Result comes as expected

Very rarely does a team comes out successful after winning the toss and choosing to field first. In most of the matches, any captain who wins the toss is seen taking the crease unlike what the South African captain - Graeme Smith has been seen doing. Whatever, as the saying "all is well that ends well" goes, South Africa as expected won the game by an innings and 81 runs which is something to be relished for a long time by the Proteas. Had the South African captain chosen to bat first, may be South Africa would not have had an innings win.

Had South Africa batted first, may be Graeme Smith might not have taken the courage to impose a follow-on on the Sri Lankan team which would have sealed all hopes of South Africa having an innings win. This has been seen in most of the games where even courageous captains think a million times before imposing a follow-on no matter how much the difference between both the teams is. The best example that I can cite is in the Sydney test 2003-04 where the then Indian captain - Sourav Ganguly decided to bat for the second time despite piling up 705 runs in the first innings.

India had a margin of close to 250 runs in the match against Australia which eventually ended in a draw when all hopes of an Indian win was alive. Coming back to the game between Sri Lanka and South Africa, my calculation for Sri Lanka should have seen them piling up atleast 689 runs to see some hopes in the game which eventually didn't happen, needless to be said. Forget about any mammoth total by the Sri Lankan batsmen, they could not even score the total of 180 runs which they managed in their first innings. The Sri Lankans were bundled out for 150 runs.

This was 30 runs less than what they could manage in their first innings. Anyone who goes through the scorecard would know that their top order failed miserably with the first major knock coming from the blades of Thilan Samaraweera who scored 32 runs to top the batting among Sri Lankan batsmen. There were four batsmen who scored over 30 runs in the first innings while the 2^nd innings saw only one batsmen doing the same. The Sri Lankan debacle made hay for Vernon Philander who took ten wickets in his third test to see him get the man of the match.

Day 1 or One day at Centurion?

This has never happened to Sri Lanka in the past decade or so when they happen to be tamed on their home soil. I remember Sri Lanka winning the test series 1-0 in 2004-05 with the hosts having a high upper-hand in the first test that was drawn aided with Kumara Sangakkara's 232. Now, Sri Lanka have been bowled out for just less than 200 runs n the board against the Proteas when they ended their innings at 180. The match was one of its kind with the Proteas piling up exactly half of what the Sri Lankan batsmen could manage hours before.

There was no batsmen from Sri Lanka who could post even 40 runs individually let alone a half century. I had written on this blog before about the lack of experienced bowlers in the Sri Lankan squad though their batting line up happens to be pretty decent. But, after this, it looks as though someone like Sanath Jayasuriya and Aravinda De Silva have to come back as 25 year olds to save their team from humiliating defeats. Noted batsmen from Sri Lanka namely - Tilekeratne Dilshan and Kumara Sangakkara could not manage more than 6 runs and one run respectively.

Batsmen who rode over 30 runs include Angelo Mathews who top scored 38, Jayawardane (30), Samaraweera (36) and Paranavitana (32) that comes up to 136 runs out of 180. It was not some Dale Steyn, Morkel or Jacques Kallis who did the damage with the ball but was some Vernon Philander who scalped 5 wickets in his third test against a strong batting line-up as mentioned above. Of course, a lot of support was provided from the other end by the experienced Dale Steyn who also picked up 4 wickets which was equally instrumental in the Sri Lankan batting collapse.

The match was played at South Africa which can form as an excuse for the touring team in case they fail to keep up their fans' hopes. With South Africa also being an equally strong outfit, the blame cannot be completely on the Sri Lankan team. One can say that, "had South Africa toured the sub-continent nation, they might have also met with the same fate". That forms the "ifs and buts of the story." Whatever, in days to come (in the ongoing 1^st test), with their batsmen giving up hopes, nothing much can be expected from their inexperienced bowlers.

