Here come the ODI's

In my humble opinion one of the greatest Test series of all time has come to a close and we're now onto the smash-and-grab version of the game.

Without question the two teams were very closely matched with SA holding the aces in the bowling department and the Aussies persisting with a couple of guys who were out of form.

However Ian over at The Baggy Green believes that the Aussies may have the upper hand when it comes to the shorter version of the game in terms of the players they're putting out:

To give you an idea of what the two teams face I've posted the fixtures below:
11 January 2009 Australia v South Africa 20/20 MCG, Melbourne
13 January 2009 Australia v South Africa 20/20 Woolloongabba,
16 January 2009 Australia v South Africa ODI MCG, Melbourne
18 Janary 2009 Australia v South Africa ODI Bellerive Oval, Hobart
23 January 2009 Australia v South Africa ODI SCG, Sydney
26 January 2009 Australia v South Africa ODI Adelaide Oval,
30 January 2009 Australia v South Africa ODI WACA, Pert

The Aussies have named the following two teams and Ian has done a write up on the players here:

The KFC Twenty20 squad is:
R. Ponting (C)
M. Hussey (V/c)
D. Hussey
B. Hilfenhaus
J. Hopes
N. Bracken
B. Haddin (w/k)
S. Marsh
S. Tait
D. Warner
R. Harris
C. White
N. Hauritz

The Commonwealth Bank Series squad is:
R. Ponting (C)
M. Clarke (V/c)
B. Haddin
J. Hopes
N. Bracken
S. Marsh
M. Hussey
D. Hussey
N. Hauritz
B. Hilfenhaus
C. White
S. Tait
P. Siddle

The South African squad minus Graeme Smith is:
Johan Botha
Hashim Amla
Mark Boucher
AB de Villiers
JP Duminy
Herschelle Gibbs
Jacques Kallis
Albie Morkel
Morne Morkel
Makhaya Ntini
Wayne Parnell
Dale Steyn
Lonwabo Tsotsobe
Vaughn van Jaarsveld

My concerns are that Steyn, Morne Morkel and Makhaya Ntini need to be used very sparingly for these games after the long hard test series. The Aussies are resting Johnson for the series and Siddle for the T20s. which is a smart move.

That leaves SA with Botha, Tsotsobe, Albie Morkel, Wayne Parnell and Jacques Kallis shouldering a lot of the bowling work.

Albie Morkel hasn't bowled much with an injury niggle and Tsotsobe has been sitting on the sidelines in Oz so they might be a little rusty as well.

Tend to agree that the Aussies may have the upperhand with this one but would never write SA out of anything.

South Africans - planning to go watch the boys in action??

TravelStart.co.za - Find out which airline is really the cheapest. Click Here

Need a car?
Imperial Europcar. Book your car online now! Click Here