Cricket......

[milky4130]

That was way too close for comfort.

I'm going with, that was intentional of SA to drag that game out, probably promised bonuses to take the game to day 5

[eddy]

Who are you talking about?

 

Graeme Smith

[Christie]

Zim beat Pakistan (then ranked #3) on this same ground about a year ago. Imo they deserve more respect than a lot of SA fans give them. They played well, and would have given most teams a good fight. The pitch was a dead turner like in SL, which negated our pace battery to some extent - it took Philander out of the game completely.

 

Piedt was an excellent find. We need to find another spinner, because all countries will use these type of pitches against us, if they can.

Dont play Philander on such pitches - play the extra spinner.

JPD is not an all-rounder.

Alviro has to go.

[Shebeen]

If I recall the flak Kallis took about his scoring rate I'm surprised Faf doesn't get more criticism. At least Kallis could bowl as well :-)

kallis took flak because it appeared he put his own average above the team's interests. ie. we'd be chasing a quick extra 50 runs to declare so the quicks could have an hour at their openers, and he'd be prodding around in the 80's till sunset.

 

maybe it was a bit unfair, but it seemed justified at the time. just a footnote in the annals now.

[JGR]

kallis took flak because it appeared he put his own average above the team's interests. ie. we'd be chasing a quick extra 50 runs to declare so the quicks could have an hour at their openers, and he'd be prodding around in the 80's till sunset.

 

maybe it was a bit unfair, but it seemed justified at the time. just a footnote in the annals now.

People saying Kallis played for himself don't know much about cricket. Not every player is AB and can switch from test match to T20 style between overs. When Kallis started his career there was no T20, reverse sweep, dilscoop, reverse switch hit ect ect. Kallis also adapted over time to meet the demands of the modern game. His T20 average is slightly lower than AB, one of the most versatile batter around. Next I suppose he bowled for himself and took catches for himself as well

[Oxter]

Zim beat Pakistan (then ranked #3) on this same ground about a year ago. Imo they deserve more respect than a lot of SA fans give them. They played well, and would have given most teams a good fight. The pitch was a dead turner like in SL, which negated our pace battery to some extent - it took Philander out of the game completely.

 

Piedt was an excellent find. We need to find another spinner, because all countries will use these type of pitches against us, if they can.

Dont play Philander on such pitches - play the extra spinner.

JPD is not an all-rounder.

Alviro has to go.

 

agree with you. Zim gave it their all, and is really under rated.

 

On our side...Piedt really was a good find, although the pitch suited him perfectly, as we need good quality spinners who can attack, but dont also bowl a loose ball every over. Our speedsters struggled as the ball did not carry all the time, which goes down as missed chances. With that said, our structure behind the wickets is very inexperienced and they still have to learn quite a bit (nr 1 and 2 slips is a very important and specialist position). Lastly our captain made a few technical errors as well, but that is to be expected of a new captain and he will learn.

 

I read a few comments here about faf and his strike rate. In every successful team every guy knows exactly what his role is and in a lot of the situations he was the guy to stabilize the innings, which he does very well. A lot of guys will tell you to go from a very defensive mindset to a scoring mindset is not very easy , and only the talented AB seem to get that one right.

 

I have a lot of faith in this current setup and think it can only get better from here on. Go Proteas!!!

[GLuvsMtb]

SA had a good showing. Beat Zim inside 4 days with 9 wickets after losing the toss. Batting conditions was at its best on day 1 and 2 on that pitch and we did well not to get carried away by trying to accellerate the game. The pitch was tailor-made for Zim (even by their own admission) and they bowled disciplined lines and fielded better than any sub continent team would have. We always looked in control and we took the few chances that the graveyard deck gave us.

We saw some light at the end of the spin-tunnel with Piedt, but should not get carried away here. He is good, but he's no Murali (yet). From the little bit of 4 day cricket that I watched in the last few seasons it seems like he can bat a bit too. I would not call him an all-rounder, but he brings more to the party than Tahir when it comes to batting and fielding. If managed well he can be a decent 1 day player too.

Another spinner would be a nice luxury, but our away record indicates that we are managing with a 3-prong pace attack, specialist spinner, backup with JP and Elgar throwing a few pork pies as well, so I would not be too hasty in replacing Philander. He reminds me so much of Sean Pollock. When there was swing, he would be a wicket taker, but on dry flat pitches his line and length often creates chances on the other end. I am sure if you asked Morkel and Steyn if they wanted a second spinner or Philander in the side, that they'd pick Philander 99 out of 100 times. The second spinner also creates another challenge with the balance of the side. You then need a medium pacer / all rounder instead of JPD and Parnell / McLarren is not of the same class as JPD.