Bounce will always be the trick

This is one advantage that the Aussies, South Africans and the West Indies have on their home soil when they have pitches that can offer uneven bounce. May be that is the reason why bowlers like Curtly Ambrose, Walsh, Ian Bishop, Glenn McGrath, Damien Fleming etc happen to be from that side of the cricketing world though there are the likes of Kapil Dev, Javagal Srinath, Wasim Akram, Imran Khan, Chaminda Vass etc who hail from the sub-continent. But, when it comes to bounce, it has to be no other team but the West Indies. Australia and South Africa follow behind.

This time, Sri Lanka are expected to take on South Africa on their home soil in days to come when batsmen like Jayawardane, Sangakkara and Samaraweera happen to face the wrath of Dale Steyn, Morkel and newly joined pacer Vernon Philander who had some splendid performances in the IPL earlier this year in India. On the other hand, Sri Lanka will be missing the services of Lasith Malinga, Chaminda Vass and Nuwan Kulashekara leaving only the somewhat in form pacer Dilhara Fernando to do his bit for Sri Lanka. I wonder whether such a weak outfit from Sri Lanka has even toured South Africa in the last decade?

Problem regarding the teams like South Africa, Australia and West Indies lies in them tackling spin bowling which made their life hell whenever they toured Sri Lanka with Muralitharan there in the team. But, spin has little or absolutely no effect in the pitches of South Africa for Sri Lanka to try their luck. In that case, the presence of Ajantha Mendis would be only to fill in the vacancy so that the team consists of eleven players. Of course, Ajantha Mendis also is not a perfect turner of the ball which forms a different story altogether. But, the fear for spin bowling can be capitalized by Mendis.

In case there happens to be a fear for spin bowling in the minds of the South African batsmen, then may be spinners from Sri Lanka can have a ball which can rarely happen with the South African team well aware that they are the hosts. And, moreover there is no Muralitharan to do miracles with the ball. But, if Dale Steyn happens to have his words come true, then the ball might just hit the highest point of the bat. And, Dale Steyn's words have a greater probability of coming true, given his form and fitness since the past two years or so.

A last chance slips out from Aussies

A target of 236 would always be a tough one for any team especially after they were bundled out for less than 100 runs on the board. And, if South Africa have been able to achieve that, then the Aussies are solely to blame with their bowlers not being able to restrict them. There was more than three days of play left meaning the Proteas had more than three days of play left for them to achieve victory over the visiting side. In other words, the proteas had to battle out for three more days on a pitch that saw successive teams getting bowled out for less than 100 runs.

Making matters still worse, Australia were bowled out for even less than 50 runs on the board. And, chasing 236 on that pitch which would have got deteriorated even more after repeated bounce could only be a dream come true for anyone who has been able to do so. Much to anybody's surprise, the pitch looked as though it assisted the batsmen when both the players who took to the crease were found returning with a hundred and remaining unbeaten towards the end. South Africa had won the contest by 8 wickets needless to be said. But, it is a mystery that the match lasted only three days.

I remember Pakistan bowling out the Aussies for a modest total of 127 in late 2009 and towards the end, it was Australia who comprehensively won the match after Mike Hussey laid a steady platform. This was not such a game with both teams having been bowled out for less than hundred runs as mentioned repeatedly. If the first innings of the Aussie batting and the second (last) innings of the South African batting is considered, batting can never be said to be tough. The match is one such confusing game with the pitch doing all sorts of tricks in the second day alone.

One record was bettered by the other with first South Africa bowling out Australia for 47 after they were bowled out for 96 on board. And then, if Shane Watson returned with figures of 5/17, Philander ended with 5-15. South Africa win the contest in all aspects of the game. However, the highlight of the game should be Michael Clarke's 151 which laid the foundation of a huge total of 284 on a pitch needless to be said. The match saw two 5 wicket takers and three century scorers. This will no doubt go down as one of the most confusing tests in history.

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.

