First match.. Oz v Saffers:
Australia: Aaron Finch (c), D’Arcy Short, Chris Lynn, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Ben McDermott, Alex Carey (wk), Nathan Coulter-Nile, Andrew Tye, Jason Behrendorff, Billy Stanlake.

South Africa: Quinton de Kock (wk), Reeza Hendricks, Faf du Plessis (c), David Miller, Heinrich Klaasen, Farhaan Behardien, Andile Phehlukwayo, Chris Morris, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Tabraiz Shamsi

Match reduced to 10 overs a side after rain deluged the stadium. 
Same old story.. Aussies bowled too short and were unable to execute a yorker. SA 6-108.

QdK keeping with no pads? What on earth...

Soft Australia. Soft.

This game is done and dusted. Saffers outbowled us..yet again.

Maxwell gets an A today - but most get an F tonight.

If only Maxwell could produce these types of games more often.. he would never be in and out of our limited overs sides. 

What a mass of soft dismissal by our blokes.  Guess composure goes out the door when you only have 10 overs of play. to chase down a challenging total.

The bottom line is the Saffers have the wood on us at present in all formats. They are developing a formidabale bowling attack. Expect their entire pace attack to be African when Steyn retires. 

Paddles only us posting at the moment. Is like the others have vanished.

To be fair, Maxwell does have these games more often than people think, it is just many Australian fans unfairly expect him to average big runs. He should be used as an allrounder. The public should be told that he is an allrounder, and he should be judged on performances as an allrounder. Finch is heading Maxwell into the right direction.

Ngidi and Rabada are certainly great finds for Safrica and do help resolve some quota issues. 

It is going to be a long summer for Australian cricket fans. If Bumrah, Sharma and Kohli stay fit - I think India will dominate the t20 and ODI series. They absolutely thrashed South Africa in South Africa and pushed England into series deciders in England in the limited overs stuff.  Aus will need a lot of luck to beat them.

The acid test is the test series. If the Australian batsmen get out on roads to the Indian bowlers, there will be an astronomical decrease in fan interest in cricket this year and a general anger to even outrage to CA about the length of Warner and Smith's bans.

Tests is all that interests me. I reckon we will  win and win comfortably...3-1  When was the last time they won here in OZ. Even one match of a series? India should be worried about facing our big three on roads or otherwise. Not having the incredible Smith will bring the sides closer.. so am giving them one win.

What's this big 3? Finch, Khawaja and... who's the 3rd?

Not Shaun Marsh surely?

Smith saved Australia from Vijay, Rahane and Kohli last time.

 Kohli is a lot better now.

A lot lot lot better.

Big three.. Hazlewood, Cummins, Starc.

there is a India test series thread now.

Why no Kiwis in UAE thread?

I don't think the Indian batsmen are in the least worried about these three. The only thing that concerns Indian batsmen are spicy swinging greenies. But those will bring India's bowlers right into the game. The Indian batsmen took Aus for plenty of runs last time they were there. And Indian batsmen have a long history of scoring runs in Australia. Kohli will be far more concerned about how to actually take wickets this time which is where India has traditionally come up unstuck.

https://www.gpforums.co.nz/threads/526449-Pakistan-vs-New-Zealand/page12

:P

There were no spicey, swinging greenies last time they were here only generous roads. Still Oz won. Indians struggle more on Gabba or WACA like bouncy decks. Problem is the WACA is gone and two of  the four Test venues are drop in roads.. Hoping the new Perth Stadium deck will be much like the old WACA.. minus the cracks. Kohli and Co will make hay on the MCG and Sydney tracks. They will win one of these two matches. Most likely Sydney which does tend to also turn and they have the superior spinners.

This a Kiwi forum Paddles? 

I did mean a Kiwi thread on this forum..as I would like to post.

Aus are typically the favourites to beat everyone on roads bar Safrica. That's why Australia produces so many road pitches.

Barring the (first) day night test at Adelaide (at night), I don't think there's been a single spicey greenie in Australia since Hobart 2011? 

On spicy greenies this very year, the current Indian attack sliced through England and Safrica with ease. With absolute ease. The only thing that saved England was a Chris Woakes century and Sam Curran with English "uber allrounders tail". ABdV saved SA but Kohli was easily the top scorer in both series. Bumrah missed half of England and Kumar missed the whole tour. 

Sorry to say, but on a spicy greenie, my money is on India. 

If you think Anderson and Broad are deadly in England, and if you think Steyn, Rabada, Ngidi, Philander and MMorkel are trouble in SA, then it has to be recognized how well the Indian lads are bowling. Shami and Kumar are big swingers of the ball. Sharma and Bumrah are seamers with inswingers. U Yadav is just fast and bouncy. He's bog ordinary on spicey pitches as he lacks the skill of swing or seam. All he is is a tall pace merchant.

Australia need to nullify these bowlers like they do Anderson and Broad every time England tours with roads. 

