South Africa could have done much better

Just when I was going through the PINOY BLOGGER REVIEWS I was reminded by the news channels about the 2^nd day's play of the 3^rd test between South Africa and the West Indies which obviously is held in the upperhand by the Proteas. But, with such a weak opposition the batting display of the South Africans which included the likes of Jacques Kallis, Ashwell Prince, A B devilliars etc should have been much better unlike their day ending with just 285 on the board adding just another 239 runs on the board after ending day 1 at 46/2 after dismissing the hosts for 231.

As mentioned in my yesterday's post, if at all South Africa can boast of something great, it is their achievement in the test matches against teams like West Indies, Bangladesh etc. Though occasionally South Africa have had success against Australia and India, their real strength lies in games against West Indies. But, a total of just 285 with the loss of 6 wickets is far too little compared to what is being expected out of them. South Africa have a solid line up in their batting department with Jacques Kallis heading the list followed by Prince, Smith, Devilliars etc all of whom can surprise anyone.

On the otherhand, the West Indies have the world's worst bowling display though their batting department have players like Chris Gayle, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Shivnarine Chanderapaul etc who can save some face for their team. But, their bowling department is starving since 2000 after the retirement of bowlers like Curtly Ambrose, Courtney Walsh, Ian Bishop and Roger Harper who were deadly on their days. Winning a match has been guessed and anticipated well in advance even before the series was decided but the way it would be won is always a wait game and winning that game takes precedence than to just finish it off formally.

With the caliber that the present South African team is having, they should have won both the first and the second tests by an innings rather than winning the former by 163 runs and drawing the latter. Had it been India or Australia, both the matches would have been won by an innings one can suppose. This is the test that tests the real myth of a team and faring badly could send out signals to other teams against which their next test series is due. More than ending the 2^nd day at 285/6, losing 2 wickets before the first day's play got over speaks much about the South African batting caliber. And, who knows who Alviro Petersen is?

RSA will always have an upperhand against WI

If not in crucial games like it happened in the quarter finals of the 1996 world cup at Karachi and in the ICC champions trophy 2004 at England, the West Indies are no match for the Proteas atleast in today's cricketing world irrespective of whether South Africa are hosting the game or not. Perhaps! a West Indies-South Africa match is yet to be played on a neutral venue unlike a match that is scheduled to be hosted by Pakistan. Now, yet again the West Indies have flattered in the 3^rd test match as well. West Indies have lost all their wickets even before the day ended.

A test match drawn by West Indies is a test match saved won by them which would be worth an investment. A score of 231 by the home team speaks for itself and the caliber of the West Indian team is once again proved. West Indies were lucky to have saved the 2^nd test held at Basseterre when the match ended in a draw and the West Indies were able to secure a rare 3 run lead against a team against which losing miserably has become a passion. Another amazement came to the West Indies when Shivnarine Chanderapaul was awarded the man of the match award for little bit of effort.

Why should anyone mention Johan Botha's name or Dale Steyn's name when there are the likes of some Dale Richards and Brendan Nash who have been trained to give the opposition bowlers the performance of their lives in addition to their lack of experience. The very same Johan Botha is hardly considered when South Africa is about to face say India or Australia even in front of their home crowd let alone touring such a nation. South Africa rarely play Bangladesh which has deprived them of a major record bank. If one doesn't believe me, you can ask Kumara Sangakkara regarding South Africa's tour to that country.

Pakistan can be considered to be an exception but not completely kept out of discussion. If not for Dwayne Bravo, no other member in the West Indian team managed a half century and some Suliemann Benn had to be the person to score a 20+ score despite coming in at number 9. If individual scores of the West Indian batsmen are considered, then the price should consist of contenders who would have scored 20 runs or more. Amazingly, most of them scored double digit scores including the number eleven batsman Brandon Bess who scored 11*. Let us see what Smith has in store for us.

Pitch aided the WI bowling

Well, disputing someone's statement has always been the trademark of this blog whatsoever and we think it is just healthy one and we are sorry if it is not. Coming to the matter which involves the West Indies captain - Chris Gayle's statement after his team's another expected and crushing defeat at the hands of the Proteas, when he says that his team's batting let them down, one has to acknowledge the fact that the West Indies didn't have any frontline bowlers to tackle the South African batsmen. On the otherhand, the South Africans were equipped with bowlers of the ranks of Morkel & Steyn.

The captaincy of Graeme Smith and the experience of Jacques Kallis is more than enough for the West Indies' batsmen to run for cover. A score of 352 was more than enough not only by South Africa against West Indies but also on a pitch that started with low bounce that gave the batsmen very little room for scoring. The bowling from the West Indies' part was also not that satisfactory if Chris Gayle's words are anything to go by. They should not have been carried off by the way three quick wickets fell on the South African side on the first day itself.

