South Africa tour of Australia 2016

[rahul1117kumar]

Dwaine Pretorius replaces Steyn in South Africa Test squad

Dwaine Pretorius, the 27-year-old Lions all-rounder, has been named in the South Africa squad for the remainder of the Test series in Australia as replacement for the injured Dale Steyn. Pretorius, who made his international debut in a One-Day International against Ireland in September, has been rewarded with a Test call-up following impressive performances for the Lions in the Sunfoil series.

Pretorius's inclusion comes in the aftermath of the latest inclusion in a long list of injuries for the 33-year-old Steyn. The veteran fast bowler suffered a stress fracture to his right shoulder bone in the first innings of the Perth Test, which South Africa went on to win by 177 runs on Monday (November 7) despite playing with a bowler short for much of the game. With the injury set to sideline Steyn for up to six months, South Africa are looking to identify long-term replacements for their star seamer. They also have Kyle Abbott and Morne Morkel in the squad available for use in Hobart.

In addition to his seam bowling, Pretorius offers more-than-capable batting abilities to a side looking to offset AB de Villiers's loss through injury. Only last week, Pretorius became the first Lions player to score 90 or more runs in an innings and follow it up with a five-fer when he starred in the victory over the Warriors in a first class game in Johannesburg.

In all, Pretorius has featured in 36 first class matches and taken 115 wickets at an average of 22.27. He also has 1963 first-class runs at an average of 43.62 with four centuries from these games.

South Africa lead the three-match Test series 1-0. The second Test starts at the Bellerive Oval in Hobart on Saturday (November 12).

Dwaine Pretorius replaces Steyn in South Africa Test squad - Cricbuzz

 

[Shivraj]

 

[Karthik]

Congratulations southafrica

 

[Rahulan Raj]

Fantastic turnaround from Day 1 & 1 bowler down.

Expecting Aussies to getting their act together for 2nd test.

 

[rahul1117kumar]

Shaun Marsh ruled out of 2nd Test against South Africa

Australian opener Shaun Marsh has been ruled out of the second Test against South Africa, to be played in Hobart from November 12, due to a broken finger. Joe Burns and Callum Ferguson have been added to the squad.

The injury setback has come on the day when South Africa drew first blood and retained their unbeaten run at the WACA in Perth with a 177-run victory in the first of the three-match Test series, squarely putting the pressure on the hosts to bounce back in a short span of time.
"He's (Marsh) been playing very well, at the moment he's pretty shattered. Hopefully, the surgery goes well and he returns soon," Steven Smith, the Australia skipper, said.

Marsh had returned to the Test side for the first time since December 2015 on Burns's expense in the final fixture against Sri Lanka this August and scored an eye-catching 130 in the first innings in Colombo. Despite a finger injury cutting his limited-overs tour of Sri Lanka short and ruling him out of the tour of South Africa, he regained fitness on time to be picked ahead of Burns for the first Test of the home season.
Marsh began brightly with a 63 in a 158-run opening stand with David Warner in the first innings, but a similar injury to the same finger has now ruled him out of the Hobart game. Burns, who has three centuries in 12 Tests so far, has been drafted into the squad as a potential like-for-like replacement. The Queenslander also scored a century in the opening match of the Sheffield Shield against a potent New South Wales bowling attack to further his credentials.

Ferguson, who has 30 One-Day Internationals to his name, also scored a century in the Shield game for South Australia against Western Australia at the WACA last week.

Australia Squad for Hobart Test : David Warner, Joe Burns, Usman Khawaja, Steven Smith (capt), Adam Voges, Mitchell Marsh, Callum Ferguson, Peter Nevill (wk), Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Peter Siddle, Joe Mennie, Nathan Lyon.

Shaun Marsh ruled out of 2nd Test against South Africa - Cricbuzz

 

[rahul1117kumar]

Kyle Abbott likely to replace injured Dale Steyn in Hobart

Kyle Abbott looks set to step into Dale Steyn's shoes in the second Test in Hobart, ahead of Morne Morkel and new call-up Dwaine Pretorius. With Morkel yet to be declared fully match fit following two months on the sidelines with a back injury and, Pretorius only due to jet in once he receives confirmation of a visa, without saying it in so many words, coach Russell Domingo indicated Abbott could complete the three-man pace pack.

