Rest of the World

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Big partnership in the context of the game. If they can add another 20-odd, the lead becomes noteworthy in a low scoring slug fest. As is Jansen showing he may well become a #7, while Keshav is playing with the poise of a man who has 3 Test 50s. Very organised. He probably has done himself a disservice, especially in a South African side both devoid of batsmen and obsessed with pace, in not working a little harder on his batting to be a #7.

msp83 wrote:

Soul Requiem wrote:

msp83 wrote:Aiden Markram in for an early bowl. KL last time treated him as if the combined version of Murali and Warne bowling to Cullinan!

Cullinan actually had a superb record against Sri Lanka.

Fair enough. Iffy he generally though waws, against spin.
Anyways a bit of a recovery from India led by Rishabh Pant. And though he ensured Markram almost bowled out his quota, Rahul still there. Hopefully unlike his Punjab times, he'll ensure a proper finish.

Averaged over 50 against both India and Sri Lanka. He was poor against Pakistan and Warne, his issues tended to be against Legspin rather than spin in general.

Disgraceful from Bavuma again, only getting 35 off 36 balls. Should have seen SA home with a series of reverse sweeps, switch hits and ramp shots.

India made changes to their bowling attack and brought in Jayant Yadav for Ashwin, Prasith Krishna for Bhuvneshwar, and Dipak Chahar in for Thakur. No rest for Jasprit Bumrah in a lost cause though! And he bowled well again, and Prasith also did a job of sorts as despite a fabulous hundred from Quinton de Kock and yet another half-century from Rassie van der Dussen, South Africa were limited to 287 in their 50 overs.
Skipper Rahul, who refused to move down the order and give young Ruturaj a chance went early in the chase. Dhawan and Kohli in the innings building mode for a while, then Shikhar went trying to take on Phehlukwayo's short ball. Rishabh Pant, who played a fabulous innings last game, showed his other side, holding out first ball! Shreyas Iyer, who failed in the first 2 games, along side Virat. India 130-3 in the 27th. As long as Kohli is there, there is hope, but I feel this is done for India, a 3-0 whitewash on the cards...

So now the hope should officially be over as Maharaj gets Kohli for 65. Suryakumar Yadav is someone I rate and would have played ahead of Shreyas. But coming in cold into a lost cause, don't think he'll be able to make a difference today.
Hopefully, after this KL would be left alone to focus on his batting at international level and lead his IPL side all by himself.

First time Rassie has been dismissed in the series. I don't rate him as a test batsman but in the 50 over format his record so far speaks for itself. There's the foundations for a very formidable side if they find another batsman or two.

Surya is dismissed - and India's chase is falling apart. Pity none of their batsmen have been able to do the selfish thing and score a poor hundred.

The death seems to have belonged to the bowlers on these tracks, which has made a lovely change from the home run derby that normally is cricket in the last 10

Not sure scoring hundreds striking at 77 is too helpful chasing 290…

JDizzle wrote:Not sure scoring hundreds striking at 77 is too helpful chasing 290…

Considering the only score in excess of 290 in this series included a hundred striking at 77, I'd think its probably preferable to the alternative.

Anyway, pretty shocking death bowling here from everyone. Magala especially might not get a game again with his performance this series.

Not sure you’d find a big correlation between 290+ scores and hundreds with SRs off less than 80.

SA have been very impressive in general though. A Rabada, Nortje, Jansen, Shamsi and Maharaj attack would be very tasty it Jansen could bat 7 in ODIs.

JDizzle wrote:Not sure you’d find a big correlation between 290+ scores and hundreds with SRs off less than 80.

SA have been very impressive in general though. A Rabada, Nortje, Jansen, Shamsi and Maharaj attack would be very tasty it Jansen could bat 7 in ODIs.

Your point would be somewhat convincing if the partnership he was involved in wasn't going at a run a ball. Innings don't happen in isolation. As is we aren't talking about a hypothetical. 290 was crossed with a 100 at less than 80.

