Big news: Graeme Smith announces his retirement from international cricket

[OomD]

My guess is OomD is a Free State supporter

You guess wrong.

 

[OzzieCapie]

What?

How are my achievements (or lack thereof) relevant? And yes, I have already achieved what I set out to, thanks for asking.

Oh...of course just like the person you are criticising, you wrote your goal on the frridge at 12, single mindedly achieved that by age 22, stayed in job longer than anyone else, unified a team, achieved more than most before you.

What did you write down...garbage disposal operator?

he's no Jacques Kallis or Ricky Ponting, or hell, even Hansie Cronje. He was just meh.

The number of times he's been given out LBW, for example. That's probably (I could be wrong) the most dominant way he's ever been dismissed.

He never struck me as someone that cares about the fans, the game's reputation, or the game's progress. He just cared about himself. I mean hell, with a nickname like Biff I would expect nothing less than arrogance. He thought he was captain and coach, and bullied the coaches to accept his point of view.

Once, even John Robbie on the radio asked him why he had to chew like that on the field. Nothing wrong with chewing with your mouth closed, though, but geez have some class and close your mouth already.

This says it about your views doesn't it.

Kallis...didn't want to shoulder the responsibility and by many regarded as one of the most selfish players concerned only about his own stats.
Ponting...spits on hands and rubs it, at least not chewing gum with mouth open, involved in 3am punch up at a Sydney nightclub
How about how tubby Taylor chewed gum?
Hansie...crook, bullied younger players to cheat, arrogant leader, coward and non-unifier -according to direct reports from players
John Robbie...ahhh....rebel without a concience, up himself ...really, he tells people how to chew gum. Is that because he "cannot chew gum and think at same time'...that is the idiot I remember from the rugby tours.
LBW...how about #2 batsman in world, Amla...let's compare...he isn't techically sound himself.

Captain's role in cricket team is the leader, the coach is advisor...that's the way the Aussie team have operated all the time....

 

[BobsLawnService]

It is good to wake up and that muppet is gone.

I don't envy his replacement though. It can't be easy stepping into a team that is rebuilding because King Rat has fled the sinking ship.

I guess he didn't fancy the chances of looking good without the best batsmen bowlers and all-rounders in the world there to make him look better than he is.

 

[OomD]

Oh...of course just like the person you are criticising, you wrote your goal on the frridge at 12, single mindedly achieved that by age 22, stayed in job longer than anyone else, unified a team, achieved more than most before you.

What did you write down...garbage disposal operator?

What are you, twelve?

 

[OzzieCapie]

What are you, twelve?

Yes, I have just put a note on the fridge saying Nobel Prize by 16...I am already a Nuclear Physicist and Brain Surgeon

 

[Wall]

It is good to wake up and that muppet is gone.

I don't envy his replacement though. It can't be easy stepping into a team that is rebuilding because King Rat has fled the sinking ship.

I guess he didn't fancy the chances of looking good without the best batsmen bowlers and all-rounders in the world there to make him look better than he is.

Yeah, being the no 1 side in the world means we sinking and complete horse ****

 

[AfricanTech]

Why are some people so reluctant to admit hat the Aussies simply outplayed us.

Warner took our bowlers apart

Clarke gritted out being banged up pretty badly

Mitchell got under our top order's skin and opened us up for the others.

And, we lost a toss on a batting strip

And we lost our key strike bowler

There was some rain and therefore bowler assist in the first session the Aussies bowled at us on the third day

Staring down 500 is not easy - look at what happened to the Aussies in the 2nd test - when fielding captain has a 500 cushion, he can do innovative things with his bowlers

In the end, rub of the green plus superb cricket (bat, ball, fielding) from the Aussies.

We were outplayed - finish and klaar

 

[Noquarter]

Why are some people so reluctant to admit hat the Aussies simply outplayed us.

We do exactly the same with the Springboks

 

[Wall]

Why are some people so reluctant to admit hat the Aussies simply outplayed us.

Warner took our bowlers apart

Clarke gritted out being banged up pretty badly

Mitchell got under our top order's skin and opened us up for the others.

And, we lost a toss on a batting strip

And we lost our key strike bowler

There was some rain and therefore bowler assist in the first session the Aussies bowled at us on the third day

Staring down 500 is not easy - look at what happened to the Aussies in the 2nd test - when fielding captain has a 500 cushion, he can do innovative things with his bowlers

In the end, rub of the green plus superb cricket (bat, ball, fielding) from the Aussies.

We were outplayed - finish and klaar

Yeah Fair do's to the Aussies. They played the better cricket over the series and are deserved winners. They played hard and fair ( with Warner the exception - what a dick!)

 

[BobsLawnService]

Yeah, being the no 1 side in the world means we sinking and complete horse ****

It is just my opinion but I think we've hit our peak and the only way to go is down from here while we rebuild the side and get it settled.

We've lost Kallis, Steyn is breaking down more often, Morkel. Has never been consistent enough, we're battling to find a decent top order, Philander is looking better with bat in hand than with ball in hand. The rest of our bowling lineup is also looking very unsettled.

Right now the only players looking world class are AB, Amla and Faf and Philander to a lesser extent.

Don't kid yourself, we're rebuilding and are going to be on a downward slope while the Aussies are on the up.

 

[Wall]

It is just my opinion but I think we've hit our peak and the only way to go is down from here while we rebuild the side and get it settled.

We've lost Kallis, Steyn is breaking down more often, Morkel. Has never been consistent enough, we're battling to find a decent top order, Philander is looking better with bat in hand than with ball in hand. The rest of our bowling lineup is also looking very unsettled.

Right now the only players looking world class are AB, Amla and Faf and Philander to a lesser extent.

Don't kid yourself, we're rebuilding and are going to be on a downward slope while the Aussies are on the up.

Yeah, it's not like he just rode the wave and didn't rebuild the team over 12 years

Also, maybe he realised the team needed rebuilding and KNEW he wasn't up for it. In that sense, you could say he made the right call.

 

[Vis1/0N]

only way to go is down from here while we rebuild the side...
Don't kid yourself, we're rebuilding and are going to be on a downward slope while the Aussies are on the up.

We (and before that India) went up when Australia hung onto the Ponting era was too long. They have rebuilt and look like they are back on their throne - although they are still patching up their vulnerabilities.

How far down will be be while we rebuild? WI, ENG, PAK, IND, BGL, SL, NZ, AUS, ZIM. See, it won't be that hard to be among the top Test teams esp with few teams having a top class spinner these days and many of these teams can't deal with pace well enough. Most of these teams will be up and down, esp England and India who both will snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

Smiths team has been fairly consistent, I don't believe we have ever been great - don't for a moment believe we would have matched let alone bettered Border's, Taylor's or Waugh's teams. [Ponting did hang around too long with the side in transition which was when India and then SA managed to pip them]. The teams have been shuffling around in the ranking while we have been just consistent - never that extra bit special.

 

[MickeyD]

From looking at our test match schedule, we have three tests against the Windies in December and 1 against Zim later. Then it's the world cup in 2015.
Then probably another 6 months before test cricket.

So ja, 4 tests in 16 months in not worth hanging around for.

Hmmm... now somebody sees what I realised when I saw the Test schedule!

 

[bex.cpt]

About time hopefully. We can now get a REAL captain & get the team back on track.

 

[Wall]

Im sure I heard something about a Sri Lanka tour in July....