"We've got two options at the moment. Kyle Abbott and Morne Morkel," Domingo said. "Morne is coming off a back injury. We'll assess him two days before the Test and make the call on whether he is 100% fit. Kyle Abbott is a consistent solid performer and has been every time he has come in.

"We need to weigh up what type of bowler we want to use under the conditions in Hobart, because I think they are different to what they are here. It's a fascinating series because all three venues have totally different conditions. I've never been to Hobart, I've heard its cold and the wickets are a little New Zealand-like, a little slower."

At the WACA pace and bounce provided what Kagiso Rabada called a "bowler's paradise," but, as Domingo said, cold, wet weather in Tasmania is unlikely to assist in the preparation of anything similar in the second Test. That may mean the pacemen have to play more defensive roles which could mean bowling longer spells. Morkel was initially left out because of concerns he would not be up for that and even though he is making progress, Abbott is regarded as more of a workhorse.

South Africa are unlikely to change from their usual combination of three seamers and a spinner, Keshav Maharaj. After a debut Test in which Maharaj had to do more than he may have bargained for in a three-man attack and did it well, and performed impressively with the bat, Tabraiz Shamsi will wait for his turn.

"Keshav Maharaj's performance has been nothing short of phenomenal considering it was his first Test," Domingo said. "He allowed seamers to have breaks when they needed to and I see him playing a massive role for this side going forward"

Still, without Morkel, South Africa's attack can be seen to lack a certain superstar status; after all Morkel and Steyn were long regarded as the golden pair. Philander proved he deserves the respect he earned when he first came in, with the way he stepped after up after Steyn went down, and Kagiso Rabada is quickly establishing himself as the leader of the attack, a label he prefers to distance himself from. But names like Abbott, Maharaj and Pretorius mean South Africa's bench is stacked with so-called unknowns and their ability to step up to the biggest stage is what has pleased Domingo.

"We've won some games of late without some of the best players in the world. We don't have AB de Villiers and we've put in some wonderful performances. At the end of the day, they are all wonderful players," Domingo said. "We've got some really good young players coming into the system and some really good young players back home. We are trying to focus on the group we have at the moment and trying to get the best out of them at the moment."

Domingo, like du Plessis had done pre-series, played down suggestions that de Villiers would make a surprise return for Adelaide after the captain told a radio station he hoped to fast-track his recovery from elbow surgery. "He has been caddying for a mate at a golf tournament," Domingo said. "I don't think he is going to be fit for Adelaide.. I am not a doctor but I can't see AB being being there."

That means the batting line-up will continue to demand more from Temba Bavuma and Quinton de Kock, who have made up for inexperience with impressive temperament. De Kock has already been compared with Adam Gilchrist and if Stephen Cook's misfiring goes on for much longer, he may be moved to the top temporarily.

South Africa also have Rilee Rossouw in hand should they want to experiment, and Pretorius' batting ability to add depth lower-down if they are unsure about the length of the tail. Pretorius has scored four half-centuries in five innings in the domestic first-class competition which put him ahead of candidates like Duanne Olivier, Marchant de Lange and Hardus Viljoen to head Down Under.

Australia v South Africa, 2nd Test, Hobart : Kyle Abbott likely to replace injured Dale Steyn in Hobart | Cricket News | Global | ESPN Cricinfo

 

[rahul1117kumar]

Injured Peter Siddle out of Hobart Test, Joe Mennie in line for debut

Fast bowler Joe Mennie is almost certain to make his Test debut in Hobart after Peter Siddle was ruled out due to a back injury.

Australia's selectors have also called on Jackson Bird as cover for the bowling unit but he is not officially part of the squad, which means Mennie is set to join Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc in the pace attack for the second Test against South Africa, starting on Saturday. Mennie was named 12th man for the WACA Test and was then released to play a Sheffield Shield match for South Australia.

Siddle was preferred in Perth, where he was making his return to international cricket following a lay-off due to a stress fracture of the back, diagnosed following Australia's Test tour of New Zealand earlier this year. Australia's medical staff are hopeful that Siddle will recover quickly, but have taken a cautious approach due to his recent history.