If I was coach of a ODI side I would simply just tell one of my batters to score a 90 ball 130 every innings. That seems a sustainable strategy to making big ODI scores.

They took it further than I expected when Kohli departed as Dipak Chahar showed his worth again. Think he should be given a longer run, as Bhuvneshwar clearly seems to be declining quickly. In that sense, I was a touch disappointed (not surprised) that KL didn't trust Chahar with an over or 2 at the death. Under MS at CSK, Chahar has slowly been building up that part of his game...
Hope when the regular skipper returns, they partner him with Ruturaj if not Dhawan at the top, and that KL will move down the order.
Rohit
Ruturaj/Dhawan
Kohli
Pant
KL
Shreyas/Surya/Venkatesh/Hardik
Jadeja
Ashwin/R Chahar/Washington
Shardul/D Chahar
Bumrah
Shami
Bumrah and Shami to be played only in high-profile ODIs. Give opportunities to Awesh/Prasith/Siraj. Even rest Jadeja now and then, play Axar, Washington for Ashwin slowly build.

Afghanistan beat the Dutch 3-0 in an ODI series in, of all places, Qatar. The Dutch bowling was quite disciplined, overall, but their batting was amateur level, with none of the batsmen from number three down averaging 20+ in ODIs (the person they had at three averages just under 11 in about 50 ODIs).

England will be playing this Dutch team in June.

Simon Harmer is back in a South Africa test squad - called up to play in their series with NZ upcoming

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:Simon Harmer is back in a South Africa test squad - called up to play in their series with NZ upcoming

Good news. A bowler as good as Harmer should be on the Test stage.

king_carlos wrote:

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:Simon Harmer is back in a South Africa test squad - called up to play in their series with NZ upcoming

Good news. A bowler as good as Harmer should be on the Test stage.

Yes, Harmer's a class act. I know there were some hopes two or three years back that he might qualify for England through residency despite having played Tests for South Africa.

I was very surprised that he played for Essex in the RL 50 last season and didn't take part in the Hundred. Anyone know why? Cheers.

guildfordbat wrote:

king_carlos wrote:

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:Simon Harmer is back in a South Africa test squad - called up to play in their series with NZ upcoming

Good news. A bowler as good as Harmer should be on the Test stage.

Yes, Harmer's a class act. I know there were some hopes two or three years back that he might qualify for England through residency despite having played Tests for South Africa.

I was very surprised that he played for Essex in the RL 50 last season and didn't take part in the Hundred. Anyone know why? Cheers.

In the original hundred draft he was a domestic designated player, but after Covid and in the re-draft he was declared overseas (similar to how he is now for Essex now he is back playing for SA), and as such wasn't picked up again by the Welsh Fire.

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:

guildfordbat wrote:

king_carlos wrote:

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:Simon Harmer is back in a South Africa test squad - called up to play in their series with NZ upcoming

Good news. A bowler as good as Harmer should be on the Test stage.

Yes, Harmer's a class act. I know there were some hopes two or three years back that he might qualify for England through residency despite having played Tests for South Africa.

I was very surprised that he played for Essex in the RL 50 last season and didn't take part in the Hundred. Anyone know why? Cheers.

In the original hundred draft he was a domestic designated player, but after Covid and in the re-draft he was declared overseas (similar to how he is now for Essex now he is back playing for SA), and as such wasn't picked up again by the Welsh Fire.

Cheers, Olly. That's helpful and makes sense although it still surprises me that Harmer wasn't preferred to some other overseas players.

Despite Harmer's recall, guess Keshav Maharaj would remain their led spinner, and rightfully so. But Harmer is a fine backup to have, though what is it that a 2nd spinner going to do in New Zealand is another question...

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:Simon Harmer is back in a South Africa test squad - called up to play in their series with NZ upcoming

Good news for them, as long as they can live with poaching players from England

Maharaj is a really rounded spinner (I recently posted praising him in fact!) but I don't think he's as good at really attacking batters on turning tracks as Harmer is.

