Australia V S.Africa ODI series - How will it go?

[Amjid Javed]

Head to Head record

67 ODIs - Aus Wins 36, S.A wins 28, Ties 3

In Australia

26 ODIs - Aus wins 13, S.A Wins 12, Tie 1

South Africa have a pretty good odi record in Australia and traditionally ODI series between the two are pretty close. Australia being world champs and being host will start as Favourites but S.A have caused one shock this summer. Should be a cracking ODI series.

[Random Aussie]

Should be pretty close but Aus will be favourites.

[itduzz]

Should be pretty close but Aus will be favourites.

RA...plz remove Hauritz & Macdonald from your signature....thanx

[mmkextreme_1]

Should be close, in favor of Australia, I think SA will miss Smith dearly, the guy gives SA flying start!

[Oxy]

YOu dont lose a player like Graeme Smith and hope to get anywhere against the Aussies - however many nobodies their team consists of.

[12thMan]

Aussie favorites. I can go by Eng-SA where SA won the tests and lost ODIs and in some matches G Smith was not there and it is not G Smith was missing as captain but he is important as an opener. But sometimes it felt like SA were content with test win

[itduzz]

Aus will win series unless ACB puts millions on aussie team to lose on betfair.com and ask Ponting to lose the series.....ACB will get 10% of the winnings

[Genghis]

If Smith was around, I would say SA, but without him they are quite depleted. Australia should win it 4-1.

[Random Aussie]

If Smith was around, I would say SA, but without him they are quite depleted. Australia should win it 4-1.

Ah we are missing about half the side.

Lee, Johnson, Siddle, Clark, Watson, Symonds, Clarke?

[Random Aussie]

Aus will win series unless ACB puts millions on aussie team to lose on betfair.com and ask Ponting to lose the series.....ACB will get 10% of the winnings

Yeah the plugging of Betfair on the cricket is pretty disgraceful.

[Matic]

I think (and hope) it will be a very close series. A 3-2 split is likely to emerge from these two fighters. I hope the 5th One-Day is the decider!

[Genghis]

Ah we are missing about half the side.

Lee, Johnson, Siddle, Clark, Watson, Symonds, Clarke?
Most of them are missing for only a game or two, and australia has plenty of good players who are probably better than the ones that are missing - eg. Tait > Lee,
D Hussey > Symonds,
Bracken > Johnson,

It is never easy to replace a good aggressive captain.

[Poison]

Saffers to win 3-2
Amla is the key, he's a champ.

[itduzz]

Amla is the key, he's a champ.

agree bro..i dont care who wins but wants Amla to be top scorer from either sides in the series... :moyo

[JustAnotherFan]

agree bro..i dont care who wins but wants Amla to be top scorer from either sides in the series... :moyoI want SA to win the series, even if it is 3-2. Hopefully Duminy can continue his form and Amla and Gibbs can do well. Albie Morkel also needs a good series.

If SA had to win 4-1 they go to ODI #1 in the World, which I personally don't rate them at.

Aus could easily thump us 5-0 or 4-1! Lol.

[Poison]

I want SA to win the series, even if it is 3-2. Hopefully Duminy can continue his form and Amla and Gibbs can do well. Albie Morkel also needs a good series.

If SA had to win 4-1 they go to ODI #1 in the World, which I personally don't rate them at.

Aus could easily thump us 5-0 or 4-1! Lol.

I really doubt it. South Africa have a class ODI lineup now. With Amla opening and Kallis at one down, followed by Duminy, ABD & Morkel, they have firepower along with grafting ability. They will win this series. :younis T20 isn't their cup of tea, but in ODI's they will pwn.

[Informer]

Don't judge the Proteas from their 20/20 performance. They are a far better ODI side and the series can go either way

[Bublu Bhuyan]

agree bro..i dont care who wins but wants Amla to be top scorer from either sides in the series... :moyo
Is it because he is from India ? Ahh, so sweet, you love for India is growing so rapidly ....... :D

[Bublu Bhuyan]

Don't judge the Proteas from their 20/20 performance. They are a far better ODI side and the series can go either way
T20 is a joke. It's not even worth a mention. I don't think S.A gives a damn about their T20 loss.

[Random Aussie]

T20 is a joke. It's not even worth a mention. I don't think S.A gives a damn about their T20 loss.

And equally I doubt Australia care much about their win.