De Kock was my pre-season pick (before he even got the nod in the ODI's). I am more excited about his prospects than what I was about AB's when AB made it onto the international scene. Watch this kid, he's going places fast.

[JGR]

SA had a good showing. Beat Zim inside 4 days with 9 wickets after losing the toss. Batting conditions was at its best on day 1 and 2 on that pitch and we did well not to get carried away by trying to accellerate the game. The pitch was tailor-made for Zim (even by their own admission) and they bowled disciplined lines and fielded better than any sub continent team would have. We always looked in control and we took the few chances that the graveyard deck gave us.

We saw some light at the end of the spin-tunnel with Piedt, but should not get carried away here. He is good, but he's no Murali (yet). From the little bit of 4 day cricket that I watched in the last few seasons it seems like he can bat a bit too. I would not call him an all-rounder, but he brings more to the party than Tahir when it comes to batting and fielding. If managed well he can be a decent 1 day player too.

Another spinner would be a nice luxury, but our away record indicates that we are managing with a 3-prong pace attack, specialist spinner, backup with JP and Elgar throwing a few pork pies as well, so I would not be too hasty in replacing Philander. He reminds me so much of Sean Pollock. When there was swing, he would be a wicket taker, but on dry flat pitches his line and length often creates chances on the other end. I am sure if you asked Morkel and Steyn if they wanted a second spinner or Philander in the side, that they'd pick Philander 99 out of 100 times. The second spinner also creates another challenge with the balance of the side. You then need a medium pacer / all rounder instead of JPD and Parnell / McLarren is not of the same class as JPD.

De Kock was my pre-season pick (before he even got the nod in the ODI's). I am more excited about his prospects than what I was about AB's when AB made it onto the international scene. Watch this kid, he's going places fast.

Well said on all points, I also wonder why Faf doesn't have the odd bowl

[GLuvsMtb]

Well said on all points, I also wonder why Faf doesn't have the odd bowl

We don't often bowl for more than 150 overs. I am sure if we did, the likes of Faf would get a few overs in. On 150 overs ( 5 sessions) you'd probably have no more than 25 overs each for Steyn, Philander and Morkel (average 5 overs per 30 over session each) and then you have to split the rest of the work load with the main spinner (say 35 to 45 overs) and 2 part timers (say 15 to 20 overs each).

We also do not play 5 match series' for match to match fatigue to be an issue, so 5 bowlers sharing the work-load with a 6th to bowl a few before lunch or tea over a 2 or 3 match series is not so much of an issue. It is a pity that the big 3 reserves the 5 match series' all to themselves. I would love to see how our bowling attack performs in a tightly fought 5 match series in England, Aus or India, but now that we are one of cricket's poor cousins we may never again see a 5 match series.

Edited August 13, 2014 by GLuvsMtb

[JGR]

We don't often bowl for more than 150 overs. I am sure if we did, the likes of Faf would get a few overs in. On 150 overs ( 5 sessions) you'd probably have no more than 25 overs each for Steyn, Philander and Morkel (average 5 overs per 30 over session each) and then you have to split the rest of the work load with the main spinner (say 35 to 45 overs) and 2 part timers (say 15 to 20 overs each).

We also do not play 5 match series' for match to match fatigue to be an issue, so 5 bowlers sharing the work-load with a 6th to bowl a few before lunch or tea over a 2 or 3 match series is not so much of an issue. It is a pity that the big 3 reserves the 5 match series' all to themselves. I would love to see how our bowling attack performs in a tightly fought 5 match series in England, Aus or India, but now that we are one of cricket's poor cousins we may never again see a 5 match series.

that makes sense, but Faf used to bowl a bit. From what I recall maybe a better/different option to Elgar. Although his leggies could get smashed out the park pretty quickly. Maybe he just tired from facing 100'2 of balls every innings

[VicanZA]

the problem with Kallis was his inability to up the tempo! increase the run rate, to dominate for long periods of a game. Many sides in WC adopted the theory of playing around him. 4 sessions of the worlds top baters would put them on 200 scoring an average of 40 to 50 a session, kallis in the same time would be on 140, this also explains the very few double hundreds he scored. Not the type of player that put bums in seats, the problem was SA didnt have many other players that had a natural game that scored at 3+ an over until now.