It could also be that the Proteas are preparing for coming to England in the summer. Harmer has obviously done very well in those conditions and most the England batters forget how to hold a stick when faced with a decent spinner.

Maharaj did very well for them in NZ in 2017 too it should be noted.

Not a fan of Harmer getting into the side tbh. There were players who had opportunities to move on who stayed and did the yards, and he's jumped ahead of all of them.

His numbers look fine, but the local domestic set up has changed from six teams to 17, which is okay because I think that's good for the long term sustainability of the sport, but it does mean that the quality of the batting and bowling has nosedived a bit due to all the guys who used to only play 3-Day semi-pro cricket having to step up. Fish in a barrel really for a player of his quality. I guess he's been selected with the England tour and his county history in mind, but I don't know if a 33-year old who previously showed he wasn't going to wait in line should really be next in line.

We now have 17 pro teams?

Sorry - 15. Two divisions. Div 1 has 8, Div 2 has 7.

Thanks, haven't followed cricket for a few years, that sounds good

Will Kohli ever score another international century?

Lots of drama relating to Cummins vs Langer in the press if you scroll past the England headlines.

Seems hes taking the fall as the voice that rousted Langer. On one hand hes praising Langer for what he did (including making him captain!) but then also saying the players are bored of being held accountable for their failings. To be fair theres an underlying point that sometimes, senior players in particular, are best left to own their own performance and take self responsibility. Maybe the stage Aus are at currently an overbearing approach isnt whats needed.

But does feel the opposite of where England are at, with having had a period of leadership that was very player focused and almost apologetic for asking them to play.

Suspect if Langer is in line for the England job he will be grilled hard on this fallout, and likely will have learned some lesson on tempering his approach a bit. But overall England could use a demanding coach right now.

I wouldn't worry about it too much, Goose. We've moved on. Or at least Justin Langer has.

Saw the strained explanation from Cummins today too. I'm still not sure whether he was for or against Langer but it's good that he kept it quite short and only used about 4 "umms". I think whoever briefed him probably said: say a few nice things about him; then say a few obscure general things about coaching methods... that oughta give the press what they want. Seems to have worked pretty well I thought.

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:Will Kohli ever score another international century?

Think a few more are very much left in the tank. He should have sat this rather meaningless series out though. Even Ravi Shastri was indicating as much, that perhaps Kohli should have taken a clean break from the game for a couple of months. Perhaps he could have come back during the Lanka tests or even the IPL...

Will Pucovski suffered another concussion on his return in the latest Sheffield Shield, this time not even in the game, took a blow in warm ups, fielded for two balls and had to be taken off after falling to his knees.

Have to wonder at what point medical professionals step up and take these decisions out of players hands - clearly shouldn’t have been on the field, and the kid probably needs some guidance for long term

Such a shame for Pucovski. He's a huge talent but pretty soon you'd think he has to make a tough decision for his long term health.

I stopped playing rugby a few years back after multiple concussions, the last of which took much longer to recover from. That was a surprisingly wrenching decision for a very average amateur sportsman in his late twenties who trained twice a week then played on a Saturday. For someone such as Pocovski who's committed so much of his life thus far to reaching where he is it must be incredibly difficult.

New Zealand vs South Africa two test series begins tomorrow - am I wrong, or does South Africa to win the series at 9/2 look quite big? No Keegan Pietersen due to Covid and Nortje is still missing, but New Zealand are without Williamson due to injury and Taylor having retired, with Boult missing the 1st test too.
Drawn series at 2/1 looks good too, with it being a two test series. I really fancy the South Africans to go well

9/2 is certainly bigger than I was expecting. You can also get some insurance against the 1-1 with 11/4 on the 'drawn series no bet' for South Africa.

NZ's batting, with those absentees you mention, looks weaker than it has for a while, and of course they're coming off a series where Bangladesh managed to beat them in a test.

The South African bowling trio of Rabada/Olivier/Ngidi may exploit such weaknesses, but they're going to need someone to stand up and made a telling contribution with the bat to win the series. This shouldn't be as low-scoring as the previous series they played, where they defeated India, they'll need to make 400+ scores in the first innings.

