AFP, HOBART (AUSTRALIA): Play was abandoned on the second day of the second Test between Australia and South Africa without a ball being bowled following incessant rain in Hobart on Sunday.Rain washes out 2nd days play in Hobart Test
Pressure mounts on Aussie team in crisis
AFP
AFP, HOBART (AUSTRALIA): Play was abandoned on the second day of the second Test between Australia and South Africa without a ball being bowled following incessant rain in Hobart on Sunday.
The umpires made a ground inspection at 2:00 pm local time (0300 GMT) and decided to call off the days play, with the start scheduled 30 minutes earlier for each of the remaining three days.
South Africa hold an 86-run lead after routing Australia for 85 and reaching stumps on the first day at 171 for five.
Temba Bavuma will resume on Monday on 38 with Quinton de Kock not out 28.
Extensive covers protected the Bellerive pitch and surrounds amid continual rain throughout Sunday with only a few hardy souls in the stands.
The Proteas are in a strong position to claim victory and clinch their third consecutive series in Australia after rolling the home team in just 32.5 overs.
Vernon Philander powered the Proteas with five for 21 and was supported by recalled paceman Kyle Abbott who took three for 41.
It was Australias lowest total at home against South Africa to revive memories of recent catastrophic batting collapses.
The capitulation revisited the nightmares of their miserable 47 in Cape Town in 2011 and Englands demolition of them for 60 at Trent Bridge last year.
Mondays weather forecast was for a few showers.
Meanwhile, critics ripped into the Australian cricket team Sunday after yet another ignominious batting collapse in the second Test against South Africa in Hobart.
Critics pointed to other recent dark days in Australian cricket and the nightmares of their miserable 47 in Cape Town in 2011 and Englands demolition for 60 at Trent Bridge last year.
Coach Darren Lehmann admitted Australias batting was in crisis, telling reporters: When you get bowled out for 85, it probably is, isnt it? For us its a case of actually getting better and we lost 10-86 last Test match.
Pressure continues to mount on Lehmann who only received a lucrative three-year contract extension in Sri Lanka at the start of Australias four-match losing run and on most of Australias top-order batsmen.
Cape Town, Birmingham, Nottingham, Galle, and now Hobart. Like falling cities in a losing war, the scenes of Australias cricket disasters have come to our doorstep, The Sun-Heralds Malcolm Knox wrote.
The geography of decline presents a case that cannot be denied. In Australias case, the team failures have become frequent enough to suggest that the decline is irreversible.
Another Fairfax columnist Greg Baum said it was the fifth time in the past six years that Australia had been bowled out for fewer than 100.
The rout was all too predictable. Some batsmen were helpless, some were hapless, one, the first (David Warner), was reckless, he said.
The Australian newspaper warned fretful Aussie cricket fans of the challenges an Ashes tour in England pose for their suspect batsmen.
The next away Ashes hardly bears contemplating. Today (Saturday) at Bellerive was as close as you can get to English conditions, Andrew Faulkner said.
Australia failed just as they did when confronted with the swinging ball last year.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation illuminated the confusion inside the national cricket team, from selectors to coaches to the players.
Right now, confusion reigns in Australian cricket. On Saturday it was just another innings falling apart, a sight now so familiar as to seem standard, the ABC said.
Confusion is not a problem confined to just the field. Decisions are taken hastily, inconsistently. Flawed reasoning underpins them. A clear thought process is rarely evident.
