Spin to be the difference in South Africa

Problem is when most spinners bowl to SA batsman somehow the ball keeps turning to the middle of the bat,maybe its luck but I promise it happens . . . Aussie media must be carefull they dont make Lyon a target,we all know that even from Warne's hand if the spinner isnt given a chance to pitch it,it then becomes irrelevent how much it was going to turn,I dont think Lyon is as good as Ajmal who is the best in the world for me but struggled to dominate SA in Pakistan and in SA. Muralitharan and Warne were,"immortal",once in a lifetime bowlers who not only spun the ball better than anybody but tricked batsman with variation.

Well said.

1st class: Peterson 373wickets@32.79, Lyon 165wickets@37.10, far superior?

Except if your name is Stephen O'Keefe.

Should be a cracking series anyway. 2-1 perhaps likely with a 70 per cent chance your way. Your batting is a fair bit better than ours and I have both pace attacks even but Lyon giving us the overall advantage with the bowling

Nothing wrong with analysis, if you happy with going full on, good luck with that. ;)

Busted his shoulder tonight

In Australia mate we always give ourselves a chance. Sounds like you'd be more comfortable if we pumped up your boys and said we had no hope.

No mate, I am the voice of reason. Talk is cheap and money buys the whiskey. Or in thils case, talking up players isn't going to beat the Proteas.

You sound like the 20 odd poms that were on this site before the ashes that have now all disappeared Biltongbek

Far superior? Far superir would be a difference of someone with a 25 average vs someone with a 35 or worse average.

Your basing that narrow minded attempt at undermining Lyon on one match, as this article reveals, Lyons career statistics are far superior.

The implication that the pitch conditions will nullify SA's pace attack's ability to exploit Aus proven propensity to collapse is a bit of a stretch. Let us look at you SCG equivalence analogy which you use to support your claim. In the recent Sydney test, 40 wickets fell, of which 7 were taken by spin including a few for Borthwick as Aus was going the tonk in the second innings. Lyon took a mighty 3 on your 'good for spinners' pitch. By far the dominant method of taking wickets was seam bowling. With the quality of the SA and Aus pace attacks the key battle is going to be how the top orders handle the respective pace batteries. Lyon will play an important role, but to suggest that he will be the key bowler.... fanciful.

The opposite is also true, I understand Australian media and Fans are looking for every possible advantage that can win them the series. However I will also caution you against over optimism. This is an Australian website, hence a very revealing and interesting site for an outsider to guage the opinion and perceptions from another angle. It is therefor logical that "the talk" will favour Australia, but it is important not to overstate the abilities after one excellent series against England who frankly was very disappointing indeed. This series is played in SA who has been in consistent form for a very long time, the only loss we have to deal with is the stability Kallis has brought to our batting line up for the past 18 years. But lets be frank about a few things, SA has been cricitised for not having a quality spinner since our readmission, yet we have always delt with it admirably. The other fact is over the past 12 months Kallis averaged 25 with the bat, so even though he has been part of the team, we had to adapt in match situation where he has failed often in the past year. We have a solid team, currently the best in the world, Australia has struck rich form against England at home, some players have performed very well in home conditions in this particular series. But you aren't playing at home with 50 000 home fans or England who was clearly psychologically intimidated in Australia.

Extend the squad to 16 to add Steve O'keefe to the squad.

I wouldn't take too much notice of Swann struggling against South Africa. England have a number of players who struggle against the 2 best test nations of the last 12 years. Swann averages around 40 odd against these 2 countries with a career average of 30. Anderson averages around 36 against Aus and SA and 30 against everyone else, and Prior has a career average of 41 or so and averages 30 against Aus and SA. I'm not predicting Lyon to be a huge match winner over there, but he is quickly turning into a world class spinner. Underestimate him at your own peril

Jason, AB De Villiers averages 41 against spin. That is not what you call struggling.. As mentioned by other readers, SA toured England in July 2012, when England were no. 1 in the world, and at the peak of their powers. You Aussies will be well aware of this! Graeme Swann was also at his best back then however when he came up against the SA batsmen to say he was ineffectual, on his home tracks, is an understatement. Needless to say SA won 2-0, became no. 1 and have never looked back. SA then toured Australia at the end of the same year and to be fair did not play very well but still had enough to put Australia away. I must say, I don't recall Lyon "being the difference" then, in his home conditions. Swann in 2012 was a far better bowler than what Lyon is right now. If SA could render Swann so ineffectual, in England to boot, well then I say bring it on Lyon. Come and make the difference!

Match figures: Peterson 6/171, Lyon 3/169.

Jason Iwould be more concerned about Steyn and Philander's record at Newlands, than hope Lyon is going to be a match winner at Newlands.

This article is full of rubbish. The South African side plays spin very well now. That is why they have not lost in then sub continent since 2007. They are also the side that worked Swann out and laid the basis for the Aussies ending his career this series. This is not conjecture but fact, you just need to look at his stats in their last series against England. Furthermore just because other spinners are mediocre does not make Lyons match winner. South Africa just played India who actually have two really quality spinners (people who actually spin the ball) on dry pitches and on the 1st they almost chased 450 and on the 2nd they scored 500 pluc runs. This article is just a load of wishful thinking by optomistic Aussie. Finally South Africa has never doctored pitches in the way the Aussies and English do. If we did India would have for two green tops, so I do not know where all this we're gonna get groundsman to spice up wickets is coming from, other that the Aussie cricketers and press who are known for their use of hyperbole