gemmerbal

Agree 100% with your comment, and even they were pissies compared to Merv, Marsh, Boon, Healy etc. The world we live in is run by snowflakes.

I wonder how much the bookies were paying for that game to be drawn at the end? That was an insane game of test cricket! Steyn Remover smashed the last ball of the match for six, just to make the draw even more difficult to accept. I would have been inclined to risk losing 1-0 in going for victory, I mean, those kinds of iconic moments don't come around often, when it does, it is my opinion that you should risk it all to go for glory.

https://www.google.co.za/amp/s/www.rt.com/sport/479121-ben-stokes-fan-insult-south-africa/amp/ Ben Stokes not making friends with spectacled spectators, or with one of their main sponsors Specsavers... haha

Ja, i also want to know how we went from such a strong showing in the first 2 games to capitulating like a bunch of heartless amateurs. Pressure is probably the only difference and we didn’t cope whilst under the pump. Let’s try and be positive. Viva Proteas Viva!

Ja look, a couple of pages back we had a debate on the cointoss and i still believe any side looking to compete for top honours should be able to play the game regardless of a successful cointoss or not. Its just my view that you cannot hinge your success as a team on something that’s actually out of your control. Luckily at the Wanderers batting on day 2 and 3 will almost always be the best time to bat. However batting first in any test match and setting a good total will almost certainly give you the ascendancy in that game. More simply put, whether we bat 1st or 2nd, we need to put a decent score on the board to be able to compete.

looks like Hamza will make way for Temba. Rassie to bat 3, Flaff 4 and Temba at 5. On paper that lineup looks ok, can we play on paper please?

I have always felt the same way about that. Hansie was the fall guy. Look how Cricket 'Stralia dealt with Warne and Waugh's involvement with match fixing in the late 90's, but CSA and Ali Bacher could not erect the cross quick enough to peg old Hansie up there. I wonder how much of the IPL is untainted? JASSSSS I hate anything to do with 20 over cricket - and of course it was borne there. Hoping Beuran gets a chance tomorrow, and that he grabs it with both hands. Saw this youngster play second XI cricket when he was 15yo at Bellville CC, good to see him coming through.

I was watching "Crossing the Line" on Youtube last night, when one doccie lead to another and another which lead me to 2 doccies on Al Jazeera's youtube channel and some really good videos on undercover investigative journalism that was done over the last 5 years. The "Manuwar" files are very revealing and truly disturbing. Names are apparently still being withheld because of ongoing investigations but it I was shocked to hear that it is aleged that some of the Ashes games were tainted, as well as the last Indian tour to the UK, amongst others. It also goes into detail on exactly how the spotfixing concept works, where bets are being placed on blocks of play within the game. I also stumbled across the Lou Vincent interview, explaining how he got caught up in the spider's web and eventually got a life ban. Look, its probably easy for most of us to say such penalties are deserved etc, but there is a part of me that feels sorry for someone that gets trapped like that and it ends up costing them their career. In a way for me it feels a bit like it could be similar to the whole doping/EPO thing we saw in "The Armstrong Lie". I dont know, same same but different? Anyways, I always have a few cricket stories to share [it was always my first love since I can remember, grew up playing parkie cricket with then provincial cricketing ooms etc etc], so this is my quota for today, seeing as though the elephant in the room is best left in the corner for now. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z13N6pGfRMs

Amen to all you just said!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhkbizwZ39U fascinating stuff!

yes...

https://www.espncricinfo.com/scores/series/15393/australia-tour-of-south-africa how good was this series? a certain MV Boucher being stand-in skipper, this must have been just before Biff was made captain because the England tour of 2003 was his first tour as skipper. I managed to attend the match at Headingley where Gary Kirsten and Monde Zondeki managed a 100 partnership to save our bacon in the first innings after we were 140/7 or something. little did we all know at the time that Biff would go on and become our most successful captain ever. im ignoring the fact that we just lost the match, by focusing on the times when we were so good Biff got the English captains to retire when we beat them stukkend.

i like the idea of severe penalties for slow overrates. its become a joke, I seem to recall a season or so ago we struggled to get to 12 overs per hour. keep in mind in the days of Fanie de Villiers, Allan Donald, Craig Matthews, Brian McMillan etc we didnt get penalised as much as we do more recently, and those days we didnt even have a spinner!

