Cricket

[freeurmind]

SA batting doing what it does best.

 

[ha_rooney]

Nothing really happened then wickets falling right before close & every delivery suddenly looks dangerous!! Beauty of Test cricket, a couple of overs & momentum has swung.

 

[freeurmind]

Going to take a miracle now for SA. You could really throw most of our batting lineup in the bin, we just cannot produce good batsmen at the moment but we have about 500 seamers.

 

[Interval]

You know you're in trouble when Faf Du Plessis is the best batsman that you can put out in a test match

 

[freeurmind]

Think it's time for Boucher to push the emergency button and play De Kock as a specialist batsmen at first drop and bring in Verreynne to keep wicket.

Elgar
Markram
De kock
Du Plessis
Van Der Dussen
Mulder
Verreynne
Maharaj
Rabada
Shamsi
Ngidi

 

[ha_rooney]

Good win for Pakistan. The fall of wickets yesterday changed the momentum of this game. Also the knocks from our lower order in the first innings proved crucial. Shame there was no crowd to see this.

 

[FlawlessThaw]

So given Australia have pulled out of the South African tour, NZ have automatically qualified for the WTC final where they will probably play India.

 

[ha_rooney]

Pakistan with a lead of 200 with 4 wickets left. Getting to 230+ would make us favourites to win on this pitch.

The batsmen, particularly Babar, struggling against the SA spinners is something that will need to be worked on.

 

[paulscholes18]

James Vince played great for the Sydney Sixers, 95 off 60 as they won the Big Bash final by 28 runs

 

[zing]

That WI scorecard is extraordinary

 

[harshad]

Windies win!

 

[ArmchairCritic]

Kyle Mayers!

 

[TheGame]

How did Windies chase that down when they have lots of players missing?

 

[freeurmind]

Only 15 balls left in the day for that famous Windies chase as well. Highest run chase ever in Asia.

 

[Kazi]

Mayers must be a jet

 

[ha_rooney]

SA have a solid platform to chase down the runs tomorrow, these 2 have looked very solid. Pitch playing well, so Pakistan need the early wickets. Should be an interesting final day.

 

[freeurmind]

SA have a solid platform to chase down the runs tomorrow, these 2 have looked very solid. Pitch playing well, so Pakistan need the early wickets. Should be an interesting final day.

They'll be out for under 200

 

[RedTiger]

SA have a solid platform to chase down the runs tomorrow, these 2 have looked very solid. Pitch playing well, so Pakistan need the early wickets. Should be an interesting final day.

They won't do a west Indies.

 

[ha_rooney]

They won't do a west Indies.

If these 2 continue batting as they have, they’ve got a great chance. Morning session will set the tone, Pakistan need to break this partnership early & hope that triggers another collapse whilst SA need these 2 to stick around keeping things ticking over as they’ve done in the evening session today.

The Windies result was remarkable though!

 

[ArmchairCritic]

For those who have 20 mins to spare.

 

[Samid]

De Kock is the most pathetic captain I’ve seen in a long time. Poor body language in the field and no application with the bat.

 

[ha_rooney]

Need to catch the highlights, but excellent win for Pakistan!

 

[freeurmind]

De Kock is the most pathetic captain I’ve seen in a long time. Poor body language in the field and no application with the bat.

In his defence, he should never have been given it in the first place. Hopefully now Markram will be made captain and De Kock can refocus on his batting.

 

[freeurmind]

Need to catch the highlights, but excellent win for Pakistan!

Very good win, they did the business in the end. Potential career defining scores for a couple of their batsmen in this series.
Back to the drawing board for SA. We need to find a middle order somehow. I'd bring in Malan to open and move Elgar down to 3.
Malan, Markram (c), Elgar, Faf, QDK , Mulder/Pretorius, Verreyne (wk), Maharaj, Rabada, Nortjie, Ngidi.

 

[AshRK]

Good win for Pakistan. They are a good side. I really hope to see India Pakistan play a test series on a neutral ground. 3 match series in UK will be a treat.

 

[Inigo Montoya]

Good win for Pakistan. They are a good side. I really hope to see India Pakistan play a test series on a neutral ground. 3 match series in UK will be a treat.

Would get bigger crowds than England that’s for sure

 

[ha_rooney]

Good win for Pakistan. They are a good side. I really hope to see India Pakistan play a test series on a neutral ground. 3 match series in UK will be a treat.

