Archive for ‘Cricket South Africa’

5 results.
Feb12

JP Duminy named in Proteas squad ahead of Prince

by wasim on February 12th, 2009 at 4:27 pm
Posted In: Cricket, Cricket South Africa

JP Duminy has retained his place ahead of Ashwell Prince in South Africa’s squad named on Wednesday for the first two home Tests against Australia.

Middle-order batsman Duminy (24) replaced the injured Prince in the recent series victory in Australia and made a superb 166 to help his side win the second Test in Melbourne.

Prince struck an unbeaten 162 in his last Test innings to rescue South Africa against Bangladesh, and he scored 900 runs at an average of 64,28 in 2008.

“There’s been a lot of speculation about the whole JP/Ashwell situation, so we decided to name the squad early to maintain the stability of the team and give confidence to the players, who’ve done so well for us,” convenor of selectors Mike Procter told Reuters on Wednesday.

“Ashwell is seriously unlucky — he scored over 160 in his last Test when we were in trouble and he also did fantastic work in England,” Procter said.

There had been speculation in South Africa that opening batsman Neil McKenzie, who averaged just 24,20 in the three Tests in Australia, would make way for Prince in a reshuffled batting order.

“We did discuss that but we decided that it would be very harsh to call someone else into service to open the batting,” Procter said.

“We did not want to disrupt the batting order from three down because they have put in a hell of a good showing.

“We know Neil did not have a good tour of Australia, but he himself was thrown into the deep end last year to open the batting and he was one of the batsmen to score over a thousand runs in 2008,” Procter added.

Uncapped left-arm seamer Lonwabo Tsotsobe was also named in the 12-man squad, with the first Test starting in Johannesburg on February 26.

Squad: Graeme Smith (captain), Neil McKenzie, Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, Mark Boucher, Paul Harris, Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, Makhaya Ntini, Lonwabo Tsotsobe.

 Comment 
Sep28

The favorites crash out

by wasim on September 28th, 2009 at 6:58 am
Posted In: Cricket, Cricket Pakistan, Cricket, Cricket South Africa, Cricket, Cricket Srilanka

Like many other pundits I also picked South Africa and Sri Lanka as favorites for the champions trophy based on their recent ODI performance, South Africa has already crashed out and Sri Lanka is just sitting on the brink hoping for a miracle.

South Africa’s big event jinx is not over, they never looked good as a team in this event there batting line up looked very strong on paper but other than Smith and AB none of the other batsmen could make any material contribution in the batting  Gibbs, Duminy , Boucher, and kallis all of them only contributed in 20′s, nobody tried to stay on the wicket and form a partnership their batting lacked planning and at times it seemed as if they are still going through an IPL hangover. Their bowling was highly uncharacteristic, it was their own home grounds and they were practicing on these grounds for the this event for the past two months, the way Steyn and Parnell bowled looked as if they were completely out of gas, South African pace bowlers are renowned for the relentless attack and continous aggression but in this tournament they looked to flat. Parnell is over rated he bowled well in T20 cup but looked like an average bowler in this tournament. South Africa depend too much on Smith’s batting other will have to share the burden, I think not playing Amla and continuing with JP Duminy was a mistake.

Sri Lanka was the other favorite they started the tournament with a bang when they convincingly defeated  South Africa in the first match, but then they lost to both England and New Zealand. SriLanka before this tournament were struggling with their lower middle order, the inclusion of Samaraweera, Kandamby and Angelo kind of fixed that problem, but Sangakara and Jayasuriya failed miserably in this tournament.

I think Sangakara talks too much he needs to focus on his performance, he is always criticising his players but the fact is that his own performance has thorughly sucked in this tournament. Jayawardne did score some runs but he can no longer finish a match on his own he needs support.

I think it’s time for jayasuriya to retire he is just disgracing himself, Sri Lanka has found some good young players, they need to get rid of Jayasuriya and they also need to replace Malinga.

It’s been a very successful tournament so far, with the exception of West Indies all teams played good cricket, the variety of conditions offered by different venues tested the teams in different ways. The organizers made sure that only the best team wins.

After a 6-1 drubbing by Australia nobody gave any chance to England and yet they are the first team to qualify for the Semi final. India which was considered favorite and the team to beat alongwith South Africa lost against Pakistan, its match against Australia later today will determine their fate, India will have to win against both Ausralia and West Indies with a reasonable margin in order to qualify for the Semi finals.

In today’s India can only win because of it’s batting against Australia, it’s going to rain in the afternoon so the toss will be cruical, India will be under a lot of pressure as they face win or go home situation.