That was a truncated day with just 34 overs being able to be bowled. Had there been a complete day's play, the things would have been different as per West Indies point of view, with some compromises made with the West Indian bowlers continuing their good work with the ball. The West Indies' bowlers had got enough rhythm on the first day which was spoilt by rain. Whatever happens, the result would not have been any different for the West Indies. They would have lost in any circumstances. One has to appreciate Sulieman Benn for being successful with both the bat as well as the ball.

Benn picked up eight out of the 12 South African wickets and scored 42 runs which was his highest individual score in test cricket and more importantly, was from a batsman who would enter into the crease at number eight who are referred to as tail enders. If the West Indian squad is considered, the team has more depth in batting that involves the likes of Chris Gayle, Shivanarine Chandrapaul and Narsingh Deonarine. On the otherhand, their bowling consisted of Dwayne Bravo and Sulieman Benn who stand nowhere when it comes to international test rankings for bowlers. It was slowness of the track at Port of Spain that aided the bowlers and the same slowness that proved trouble for the batsmen when they took to the crease.

Another thriller by SA-WI

Well as I mentioned in a post a couple of days back regarding the thrillers in matches involving West Indies and South Africa, especially after their 1 run loss at the hands of the Proteas, here comes another exciting thriller if the newspapers are to be believed. And here as well, the match saw the West Indies batsmen putting up a decent score on the board when they ended their batting innings with 283 runs on the board. This total no matter was 17 runs less than what the South African batsmen had piled up and was 18 runs short of a victory.

But, as far as the West Indian batsmen are considered, the match would have given them much relief when they as usual reduced the margin of defeat and then also there was a batsman from the West Indies side who threatened to snatch the game from the Proteas when Sammy scored 58 runs from 24 balls at a strike rate of 241. This is rare in the West Indies side who can only gift their opposition or surrender meekly. Darren Sammy hit 6 hits out of the ground which was equal to the total number of sixes hit by anyone else from both the sides.

The match saw 12 sixes, out of which 6 were hit by Sammy alone as mentioned. The remaining contribution came from Chris Gayle and Dwayne Bravo who hit 1 and 2 sixes respectively. Then from the South African side, A B Devilliers hit one six and the new batsman who playing his second one dayer - David Miller hit two of them equalling the number hit by the West Indies' batsmen minus Darren Sammy. Once again Hashim Amla was awarded the man of the match this time rather deserving for his top score in the innings of 92 that included 7 fours though without any sixes.

This time the West Indian batsmen did what they were supposed to do in their last game at Antigua when they played 48 overs. This time the West Indies' innings lasted for one ball more than 48 overs but without any different result. And the West Indies captain didn't go in for 8 overs and insisted in bringing in just 7 of them. As mentioned earlier, the margin of defeat for the West Indies also was reduced to 17 runs as against the 66 run defeat they suffered a couple of days back. There were 3 batsmen from the WI side who returned with scores in excess of 50.

For more details here it is!

Did Mumbai try to spoil Bangalore's chances?

Last night, the Kolkata Knight Riders became the fourth team in the tournament to beat the Mumbai Indians after they won the match by 9 wickets. Prior to the match between the aforementioned teams, the Kolkata Knight Riders had a last opportunity to make it to the last four atleast this time especially when they were playing in Kolkata. Had the Kolkata team been able to overcome the Mumbai Indians in the last match of the league stage, by a good run rate, the Royal Challengers Bangalore would have been knocked out and there would have been yet another encounter between both the teams.

The Mumbai Indians gave the Kolkata Knight Riders every opportunity possible so that they make the better of them first with their usual captain Sachin Tendulkar opting to rest himself and then choosing Dwayne Bravo to captain his side. If at all Schin Tendulkar was supposed to rest himself for a match, he would have done it in any of the earlier games which his team played after making it to the semi finals of the tournament long back. But, that was never to be the case. One suggestion might be that Sachin Tendulkar would have wanted to confirm the orange cap so that it is not taken away once again by Kallis.

And, if at all Sachin Tendulkar wanted to give chance to some players who have so far never seen playing in the IPL, still that could have been done long back and not in just one game. Dilhara Fernando would have been handy even in the earlier games as well and Lasith Malinga need not have been dropped or rested. In one way, it is good for the Mumbai Indians in case the Kolkata Knight Riders replace the Royal Challengers for, the Kolkata team are better for the Mumbai team if compared to Bangalore. If Kolkata get through to the semis, then Mumbai can think of a final berth more probably than it would be the case of RCB qualifies.

