As I always say regarding whenever the West Indies go out there in the middle to take on the opposition, this time as well, the opponents namely South Africa did everything right and effortlessly to overcome the West Indies. Continuing from day before where the Proteas had left after the captain Graeme Smith notched up a century against a bowling squad that can just fill in the vacant places in the squad. With that being an old and an outdated issue, the point to be seen here is that Smith is found boasting victories only against West Indies and no other team in the world.
It is evident still the way the Proteas lost the second test on their tour to India in February early this year. In the second day of the second test against the West Indies, Smith and his team had another day on the field wherein they all were found doing was to continue the good work they had done on the first day's play. Meanwhile, it was Graeme Smith himself who came up with a century when he scored 132 day before yesterday to become the driving force for his team's to-be victory in the second test. Nothing special or creative in it.
The first step for the Proteas is a close being over when they piled up a total in excess of 500 by the end of half a day past the first day. All they have now got to do is to wait and see from the position where they field the way the West Indian batting crumbles in the days to come. However, if the West Indies' batting is seen in the hours that have collapsed yesterday, they are found to have as usual reduced the degree of humiliation by reducing the margin of defeat. In this case, the defeat may be on the 5th day or by a few runs less than what they had in their first test.
There was an individual score of an unbeaten 46 by the West Indian captain Chris Gayle which will not bring him the captain's knock in any way. And that is far from expectation and also far from deserving at the same time. One thing that can be seen from the South Africa's first innings is not only that there were three batsmen who scored centuries but also between them contributed as many as 377 runs out of 543 runs which happens to be close to 3/4th of the total. However, this cannot give a conclusion that the pitch was a batsman's paradise for, the opposition is West Indies. Likewise, Smith can experiment from the next test onwards after winning this one.
Showing posts with label AB Devilliers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label AB Devilliers. Show all posts
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Continuation in West Indies' misery...
Well if at all anyone wants to see the West Indies winning a match be it either the test or the one dayer or the T20, the only option would be to see them play non test playing nations for, even Bangladesh and Zimbabwe are comparatively better than the West Indies. Of course, West Indies winning a test series match can be dreamt of I suppose. Even in today's cricket, if at all there is a team that fails to chase down a total of 250 or 300, that can be West Indies alone. Of course, England and New Zealand join the list occasionally.
Even today, there can be seen an innings in a one dayer wherein a team follows the same old slow and steady approach to the game, first by not losing wickets at regular intervals and then by settling and start whacking the bat hard in the last ten overs. That was what was evident from the South African innings when they put up a decent total of 280 on the board from the 48 overs that were allotted for reasons that is not so important here. With already two gone in the first 8 overs when the scoring rate was over 6.0 an over, the pressure was started to be felt by the incoming batsmen Hashim Amla and Devilliers.
As expected, the duo put up a partnership in excess of 100 and then a decent total was on the cards for the Proteas. And why shouldn't the Proteas do that when they are facing a team that has absolutely any bowlers in it? The West Indies team is found to miserably lack bowlers irrespective of disciplined ones and non disciplined. The West Indian captain Chris Gayle bought in 8 out of ten players to bowl at the South African batsmen. With the wicket keeper Denesh Ramdin not set to bowl usually, the number can be counted as 9 out of 11 or 8 out of 10.
A debutant in David Miller was found scoring at the strike rate of 143 which speaks of the caliber of the West Indies' bowling. Finally, like it has happened, once again, Hashim Amla was awarded the man of the match award for scoring a 109 ball 102. But, with a batsman in A B Devilliers who scored 102 from 101 balls was sidelined. Why? Some reasons that are though not satisfactory include that Hashim Amla was the opener who was facing the new ball and was in place when two quick wickets fell. And some things that should not be spoken about include Hashim Amla taking the due advantage of the power plays and support from Devilliers.
Even today, there can be seen an innings in a one dayer wherein a team follows the same old slow and steady approach to the game, first by not losing wickets at regular intervals and then by settling and start whacking the bat hard in the last ten overs. That was what was evident from the South African innings when they put up a decent total of 280 on the board from the 48 overs that were allotted for reasons that is not so important here. With already two gone in the first 8 overs when the scoring rate was over 6.0 an over, the pressure was started to be felt by the incoming batsmen Hashim Amla and Devilliers.
As expected, the duo put up a partnership in excess of 100 and then a decent total was on the cards for the Proteas. And why shouldn't the Proteas do that when they are facing a team that has absolutely any bowlers in it? The West Indies team is found to miserably lack bowlers irrespective of disciplined ones and non disciplined. The West Indian captain Chris Gayle bought in 8 out of ten players to bowl at the South African batsmen. With the wicket keeper Denesh Ramdin not set to bowl usually, the number can be counted as 9 out of 11 or 8 out of 10.
A debutant in David Miller was found scoring at the strike rate of 143 which speaks of the caliber of the West Indies' bowling. Finally, like it has happened, once again, Hashim Amla was awarded the man of the match award for scoring a 109 ball 102. But, with a batsman in A B Devilliers who scored 102 from 101 balls was sidelined. Why? Some reasons that are though not satisfactory include that Hashim Amla was the opener who was facing the new ball and was in place when two quick wickets fell. And some things that should not be spoken about include Hashim Amla taking the due advantage of the power plays and support from Devilliers.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)