Aussies v. Proteas. ODI Series.

[Pies4shaw]

I don't think we're going to learn much from these one day games unless a couple of the lower middle order players shows some improved form. Australia looks to me to be 2 or 3 middle-order batsmen short of a high-quality ODI top 7.

[K]

Oz 3/128 (30).

Marnus-Short partnership over 70, after Warner, FTB & Finch fell within 15 overs.

.....................

FTB's ODI average of 43 is underwhelming for the cushy spot he clogs up in the batting order. Oh well, there isn't another ODI WC for years, so it's his slogathon performance that matters this year. (After some helpful not outs, his slogathon Ponting Score has increased to roughly match Joe Root's.)

.....................

And Marnus reaches 50 in front of his 50 relatives attending the game.

[K]

Oz 4/143 (33). Drinks.

This is getting closer to a 0-3 series loss. Not so great when most of S. Africa's batting are unrecognisable names.

[K]

In reply to Oz's 7/254,

S. Africa 2/65 (13).

Hazlewood has both wickets.

Marnus backed up his golden duck last game with a maiden century.

[Donny]

2/105. 20 overs gone.

[K]

S. Africa are cruising, and K. Richardson has been spanked (at 9 an over).

Big reality check for Oz.

Malan, Smuts, Verreynne, Klaasen, Sipamla, Dupavillon would be unknown to most people.

[K]

Smuts-Verreynne partnership into the 90s.

A short while ago, 6 6 | 4 dot 4.

Verreynne has three 6s; the entire Oz innings had only one.

[Donny]

[K]

The whole series is a huge reality check.

Langer still goes around telling everyone how unlucky Oz was not to win the ODI WC.


With the modern ODI reality of ultra-flat tracks, tiny grounds and huge bats, someone like Smith constantly making 20s at number three won't cut it.

[Donny]

Wicket for Zampa.

3/150.

[K]

S. Africa 4/258 (45.3).

A real spanking. Time for an Oz rethink, now, not 6 months before the next ODI WC.

Not so far before last year's WC, Oz had an ODI winning percentage over a few dozen games of about 15%. I wonder what it is now, extended all the way from those to today.

[Pies4shaw]

They don't need a rethink. They need a lower middle order. And Maxwell, of course.

[K]

And maybe an upper order too.

The openers are ageing and who knows if they're in decline?
FTB Smith at number 3 is clogging up space in the order and underperforming.

In short forms in these conditions, it's cushy batting high in the order, and the privileged batters there need to do better. Don't compare them with the lower order. Compare them with the upper order of other teams, who bat faster and longer.

e.g. compare Joe Root and FTB Smith in ODIs. Root's record is vastly superior to FTB's, but that doesn't stop widespread calls for Root to be dumped from the ODI and T20 sides (and to be stripped of the Test captaincy). We have to wait and see whether Root even makes it to the T20 WC. Meanwhile, people in Oz have crazy fantasies about FTB when his ODI record is much, much worse than Root's.


Some ODI bowlers might help too. K. Richardson gets flogged almost every game.

[Pies4shaw]

Bradsmith is the first player picked in any team, anywhere in the World. The two openers are generally good. Labu will eventually be OK as a 4. Maxwell is the best player in the World in the hit and giggle forms of the game but there's a real lack of power in the lower middle order.

[K]

Joseph Edward Root

137 ODI inns, 5933 runs, ave. 51.05, SR 87.40, 16 100s.

Steven Peter Devereux Smith

109 ODI inns, 4148 runs, ave. 42.76, SR 86.68, 9 100s.


Joe Root is clearly far, far, far superior to FTB Smith in the number 3 ODI spot. Yet, there are constant headlines and opinions questioning his short-form value, so it's delusional to believe that FTB Smith is any more than passable.

e.g.

Joe Root hungry to prove his worth to one-day plans after being dropped from final T20

(Independent, 11 July 2018)

Joe Root Should Bat Lower On England’s Cricket World Cup Team

(Forbes, July 2 2019)

"Root is England’s best batsman in test cricket. But is he in the one-day format? 50 overs cricket is a different animal, even if it is not as different as the slogfest that is T20.
...

It seems churlish to question the Yorkshireman’s role, given that he is a top quality player who has scored 476 runs, including two centuries, at an average of 68 in this World Cup.

But. But. ..."