 

its not that T20 has helped players develop this skill, u either a defensive batsmen or attacking in the way u play the game.Viv, Lara, bothem, hayden, slater.

 

the best test sides in history have created time in games by scoring at 3/4 runs an over. A good day for the old SA team in the middle would put us on 270, meaning over 2 or 3 days you lose a whole session.

Edited August 13, 2014 by VicanZA

[JGR]

the problem with Kallis was his inability to up the tempo! increase the run rate, to dominate for long periods of a game. Many sides in WC adopted the theory of playing around him. 4 sessions of the worlds top baters would put them on 200 scoring an average of 40 to 50 a session, kallis in the same time would be on 140, this also explains the very few double hundreds he scored. Not the type of player that put bums in seats, the problem was SA didnt have many other players that had a natural game that scored at 3+ an over until now.

 

its not that T20 has helped players develop this skill, u either a defensive batsmen or attacking in the way u play the game.Viv, Lara, bothem, hayden, slater.

 

the best test sides in history have created time in games by scoring at 3/4 runs an over. A good day for the old SA team in the middle would put us on 270, meaning over 2 or 3 days you lose a whole session.

Yes, exactly as I said. That didn't mean he batted for his average but didn't have the skills alla AB to increase the rate the moment the captain waved his hand. His test strike rate was similar to Steve Waugh, who, very few would consider a negative batsmen. Servant of the game

[Shebeen]

Now that I think about it, Kallis definitely played for himself/good average. He was not one to chase quick runs if the situation needed it, just placed far too much value on his wicket.

 

It got better over time, reckon you'll see his test strike rate increases over his career. Pretty much the reason why he didn't make the proteas T20 side initially.

 

Not a big deal, he's human like the rest of us. Still best player we ever had.

[GLuvsMtb]

the problem with Kallis was his inability to up the tempo! increase the run rate, to dominate for long periods of a game. Many sides in WC adopted the theory of playing around him. 4 sessions of the worlds top baters would put them on 200 scoring an average of 40 to 50 a session, kallis in the same time would be on 140, this also explains the very few double hundreds he scored. Not the type of player that put bums in seats, the problem was SA didnt have many other players that had a natural game that scored at 3+ an over until now.

 

its not that T20 has helped players develop this skill, u either a defensive batsmen or attacking in the way u play the game.Viv, Lara, bothem, hayden, slater.

 

the best test sides in history have created time in games by scoring at 3/4 runs an over. A good day for the old SA team in the middle would put us on 270, meaning over 2 or 3 days you lose a whole session.

Lets apply a simple formula here which is SR + AVE.

Botham 94.25

Slater 96.12

Kallis 101.34

Hayden 110.83

Lara 113.36

 

Kallis has only a slightly lower average than Slater, so it shows you how perception (i.e. that Kallis was "slow" and Slater "fast") affects opinion. A SR of 45 combined with an average of over 55 is healthy by anyone's standards.

 

Of this list Botham bowled as well, and here you should look at the lowest total when SR + AVE

Botham 85,3

Kallis 101.85

 

This confirms that Kallis and Botham was in very good company with both bat and ball. He was a batting all rounder while Botham was a bowling all rounder. It would be tough to choose only one of them for your all star side, but Kallis will remain my number 1 choice. Add his 200 catches opposed to Botham's 120 and you will understand why I am strongly leaning towards Kallis. He may one day get the recognition as the best slip fielder of all time, a very underrated aspect of his game.

['Dale]

Broad looking like boxer in round 12.

Impressive commitment

 

India in groot poe-poe with 6 down for like 65.

They need to win to to draw the 5 Test series.

[deanbean]

Soooo.... Cook reckons that Jimmy is as good as The Steyn Remover.

To Quote;

Steyn’s overall numbers read: 75 matches; 383 wickets at an average of 22.56 and an economy rate of 3.24 runs per over. He gets a wicket every 41.7 balls and has 24 five-wicket and five 10-wickets hauls. He averages 5.11 wickets per Test.

 

Anderson’s numbers are as follows: 99 matches; 378 wickets at an average of 29.83 and an economy rate of 3.06 runs per over. He gets a wicket every 58.3 balls and has 16 five-wicket and two 10-wicket hauls. He averages 3.82 wickets per test.

 

 

http://www.bdlive.co.za/opinion/columnists/2014/08/18/steyn-versus-anderson-argument-over