The two-match series (shame it isn't three) will resume international test cricket after a one month absence. Over the next month and a half there's also:

India, looking to rebound after the South African loss, home to Sri Lanka for two tests. Sri Lanka are currently top of the WTC table after winning their first two games.

Australia in Pakistan for three tests. Probably the series I'm most looking forward to, hopefully it'll go ahead.

England in the West Indies for three tests (certainly looking forward to the odds for this).

And Bangladesh, looking to strike another blow, visit South Africa for two tests.

SA pick Glenton Stuurman for the First Test - just casually plucking another bloke out of FC cricket with a sub 22 bowling average! An absolute production line. Don’t really know him at all, so keen to see how he goes.

NZ batting does look light with Mitchell at 5 and CdG at 7. Another battle to look out for is to see how Latham goes - of his 12 Test hundreds he has 9 vs SL, Bang and Zimbabwe. And his two vs Pakistan were in the UAE. Suggests he struggles vs quality pace in seaming conditions. He’ll have his work cut out against this attack.

Yes, Stuurman coming in unexpectedly as Ngidi was ruled out with injury. Haven't seen him either, but like you say a lovely bowling average. 29 already. They've also got 32 year-old Erwee debuting up the order, a solid ten centuries, 39 average and near 6000 runs in FC cricket.

Both teams loading up on seamers, no spin, and the Kiwis confident enough to choose to bowl first. Apparently they've never beaten South Africa in a test series, with only four wins in 45 tests!

Definitely a good call to bowl first - ball swinging around corners, 43/4. SA will do well to make 150!

Think I need to be your bookie Duty

Gooseberry wrote:Think I need to be your bookie Duty  

Why's that then? I reckon you'd be fairly foolish taking on someone who has made a profit on this sport for every single year since he started doing it.

The last time South Africa were bowled out for under 100 when batting first in a Test was 1932:
36 v Australia at Melbourne

Bloody typical!

Getting dismantled by the very average Matt Henry is not good at all.

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:The last time South Africa were bowled out for under 100 when batting first in a Test was 1932:
36 v Australia at Melbourne

Bloody typical!

Doesnt bode well for England this summer does it!

Soul Requiem wrote:Getting dismantled by the very average Matt Henry is not good at all.

Kent Legend Matt Henry! SA should try facing him on a greentop at Canterbury in April…

South Africa also dropped four catches to compound the ignominy of being destroyed by Henry.

Forgot this had started. Matt Henry is a decent bowler, but 7-23, honestly! But then Roston Chase has a test 8 for so what do I know.

Duty281 wrote:South Africa also dropped four catches to compound the ignominy of being destroyed by Henry.

It's like they had a personal vendetta against us!

Where does Matt Henry rank amongst the greatest allrounders ever to have played the game?

SA seem to be on a mission to make England's efforts in Australia look almost respectable...

At three down and still over 350 behind they surely aren't likely to last much past lunch on day three so they're going to need a huge turnaround in the second match (why these two-Test series all the time ? Three makes much more sense!) to hold on to their record of never losing to NZ.

The new chap in the SA bowling crew hasn't had a happy debut. Got a wicket ; but was going round the park at more than four per over and whenever I was watching he seemed to be serving up leg side rubbish...rather doubt he will be the Next Rabada. Had a few mates though : if Jansen hadn't got the drs verdict to take that last wicket he'd have joined the other three in collecting the sort of century no bowler really wants...

NZ without Boult and Williamson will be fairly happy with the last two days work

Galted wrote:Where does Matt Henry rank amongst the greatest allrounders ever to have played the game?

Above Moeen

Taking a break from all the current world games and watching the women's curling ... seems you can't win a gold with your first stones but you can lose one!

guildfordbat wrote:Taking a break from all the current world games and watching the women's curling ... seems you can't win a gold with your first stones but you can lose one!

Don’t write them off too early… a superb bounce back three in the second end!