SA vs Zimbabwe.

Test started today and Dane piedt is having a stormer.

9 overs 3/28

Taylor gone for a well played 93. Dane one away from a Pfeiffer. This really is a decent Zimbabwean team, and if they had a few guys who really should still be playing for them, Ballance, Taibu, and a few other ex pats who left for non cricketing reasons, they'd definitely be a competitive cricket team.

I have not seen another SA spinner get as much purchase as Pied got today.

We at last have someone capable of getting spin and bounce

Another five wicket haul for Steyn. There's serious daylight between him and everybody else. Yes its only Zimbabwe, but that's 86 wickets in his last 15 tests. Ridiculous.

So : this Piedt ; how good do you think he could be , raf and Biltong ? Good enough you can pension off Tahir ?

Perhaps hard to tell from playing against Zimbabwe , but a decent start , surely.

Where did he come from ? Can't recall hearing much about him ...

I'm really not sure Alf. Alistair Campbell, who owns the sports shop reckoned it would turn square pretty early, so in that sense, he really only did what was expected, but yeah, I mean he gets turn, bounce, pacy through the air... maybe he is good enough to usurp Tahir.

Crawling to winning score. A little understandable given the nature of the pitch.

These Zimbabweans, they are good fighters with much limited resources. Every time they play against the big boys, they show they can also belong at this level, provided the right support. No meaningful support is coming their way, yet they are fighting it out.
Respect.......
They prevented the 2 big guns of the SA lineup from blasting them out, and has not SA get away with it every so easily.
Good innings from Faf, not out on 68 with Quinton de Kock for company as SA are 195-4, 61 away from the Zimbabwe first innings score.

they really have the potential to be a better than decent team - All a little unfortunate that politics as ever get in the way.

Alvir Pietersen's time is over, it is time we find a replacement

Who could be an effective replacement for Alviro at the top of the order? Petersen hasn't taken his chances and has been very inconsistent, but who can step in? Hope they don't push de Kock up the order, keeping responsibilities and all.......

There are a few youngsters, Stiaan v Zul or Rillee Rossouw would be my guess

Zimbabwe have shown fight ...if they wind up SA to less than 400 and have a decent 2nd inning...they can discomfort and stretch SA....whihc in itself will be an achievement

Watching paint dry? Watching grass grow? SA have scored six off the last 10 overs

boring

I think we are batting for the draw

After all that slow play, SA lose a wicket. Ridiculous.

give some credit to Zimbabwe...they could beat India, if a test match was organized at the end of T5

Yeah, I've said it all along. This is a very decent five day team. If they had a Ballance type and a Taibu, they'd be a challenge for anyone on their day. They've probably already lost this one, but I sincerely hope they get more Tests, and we could and should give them a few A matches.

I am a proponent of letting Zim and BD field one team ( probably their A team) each in the SA and Indian domestic FC circuits respectively

Good show by Zim to bowl SA out fr less than 400.
If they can bat one full day tomm....they would  lead by 160 odd and then they can stretch SA in the 4th inning......given that they seemingly have a good spinner or two in their ranks.
Zim spinners took 7 wickets and SA-can spinner took 4....so pitch probably has something for the spinners

it's a one test only....that's strange...i thought solitary tests do not count towards ICC rankings so even low profile teams are accorded 2 tests

Zimbabwe are 28-1 at stumps, still 113 behind. If they can survive more than 2 sessions and score over 180-200, then they can stretch the game on to a 5th day and make SA earn the win. Not a bad deal for the last ranked side against the top ranked one.......
And as kingraf said, they need to play more tests. More tests than ODIs and T-20Is, and ones they improve in the longer formats, they will also be better in the shorter formats. Think they are going to have a longish series against Bangladesh this year, the cricket may not be of the highest quality, but should be interesting nevertheless. Looking forward to it already.

Well, it must be remembered that this is the textbook definition of a doctored pitch, pretty much designed to negate all of South Africa's strengths, as well as cause a scrappy game, so I'm not sure how much you can read into it, but they've got spinners who can turn it square, some perfectly respectable seam bowlers, and two or three decent batsmen. I think they'll beat Bangladesh, and with some experience, be pushing the likes of New Zealand and the Windies very close.

Zimbabwe needed 100 runs more to put some pressure on SA.

re: Doctored pitches.....textbook definition is what Eng did when Aus last visited them.