End of a formality

Well on the first day's play between the West Indies and South Africa, it was as though the West Indies though will not win the game, will atleast put up a tight finish by giving the visitors a run for their money. But, as expected, the West Indies just continued from where they had left in their last test against Australia. The world was saved from watching horrible cricket by the West Indies for as long as six months when the West Indie didn't have any major test series inbetween. Anyways, with that being a different issue, the 1^st test saw the Proteas taking a 1-0 lead in the 3 match test series needless to be said.

The match traveled from bad to worse as far as the West Indies were concerned. On the first day, when the Proteas were bowled out for a mere 352 on the board, it was as though the match would see the West Indies achieve an unexpected triumph which obviously didn't happen. And then after the second day's play when the West Indies team lost all their ten wickets for just 102 on the board, their defeat was confirmed. However, though the defeat was in hand for the West Indies, not many would have thought that to be on the fourth day itself.

Had the match been continued until the fifth day, there would have been much relief for both the West Indian players and fans as well. Precisely speaking, the match ended in less than four days when the first day which was truncated is given a close look at. The first day's play contained just 34 overs which saw the Proteas losing three important wickets. Had the West Indies taken on the game, may be they would have returned home with a little bit of satisfaction. However, now also they should be satisfied when nothing unexpected happened to Chris Gayle's team.

The worse happened to the West Indies when they lost the game in a span of just more than three days. The result would have been much more worse for the West Indies in case the South African captain Graeme Smith would have imposed a follow on which he fortunately didn't. In case that had happened, the result would have been achieved in may be two and a half days. If the scorecard is given a closer look at, the West Indies put up 395 runs on the board with both their innings put together. This was just 43 runs more than the 352 runs put up by South Africa in their first innings.

So, an innings defeat would have been avoided at any cost by WI.

The expected happens

Well if one could go through yesterday's post where I had written about the high possibility of the West Indies' batting collapsing owing to depth in the South African bowling that involves Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel, that was what exactly happened when the entire West Indian batting was shattered by the same two for a score just above hundred. One has to notice the coincidence when the South African batsmen fell for the West Indies for a score of just two runs above 350 and the very next day the West Indies team fell for the Proteas' bowling for just two runs more than 100.

Anyways, such coincidences appear in large in the game of cricket and this is nothing special whatsoever. However, coming back to the third day's lay between West Indies and South Africa, it is fascinating to see the home team crashing towards the touring country and that too by a margin of more than 200 runs. The margin happened to be a mammoth 240 runs with the West Indies being able to put up just 102 runs on the board despite having the like of Chris Gayle, Shivnarine Chanderapaul and Dwayne Bravo. The Proteas would have enforced a follow on had there been a little bit of courage from the South African captain.

May be the fact that they were the touring nation made the South African captain - Graeme Smith to decide against enforcing follow on the West Indies. The entire West Indies innings saw just three batsmen crossing double digit mark with Chandrapaul, Deonarine and Ramdin scoring 26, 29 and 25 respectively. The trio contributed a total of 80 runs out of the 102 put up on the board by the entire team. Including the extras bowled by the South African bowlers, the contribution from the rest of the West Indian batsmen come up to be 88. Meaning the trio put up 80% of the total score.

This should have been anticipated before hand itself when a bowler - less West Indian squad could contain the entire South African squad in a single day when they saw the Proteas end their first innings scoring just 352 on board. Then, one can imagine the case when a full fledged South African team with bowlers of the ranks of Dale Steyn and Morkel would bowl and that too on a pitch that would have got a bit slower compared to what it was a day ago. Not only did the West Inidies innings end at 102 but, they could not play for more than 47 overs meaning, the innings lasted just 2 sessions. Anyways, that was far more than expected.

Enough....but not enough!

Well for all those cricket freaks who are into the ongoing first match of the test series between South Africa and the West Indies, here it is. Cricinfo is a better site to tell you what exactly happened on the 2^nd day of the test at Antigua but, my views about the test and the day as well differ slightly. However, the view does not dispute the fact that the two Bs who were there to entertain the crowd who come to watch their favourite game cricket without favoring wither of the teams namely South Africa and West Indies out there.

