This is at most of the times a common issue with the home team bundling up the opposition no matter by what margin they do it. And, this time South Africa were no different when they had Sri Lanka tumbling with a lag of 209 runs against the home team with one more wicket still to go. South Africa have in the recent past played some decent cricket with them outplaying India last year and then recently against Australia when they grabbed a 8 wicket win despite having been bowled out for 96 runs in the first innings. This was in Australia and not at home.
With the situation the South Africans are now in, it looks as though an innings win for them is high on the cards. There are three more days of play left in the game with Sri Lanka needing atleast 300 runs more than what the South Africans manage in the first innings in case they need to keep their hopes of saving the test alive. At present, with the South African scorecard reading 389 runs, assuming that they lose their last and final wicket with no more addition of runs, Sri Lanka as per calculation need atleast 689 runs to tame the hosts.
It is not an undisputed fact that a total of 689 is highly difficult though history has seen several such games where a team makes a surprise comeback after being shattered in the first innings. The best example for this would be the Kolkata test between India and Australia where Australia bundled out India for 171 only to see them lose the game after Steve Waugh imposed a follow-on. That match was famous for Laxman's 281 and Harbhajan Singh's Hat-trick. But, that test was played by India at home. Things cannot be assumed to be the same had the same been played away.
Similarly, I can recall Kamran Akmal and Asif Kamal spoiling India's party when they held the nerve in the Delhi test after India had taken a lead of 204 runs powered by Virender Sehwag's 173. The match that should have been won by India happened to end in a draw. Now, keeping in mind the batting line up of Sri Lanka, a miracle can be possible but with other factors also supporting the same. They have Mahela Jayawardane, Samaraweera, Sangakkara etc who can show some hopes with the bat. But, once again the problem lies in their bowling which can be self-destructing.
Showing posts with label Mark Boucher. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mark Boucher. Show all posts
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Thursday, November 10, 2011
A mistake made by Smith
Well the South African captain - Greame Smith no doubt should have considered his decision a million times or else repent regarding the same a million times when he chose to field first in a test match and that too involving Australia against whom he has had a series loss in the ODIs. There are hardly any cases in a test match where a captain wins the toss and chooses to field first because, in most of the cases, the pitch gets deteriorated day by day making it tough for the batsmen. In such a case, anyone who faces the bowlers first will have the initial advantage.
It has been more than two years since South Africa faced Australia be it on their home soil or outside. In the last two times since the two teams have met each other, both of them have walked away with a series. Much to anybody's surprise, South Africa won the series 2-1 in Australia while Australia won the series by the same margin in South Africa in the return series. This time, the series is scheduled at South Africa and if anybody has to go by the history, then it should be Australia walking with the honors. However, that has a long way to go.
In the first day's play at Cape Town, the scorecard clearly suggests that the pitch was a tough one to bat on with the way the Australian batsmen scored losing 8 wickets in between. There was Michael Clarke who scored an unbeaten century and Shaun Marsh who supported by scoring a handy 44 runs. In the end, the Australian run-rate was 3.89 runs an over. Though one side of the story suggests that the pitch was tough for batsmen, there was Michael Clarke who scored runs at a quick pace by ending the day scoring 107* runs from 114 balls.
With rain taking away almost 40 overs of the day's play, a lot of excitement has been stripped off the match making people wait for 24 hours more to see their favorite teams play it out there. One has to congratulate the South African wicketkeeper Mark Boucher for claiming his 500th victim behind the stumps. This was not something achieved by either a batsman or a bowler. Very rarely do wicketkeepers and fieldsmen make news for the good reasons unlike batsmen and bowlers. With none of the wicketkeepers making it to even 400, Boucher's efforts and achievement should never go unnoticed.
It has been more than two years since South Africa faced Australia be it on their home soil or outside. In the last two times since the two teams have met each other, both of them have walked away with a series. Much to anybody's surprise, South Africa won the series 2-1 in Australia while Australia won the series by the same margin in South Africa in the return series. This time, the series is scheduled at South Africa and if anybody has to go by the history, then it should be Australia walking with the honors. However, that has a long way to go.
