da blaze casino： Plays of the day for day two of the second Test between Australia and South Africa at the MCG
da apostaganha： Brydon Coverdale at the MCG27-Dec-2008
Peter Siddle took a wicket off his fourth ball in front of his home crowd © AFP (file photo)
Bowled, Bruce
The third umpire Bruce Oxenford and one of the on-field officialsAleem Dar are both former first-class players who bowled legspin, andan hour before play began they were testing their skills on the MCG.The men were sending down tweakers to a single stump in the ground,Oxenford tossing them up and Dar pushing them through a bit quicker.Oxenford played eight matches for Queensland in the early 1990s andwith the unpredictability of Australia’s spin selection policy thisyear he might just be a chance for a surprise call-up, judging by thegood length he was hitting today.One-eyed Rudd
Oxenford had a couple of decisions to make in his role as the TVumpire, one when Hashim Amla pinched a quick single to cover. MichaelClarke’s throw hit the stumps and Amla had just made his ground butAustralia’s prime minister Kevin Rudd, who was a guest commentator onChannel 9 at the time, thought it should have been out. “We’ll reviewhis visa,” Rudd said jokingly of the third umpire, perhaps unawarethat Oxenford is a fellow Queenslander.Did it carry?
A more contentious call for Oxenford came when Nathan Hauritz edgedDale Steyn to slip, where Graeme Smith reached low and collected theball with his fingers on the turf. It was unclear whether Smith hadtaken the ball cleanly and he himself couldn’t say for certain, so Darand Billy Doctrove asked for help from Oxenford. The replays wereinconclusive and it would not have been surprising had Hauritz beengiven the benefit of the doubt but between them the three officialsdecided the ball had carried and Hauritz was on his way.Smith’s ton
It was Smith’s 100th catch in his 74-Test career and he was the secondSouth African to reach the milestone. Like the South African run tallyJacques Kallis holds the record – he has 136 catches – but they mightboth be marks that Smith chases down over the course of his career.Brought to their feet by Pete
It’s nearly a decade since the Melbourne fans have had a Victoria fastbowler to cheer for during the Boxing Day Test, so when Peter Siddletook the new ball there was a sense of anticipation. The roar whenSiddle rattled Neil McKenzie’s stumps with his fourth delivery wasdeafening and the fans jumped to their feet to shout support for theirnew local hero. He also won plenty of cheers when he dug in a quickbouncer that jammed Amla on the knuckles in the same over.Appeal zeal
It wasn’t the only time during the day Siddle would lift thespectators out of their seats. There were cheers when he found an edgefrom Graeme Smith and his spell became so fierce that the crowdwas cheering and chanting every ball. He even won a good-natured laughfrom the fans when he appealed for AB de Villiers’ wicket, unaware theball had clipped off stump. The TV cameras captured Siddle roaring outhis appeal to Billy Doctrove while Brad Haddin and Michael Husseypointed to the dislodged bail, and Siddle threw his head back indelight.