If the match was followed closely, the Mumbai Indians, despite winning the toss and choosing to bat first neither lost wickets, neither showed any sort of discomfort nor put up a decent total. They were in the 14^th over found at 85/4 with a run rate of less than 6 an over. Their total towards the end also didn't sound so appealing and it was thought that the Kolkata would sneak into the semis after the match was gifted to them by Mumbai. Had the Kolkata team went in for a brutal chase, by getting to the target in say 13 overs, they could have got into the last four. But. sad that the Kolkata couldn't do even that despite the cooperation.

Of course, no one takes an inconsequential game seriously and the Mumbai Indians are no exception. And experimenting in such games is welcome by anyone but, losing with an intention that a strong team gets knocked out is unethical though not illegal.

Ireland betters the West Indies

Needless to be said, it is not always the wins and losses that count in the game of cricket which was more so in the case of the match between the West Indies and Ireland. Though the West Indies won the match against Ireland by 6 wickets with the man of the match being awarded to the West Indian batsman Ramnaresh Sarwan, it was the Ireland team that took home much of the honors of the game. First of all, it was Ireland who were touring the Caribbean and do not enjoy the home team advantage like the West Indies team.

And then, the West Indies team needed the services of senior batsman - Sarwan to have a win. The West Indian batsmen though not losing wickets at regular intervals and by the end of the match not losing more than 4 wickets which is a decent approach, they had no reason to take the game until the penultimate over of the match when they scored the winning runs in the 44^th over. I think that the West Indies must be reminded that they are in an era where targets more than 300 are chased down with little effort and they must take the example of India who are found doing it repeatedly.

This was once again a needless encounter after the West Indies played the Canadian team a couple of days back. The Irish batsmen played their full quota of 50 overs and also there were two batsmen in Paul Stirling and Kevin O Brien who notched up half centuries for Ireland. They also crossed the 200 run mark unlike Canada who were all out for just 108. But, it is neither Canada's not Ireland's fault. It was interesting to see the Irish captain William Poterfield going in for 7 bowlers out of whom none of them bowled their complete quota of 10 overs.

Likewise, the West Indies captain Darren Sammy bought in just 5 overs to bowl the Irish batsmen out not before they played their complete quota of 50 overs a side. The West Indies team lost two of their in form batsmen namely Shivanarine Chanderapaul and Andre Fletcher with just one run on the board which was a sort of triumph for the Ireland team. One has to recall the fact that it does not make someone jump in joy whenever West Indies beats Ireland but, when it happens the other way round, it definitely makes news headlines. This was the chance for the young legs of the WI team to showcase thei talent and may be they were doing exactly that.

Chris Gayle's words come true in the Zimbabwe series

Well the world would not have forgotten the West Indies' captain - Chris Gayle's words when he was found predicting a 4-1 victory for his team ahead of the 5 match one day series that they played last month. This no doubt would have obviously made some people laugh and other ignore Gayle's words. However, Chris Gayle's words were found coming true in the 5 match one day series against Zimbabwe when his team crushed Zimbabwe by a 4-1 margin yesterday after West Indies won the fifth one dayer by 4 wickets. This was the third 4 wicket victory that the West Indies had in this tournament.

The 4-1 victory prediction that Gayle had predicted ahead of the West Indies - Australia bilateral series didn't even turn out to be 1-4 in favor of the West Indies and moreover, it would have been a 5-0 loss had the third one dayer been taken off smoothly which finally had to be abandoned. Anyways, if the series between the West Indies and Zimbabwe is considered, though it would not have been a great guess for anyone who'd have bet on the West Indies, the converse also had an equal share, taking into account their poor performance since the retirement of the bowling trio Ambrose-Walsh-Bishop a decade ago.

Added to that was the fact that West Indies lost the only T20 game earlier where they failed to even chase down 105 runs and then in the first one dayer at Guyana West Indies lost the game by 2 runs which added another unwanted feather in their cap. And though since that game the West Indies have never dared to look back, the victory was hardly enough to silence all even a little bit of critics. It was only the Kingston one dayer which the West Indies won by 141 runs that could draw some appreciation. And, when it comes to the remaining three matches, if not for the win, no other way can anyone be convinced with the performance of the West Indies team.

Being the home team and having a last laugh against a non testing team against Zimbabwe speaks for itself about the caliber the West Indies team have in them off late. Chasing a target of just above 150 or 200 should have seen them lose not more than 3 wickets or at the most 5 wickets. So should have been the overs they needed to go past the Zimbabwean total which saw them crawl upto the late 40s to reach the target. If a team like the West Indies has such a bad fate, one can think of another Zimbabwe when no one bets on the West Indies. If the cricketing world loses a test team like the WI, there would be just 6 teams playing decent cricket with Bangladesh & WI crashing out.