Two of the biggest scores in ODI history, the game came down to the last over.
4 balls remaining, Telamachus caught. Sa 435/9.
2 balls remaining - Boucher scores the winning run, by getting a four!

Cue jumping, screaming, laughing, smiling... etc....

Go Boys Go!

Best ever!

That was a game that has set a precedent that any total can be chased.

We chased a World record ffs...

Brilliant! And to think some people actually left the grounds after the Aussies were dont batting... suckers!

omgawsh. it was awesome, i too got over watching it when australia got such a high score.
I think theres a very valuable lesson in that (that all south africans can consider).

no matter what the odds.
nothing is impossible.
u just got to want it more.

3 Cheers to SA

We were sitting there, and drinking our sorrows away during the change-over. One of my friends got up and said: "Lets go home, this game is lost", but luckily we talked him into staying "just to see what happens". I think he'll never stop thanking us.

A game of ups and downs, sitting down after applauding a four, and jumping in the air 5 seconds later. I cannot believe, in my life, I would be as lucky as to see a game like that.

The crowd was awesome, the players were awesome. Best damn day I"ve ever had!

As Lewis walked back to his fielding position right in front of us after suffering a devastating over's bowling, the entire stand got up and gave him a standing ovation. It was classic!

shame p00r lewis... the Worst figures EVER! and even announced on the billboard, TV, RADIO etc... he must hate being here in SA... and did I see a tear in his eyes?

When we heard the score everyone thought argh useless SA sux balls!

I never watched the aus innings... wtf happened? did Smith screw up and bowl like a dickwat again? wtf? he just simply sux yet the thinks he can bowl????

Smith bowled OK, fish. The guy who screwed up was everyone! There are no good figures when teams get over 400 (WTF?!?), except Bracken (again, WTF?!?). Kallis did post the worst bowling figures by a South African in ODI's ever... 0/70 (6)

If I remeber correclty it was actually Hall that came in at 9... He hit a four, then tried to win it and got himself caught. It was an awesome game!!! Well done boys, BUT... we could have won it so much easier. I mean both Smith and Gibbs got themselves out. Both played silly shots. WTF was Gibbs doing going for a 3rd 6 in a row... He should have just gone for the single he could have been the first person to get a double in an ODI. I mean look how Ponting went out. He was caught brilliantly.

yeah these ppl are just glory seekers... I think they've played one to many pro 20's which is good FINALLY this game is coming alive and we can see the potential of these batsmens

as for Telamachus and Hall what idjits!!!! hit a four and attempt a 6????

Gibbs has a right he's got 175 so another 6 would have helped

Kallis was ill so you can't blame his poor performance

Smith still a kak captain shoulda won the last match but what does he do? put everyone in the out field when two new batsmans are in and then in the last over attempt to place everyone inside???? what logic is that? should you be using fast bowlers with the fielders in to stop the singles and put pressure on the batsman????

Wanderers must have made the pitch so kaka (good for batting) so that ppl could enjoy the game for the final

If he was healthy he still would have sucked. he is a crap ODI batsmen. He shouldn't even be in the team for ODI's.

Firstly, there are no clever shots when chasing 433 (WTF?!?). The shots they played getting out were the same shots they were hitting the ball out of the park with.

much easier? That's weird, seeing as we broke the record (by FAR) to win, and easier methods or not, we won the most astounding game of cricket ever, CHASING o_O

It doesn't even feel real.

I agree, there was only ONE way to win that game. Go big, or go home. That's IT. Playing safe wasn't an option at any stage of the game.



Tell me about it. My brain is still trying to grasp what I saw yesterday.

You two obviously didn't watch the whole game. When Gibbs and Smith were going at it they batted with a LOT of sense. They would hit a boundary, and then hit a single. rotated the strike is why they could hit so many more boundaries. Smith and Gibbs just got big headed. They were AHEAD of the RRR! There was no need to play those shots. Smith could have taken a single, and Gibbs would have got a boundary and then taken a single and so on. I mean if those two had just kept doing that, they would have easily won the match with a few overs to spare.

My point is even though we won the BEST game ever, we can learn a lot from it.


We didn't win it by FAR. we just broke the record by 4 runs. and we almost lost it. We made it really difficult for ourselves.

I never said we won it by far, I said we broke the record by far... and we did... 40 runs more than was scored in an innings before yesterday (excluding the Aussie innings which was also just unbelievable).

We made it difficult for ourselves by letting them get 433, our batting performance was superb.

