For many years after World Series Cricket ushered in a wide proliferation of limited-overs matches in Australia, there remained a deep divide between the methods used for those games and Tests. A superior ODI performer like Simon ODonnell could be viewed as a Test match liability, likewise a Test banker like Mark Taylor viewed with scepticism in a coloured clothing context - until captaincy made him a fixture.Even if players were in both Australia sides, their methods could contrast wildly between formats. Dean Jones penned a book in 1991 called One-Day Magic, where he outlined the shots he played in one-day matches but not Tests, and pre-emptively mourned the death of spin bowling in the limited-overs arena. While scoring rates were overall lower during this period, there remained a gap between those commonly seen in Tests (often around 2.5 runs per over) and ODIs (4-4.5).Intrinsic to this disconnect was the fact that batsmen played plenty of matches in both formats at both domestic and international levels - they had time in Sheffield Shield matches to hone their long-form methods, while the ODI schedule afforded plenty of opportunities to work out more expansive plans and techniques for one-dayers.Thus it was possible for a batsman like Mark Waugh to play innings as contrasting as a match-saving century at Adelaide Oval against South Africa in January 1998, and a freewheeling hundred opposite Michael Di Venuto in an ODI at the same venue earlier in the same summer. The same was true of Steve Waugh, who crowned his first ODI hundred, against Sri Lanka at the MCG in 1996, with a towering straight six before steeling himself to soak up 273 minutes and 221 balls for 67 against India on a fiendishly difficult Delhi pitch a few months later.Twenty years on, however, a rather different picture has emerged. A treadmill of a schedule, the rise of domestic T20 tournaments, and increasing emphasis on positive, assertive batting rather than sound defence have meant that there are now few discernible differences between the way Australias batsmen play across Test and ODI formats. It appears as though certain arts of batsmanship are being lost at the altar of playing my natural game.The most salient example of all this has cropped up in the gap between Australias ODI tour of South Africa immediately preceding the present Test series. Australias planners deemed the tour unimportant - or inconvenient - enough that Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood were both kept well away from it. Yet it was across those five matches that the Proteas gained a couple of critical advantages, both mental and tactical.For Kagiso Rabada, fast emerging as the finest pace bowling prospect of his generation in the world, the series offered a priceless chance to get his impressively mature head around the concept of bowling to Australian batsmen, both the leadership duo of Steven Smith and David Warner but also antipodean willow wielders in general. As he said after the Perth Test:It definitely did help in terms of strategy. You tend to develop a sense of where to bowl to different batters and it helped in that regard. But you still have to come and execute. Aussies play pace well, they grow up playing on quick wickets and facing quick bowlers.So it was a learning curve for me in the ODI series in terms of different batters hitting the ball different places, so it was key for me now and for other bowlers to come and execute the plans, and we still have to do it leading into the next two matches.Australian vulnerability against the moving ball, or even merely straight ones, was writ large across the WACA Test. South Africas bowlers claimed no fewer than eight lbw verdicts against their opponents zero, a trend arguably more alarming for Australia than the quirks of the fates befalling Smith (well down the pitch) in the first innings or Mitchell Marsh (pinned on the toe by a sharp inswinger) in the second. Similar differentials had been seen in Sri Lanka this year, and the UAE in 2014, and their emergence down under suggests a worsening problem.Allied to the issues of covering up adequately in defence were those of picking the right tempo for the right moment. That was the sort of skill mastered by the former Test batsman Michael Hussey, who relied upon a highly tactical and adaptable method to see off various bowlers in differing situations. South Africa, of course, are a team well known for having the ability to stonewall when needed. In the words of Dean Elgar: I think its a good thing for us to have an array of flexible players within our batting unit. A guy like Hashim didnt contribute much in the first Test and we know what he can achieve as well. So having a lot of guys put up their hands and make a big play for the team is very important for us. Its very important to us to have those different kinds of players in our team, its a good dynamic and a good build for the batting unit.Elgars particular brand of batting is of a kind almost unheard of in Australia circa 2016. He is a grinder and a fighter, not overly fluent or expansive, and able to work doggedly in the company of others. His hundred was a source of some irritation to the Australians, grinding them down in a way the hosts cannot really replicate.Its just my nature to try to irritate the opposition - I dont think Im practised in it, I think it comes naturally, he said. But if thats the way they feel about it, its not a bad thing. Its an objective that I achieved in the last Test, and its going to be something that Ill try to work more going into the second Test and possibly the third Test as well.Interestingly, the increasingly homogenised method of Australian batting, across all formats, mirrors no one so much as the coach Darren Lehmann himself. As a prolific batsman for South Australia, Yorkshire and sporadically Australia between 1996 and 2005, he demonstrated the advantages of an unshakeable belief in a positive method, going after bowlers and manipulating fields. Yet his pathway was a narrow one shared by few of his generation. Lehmann was, in one former team-mates words, a freak.The current batting coach, Graeme Hick, was another who tried to bat in a similar way more or less each time he went out to bat, using his height and power to commanding effect. This resulted in a prolific and dominant county career but an underwhelming record in Tests. The pressing question for Lehmann, Hick, Smith and the rest of the nations batsmen is this: how many of them are really good enough to take the same approach, come what may? Alvin Williams Jersey . Hamelin, who triumphed in the 500 on Saturday, edged out Victor An of Russia by 0.021 seconds to maintain his lead in the World Cup standings. Russias Vladimir Grigorev was third. In the relay, Canada took control six laps from the finish line to beat Russia and the Netherlands. Sam Bowie Jersey . The Swede became the first golfer to win the PGA Tours FedEx Cup and European Tours Race to Dubai in the same season. "It is still taking a little time to sink in what Ive achieved this week as was the case when I won the FedEx Cup but then it just kept getting better and better as the days went on and I am sure this will be the same," he said. https://www.cheapblazersonline.com/ . The Brazilian goalkeeper signed a loan deal with the Major League Soccer club on Friday as he looks to get playing time ahead of this summers World Cup in his home country. Cliff Robinson Jersey . Varlamov made 33 saves and Ryan OReilly had a goal and scored in the shootout as the Avalanche beat the New Jersey Devils 2-1 on Thursday night. Martell Webster Jersey . Pettersen, winner of last years Evian Championships, had nine birdies and three bogeys, holding off a series of challengers led by Marion Ricordeau of France. The second-ranked Norwegian made her season debut after missing the LPGA Tours opening event last month in the Bahamas because of a shoulder injury. NEW YORK -- There was a near consensus about Baylors hiring of Matt Rhule from administrators, coaches and agents gathered for the annual National Football Foundation Hall of Fame dinner.Great hire for Baylor. Strange choice for Rhule.Born in New York, Rhule went to high school and college in State College, Pennsylvania, and spent the majority of his career in the Northeast, including the past four seasons as Temples coach. Theres nothing about his persoonality or his playing style that screams Texas, which makes Baylor an interesting job for him.ddddddddddddt underscores the question facing successful Group of 5 coaches like Rhule, Western Michigans P.J. Fleck and South Floridas Willie Taggart: When Power 5 opportunities present themselves, should they always jump at them?? ' ' '