"Peter Siddle had some lower back soreness at the conclusion of the first Test match in Perth," Australia's team physio David Beakley said. "Whilst we expect bowlers to be sore after Test matches, this was slightly worse than we expected and given that he was returning from a significant back injury, we organised some scans today.

"The scans demonstrated some low grade bone oedema around his old stress fracture that is likely to be a flare-up of his previous lower back injury. We are hopeful that this will resolve relatively quickly, but have withdrawn him from the squad for the second Test match in Hobart. We will monitor his recovery and have a better idea of when he will return to play in the next week or so.

Siddle's injury is yet another consequence to be drawn from Australia's horrid batting collapse on day two of the WACA Test, sending Australia's bowlers - Siddle and Starc with limited preparations - back into the field only 24 hours after they had bowled the Proteas out on day one. The coach Darren Lehmann said back-to-back Tests would stretch his men physically after they were made to work hard by JP Duminy and Dean Elgar in particular.

"They have bowled four days in a row," Lehmann said. "They are pretty sore as I would imagine the South African boys would be, the two bowlers that bowled the whole game for them. All bowlers are going to be pretty sore and tight. We'll just have to see how they pull up and make a call from there. They will have the same issues.

"It's a short turn-around. That's the nature of cricket in Australia, back-to-back Test matches early on. The good thing, I thought we batted a lot better in the second innings. The disappointing thing is we were off to flyer, obviously 0 for 158, and we lost 10 for 86. That's the thing that hurts you in a game, as you know. If we had the discipline and that in the first innings that we showed probably yesterday and today, we would have made a better score and a better fist of it in the first innings and had a lead.

"That's the challenge, isn't it? First innings, they made us pay in the second, Duminy and Elgar batted really well. I thought our bowlers worked hard the whole game and then coming in, if we had batters in in the last session today, well, you never know, do you? We just lost batters at the wrong time."

Asked about Australia's limited preparation, one Sheffield Shield match, and moving the first Test of summer from Brisbane to Perth, Lehmann said his hands were tied: "Can't do anything about it. Love to, but we can't."

The selectors had already added
Callum Ferguson and Joe Burns to the Test squad to replace the injured Shaun Marsh (broken finger) and also provide cover for Adam Voges (hamstring). Lehmann confirmed both batsmen would be under consideration even if Voges is passed fit, placing further pressure on the underperforming Mitchell Marsh.

"We have known about the broken finger for about three days, which has been very good from our boys not to get out to you guys," Lehmann said. "We have known the squad is going to be changed in the last three days. I would say every spot is under pressure. That's the nature of the beast if you don't have success. I thought he batted quite well and was a bit unlucky with the decision, but that is part of the game as well."

Lehmann acknowledged that the national team were under a rare level of pressure, as four consecutive Test match losses have historically led to a change of the Australian captain or coach. "[We'll] Try to clear their minds," he said of the players. "But everyone has pressure. Everyone has pressure when not playing well. But also as a player you always have pressure to perform at international level.

"If you have a few bad performances, there is always someone waiting in the wings. And that's been the case for 100 years, that's not going to change I wouldn't think. We try and pick and stick where we possibly can and encourage the guys and we get in trouble when we don't pick and stick, we get in trouble when do pick and stick with you guys. So then when we add someone, it all changes.

"So, there is pressure on players day in, day out for your country and that's part and parcel of whether you are playing for South Africa or Australia."

Australia news : Injured Peter Siddle out of Hobart Test, Joe Mennie in line for debut | Cricket News | Global | ESPN Cricinfo

 

[Sai Jai]

12 - 16 Nov
..
2nd Test -- SA Vs AUS -- in Bellerive Oval, Hobart 5:00 AM IST

 

[Shivraj]

Did you know?

South Africa has never played a Test match at the Bellerive Oval. India and England have also never played a Test in Hobart.

Australia has only lost one Test (from 12) at the Bellerive Oval, which was against New Zealand by seven runs in 2011.

The last time Australia lost consecutive Tests at home was during the 2010-11 Ashes, when England won the fourth and fifth matches of the series.

A South Africa victory in Hobart would clinch three consecutive Test series wins in Australia. The last team to achieve this feat was the West Indies (1984-93).

 

[amarnathkvk]

Australia 5/30