What about hall's catch ?

fook me that was superman stuff right there

Never saw it
Was at school

I didnt' watch the aus innings

Yeah Halls catch was amazing. Dippenaars catch was also rather excellent. Only thing he did right, oh and go out so early

dippenaar sux as a batsmen, Smith sux as a captain, Kallis is sick,

if it wasa up to me I'd go with AB, Boucher, Pollock, try intergrate that van der wath with more int exp, drop smith as the captain make boucher captain

Good thing it's not [up to you]

why? what don't you agree with there?

Yeah.

I think they should leave Smith as captain -
1- He has potential to be a great captain
2- Removing his captaincy and re-instating it later in his career would be silly
3- He would has a lot to learn by being on the losing end, which will make him a better captain

Those reasons are flimsy, but I do not think that SA's cricket problems lie at his feet. IMO we need more talented bowlers, we certainly have enough batsmen atm.

I never understood the whole "we lose - down with captain and coach'' philosophy that SA employs.

Give them a bloody chance.

no in all his captaincy he's been useless... I mean wtf? 10 overs left scores are tight aussies are strong what does he do? come on to bowl like a idjit... smacked for 23 odd runs in 2 OVERS!

Finally a break thru symonds out new/tail enders are in to bat what does he do? set the fielders to outfield in an attempt to stop those boundries... WTF FOR TAIL ENDERSS??????

Last over Aus needs a few runs with only 6 balls to win, he brings everyone into the infield and keeps 2 outside??????

Where's the #$^^ logic? I thought with the high scoring batsmen (Symonds) out a captain would apply pressure by putting fast bowlers to clean up the tail enders and an infield attack to apply pressure... This would also prevent singles but what does he do? allow them to rotate the strike and play those singles???????

That's plain illogical to me!

Funny how just about every ex player in world cricket thinks that smith is a rubbish captain... that would explain why we make him the captain. There is something strange going on in SA cricket and Smith... I mean if the captain doesn't get on with a bunch of excellent players and the coach then replace him, not the other players and the coach... That is the way SA cricket did things...

Look at the circumstances of the last few captaincy changes:

• Hansie is rebuked by all involved in cricket, who's the next captain - Shaun Pollock, a well establiched player with great captaining blood and potential. He was not ready, nor was there another option, except maybe Boucher, but that would be stupid... if there's one thing to learn in cricket it's this: Keeping wicket, Batting well and captaincy do not go well together.
  
  
• Pollock and the 'boys' get annihilated in a tour to Australia that is heralded as the battle of the best (SA was #2 in tests at the time). Smith played in a few games in that series and was only early 20's. Despite Smith's good form against Oz, is left out of the WC team. Jonty Rhodes is a failure at the WC, and they fit Smith in at the top of the order.
  
  SA go on to be eliminated (by the rain & a TIE) before making the 2nd phase of the 2003 World cup. The blame is placed squarely on the shoulders of Pollock and the coach. SHUFFLE. Smith is the captain (Pollock's fans happy to have the burden removed), but the coach keeps his job (not for very long).

There have been nothing but hasty decisions regarding the captaincy of the Proteas. When the big boys put Smith in as captain they were all smiles and said it would be VERY permanent position. Let's see if they can keep their words and leave things until things calm down.

Besides... who would you rather see as captain?

Boucher!

Well firstly Smith really needs to learn the game... yes he may be a better captain when he's older and had more exp and applied more pressure on the other team... but instead being a hard-ass captain he's not doing a very good job... all he's doing is aleinating the team and giving up easy wins!

Look at Hansie... when he first became captain he knew the who's and what's, it took a little time to get into a winning captaincy role but never have they failed to put the other team under pressure... and you could see the team they were all dedicated to winning every game. Now from the players expressions it shows the attitude of we can sorta give our 80% if we win it's ok if we lose tough titties.

Pollock was a much better captain than Smith is and most likely ever will be. SA was ranked higher than they are now under Smith. Says enough for me. Anyways I am not going to go on and on about this and that. I am just going to watch and see how he does. If he proves himself, then excellent. if he doesn't then so be it. I will support SA all the same. Go TEAM!!!



He was injured. It is quite different to not performing. I guarantee if he was fit, we would have done much better than we did. We would not have had to rely on 1 run keeping us in the WC, or out of it.




prime example. Our openers in the BEST ODI ever walk in dragging their bats and lips along the ground with no hope. a wicket, some edges and a bit of mementum building due to the edges and hey presto we win... maybe we should just drag our lips and bats more often

That is very true. A lot of times it feels like they just aren't giving 100%. Kallis IMO is one of the biggest culprits... he might be giving 100%, but it just looks like he's not