However, the second day though belonging to the Proteas, some share was taken by the home team as well not only for Sulieman Benn who captured four more wickets after the first day's effort which saw him take the wicket of Hashim Amla and with that the tally of his wickets in the innings reached the magical figure of 5. Despite all odds, Sulieman Benn showed the cricketing world that he can do better things than on field spats with both his teammates and opponents as well. No one expects the West Indies to win the game and that too against South Africa.

But, as a home team, fans can nonetheless support their country though not deserving and the only satisfaction they take home would be that they put up a better performance compared to their previous one. And this time as well, the West Indies were found doing just that when they not only bowled out South Africa for a score just below 350 but also got them back in the pavilion on the second day itself. Speaking precisely, the game didn't last for two days, with only 34 overs being able to be bowled on the first day. Anyways, that is a different issue of what happened on day 1.

If the West Indies continue their good work from here onwards, one can expect a miracle to happen. This would shake all betting freaks who would have bet all their money on the Proteas taking the West Indies for granted which they deserve. It is indeed a more than decent performance from the West Indies' side when they bowled the South Africans for a score just above 350 as mentioned above. However, the Proteas still have the match well in their hands for, the bowling from the South African part is way ahead compared to that from the West Indians.

They have bowlers of the ranks of Morne Morkel, Dale Steyn and others for whom the West Indies have no answer, both as a batting unit or as a bowling one. Though there are bowlers like Benn and Bravo, they can lest be treated on par with some Hussain from Bangladesh team and not with even a part time bowler from South Africa like say Graeme Smith or Jacques Kallis. So, keeping these things in mind, one can conclude that the West Indies' performance as a bowling unit is enough to reduce the margin of defeat but not win a test match.

India lose for a reason

For the second time, one could see Sachin Tendulkar having a test drive on the cricket ground with the car he won as a man of the match award, the first instance being the one in Sharjah, where 2 back to back 100s made him an inevitable choice for the man of the series award in the tri series involving New Zealand, Australia and India (obviously) . This is one of the several instances where a team rejoices over losing a match not before taking an unassailable lead in the series. However, as I mentioned in one of my earlier posts regarding Dhoni's approach to the game, India did lose the game.

But, not before the youngsters had a run on the field facing an international team that is placed in the 3rd position in the ICC's ODI rankings. There was Ravindra Jadeja, Abhimanyu Mithun, Rohith Sharma among others who proved more than what were expected out of them. The loss at Ahmedabad was worth a whitewash on the visiting side. As the scorecard suggests, lesser known players like Yousuf Pathan and Ravindra Jadeja bowler 10 overs which would not have been the case had India not won the series in the 2^nd ODI. Then, Sudeep Tyagi and Abhimanyu Mithun bowled 8 overs.

Added to that was that Virat Kohli and Rohith Sharma were also given the ball no matter how many overs they bowled. Despite the absence of players like Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir & Sehwag the score of team India read 275 with a run rate of above 6.0 an over. No matter that India could not play the allotted 50 overs they were entitled to. One can imagine the situation of the South Team been, had Dhoni not rested SRT and VS and there'd been no injuries to Gambhir & Yuvraj. And with bowlers like Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh, South Africa could not even dream of a victory.

With bowlers like Dale Steyn and Morkel being around, South Africa should have restricted to a score below 200, taking into account the squad with which Dhoni had for the last one dayer. However, South Africa made good use of its batsmen, with the fact that none of the frontline bowlers were available for India when they put up a score of 365 on the board. Much to everyone's surprise, Mithun scored 24 runs despite coming in at number 10 and was coincidently the man who hit 2 sixes which was more than any other Indian batsman in the match. With so many positives for India, losing would have hardly mattered for anyone.

