In this post I'm going to look way way back into ancient history at the Australian victory in the Test series against top ranked South Africa. This won't be a wordy series review or well thought out retrospective. No, this evening we're going to tally up the pre- and mid-series trash talk and see how it panned out.
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Aussie Trash Talk Roundup
Nobody talks smack like the Aussies. Let's see how they did."This Australian attack is the best in the World." ~Michael Clarke
Fired off before the Ashes were even over, this one got the South Africans justifiably heated up. Now that the dust has settled it has to be said that Clarke's fast men out bowled their Saffa counterparts. However Australia ended the series with a different pace attack than they started with, and Lyon's spinners were no better than JP Duminy's.
The call: EVENS
"I think he [Johnson] probably is the best fast bowler in the world at the moment." ~Craig McDermott
I'm willing to let the stats speak for themselves here. Mitch sure is on fire. Hope the toe comes right soon.
The call: WIN
"Still 'bull....', Graeme?" ~Daniel Brettig after the first Test.
Port Elizabeth followed a few days a later.
The call: FAIL
"I would have liked to see him [Vernon Philander] bowl at Adelaide in that second Test when he apparently hurt his back." ~David Warner
Vern bowled his share of hard overs during the series, albeit without much success. Warner's series was dazzling, but he can't justifiably accuse his opponent of shirking any work.
The call: FAIL
"The boys have learned how to play him [Vernon Philander]." ~Peter Siddle
With seven wickets at 51, the Aus top order sure seemed to have worked out how to play Philander.
The call: WIN
"They did it better than what we did, or more obvious than what we did." ~David Warner, on ball tampering
Warner followed up by accusing AB's wicketkeeping gloves. I don't think much needs to be said about this one.
The call: FAIL
"Low and slow, it [PE] is the sort of wicket that threatens to kill cricket instead of the batsmen who play on it." ~Malcolm Conn, after Day 2 at PE
This pretty much summed up the Aussie whining during and after the PE Test. Conn was singing a different tune after day 4.
The call: FAIL
"David Warner’s lack of respect making Australia look like whingers." ~Malcolm Conn
When a low-brow critic like Conn - whose column is written at a 8th grade reading level using the maximum number of monosyllables and single-sentence paragraphs - disses you like this it's pretty embarrassing. Good on Mr Conn.
The call: WIN
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Alan's Calls
Because we're all about objectivity over here. Let's take a look at my own pre-series predictions."My money is on Ryan Harris as the danger man"
Mitch sure did pitch, but I stand by this prediction. One has only to watch the highlights of the last Test and read the post match press coverage to see how important Harris is to the side. The Australians will be hoping that he makes a swift post-op recovery.
The call: WIN
"If Steyn, Philander and Morkel stay fit enough to play all the games the Proteas will probably win"
Steyn's fitness struggle was pretty clear, and Morkel wasn't without niggles. So I've got an out here. Still, they took the field in all the games, so...
The call: EVENS
"The senior [batsmen] in Smith, Amla and de Villiers are going to need to collectively make up the extra man"
I'll stand by this one too. Too bad Smith's head was in a different place.
The call: WIN
"Clarke is world class [...] Of the rest, I've always rated Warner and Spud Smith. The rest are a mix of overrated senior pros and unproven rookies."
The first half was a bit of a no-brainer, but I'll take credit for it anyway. The second was born out by the performances of Marsh, Doolan and Rogers.
The call: WIN
"Tail end runs [will be] a vital difference."
Both tails scored runs, but neither was that vital to the results.
The call: FAIL
"And finally... Sledging"
Again, a no brainer in any Aus/SA context. If anything the Aussies have gotten worse over the years. Maybe the stump mikes are just better.
The call: WIN
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