In the first day's play at Cape Town, the scorecard clearly suggests that the pitch was a tough one to bat on with the way the Australian batsmen scored losing 8 wickets in between. There was Michael Clarke who scored an unbeaten century and Shaun Marsh who supported by scoring a handy 44 runs. In the end, the Australian run-rate was 3.89 runs an over. Though one side of the story suggests that the pitch was tough for batsmen, there was Michael Clarke who scored runs at a quick pace by ending the day scoring 107* runs from 114 balls.
With rain taking away almost 40 overs of the day's play, a lot of excitement has been stripped off the match making people wait for 24 hours more to see their favorite teams play it out there. One has to congratulate the South African wicketkeeper Mark Boucher for claiming his 500th victim behind the stumps. This was not something achieved by either a batsman or a bowler. Very rarely do wicketkeepers and fieldsmen make news for the good reasons unlike batsmen and bowlers. With none of the wicketkeepers making it to even 400, Boucher's efforts and achievement should never go unnoticed.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
A rare feather in South Africa's cap
South Africa and New Zealand belong to a totally different club when it comes to international cricket with both the teams having made only upto the semis finals of a world cup and that too equal number of times. Both the teams have made it to the semi finals of a world cup on three occasions in 1992, 1999 and 2007. Here, South Africa makes news for the good reasons when the South African wicket keeper Mark Boucher celebrates his 500th test victim when he gets the West Indian player Ravi Rampaul out caught behind in the 2nd test at St Kitts.
This, I guess is the only feat that a South African individual can ever boast of after Lance Klusner was awarded the man of the series in the 1999 world cup played in England. Lance Klusner was out only on two occasions, one against Australia and the other against New Zealand in the 1999 world cup and deserved to be there holding the trophy despite there being Geoff Allot from New Zealand along with Shane Warne who had finished on top with 20 wickets each to become the highest wicket takers in the tournament. If not for that, no other South African player can boast of his achievements in international cricket.
This can be rejoiced by the South African team who has known to be unlucky though that is evident only by their outlook. South Africa is yet to make it to the finals of a world cup, let alone winning it. And, so is the case when it comes to the world T20. There is no South African batsman who has scored a triple hundred in test match cricket. All these happening despite South Africa having the potential to do it unlike Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. However, South Africa, as a team can boast of being the only team to have successfully chased down a total in excess of 400.
South Africa are the only team to have beaten Australia in Australia since 1994 when West Indies did the same. Oh! I forgot to mention Herschelle Gibbs' feat of hitting six sixes in an over in the world cup pool match against Holland though which draws much criticism for being achieved against a non test playing nation. But, the other side of the coin also suggests that no other batsman has been able to do that despite there being teams like Bermuda, Scotland etc. Of course, one should not expect Gary Kirsten's knock of 188* to be mentioned here for this is no general blog and has no general readers.
This, I guess is the only feat that a South African individual can ever boast of after Lance Klusner was awarded the man of the series in the 1999 world cup played in England. Lance Klusner was out only on two occasions, one against Australia and the other against New Zealand in the 1999 world cup and deserved to be there holding the trophy despite there being Geoff Allot from New Zealand along with Shane Warne who had finished on top with 20 wickets each to become the highest wicket takers in the tournament. If not for that, no other South African player can boast of his achievements in international cricket.
This can be rejoiced by the South African team who has known to be unlucky though that is evident only by their outlook. South Africa is yet to make it to the finals of a world cup, let alone winning it. And, so is the case when it comes to the world T20. There is no South African batsman who has scored a triple hundred in test match cricket. All these happening despite South Africa having the potential to do it unlike Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. However, South Africa, as a team can boast of being the only team to have successfully chased down a total in excess of 400.
