SA vs Pakistan 2013

First topic message reminder :

The Pakistan tour of south Africa begins in all earnest tomorrow morning in Johannesburg, The Bull ring has had some famous mathc ups in the past, and I for one am very excited about this test series.

South Africa's test series vs Pakistan is a bit of a venture into the unknown as the last time they played in the UAE the tracks were flat enough to plant corn.

Some stats about these two nations:

Paksitan has recorded two wins out of 9 attemps in South Africa with only one match ending in a draw. I expect all three tests to produce results as both teams have rather strong bowling line ups. Although the SA batting line up has been solid over the past few years there are still some issues that needs to be sorted out. JP Peterson has recovered from his injury to the webbing of his hand. AB de Villiers in conjuntion with Gary Kirsten must make a decision regarding whether he will concentrate on his batting or keep wicket as well.

The young Quinton de Kock in my view is still a tad to inexperienced, so either Tsolikile comes in as care taker for a year or two, until de Kock is ready. The other alternative is AB sticks to his guns if CSA feels it is too little too late to consider Tsolekile as a temporary solution.

Although AB has not been great with the bat, he hasn't disappointed either.

Pakistan have a few injuries themselves and the latest to withdraw is Tafeeq Umar with Imran Farhat his replacement. Pakistan has been the model of unpredictability over the past few years, but might just have turned the conrner into more consistent performances over 2012. They seem to be a team that can run very hot when their confidence is up, and it seems that is the exact mental space they find themselves in presently.

Fortunately for the Proteas, CSA has forgone any tests in Durban this year as their very disappointing record of 4 losses in their last five test series ahs cost them a good number of series wins.

The major factor in this test series will be the strong bowling attacks of both teams.

Expect Umar Gul and Saeed Ajmal to lead the bowling attack for Pakistan and Dale Steyn, Philander and Morkel to lead the South African attack.

Ajmal in 2012 took an incredible 39 wickets at an average of 20.56 in 6 tests during 2012. His series against england was perhaps the catalyst that ground the english confidence to a halt with 24 wickets in three tests. The most important question here is after not playing a test since June last year, will he hit his straps from the start?

When you look at Gul's career stats he doesn't seem very daunting, but when you consider his performance against england last year, and admittedly he hasn't played a test since Middle last year, but if he repeats those performances Pakistan might well put SA under enough pressure to get a win.

when you look at Dale Steyn's record since 2011 you might be thinking he is losing his edge. Yet still firmly ensconced at the top of the bowling rankings and have taken 52 wicket at 25.17 per wicket. If that is what steyn does when he is off form, then I'll put him in my team anyday.

Philander started his career with a bang, his first seven test got 50 wickets, then in england last year he started coming back to earth with some avergae performances, it was to be expected, yu just don't expect any bowler to continue taking a fifer every match. His figures are still very impressive, but there is a chink in his armour. Fitness, he has not yet convinced me he can stand up to the rigours of international cricket in long spells. Little niggling injuries seem to come along once every series.

when you start talking about Morne Morkel I am hoping he has a blinder this series, slowly improving his bowling, with more accurate placing in length and line, he has now managed to get his career average under 30. Centurion and Wanderers should help his bouncers.

Squads.

Pakistan.
Misbah-ul-Haq (c)
Abdur Rehman
Asad Shafiq
Azhar Ali
Ehsan Adil
Faisal Iqbal
Haris Sohail
Junaid Khan
Mohammad Hafeez
Mohammad Irfan
Nasir Jamshed
Rahat Ali
Saeed Ajmal
Sarfraz Ahmed (wk)
Tanvir Ahmed
Umar Gul
Younis Khan
Imran Farhat


South Africa
Graeme Smith (c)
Hashim Amla
AB de Villiers (wk)
Faf du Plessis
Dean Elgar
Imran Tahir
Jacques Kallis
Rory Kleinveldt
Morne Morkel
Alviro Petersen
Robin Peterson
Vernon Philander
Jacques Rudolph
Dale Steyn


Fixtures

February 2013
1 South Africa v Pakistan Test Bidvest Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg 10:30
14 South Africa v Pakistan Test Sahara Park Newlands, Cape Town 10:30
22 South Africa v Pakistan Test SuperSport Park, Centurion 10:30

March 2013
1 South Africa v Pakistan T20I Sahara Stadium Kingsmead, Durban 18:00
3 South Africa v Pakistan T20I SuperSport Park, Centurion 14:30
10 South Africa v Pakistan ODI Chevrolet Park, Bloemfontein 10:00
15 South Africa v Pakistan ODI SuperSport Park, Centurion 14:30
17 South Africa v Pakistan ODI Bidvest Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg 10:00
21 South Africa v Pakistan ODI Sahara Stadium Kingsmead, Durban 10:00
24 South Africa v Pakistan ODI Sahara Willowmoore Park, Benoni 10:00

Sarfraz has to see it through with Shafiq. Steyn will give his all in this over.

