Aussies expect Rabada to fire in Hobart

The Aussies take on South Africa in the second Test at Blundstone Arena starting tomorrow morning with dark clouds hovering over all-rounder Mitch Marsh in more ways than one.

The duel with the Blues was willing and vocal, placing Burns in a decent frame of mind to face South Africa at Bellerive Oval from Saturday as the replacement opener for Shaun Marsh.

It’s an overall figure well short of the 25,000 Cricket Australia hoped for at a ground which is fighting for the right to continue hosting Test cricket after below-par crowd numbers in recent years.

“There’s a possibility of that”, du Plessis said. I think the team’s in a good place at the moment, we’ve got a good culture, built on constant improvement and getting better. The South Australian has performed well in the one-day worldwide team but his first-class average of 40 is considered low for a player of his talent who has played the bulk of his cricket on the batsman-friendly Adelaide Oval.

The bleak forecast for the first three days in Hobart does not help Marsh either, reducing the need for his seam bowling to support Australia’s frontline quicks.

Dale Steyn could only bowl 12.4 overs in the Test match before breaking his shoulder.

“We’ll probably do it really late this time”. Australia’s batting collapse of 10 for 86 did not give the bowlers any rest and Siddle, along with the likes of Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood, toiled in the second innings as South Africa notched up 540/8 declared, thanks to centuries from JP Duminy and Dean Elgar. Former vice-captain Brad Haddin also queried the tactic in a column for ESPNCricinfo on Friday, saying: “I wonder how much confidence the decision to hold him back showed in him”.

“I am incredibly proud of him and I have a lot of respect for anyone who puts their hands up and does the hard yards”, said Faf du Plessis, the South Africa captain, of Rabada’s heroic 31-over effort that ended with 5 for 92 in Australia’s second innings.

Because the Johannesburg-born fast bowler is still in his qualification period, he has an excellent chance of leapfrogging the Australian depending on how he performs in the Hobart and Adelaide Tests. This Test could be won or lost on the back of the simple things.

“But if it becomes a really shortened game, three and half or four days, and its going to be wet and cold and there’s moisture around, we might not play a spinner”.

The hosts have a mountain of work to do on day two, when heavy rain is predicted, as they seek to snap a four-Test losing streak that has already ramped up the pressure on coach Darren Lehmann and plenty of others at Cricket Australia.

“We told ourselves to be relentless and not let Australia back into the game. That’s what I want this team to be about – everyone in the team to making sure that they contribute whenever the get the opportunity”.