Cricket......

[GLuvsMtb]

A Tour they'd wanna forget

Although cool success in T20 And ODIs

Ever played a poker game with a loaded deck of cards? The test series was always going to be loaded in India's favour. I hope that we now wake up and stop being so nice to our foreign visitors. Play some games in the sticks with no facilities, make sure the aircon in their change room is not working and prepare pitches for our bowlers. Historically we have been very gentlemanly about the whole thing.

[GLuvsMtb]

I like the look of Bavuma. He has shown some application and patience. He looks more like an opener than van Zyl. Lets hope he grabs this opportunity with both hands.

and I jinxed him

[droenn]

Looking forward to supporting SA as you take on England this summer! (please thrash them, I find it hard to like Eng when they have the ashes).

 

Only managed Day 4 tickets - is there a trick to getting Day 1/2 tickets? Or too late now?

 

Aus have WIndies now, pretty much a non-event, although lets hope for some surprises.

[Stretch]

should we make bets on whats going to be finished first...the munga or this test

[GLuvsMtb]

Abysmal by the Proteas... Can't blame the wicket in this test.

[leeubok]

Absolutely pathetic today. AB looks like the only one interested in batting. Amla's captaincy has never convinced me. Shocking dropping a few sitters and his batting has been poor. 

 

The Stiaan and Vilas experiment failed miserably. Bavuma, hard to judge after only this one innings. I say bring back Quintin de Kock, let him open the batting and keep obviously. 

 

Maybe they all have one foot on the plane already

[Shebeen]

I wonder if all the Graeme Smith haters still think he's useless?

 

 

not a great test series, by our batsmen. Bowlers have been really good - taken all 20 wickets in both the games we lost.

 

definitely seems like one foot on the plane syndrome. BUT since we are so bloody far up the rankings, we're still #1, baby

[Stretch]

I wonder if all the Graeme Smith haters still think he's useless?

 

 

not a great test series, by our batsmen. Bowlers have been really good - taken all 20 wickets in both the games we lost.

 

definitely seems like one foot on the plane syndrome. BUT since we are so bloody far up the rankings, we're still #1, baby

 

yet not one SA player in the World test team.....

[Christie]

Perhaps we saw the end of an era watching this series

 

Our opening combo is weak - Elgar could grow into it, but who to partner him with?

Amla has been out of form since the WC, but he will be back. Faf too will be back.

JP has the talent, but he needs to step up, too.

Leaving QdK looks like a big big mistake.

 

Bowling looks better, Tahir will be out for Steyn, or Rabada

[leeubok]

We still have a good team, and I think if they make a change here and there we can stay at no1 for a little while longer. First change should be Q de Kock in place of Vilas. All of our batsmen, except AB, are terribly out of form. Duminy also there on reputation more than anything else. Faf should stop worrying about his image and concentrate on his batting.

 

I just sometimes get the feeling that the Proteas don't really train or prepare as hard as they should. You so often hear that players are being "rested". I then always think to myself, why the hell does a cricket player need rest? Compare them to rugby players who put their body on the line week in and week out for most of the year.. They should harden the f#ck up, results don't come from resting all the time!

[GLuvsMtb]

This tour again illustrated what huge void was left by Jacques Kallis. He is the one player that would have grinded it out in every innings. During his career he got criticised for batting too slowly. I just think that he valued his wicket like no other player has done.

 

Ideally we would have liked to have had at least 2 or 3 Sunfoil 4 day games by now to see how players that have been knocking on the door or are moving up the food chain are performing. I would particularly be interested in the openers and the likes of de Kock and Miller has to offer. What would also be nice is at least some coverage of the local 4 day games. We have very little insight in how our fringe players are doing, and when they get selected we often scratch our heads and wonder.

[Joeboy69]

I see Kallis was bought for $175k for the golden oldies (or something like that) T20 early next year. Nice spending money for 2 months labor [emoji106]

['Dale]

Well, that was rough....

 

 

And I don't mean the pitch...

 

['Dale]

Another record for Abraham

 

http://p.imgci.com/db/PICTURES/CMS/228500/228543.jpg

[Mntboy]

Another record for Abraham

 

http://p.imgci.com/db/PICTURES/CMS/228500/228543.jpg

Just seven runs short of breaking Alan Border's record for the second slowest fifty in tests.

[Mntboy]

This tour again illustrated what huge void was left by Jacques Kallis. He is the one player that would have grinded it out in every innings. During his career he got criticised for batting too slowly. I just think that he valued his wicket like no other player has done.

 

Ideally we would have liked to have had at least 2 or 3 Sunfoil 4 day games by now to see how players that have been knocking on the door or are moving up the food chain are performing. I would particularly be interested in the openers and the likes of de Kock and Miller has to offer. What would also be nice is at least some coverage of the local 4 day games. We have very little insight in how our fringe players are doing, and when they get selected we often scratch our heads and wonder.

I bemoaned to a friend the lack of not having him or Smith or Kirsten as a part of the technical team during this tour. Just one of them would've been beneficial to the batting unit ito regaining form and handling the poor pitches of the first and third tests. Elgar in particular would've benefited hugely from their experience and knowledge as he seemed to have a decent plan in mind but seemed unsure of its execution. I really feel for Hash and Domingo, they really could've done with someone who could give calm and sensible playing advice.