Now a run out appeal, careless from Sarfraz, although he was home eventually.

Now an edge not carrying!. Last ball coming up. Safely dealt with, so Pakistan end the day at 253-5. Shafiq batting 111, Sarfraz yet to get off the mark.
Pakistan will take that, particularly afte being put in and struggling at 33-4.
That 5th wicket has helped South Africa stay in, they should be disappointed with the end of the day score though. But its a real quality bowling unit, and if they get things going right away tomorrow, Pakistan could still fold up for below 300.

Excellent from Younis Khan and Asad Shafiq today. Great to see a fightback after such a dreadful start.

A good first hour tomorrow and Smith might just begin to regret inserting Pakistan on this deck. Ajmal to come in to the game 4th innings?

Pakistan will of course have to still bowl exceptionally well.

Really well done by the two Pakistani batsmen. At 33-4 it looked like they were going to get out cheaply again.

Younis has these spells when he just doesnt look interested and suddenly snaps into play and scores a ton. Asad is promising but still a little impatient. Well done lads. Come Asad we need a double ton from you.

good fightback from Pakistan, and they just edge day 1...just! That late wicket brought SA back into the game.

I'd agree, Pakistan's day. Apply themselves tomorrow and get to 375, remember South Africa are batting last.

to be honest, after today they are now in the game no matter how many more they add tomorrow...but if Shafiq and Sarfraz bat long tomorrow, then anything is possible..

Philander has got 2 wickets already, including Shafiq's vital wicket. 266/7, SA firmly in control.

268 for 8, Philander picks up yet another fifor. Pakistan completely losing the way here. What a crucial wicket that was yesterday late in the day!.

These two are picking up the runs. They should be able to put them over 300 to gain the mental edge.

Is 300 really a mental edge, or more a case of not being humiliated?

334 not bad at all!

338 all out

msp83 wrote:268 for 8, Philander picks up yet another fifor. Pakistan completely losing the way here. What a crucial wicket that was yesterday late in the day!.

Philander with a five-fer...what a bowler!

38 runs too many after the start Philander had this morning.

DRS has just worked again to give Ajmal the wicket of Smith, 43/1.

Wahey peterson batpad

Ajmal has taken out the top three, 84/3. Game well and truly on! DRS works again!

DRS doing a fine job here. Will anything make the BCCI sit and take note? Unlikely I have to say, but for anyone sensible, the fact is that DRS does work.
South Africa in some trouble though. Pakistan, after a dreadful start in the morning, reached 338, and now SA have lost their top 3, and the score hasn't even reached 100. Big Jacques in, and AB is yet to come, but South Africa can't afford to lose any more wicket today.

Confusing one this. Umpire gave Kallis out caught, he reviewed it, and whilst he wasn't out caught, it was 'umpire's call' for LBW, and so Kallis is out. 102/4. Ajmal with 4fer.

I think it was the right call in the end, to be fair.

Now DRS shows its complicated side. Kallis was given out following a massive shout from Ajmal, seemed like the umpire gave him out LBW, but then he seemed to have clarified it was given out caught. On review, the ball didn't take the edge, but had been just brushing the stumps on the LBW aspect. Kallis was eventually given out, he didn't seem too pleased with the call. Had Kallis ben given not out and Pakistan reviewed, he might have staied in, but a 50-50 call, and this time it went against SA. Think its fair enough at the end.

Ajmal is playing South Africa on his own...that said it did take an excellent low catch to get his fifth wicket. I'm gonna say it, Pakistan on top, 109/5.

This is great for Pakistan, they are definitely in cntrol in this match

But from a South African perspective this is good experience, when was the last time we played a proper quality spinner?

I expect the guys will do better in the second innings as they will drop this silly cross bat shots and be more circumspect and straight bat.

Good experience for them.

Why Test Cricket is the best was shown today. Pakistan made an awesome fight of this, they're actually back in this game from 33/4 on the first morning. It's a cliché, but the first hour tomorrow is so crucial to how the game, and the series is going to pan out.

Thoroughly enjoyed test cricket over the last few years. Biltong - I was in much the same mind - I expected Pak to lose but if they showed a bit of fight and got some hours in - the experience would be worth it. Whats going on now (so far, fingers crossed) has been beyond expectations and a delight.