Shebeen, how good was that Aussie side???? joh... we weren't that bad except for Andre Nel and Boeta Dippenaar. Andre Nel was a joke. And Boeta never looked like he belonged, another example of being good at domestic level but not good enough for international cricket. moer, that aussie side only needed 4 bowlers to take 20 wickets EVERY test match (McGrath, Lee, Gillespie, Warne)

28 BC Lara (466444) RJ Peterson West Indies v South Africa Johannesburg 2003-04 28 GJ Bailey (462466) JM Anderson Australia v England Perth 2013-14 27 Shahid Afridi (666621) Harbhajan Singh Pakistan v India Lahore 2005-06 26 CD McMillan (444464) Younis Khan New Zealand v Pakistan Hamilton 2000-01 26 BC Lara (406664) Danish Kaneria West Indies v Pakistan Multan 2006-07 26 MG Johnson (446066) PL Harris Australia v South Africa Johannesburg 2008-09 26 BB McCullum (466046) RAS Lakmal New Zealand v Sri Lanka Christchurch 2014-15 25 AME Roberts (46266L) IT Botham West Indies v England Port-of-Spain 1980-81 25 B Sutcliffe (66061) & RW Blair(600) HJ Tayfield New Zealand v South Africa Johannesburg 1953-54 25 NJ Astle (666L0) & CL Cairns (41) AR Caddick New Zealand v England Christchurch 2001-02 25 RR Sarwan (44444nb40) MM Patel West Indies v India Basseterre 2006 25 AB de Villiers (66661w) AB McDonald South Africa v Australia Cape Town 2008-09 25 LRPL Taylor (.nb41666) & JS Patel (1) NM Hauritz New Zealand v Australia Hamilton 2009-10

there you have it. I remember that game, haha, people leaving early to beat the trafiic, missing the last over of the day being hit all over the park. Its a bit like the people leaving the stadium when Aus came off after scoring 434 in their allotted 50 overs... HAHA

i believe BC Lara hit Nicky Boje for 30 in the last over of the day, a couple of years back at the Wanderers. let me fact check...

yes, the proposal is for 98 overs to be played each day, probably within 7 hours which will necessitate a change in playing schedule. the point I also made a while back is exactly what you okes are making now, they cannot bowl 90 overs in 6.5 hours, how the hell are they going to bowl 98 in 7? interestingly, at club cricket level, the day is divided in 3 sessions of 2hours 20 mins each, with a 112overs required in a day with 3overs subtracted for the change of innings. bowling 16 overs an hour at club level is only just achievable - this was still in the days of 2day club cricket in the WP. now, at International level they hardly get to 13 per hour. yes they have reviews affecting the over rate, but what I have noticed is that bowlers take forever to bowl their 6 balls. I see no reason why it should take more than 3mins per over, but okes drag their feet to get back to their mark, then they also have to wait for the ball to reach them. if you run up, bowl, and return to your mark without tee-potting in the middle of the wicket, getting it done in 3mins is very achievable. Get the ball to the bowler before he turns at the top of his run! ( I absolutely HATED waiting for the ball at the top of my run) anyways, the writing is on the wall for this match.

Correct, we thus get back to the Domestic Competition not being strong enough...

This, 1000% agree. I think Bouch is trying to divert attention from the team by saying he's to blame. I dont quite agree because he's not the guy out in the middle playing rash shots. What irks me is that conversation yesterday when Hamza got out: KP was saying he needs to go back and work on the technical issue that is causing him to lose his wicket (bowling at his hip because he gets very front on when the ball is back of a length), Pommie's answer to the problem was to move him down the order. Now, how the FU_K does that help? ("reshuffle of the order"). Hamza is talented, but he has a techical flaw that he needs to sort out. He is not the first or last youngster to come into international cricket to experience this. I wish for his own sake he makes a score in the last test, we need him at 3, and if he can come through this he will be the better for it. The only reasonable alternative is to bat Markram at 3 when he returns. Which altogether might make the most sense in my opinion. Then possibly Hamza can bat at 4. I agree with the sentiment that class is permanent/form is temporary. I doubt though that Faf will be around beyond this year. The pressure is showing on his face, and eventually something has got to give. Temba made ONE score, ONE. I am happy for his sake, but one swallow doesn't make a summer. That being said, it's not like our current lineup is making it difficult for him to get back into the side. Now, I'm off to do the rain dance.

HAHAHA...

Yes you hit the nail on the head. But i feel its also an indication of our failing domestic competition.

F...K no....

I agree that FdP is still good enough, and that one score should be a catalyst to see him get back some confidence. Im not sure he wants to? Markram is also in the same boat as Temba, he needs to cement his spot in the side first. Yes they made Biff captain at 22 but its because he burst through the door and how could we not make him captain? (as a side, watch that Supersport Doccie "Cricket and the Rainbow Nation" - its a must see) back to Markram: he doesnt exactly strike me as being particularly intelligent in the same way Biff was beyond his years. I know he has had a taste of the ODI captaincy, but Im not convinced he is test captain material, of course I might be wrong, its just my opinion based on my observation of him as a player. QdK... we need him to focus on his keeping and batting. his keeping is special, his batting is not consistent enough. I dont think we should burden him with the captaincy, again just my opinion on workload etc. inevitably one of the three will suffer, if he is made captain. If Temba was captain of an all conquering Lions Team, I would have no problem seeing him made captain of the Test side. Elgar will always be just a temporary stopgap. I dont have a particular issue with him being captain, just that its not going to be a long-term solution.

if there's one thing that's getting on my nerve, it is the comments that we are "rebuilding"... WE SHOULDN'T HAVE TO BE IN A POSITION OF REBUILDING! If we were producing a constant stream of quality players, the evolution of the team would happen naturally!