I like domestic T20 but don't care much for international T20.

[Keith]

Is it because he is from India ? Ahh, so sweet, you love for India is growing so rapidly ....... :D

He is south african, through and through!!!!!!!!! born, bred, matured!!!

Jokes aside though, SA have a fair way to go in the odi arena. Their aim, from about 24 months ago, has clearly been to be the best in the world in tests, they have nearly reached that.

Their odi form has not been great and the loss of a skipper like smith will be felt deeply. That said, i feel that they will give the aussies a go in the series and the series should be 3/2 to either side!!!

[Easa]

Australia to win 4-1.

I don't reckon it will be a close series.

[DHONI183]

Australia to win easily:|. It´s not going to be any close contest.

[AZ]

too close to call...gut feeling that the Aussies will win it

[Saqs]

Well Aus have never beaten SA at the MCG ...ever.

Hard to believe really. SA has won all five games at the MCG against Aussies in ODIs.

Another interesting stat - this will be the first ODI that these two teams play since that 400+ game. Crazy how it's taken that that long to see them play against each other.

To the topic - Under Botha's captaincy - SA will lose. Doesn't seem to command any sort of respect in the side.

[Amjid Javed]

1st games at MCG -

Australia have never beaten South Africa in an ODI at the MCG. The teams have met at the venue five times for, believe it or not, five South African victories

The MCG has been far from a happy hunting ground for Australia recently - they have lost three of their past four one-day internationals there

So S.A will be looing to keep up that record!

[Saqs]

^lol guess we read that cricinfo article at the same time.

[IronMan2009]

He is south african, through and through!!!!!!!!! born, bred, matured!!!


That may be the case. But his batting is very much Indian. More like Azharuddin.

Following is his father's interview


................
"Those were different times. As children we were interested in sport, but we never could think of a career in it. In any case there were no opportunities to represent your country because of the political system in place then. It's only since the nineties that opportunities have become more widely available to all South Africans. Hashim was lucky that, just at the time when he was growing up, everything had begun to change. There was a system in place and if you had talent, you could make it. Although we were now South African, in some ways we still remained an Indian family. We have Indian food at home, and are respectful of Indian traditions. In fact some people said to me yesterday that some of his shots were very Asian in their execution, very wristy - even though he learnt his skills on South African pitches."
.............


http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/statsguru/content/story/142031.html

[Amjid Javed]

I hope the morkel brothers have a good series, Albie certainly can smack a cricket ball!

[Random Aussie]

They are forecasting less than 50K attendance for tonight.

ODI cricket is dying in Australia

[DHONI183]

They are forecasting less than 50K attendance for tonight.

ODI cricket is dying in Australia

Cricket is dying everywhere:(. Recently, people were quite disappointed even with the Indian crowd.

[Keith]

If the 1st game was anything to go by then the rest of this series is going to be a humdinger!!! The test series was awesome with both teams playing good aggressive CLEAN cricket!!!

Let us hope the same will happen in this odi series!!! The 2 best sides in the world (in both formats) duelling it out toe to toe. Awesome!!!!

[Saqs]

^I don't think SA could be considered the second best side in the world in ODI.
I would put India over them, and even Sri Lanka to some extent due to their potent bowling lineup.

No arguments with the tests though.

Tonight's game was brilliant. Duminy - what a find. I wish he was Pakistani. (Actually, maybe not, we'd probably waste his talent away to the ICL by not picking him)

[DHONI183]

Australia to win easily:|. It´s not going to be any close contest.

I admit I was being damn wrong:|!

[JustAnotherFan]

Well Aus have never beaten SA at the MCG ...ever.

Hard to believe really. SA has won all five games at the MCG against Aussies in ODIs.Make that 6 now. :)

Another interesting stat - this will be the first ODI that these two teams play since that 400+ game. Crazy how it's taken that that long to see them play against each other.They played against each other twice at the World Cup 2007.
To the topic - Under Botha's captaincy - SA will lose. Doesn't seem to command any sort of respect in the side.So far the Proteas have won all their ODI games under his captaincy (i.e. 4). He is an experienced provincial captain. Let him get the respect of captaining the Proteas ODI team to some more wins in Aus. :batman:

[Amjid Javed]

The loss of micheal clarke for rest of series is a big blow, Warner will now get a go for the rest of the series. Australia cant afford to go down 2-0 tonight!