India deserved to win

After India's one run win against South Africa yesterday at Jaipur, some questions to be answered for team India are: Should India feel happy for making it to the records for the narrowest margin of victory on one dayers, which was the 3^rd time with India being at the delivering and and the 2^nd time with the Proteas being at the receiving end? Should Sreesanth feel happy about his comeback not only to international cricket but also in the match, when at one stage he was found giving away 17 rpo and at the end was the man who can be rather called as the architect of India's 1 run victory?

In the recent past as far as India is concerned, they have faced Sri Lanka, that was followed by a tri series involving Sri Lanka once again & Bangladesh as the third team. Then it is the ongoing one day series against South Africa which was set up by the BCCI to rather challenge the Proteas to strip India of the world number 1 rankings if they could do so. With India having seen enough of Sri Lanka in the past 2 years or so, the next best thing that could be worth looking forward to would have been nothing but the series against South Africa.

And, with the result of the 1^st one dayer well in front of us, the caliber what India enjoys in today's cricket can well be guessed. It was indeed a good toss that was won by Graeme Smith and a good call as well when he put the Indians into bat first. Chasing a decent total would not have been tough had the top and middle order South African batsmen kept up to the asking rate. If not for Sachin Tendulkar, all Indian batsmen players who took to the crease came out scoring double figures. Of course, Sreesanth didn't but, Sreesanth never took to the batting crease.

Nothing could be as worse as getting belted on their own pitch in front of their own people especially when the expectations from the crowd is enormous. And India were fortunate to win the match despite some late blastings from Parnell and Steyn. A little bit of contribution, which need not have been necessarily been more than 2 runs from de Villiers, Petersen and Morkel (who scored single digit scores being known batsmen) could have seen South Africa through. A number 10 batsman in Steyn was the batsman who hit the maximum number of sixes in the match. But still, I say that India did deserve to win the match by no matter what the margin was.

Smith's decision justified 100%

Yesterday, I had written about the second day's play between India and South Africa and also raised questions regarding Smith's decision to declare the innings. And, in the 3^rd day's play, Smith has replied to my query in such a way as though he himself had read the post. Smith's decision to declare the innings worked out exactly the way he might have expected to be. India lost 12 wickets on a single day's play, in contrast to South Africa who lost just 4 wickets on day 2 and 2 wickets on day 1. The total of 556 put up by South Africa proved to be too much for India.

Now, another decision has been taken by Smith after he imposed a follow-on on the Indian batsmen after his team took a lead of 325 runs. Added to that, India have lost their openers and one of the noted batsmen in India viz Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir both of whom went for a partly score. Very rarely does a batsman get to play twice on the same day and to get out twice on the same day has to be something great for any batsmen. The only difference in this case is that, it would be for the wrong reasons. Sehwag and Gambhir were the two lucky ones here who got out twice on day 3.

Moreover, Gautam Gambhir got out for the ball of Morne Morkel for the 2^nd time on the same day. Before the start of the series, there were worries for team India regarding playing Murali Vijay, Saha and Badrinath. But, if the 3^rd day's play is taken into consideration, it was Subramanium Badrinath who scored 56 runs which stood 2^nd in the innings after Virender Sehwag scored a hundred. Added to that was the 136 run partnership with Sehwag which formed almost 87% of the Indian score in the 1^st innings. The two along with the extras scored 194 of the 233 runs that was the score towards the end of the innings.

Coincidently, they were the two of the three batsmen from the Indian side who could reach double figure mark though there were 29 extras in the innings. After being at 192/3 at one stage, the remaining 7 wickets fell for a score of just 41 runs. The only thing for the Indian team to feel satisfied at the end of the day is that they maintained a run rate of 3.6 which was slightly more than the run rate of 3.17 maintained by the Proteas in their first innings and that the Indian bowlers bowled just 25 extras compared to the 29 by the South African bowlers. If the proceedings of the match on the 3rd day is considered, it would not be a surprise if the match gets over on the 4^th day itself.