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Nov20

Pakistan Vs South Africa 2nd test-preview

by wasim on November 20th, 2010 at 2:25 am
Posted In: Cricket, Cricket Pakistan, Cricket, Cricket South Africa

The second test between South Africa and Pakistan will start today in ABu Dhabi, this will be the first test match on this ground. Both Captains complained about the slowness of the pitch in Dubai which became lifeless after the second day and offered no help to the bowlers. The conditions in Abu Dhabi are also expected to be quite similar there will be no juice in the pitch for the pacers the spinners will have to work hard.

South Africa don’t need to make any changes and might field the same team.

South Africa (possible): 1 Graeme Smith (capt), 2 Alviro Petersen, 3 Jacques Kallis, 4 Hashim Amla, 5 AB de Villiers, 6 Ashwell Prince, 7 Mark Boucher (wk), 8 Johan Botha, 9 Paul Harris, 10 Dale Steyn, 11 Morne Morkel

Dale Steyn will have to step up his performance if South Africa has to fancy their chance to win the series, ofcourse there is always a chance that Pakistan choose to self destruct but Pakistani batsmen didn’t looked in much trouble facing the South African bowlers on home like conditions in Dubai. The conditions will remain the same and South Africa will rely heavily on Morkel and Steyn.

Pakistan doesn’t have the bowling to defeat the South Africans in this series, the inclusion of Sami will not make much difference as his average against south Africa is above 60 he has never been effective against the Saffers. Tanvir is the only other choice from the little that I have seen of him he would hardly cause any problems for the Saffers. Tanvir is not genuinely quick he relies on late swing but if the conditions are dry and flat then he would be totally ineffective. But I would pick him a head of Sami.

In the last match Pakistan were rescued By Azhar Ali and Younis Khan, Pakistan once again will rely heavily on these two batsmen as they have the patience to bat long. Umar Akmal is almost certain to get dropped for the shot he played in the last match, he deserves to get dropped but if PCB wants to drop him then they should drop him for a long period of time not just for one match, but if Umar made an honest mistake then I don’t think that he should be dropped, the team management is in better position to make that judgement. His replacement Asad Shafiq is a decent player but tries to play every thing on the leg side with this faulty technique he won’t survive against the express pace of Steyn and Morkel, he has scored heavily in QEA trophy last year which shows that he has the patience to bat long. Asad is almost certain to replace Umar Akmal hopefully he will score some big runs and becomes a legitimate contender for this # 6 spot in the test team.

I don’t expect an improved batting performance from Pakistan their only chance in this match depends on Rahman and Ajmal.

Ajmal was pathetic in the first match he was bowling too flat and was afraid to put a loop on the ball, bowled too many doosra’s and just killed the surprise element, unless and untill he bowls at a higher trajectory and works hard on getting the ball to spin he is never going to be successful in test cricket. He will also have to bowl a nagging line and length he gives away too many runs because of his impatience and over experimentation, if Ajmal and Rahman didn’t stepped up their performance Pakistan has no chance in this match.

Pakistan (possible): 1 Taufeeq Umar, 2 Mohammad Hafeez, 3 Younis Khan, 4 Azhar Ali, 5 Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), 6 Asad Shafiq, 7 Adnan Akmal (wk), 8 Abdur Rehman, 9 Umar Gul, 10 Tanvir Ahmed, 11 Saeed Ajmal

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Feb24

South Africa thrash West Indies

by wasim on February 24th, 2011 at 5:11 pm
Posted In: Cricket, Cricket Pakistan, Cricket, Cricket South Africa, Cricket, Cricket West Indies

50 overs West Indies 222 (Bravo 73, Tahir 4-41, Botha 2-48) v South Africa

West Indies at one stage were on course to set a target of 270 + runs but decided to commit suicide in Pakistani style. They lost Gayle in the first over, the man is all  hype and very rarely lives up to the expectations, there is no professionalism in his game one can sense a lazy- carefree and irresponsible attitude in his body language, had he been a Pakistani batsman, I am sure ICC would be investigating him along with a few of his team mates.

It was hardly a surprise when Botha an offspinner bowled the first over for SA, such is the pathetic nature of wickets in India, its a shame for ICC that in the most important tournament of cricket, which comes after every four years we can’t expect to have a fair contest between bat and ball, the game has to be skewed in favor of the batsmen to please the crowd, the TV channels and the sponsors. 

A team which probably has the best pace bowling battery in the world resorted to play three spinners because the conditions in India are not conducive for fast bowlers. The true cricket enthusiasts are being robbed of the opportunity to watch a fair contest between bat and ball, Is this tournament even worthy of it’s title? I don’t think so.

Smith and Bravo restored the West Indian innings and took the score to 113 when Bravo got out after scoring 73 off 82 balls in 23.1 overs. Smith who was mainly playing the role of an anchor got out in the very next over on 36 from 57 balls, giving the first wicket to  debutant Imran Tahir who went on to take four in his first match.

Much was depended on Sarwan and Chanderpaul but they hardly ever live up to their reputation when things really matter, Sarwan was the first one to go becoming Imran Tahir’s second victim, from 2/112 WI slipped to 4/120.