South Africa are the only team to have beaten Australia in Australia since 1994 when West Indies did the same. Oh! I forgot to mention Herschelle Gibbs' feat of hitting six sixes in an over in the world cup pool match against Holland though which draws much criticism for being achieved against a non test playing nation. But, the other side of the coin also suggests that no other batsman has been able to do that despite there being teams like Bermuda, Scotland etc. Of course, one should not expect Gary Kirsten's knock of 188* to be mentioned here for this is no general blog and has no general readers.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
South African Win At Jo'burg confirmed!
Well if the first three tests between South Africa and England are taken into consideration, it would be wrong to tell or precisely speaking predict the result of the fourth test at Johannesburg no matter what the bats and balls have had to say on the first two days of play. Not for the first time are the South Africans holding an upper hand in the ongoing test series which is needless to be said. Anyone who says that South Africa will win the series will have to kick himself at the end of the day for this is something that the Proteas are facing since the start of the test tournament.
But, after the end of the third day's play, one has to give South Africa their due in the series whatsoever. If people are still keeping their fingers crossed, they would be left with no other option but to stop the prediction game and just press the red button on their TV remote control. However, the ghosts were seen haunting the Proteas by threatening to play a spoilsport yet again when bad light had its say for almost 20 minutes, following which things returned to normalcy. However, there was nothing to panic for the Proteas for, there were still two more days to go after this.
At the end of the day's play, South Africa had declared with 423 runs on the board with the loss of 7 wickets, 5 more than what they had lost on the second day's play which is not the million dollar question at the moment. However, the moment the South African captain Greame Smith declared at the aforementioned score, doubts would have begun to raise in Smith's favor for, declaring with a lead of just above 200 runs can make a fool out of oneself no matter whose decision it was to declare. Or was Smith undoing the mistake that he did in the first and the third tests where he declared with a mammoth total?
Smith imposed a target of 364 runs and 466 runs in the first and third tests respectively, which the English batsmen gave up to chase and just concentrated on how to save the test by seeing to that it ends up in a draw which they successfully did. Now, it looks like a comparatively better decision by Smith when, there is still 2 more days to go and added to that is that a session on the day's play is yet to finish. And that session did pay for, South Africa did manage to grab three quick English wickets to find England reeling at 48-3 with 3 of their top batsmen back in the pavilion. Incase things don't go as anticipated, there would be yet another innings for South Africa to bat and set things right.
Until yesterday, there was no fear of South Africa losing. But, after the third day's play well in front, a South African win can never be ruled out unless there is heavy rain until the end of the scheduled fifth day.
But, after the end of the third day's play, one has to give South Africa their due in the series whatsoever. If people are still keeping their fingers crossed, they would be left with no other option but to stop the prediction game and just press the red button on their TV remote control. However, the ghosts were seen haunting the Proteas by threatening to play a spoilsport yet again when bad light had its say for almost 20 minutes, following which things returned to normalcy. However, there was nothing to panic for the Proteas for, there were still two more days to go after this.
At the end of the day's play, South Africa had declared with 423 runs on the board with the loss of 7 wickets, 5 more than what they had lost on the second day's play which is not the million dollar question at the moment. However, the moment the South African captain Greame Smith declared at the aforementioned score, doubts would have begun to raise in Smith's favor for, declaring with a lead of just above 200 runs can make a fool out of oneself no matter whose decision it was to declare. Or was Smith undoing the mistake that he did in the first and the third tests where he declared with a mammoth total?
Smith imposed a target of 364 runs and 466 runs in the first and third tests respectively, which the English batsmen gave up to chase and just concentrated on how to save the test by seeing to that it ends up in a draw which they successfully did. Now, it looks like a comparatively better decision by Smith when, there is still 2 more days to go and added to that is that a session on the day's play is yet to finish. And that session did pay for, South Africa did manage to grab three quick English wickets to find England reeling at 48-3 with 3 of their top batsmen back in the pavilion. Incase things don't go as anticipated, there would be yet another innings for South Africa to bat and set things right.
Until yesterday, there was no fear of South Africa losing. But, after the third day's play well in front, a South African win can never be ruled out unless there is heavy rain until the end of the scheduled fifth day.
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