies did not really begin domination until 1983 onwards when a lot of these players would have gone from the scene anyway.
Australia was (arguably) one of the better sides of the 70’s after Lawry was given the boot. It is probable that RSA would have had the mantle of the best side of the decade if they were still playing.
However, I acknowledge it is dangerous in making that assumption on one Test series.
It is difficult to judge how good RSA would have been in the 80’s. However, that Windies side (or sides)- they were something else.
One thing both lacked was a quality spinner though.
I don’t know, Imrans boys stood up well to them, inspire of a brittle batting. and if the Windies umps had actually been fair, they would have won too.
What one series? We lost 7 tests to them in two consecutive series 66-67 and the series 69 -70.
They won by 233 runs, 8 wickets, 7 wickets, 170 runs, an innings and 129 runs, 307 runs and 323 runs.
I have no doubt that they were, at that time, the best team in the world by a wide margin.
My father was Head of Sport at Wynberg Boys’ High School where both Garth le Roux and Allan Lamb were pupils. He told Garth le Roux that good fast bowlers were a dime a dozen and he should try off-spin & dropped Allan Lamb from the first team to try and teach him a lesson about humility.
Shall we continue the discussion in this thread - hardly seems worth opening another?
Rather boring days play after Newlands - bit of a collapse at the end of the day to keep things interesting, but a quicker run rate than usual means South Africa are dismissed for 266 at the end of the days play. After being 241-4, South Africa will be disappointed with the days play - they would have wanted a much higher total from their first innings having chosen to bat.
Only managed to watch the last two overs of the day - completely forgot about it to be honest, didn’t even follow on cricinfo…
I only followed it on Cric Info and then went to bed when RSA were about 4 down. I expected to wake up and find them 4 for 350 so for me it was a pleasant surprise. I didn’t see any of the match but from the commentary it seems that Johnson had another bad game.
Aus currently 143/0 in reply. Aus putting their foot to the floor in the 1st innings too. Philander has an econ rate under 4 - everyone else has been going for 5+ an over. They’re making Johnson’s figures, at least, look respectable.
On Johnson, I suspect that dropping him might be the right move - but I don’t think Australia are yet ready to go into a Test match with two debutant (or almost) opening bowlers and Siddle as the lynch pin of the pace attack. That said, I’d not be surprised if someone I’ve never heard of comes in later in the Aus summer. Q for Australian posters/those in the know: who is the next cab off the rank down there?
If you go past Bollinger and Hilfenhaus, the next one for mine would be Ben Cutting. He plays for Qld and averages about 15 this year in the Shield.
If Harris is back from injury- and he does seem injury prone- I think he has sufficient experience combined with Watson.