Is Smith confident about his decisions?

As expected at the end of the second day's play between India and South Africa, South Africa did pile up a mammoth total of 556 for the loss of 6 wickets before declaring the innings. However, a close look at the game's play suggests that the South African captain might have erred in declaring the innings with still 4 wickets in hand. If the scorecard of the South African 1^st innings is given a close look at, it is well evident that the pitch might be a pure batting paradise. For, the South Africans lost just 4 wickets on day 2 of the test match.

If not for the opening pair of Graeme Smith and Ashwell Prince, none of the South African batsmen had any sorts of problems with the Indian bowlers. As a matter of fact, South Africans have been comparatively bad players of spin compared to the teams from the sub continent. And the scorecard suggests us that the bowler who maintained the worst economy in the first innings happened to be India's leading and most experienced spinner Harbhajan Singh who ended with an economy rate of 3.60. Moreover, Harbhajan had just 1 maiden which was the lowest among the lot with just one over maiden.

A part time off spinner in Sehwag can come out with an equal number of overs maiden, that Harbhajan could do out of his 46 overs. And, who all batted from the South African team, if not for Prince and Smith, every other batsmen came out with good success barring Duminy. However, prior to the series, India were expected to atleast draw the series with the Proteas, in case they needed to stay at the top of the test ratings, which suggests that the pressure is on India though being the hosts. If the South African first innings is considered, they need not worry about losing, for worst come the match might end in a draw. But, is that the spirit of the way a game is supposed to be played?

In one way, Smith's decision to declare the innings can be given a nod for, the Indian team is too short of batsmen if not for the likes of Tendulkar, Sehwag, Gambhir and Dhoni. Despite the presence of these four, and their capability to score runs, they can hardly be considered to put up a decent partnership that is quintessential in test cricket. India have lost batsmen in Laxman and Dravid, who can stay at the crease for long time that can exhaust the opposition bowlers. Added to that, South Africa have a match winning bowler combination in Dale Steyn, Morkel and Harris along with the experience of Kallis. So, Smith's decision is now in a toss whose result is expected tomorrow.

England Deceived!!!

The way England played their first innings of the fourth test match against South Africa at Johannesburg was as though the English players had taken a draw to be granted like it happened in the earlier tests against the Proteas. One has to just imagine as to how foolish one can get when they are found expecting a fortune to happen, when it is a known fact that fortune has to come by its own in case of lack of hard work and fortune is hunted down by hard working people. How could the English players expect South Africa to take just 9 wickets just because it happened on two earlier occasions?

If one can take trouble to go through the scorecard of England's batting, it would be clear that England had no plans to even sweat it out at the stadium. It is not a big task to bowl out some team like Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and even the West Indies (to a greater extent) on day one itself. But, if someone like England have lost all their 10 wickets on a single day and that too on two successive occasions, their test status needs to be questioned whatsoever. On the first day's play, England were all out for 180, that was followed with South Africa putting 29 runs for no loss of wickets.

Then on the fourth day, even before half of the scheduled time had elapsed, England lost 7 wickets, earlier to which England had lost 3 wickets at the end of the third day's play itself. With England winning the fourth test at Johannesburg or even a draw completely being out of question, at least, England could have avoided an innings defeat by scoring atleast 254 runs required for South Africa to bat again. But, England ended up their second innings putting up a score less than what they could in their first innings when they lost all their 10 wickets for 169.

The third and the first tests that ended in draws was not only a caution for the South African players but also for the English players. Finally, England who took the caution for granted had to pay the price for their half minded approach. Whatever be the result of the Johannesburg test, there was no chance of England losing the series and may be that England were more the less contended with that. Who cares when a loss can only see the trophy being shared! If South Africa had Kallis, Smith and Steyn, England had Peitersen and Broad an co..who could have given it back to the Proteas which didn't.