If the pitches are roads, Australia probably has the better attack - a lot depends on how well Bumrah goes. But on a greenie - I prefer India's attack to be honest. They have the right type of bowlers to exploit lateral movement.

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/the-ashes-2015/engine/records/averages/batting_bowling_by_team.html?class=1;id=2018;type=year

Click here - compare Australia's fast bowling in 2018 to India's - warning - you will not like what you see.

(Pakistan and South Africa are just unreal at the top. Pakistan are touring there this summer. It is going to be a shootout and a half!)

To be absolutely blunt - I kinda want to hear more about this World Class Attack you think Australia has Baggers. I get that its good on Australian roads... but why does it suck in England, Safrica, all of Asia - not to mention the UAE where seamers dominate anyway despite it being in Asia so often? I mean seamers dominate Australia, UAE and Safrica amd now WI- so what's with the Aus attack after 1 test in Aus, 4 in SA and 2 in Pakistan? Why are SA and Pak so far ahead? Could it be the Aus attack is only good on Aus roads? And useless in SA, Eng and UAE? Will WI beat Aus in WI next time? (Serious question, Holder, Roach and Gabriel are swinging it).

Tbh - Gabriel, Roach and Holder may do CA next time in WI. I'm serious. They just changed to green pitches and the Dukes. The last time Aus won with a Dukes was in 2001. (True story). Why do Aussie fast men not swing or seam like India, NZ, Eng SA, Pak. INDIA or WI?

Anyway, after touring SA and Eng this year, I bet Shaw, Vijay, Pujara, Kohli, Pant, Rahane and Sharma want to tour Aus and face Hazelwood, Starc and Cummins to finally take it easy and score big. This is the reality of World Cricket right now. This is the series for Indian batsmen to cash in after Safrica and England.

Aus has no world class attack like Fox tells you repeatedly it does. And like you believe it does. It has an attack that is pacey and dominates at home (bar Safrica repeatedly showing it up). That is all. Its attack, on a world basis - sucks. Pakistan wrecked it. Safrica wrecked it. This year. England in England has wrecked it for 13 years. So do not green pitches up for India - they will eat you alive. Because they have better swingers and seamers than Aus does. Road the pitches up - and hope Kohli, Shaw, Pujara, Sharma, Rahane, Dhawan, Rahull, Pant, Vijay fail. #longsummer.

My apologies for being so blunt. But I really didn't understand what you meant about World Class attack last week, and I have seen you post regularly since I gave you the 2018 stats.I'll be more blunt - noone respects the Aus attack outside of Aus or roads. Noone. At all. With test status that is.

To be more frank - no batsmen in intl cricket fears the Aussie attack in Aus or anywhere else. All  test batsmen want to cash in va Aus right now. Aus roads and tall AFL/Lock in rugby bowler are the best for batting averages right now. What did Kohli score in Australia last tour - close to 600 runs (in 4 tests) vs Rhino, Starc, Johnson and Haze? All touring teams worry about in Aus is how their own bowlers will do. That's it.

If you think Indian batsmen are scared of Haze, Starc, Cummins right now - you're deluded and completely ignorant of international cricket let alone the IPL. All they're thinking about is 20 wickets - can they get them...

Aus didn't fall behind because of the Smith and Warner bans - Aus fell behind when it went to roads to win at home because "just in case".

This Aus collapse is not as much to do with Smith and Warner like you think - the writing was on the wall in the 2015 Ashes. Aus rightly won the World Cup in 2015... But its end was obvious when Rogers retired - let alone Clarke and the end of Watto. Johsnon's retirement was called by me before the Indian test series. You don't bowl 150+ in your back-end 30's.

Aus are still a force at home. So are WI now and Bang. This is the reality. Aus has fallen way behind in dominating world cricket. They will not get roads anywhere but NZ (who needs 5 day test matches for the broadcasters to be happy) and Aus. Noone else will give Aussies a road to play on. CA, if it ever wants to win away from home, needs to make cricketers who can play for  spin, swing and seam - and not simply be one dimensional flat and bouncy flat track bullies. Get bowlers who can spin, swing and seam and batsmen who can play it - because not every pitch is a road.  In a way CA is like SAC - SAC spin is so bad - in the second test in SL on a dustbowl - they played a seam attack this year. I am serious! (just look at the scorecard below to see the issue). CA sends tall pace merchants who are good for roads into swing and seam conditions? Why?

http://www.espncricinfo.com/series/18629/scorecard/1142582/sri-lanka-vs-south-africa-2nd-test-sa-in-sl-2018

(Lakmal - the only Sri Lankan seamer only bowls 2 overs. Steyn, Ngidi and Rabada were like lambs to the slaughter).

But unlike CA - SAC pacemen can swing and seam...

CA is simply and entirely one dimesional now and has been for years. Bouncy flat track bullies... This is why their away record is horrid. And why all intl batsmen look forward to touring Australia. This is the reality of world cricket right now. If the Marsh's make runs in Australia - all batsmen are able to. And the likes of Kohli know it.