Zim here is a minnow tried hard what they can to be a little bit competitive and in the process avoided an innings defeat by 40 odd runs

KP_fan wrote:re: Doctored pitches.....textbook definition is what Eng did when Aus last visited them.

Closer to home for you would be what India did on England's last tour there. Shame that on turning wickets it was Panesar and Swann that shone

Pieces starting to fall into place for the Proteas. 

Dane Piedt looks to be a find young spinner. He can contain batsmen. But most importantly he can really turn the ball. 

There remain a few issues surrounding the batting though. 

Alviro's time must surely be up. I'd like a shoot out between Stiaan van Zyl and Rilee Roussow, as to whom should partner Dean Elgar. Both Stiaan and Rilee are number 3s, but they should be able to adapt to open. 

Secondly now we have a proper off spinner, JP Duminy's role in the side needs to be revisited. We can easily find a superior batsman to bat a 6 and QdK would move down to 7. 

Potentially both van Zyl and Roussow could be in the starting line up against the West Indies. One opening and one at 6. 

Plus van Zyl bowls decent seam up deliveries. 

Also it seems as though Faf is set to stay at 3, Hash at 4 and AB at 5. That's the engine house. So the opener problem needs to be sorted. 

Anyway happy that the unbeaten away record will be intact going into a 9th year.

Agree Alviro's time is up.

Rillee Rossouw is still young and a left hand batsman with a first class average of 45

I think it might be good to keep JP for now, first get a new opening batsman to settle, Dean Elgar is also still new, so you don't want too much inexperience in your specialist batsmen.

Piedt looks good, he doesn't bowl full tosses and only bowls the occasional short ball, but looks like he is learning.

We do however need to look at another fast bowler, what happened to the young kid who did so well for the junior proteas?

Kagiso Rabada? He's only 18, he needs a few seasons with Lions to develop a bit more. 

He is currently with the A team in Australia. He's bowled ok. 

He's got to be well looked after as he could be the next Ntini.

Let's hope so.

LondonTiger wrote:

KP_fan wrote:re: Doctored pitches.....textbook definition is what Eng did when Aus last visited them.

Closer to home for you would be what India did on England's last tour there. Shame that on turning wickets it was Panesar and Swann that shone

what do you expect in India ?...anything other than spinning pitches?

what England did producing those slow, low, brown turning pitches for Aus IN ENGLAND is doctoring.

Everyone doctors to suit. Australia did in 2009 to negate Swann which backfired terribley as England's pace attack was far superior.

Beuran Hendricks has been ruled out of the ODI series with a back injury. 

Hope it's not too serious as I was looking forward to seeing the de Lange/Hendricks/Parnell trifecta in action. These three could well be the Proteas first choice attack in 3 years time.

liverbnz wrote:Everyone doctors to suit. Australia did in 2009 to negate Swann which backfired terribley as England's pace attack was far superior.

Except wasn't the 2009 Series hosted in England?

Was it? May have got my years wrong. The one England won 3-1 I meant. Tremlett and Bresnan excelled. Was that 2010/11 then?

Yeah, 2010/11. That was a La Nina year though. England have a very good record here when those conditions exist. Our team was struggling though and yours was at its peak. (think it's 9 or 10 out of 15 in England's favour over the years we've had wetter and cooler summers)

Not sure we doctored the pitches - it's just the way they were here at the time. Lots of moisture leading up to the Tests, then some small windows of fine weather during the Tests... floods in Brisbane afterwards. Normally the wickets are drier and have more pace and bounce but 2010-11 definitely suited England's bowling attack. Our blokes struggled with both bat and ball of course and were soundly beaten.

I can't imagine the Aussies ever doing anything to prepare a pitch in their favour   

Biltong wrote:I can't imagine the Aussies ever doing anything to prepare a pitch in their favour   

Yeah, we're too lazy to doctor anything, mate. Not in our vocabulary.

I tend to agree though, Australia as a rule don't doctor pitches, although Brisbane was strangely dead during our tour of 2012...

Shane Watson has an injury for the 100th time in his career and has been replaced by Phillip Hughes. Hughes is in magnificent form, playing for Australia A, scored 100* vs India A and slammed 243* vs SA A today in the FC games. And his limited overs form is scintillating, he scored that historic 202* a couple of weeks ago.