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

Just had a look at this. It was very much the SA z team. Seems odd given the amount of "rotation" in there that they didnt give du Kock a run out.

Why on earth they think selecting Ontong, who is close to pension age and pretty poor, is a good idea I dont know.

Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote:Just had a look at this. It was very much the SA z team. Seems odd given the amount of "rotation" in there that they didnt give du Kock a run out.

Why on earth they think selecting Ontong, who is close to pension age and pretty poor, is a good idea I dont know.

He was supposed to play in the first one.

I don't know hey, SA isn't that good in T20's even Amla couldn't get a place in that batting line up if you pick on international T20 stats

Pakistan chasing 193 in a D.L affected game.

Seems like Afridi's day in South Africa. He's absolutely murdering them and singlehandedly taking Pakistan home from a position of nothingness. First SA scored 343, and then they took 6 Pakistani wickets for next to nothing, but Afridi has gone flying to 88 of 47!.
Aw well, that's it, he's gone of the 48th ball after putting the fear of god into the South African heads.

South Africa's huge total was the result of to fine hundreds from Hashim Amla (122) and skipper AB de Villiers (128). Faf du Plessis smashed 45 of 19 at the end to put the finishing touches.
Pakistan are 246-7 after 36 overs.
A few more overs of Afridi, the game would have been a goner.

Pakistan aren't giving up, they need another 41 of the last 4 overs. Wahab Riyas is the key, he's 39 not out and will take strike now.

Steyn's into his last over. Peterson and Tsotsobe are bowled out. Kleinveldt and McLaren have gone for plenty.

Excellent last over from Dale Steyn, just the one single and he got Junaid's wicket as well. Pakistan 304-9. 40 of the last 3 with just the last wicket remaining.

Wahab isn't giving up, boundary of McLaren's first ball. 308-9.

Wahab and Pakistan live on to fight another over. 309-9.

That's it, South Africa win by 34 runs as Kleinveldt knocks over Wahab.

Was a stunning knock from afridi, but he's too inconsistent, and tbh i think he's one place too high at 7 now..

He comes off 1 in 25 doesn't he.

But when he does he's great.

I think Udal and Cork made a good point on Sky - sometimes he feels under pressure to live up to his 'Boom Boom' tag. Its hard to overstate how big a star he is among the Pakistani community (not just cricket fans). Remarkable how much he is hero-worshipped for someone who probably isn't one of the 40 best players in the world.

Of course, today he was helped by the thin air in Jo'burg a couple of times, and the match situation.

CF wrote:Was a stunning knock from afridi, but he's too inconsistent, and tbh i think he's one place too high at 7 now..

Regardless of today's knock, I think he is 4 places too high at 7.

Quinton Du Kock has been called up for Faf Du Plessis....i assume he's been dropped..

No, injured.

Faf du Plessis had just smashed 45 of 19 in the previous game and now he's got injured. He'll be out for some time by the look of things, and is set to miss the early half of the IPL.
Good to see de Kock selected, I hope he'll play and take the gloves from AB.

Hard hitting batsman David Miller is also in the squad, and AB de Villiers has seemingly gone back to full time wicketkeeping in ODIs as well. So it has to be seen whether de Kock will be given a chance.

Pakistan limp to 205 AO

nowhere near enough.

SA are 76-2 in the 20th over in reply.