Would be an instant sell-out wherever they played. I don’t think they’ve played a Test series since 2007, basically a generation of players not playing against their biggest rival. Such a shame the politics gets in the way.

 

[AshRK]

Would be an instant sell-out wherever they played. I don’t think they’ve played a Test series since 2007, basically a generation of players not playing against their biggest rival. Such a shame the politics gets in the way.

Good point. Sad how the likes of Kohli ashwin Aamir, rahane, babar azam, Pujara have not played one test match against each other.

 

[RooneyLegend]

In his defence, he should never have been given it in the first place. Hopefully now Markram will be made captain and De Kock can refocus on his batting.

Don't want that sort of pressure on Markram. He's still establishing himself.

 

[freeurmind]

Don't want that sort of pressure on Markram. He's still establishing himself.

There's really no one else. Elgar doesn't want it, neither does Faf, so he's really the only option.

 

[RooneyLegend]

There's really no one else. Elgar doesn't want it, neither does Faf, so he's really the only option.

Rabada, his competitive nature might take us somewhere. It would also give the media something to be positive about with the transformation stuff. He's also a consistent high level performer.

At this point our batting line up needs to be scrapped. Out with the old and in with the new. I'd rather go through some growing pains with younger batsmen than continue with these guys that are proven to let us down. Makrams development as a batsman is far to valuable to mess around with making him captain.

 

[ha_rooney]

I can’t think of a current Test captain who is a pure bowler. Unless I’m mistaken, they are all pure batsmen (including WK) or you have Holder who is an all-rounder.

Rabada would be a solid choice but he’s so important to the bowling unit, you don’t want him to worry about other stuff so his bowling form takes a hit.

 

[Skills]

I can’t think of a current Test captain who is a pure bowler. Unless I’m mistaken, they are all pure batsmen (including WK) or you have Holder who is an all-rounder.

Rabada would be a solid choice but he’s so important to the bowling unit, you don’t want him to worry about other stuff so his bowling form takes a hit.

And you need someone to manage his own bowling load correctly. Seems like a bad idea.

I think spinners make better captains than fast bowlers because they're not as workload sensitive.

 

[ClaytonBlackmoorLeftPeg]

And you need someone to manage his own bowling load correctly. Seems like a bad idea.

I think spinners make better captains than fast bowlers because they're not as workload sensitive.

think it’s difficult, the two tasks don’t work well together. You are likely to overbowl yourself. You don’t really need much captaincy when batting. Far better to be able to make on field decisions if not having to bowl.

 

[freeurmind]

Maharaj would be the only other option and he has expressed interest in the role. I would be in favour but I don't see the selectors going with it.
No way should Rabada be picked, he's never been captain at any level and the amount of scrutiny over what would be a pick purely for transformational reasons would be immense. This team isn't good and is likely to lose and I wouldn't make him the face of that.
Markram has been captain at youth level and we saw with Smith how the captaincy can elevate certain players.

 

[RooneyLegend]

This team has needed an attitude adjustment for some time. We need someone to lead the team in that regard and a performer who can also lead on the field of play with his own performances. No other player has that in the whole team.

And you need someone to manage his own bowling load correctly. Seems like a bad idea.

I think spinners make better captains than fast bowlers because they're not as workload sensitive.

Fast bowlers are almost never made captains so all of this is pure guesswork. Who better to know how much he has in the tank than himself. Wasim Akram did a good enough job as Pakistan's captain.

 

[iKnowNothing]

Fast bowlers are almost never made captains so all of this is pure guesswork. Who better to know how much he has in the tank than himself. Wasim Akram did a good enough job as Pakistan's captain.

The fast bowler bit is a little misplaced. You’ve mentioned Akram. Then there’s Imran Khan, Kapil Dev, Shaun Pollock, Darren Sammy, Jason Holder, Mashrafi Mortaza who have all been captains to varying degrees of success.

 

[ha_rooney]

Excellent T20 game, Pakistan holding on for the win. Rizwan’s been superb for us since coming into the side.

 

[ha_rooney]

Terrible review by Babar. Looked absolutely plumb LBW & wasted the review. He’s not had the best of times against SA, hopefully just a temporary dip in form.

 

[freeurmind]

Surely we can't lose this now.