Finally, though no one expected England to win, or though there can be at the most one winner, both the teams are expected to put up a tough fight which can make the spectators keep their fingers crossed. But, England relied on things which were beyond their control and may be that home sick England just wanted to leave South Africa ASAP.

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.

South Africa's Step 2 on day 2 at Johannesburg

With two days of the fourth test match between South Africa and England well in front of us, it look like the Proteas do not want to take their eyes off from the Wanderers whatsoever. The past devil that haunted the South Africans in the first three tests at Centurion, Durban and Cape Town respectively is found to free them this time atleast at Jo'burg. South Africa did well to bag all ten English wickets wee before the first day's play got underneath. On the first day itself, a 29 run first wicket stand between Greame Smith and Ashwell Prince provided a rock steady defence for the Proteas.

And the second day should have seen the Proteas piling up atleast close to 300 runs on the board if not for the four odd hours which were lost due to rain initially and the bad light that followed. How can one take their eyes off from the television sets when there was Greame Smith playing test cricket in the way it should be! It took the Proteas just over half a day and 2 wickets to surpass the 180 runs that England had piled up on the first day with all 11 English batsmen combined and not to forget the extras that were bowled.

Added to that was Hashim Amla's unbeaten 73. On the other hand, South Africa took just 64 overs to score the 215 runs which was 35 runs more than what England could in their first innings. South African team can be considered to be a step closer towards victory with England after ending their first innings in less than a day's time, leaving the South African batsmen enough time to bat their first innings with a mammoth total. Perhaps! Had there been no interruption due to rain on day 2, one would have seen the Proteas piling up close to 300 runs.

From here onwards, if the South African batsmen can continue the good work they were found doing the first two days of play, the result need not be specially said. However, the picture was no different in the first test and the third, both of which South Africa missed winning by just a whisker. But, if the first 2 days of play are taken into consideration, South Africa are found to have done a neat planning ofhow the five days of the test is supposed to go on. Unlike what they did in the league stages of the world cup 2003 in matches against West Indies and Sri Lanka.

South Africa Have Started the Hide 'n' Seek Game

This is something that the world has been seeing since the beginning of the 4 match test series between South Africa and England. And gone are the people who would have bet on South Africa no matter what the scorecard has to say. Despite the South Africans being able to dislodge the bails for 10 times on the first day of their fourth test against England, their past performance can never ever speak for them. C'mon, when Pakistan couldn't draw a win or even a draw from the Aussies in the second test at Sydney, how can one imagine the Proteas to snatch one from England when England have deceived Australia in Ashes 2009!

Anyway, Ashes is a different issue altogether. It is really difficult to guess as to where on earth did the South Africans go wrong in the third test against England that they had to settle with a draw when a win was thought to be always on the cards for the Proteas. Initial appreciation most of the times for the South African team has turned to be a nightmare. And, even a win in this test may not guarantee the South Africans the satisfaction that they would have relished from their heart. But, a win in this would mean a lot if not complete.

Coming to the first day of the ongoing Johannesburg, it was not sure whether the English batsmen were trying to finish off a one day match that was heading its climax in the first innings or were the English batsmen facing a free hit that is bowled after a no ball in a Limited Overs International match where the chances of batsman getting is highly freak or have the English batsmen decided to gift the South Africans the due in their last match which England should have lost actually? Was this the reason behind the England captain winning the toss and electing to bat first!

Usually, in test cricket, the pitch is found to deteriorate as days pass by, making life difficult for the batsmen. But, in the recent in both the ongoing tournaments namely Pakistan vs Australia and South Africa vs England, runs are found to be coming in the latter parts of the test match than in the initial stages. After being 39-4 at one stage, English batsmen were thought to have made a comeback after the highest partnership of 76 runs between Collingwood and Ian Bell fir the fifth wicket. But, a score of 180 all out on day 1 raises slight doubts over England's dominance over Ashes. Oh! yes, England was hosting the Ashes in 2009 isn't it?