Chanderpaul and D Bravo tried to form a partnership and scored 58 runs from the next 11 overs where the bulk of the scoring was done by Bravo and Chanderpaul just blocked everything on the other end, West Indies once again were looking to score around 260, when Chanderpaul called for a suicidal run and ran out Bravo who was scoring freely. ACSU hopefully you will investigate the matter.

Chanderpaul became the fourth victim of Imran Tahir and West Indies were 209/6 after 42.2 overs. They still had an opportunity to score another 40-50 runs specially when Pollard and Sammy were on the crease, but G Smith brought in his ace bowler Steyn back into attack who got rid off both players on a duck and just locked the fate of the match in his teams favor.

WestIndies were all out in 47.3 overs. A very disappointing and unprofessional performance from a major team.

Sometimes I wonder why Pakistan gets so much criticism when teams like Newzealand and West Indies consistently perform poorly in international cricket.

SA after losing two early wickets, chased the target very professionally, ABD was in regal form and scored a magnificient 100 and remained not out.  SA achieved the target in just 42.2 overs.

West Indies recieved another set back when D bravo in his third over fell on the ground after twisting his knee, he was in quite a bit of pain and his injury looked serious.

I hoped to see a better contest but once again it turned out to be a onesided match.

3 Comments
Mar06

Hope ACSU wasn’t sleeping while England Vs South Africa match today

by wasim on March 6th, 2011 at 7:41 pm
Posted In: Cricket, Cricket England, Cricket, Cricket South Africa

South Africa chasing a meagre total of 171 choked once again. It was a match which produced unusual surprises for the fans but must have been a delight for the book makers.

In the last three matches that England played, it was their bowlers who let them down but in this match it was their batsmen who let them down. The conditions were a bit difficult but the fall of top three wickets within the first four overs had nothing to do with conditions,  first to go was Andrew Strauss who danced down the track on the third ball he faced in an attempt to hit the ball out of the park, unfortunately he hit straight to a fielder. Two balls later Kevin Pieterson decided to provide some catching practice to the fielder in slip, his struggle in handling left arm orthodox leg spinners is not over yet. Two overs later England  were 15/3 when Ian Bell tried to use his feet but got beaten in flight and popped a return catch to Patterson.

Jonathon Trott and Bopara compiled a 100 run partnership in 25 overs and restored England’s innings to some extent, it wasn’t a high scoring track the spinners were getting some movement and the ball was keeping low, 220 was going to be a decent score. After 29 overs England were 115/4 they were still on for a par score, but England took a freefall from there and produced a spectecular collapse, they were all out in 45.4 overs the last six wickets could add only 56 runs. 

Even though the conditions were a bit difficult but a total of 171 for this South African batting line up should have been a walk in the park specially when the English bowlers gave away an average of more than 300 runs in their previous three games.

South Africa got off to a good start they lost their first wicket in the 15th over when their score was 63, nobody at that stage could have imagined that South Africa will end up losing the match, from 63/1 South Africa slipped to 82/3 within a few overs, Stuart Broad and James Anderson who were pathetic in their previous outings all of a sudden gained full form and just ripped through South African batting line up.

AB De Villiers and F du Plessis who usually play aggressively strangely played quite defensively, they scored just 42 runs from the next 13 overs, considering the fact that 10 out of these 13 overs were bowled by Pieterson, Bresnan and Yardy it was a poor effort on all accounts especially when AB De Villers came to this match after scoring two back to back centuries.

South Africa were 124/4 after 32 overs when AB De Villiers got out, they were still favorites to win the match with six wickets in hand and 18 overs to go with only 47 runs to get, but they lost three wickets in the next three overs and collapsed in a similar fashion as the English team did.

We can shower accolades on the English team for providing us with another exciting match but I am still confused how did Anderson and Broad came into form all of a sudden, did they ate something special or were they flogged nonstop by their coaching staff after the match against Ireland. Whatever it was, form doesn’t change overnight. I am not taking any credit away from both bowlers this wasn’t a performance which they haven’t produced ever before but the way they were struggling to find any rythym, movement and line/length in their previous outings in this world cup it was a bit astonishing for me how quickly they came back into form.

How come Anderson all of a sudden found his reverse swing? Did he used a magic potion? A magic hair gel? or just used the same old spikes?

The Odds on the street were completely defied in this match in all four stages of this match. I hope that ACSU officials weren’t sleeping during this match, and won’t believe in statements like “the Chokers have choked again” and the English team has been excitingly inconsistent, if they investigate all unusual scoring and match patterns as they have claimed from time to time then they should also investigate this match, as this match was played in a way that the book makers must have made a killing out there as all the events in the match defied the odds on the street and South African innings was a classical example of starting strong and then collapsing to lose the match while chasing a very small target.They should have won the match comfortably.

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