Seems Kallis was after all done in by the third umpire. 3.3 f of DRS law suggests that when the third umpire considers other possible modes of dismissals, he had to take the decision as if the onfield umpire gave the batsman not out. So in that case, the LBW was an umpire's call, Davis didn't give Kallis out LBW but caught, so the third umpire should have consideredd the LBW as given not out originally. Thus, he should have been not out.
Unfortunate for Kallis, not the fault of the DRS, but a mistake from the third umpire, a massive setback for SA and a great benefit for Pakistan.

And besides, South Africa wrongly lost a review due to the third umpire's mistake.

Same with Pakistan though. 1 for 1

ShahenshahG wrote:Thoroughly enjoyed test cricket over the last few years. Biltong - I was in much the same mind - I expected Pak to lose but if they showed a bit of fight and got some hours in - the experience would be worth it. Whats going on now (so far, fingers crossed) has been beyond expectations and a delight.

Pakistan has shown team spirit and a collective effort over the past 12 months and ths results have shown they have pulled it together.

They are rightfully ini charge in this test and should be confident a good session first thing tomorrow will put them in the driving seat and they should then win this test.

Which wouldin turn take the test in Centurion to new hights of interest.

South Africa needed this, things have been one sided over the past few months and this will force them to lift even more.

It seems it is not men vs boys after all.

msp83 wrote:Seems Kallis was after all done in by the third umpire. 3.3 f of DRS law suggests that when the third umpire considers other possible modes of dismissals, he had to take the decision as if the onfield umpire gave the batsman not out. So in that case, the LBW was an umpire's call, Davis didn't give Kallis out LBW but caught, so the third umpire should have consideredd the LBW as given not out originally. Thus, he should have been not out.
Unfortunate for Kallis, not the fault of the DRS, but a mistake from the third umpire, a massive setback for SA and a great benefit for Pakistan.

For me the importance of DRS is to provide the right decision, whether we should concern ourselves with the symantics of what the rules are, out is still out in my book.

Kallis was out, and that is good enough for me.

Cricinfo

syed: "@Siddharth: If a person is charged of murdering someone with a knife and forensics determine that he had actually shot the guy dead, they don't come and say: Oh we made a mistake of how you killed him and so you're off the hook!"

I love the way people use extreme examples to state their case. Always one guy!

ICC admits mistake in the Kallis dismissal.
http://www.espncricinfo.com/south-africa-v-pakistan-2013/content/current/story/605061.html

Don't know why the ICC are apologising.

It's clear in the laws that if another obvious method of dismissal is determined (subsequent to the initial appeal, on-field decision... even an incorrect one in this case and referral) then the 3rd umpire can overrule the original incorrect decision and give the batsman out. So in fact, Kallis wasn't "done in" at all!

LB it needed to be a clear case of LBW for your argument to be true. It wasn't, was a case of umpire's call, the umpire didn't even reckon the possibilities of an LBW on that appeal, so he should have been not out. But said that, it wasn't a howler, had Kallis been given out LBW, it would have staied out.

I missed that last sentence "The process of consultation described in this paragraph in respect of such other mode of dismissal shall then be conducted as if the batsman has been given not out" which is the obvious flaw in the law then.

So the first mistake was from Davis, then there was an incorrect application of the law from the 3rd umpire... however the correct decision was inadvertently given - is ultimately is how I see it.

Ajmal gets his 6th. Dean Elgar caught at slip, after AB de Villiers was dropped by Azhar Ali in the previous over from Umar Gull. South Africa haven't even reached the half way of the Pakistan total.

YES DEVILLIERS IS OUT Irfan gets his first

First test wicket for Mohammed Irfan, the big wicket of AB de Villiers. AB gone for 61.

Philander has to chip in with the bat here if SA have are to cut down on the deficit. Petersen trying to take the bowling on.

couple of poor drops by Pakistan this morning, but that's a decent first test scalp for Irfan. now a wicket off a no-ball!

turns out it wasn't, looks like Irfan actually landed behind the line and dragged over, poor decision...

Philander surviving a caught behind of a no-ball from Irfan. Looks like Irfan was pretty unlucky with that no-ball call. Very lucky for Philander and South Africa.

Robbie must be the streakiest test batsman there is.

The lower order is chipping in, and the deficit is under a hundred.

Once again that bloody missed catch is paid for dearly. I wonder who has the most dropped catches overall. Probably us by a country mile.

So that ends the first session, South Africa are coming back into this match. They of course lost ther remaining 2 top order batsmen, but they've managed to score 109 runs in the session. Pakistan has a lead of 90 at the moment, South Africa would like to get as close as possible to that score.