Major Fan

Hey,

Well now that there is no chance that South Africa can possibly win this test and it will be the first time that South Africa will ever lose to Sri Lanka in South Africa, unbelievable how bad we can become in 10 days?

So here is the plan… Let us get rid of Jacques Rudoplh (I did not entirely agree with him above Dean Elgar and Rilee Rossouw), Jacques Kallis (He needs a wake up call), Ashwell Prince (What he was doing there to begin with is a big question mark), Mark Boucher and Morne Morkel. I may even go as far as say remove Tahir too, he is just not doing the job that he is supposed to, but for some reason, I won’t.

It must also be said that Graeme Smith is also pretty close to my chopping block list and I would have no qualms in taking him out of the mix too. but for now, here is my team.

1. Graeme Smith

2. Dean Elgar

3. Hashim Amla

4. AB de Villiers

5. Rllee Rossouw

6. Obus Pienaar

7. Heino Kuhn (W/K)

8. Vernon Philander

9. Dale Steyn

10. Marchant de Lange

11. Imran Tahir

Dean Elgar needs a chance, he deserves it, Rilee Rossouw just keeps scoring runs and also needs to be put in the mix! 

That is my opinion.

Chat soon

Hey All,

I am somewhat amused at the charactor of the South African Sports fan today? We lost a nail biting test to Australia, which came down to a really awesome finish. Now we have people calling for the heads of teh boys who were hailed after the first test. Wallabokwanker states it is time to get rid of Kallis and Boucher!! Really, so we are going to place blame solely on Kallis for not scoring 2 centuries in a test and only scoring one fifty, in the first test series in almost a year?

Now the Smith haters have something else to say… Crap captaincy, “we should been more conservative with our runs”, “We should have bowled the quicks more”, “Why did that fat idiot bowl Tahir at the end with only 4 runs needed”.

Now lets put this game and sport into perspective… At the end Australia needed a meagre 15 runs with 2 wickets in hand, Dale Steyn was bowling wide outside the off stump and Philander was doing the same, this is not attacking bowling, and if we only have 15 runs to play with, and 2 wickets needed, you go for the win, because I can promise you the opposition is going for the same!!! Imran Tahir was going at 4 an over, but he also has this knack of taking out the tail!! So Smith went for broke in the end… Which was the best decision in my point of view!!! If you want to win the game, you gotta take the last wickets!!! Not bowl wide off the stumps, he went all out! And it didn’t pay off. If Tahir had come off, it would have been how great Tahir was and Smith would have still been a doos for leaving it so late, the man cannot win!

I am sick and very tired of the attitude of the South African Supporters!! I would never want to be part of SA Cricket in this country because the fans are so fickle and so judgmental. We lose a test match, which actually happens to all countries, ask Australia, England and any other test side, and all of a sudden we need to change the entire team? Get rid of Kallis, Boucher, Smith, Tahir, Morkel, Prince, hell Steyn didn’t take wickets, so lets get rid of him too while we are at it… maybe get rid of Rudolph, he didn’t perform in his comeback of 2 tests, then we can also get rid of AB, he only made 2 fifties… Amla can stay, he made 2 centuries! And Philandeer can stay, he took 2 5-for and 13 wickets in total!!

So that leaves us with… oh, 2 people… at least the clean up is s start, Amla can Captain!!!

This is pathetic, credit is due to Australia for playing well and Ponting came and made runs at the right time for them! Mitchell johnson is not as crap as everyone says he is and the Aussies played a good game! So did the Proteas, but the the Aussies sneeked in a good one!!

I do not want to go into this anymore, the fickle people that call themselves Protea supporters from Perth piss me off! Keep it Aussie mate, you annoy me!!!!

As for the South Africans who are this fickle, when we beat Sri Lanka, and we will, please do not stand and congratulate!! Know that this team is great, will be greater and will conquer!! This is the first test series in a year, under a new coach… Gazza will put his mark on the team, and when he has had more time with the team, the nay sayers will be slienced!

I am outta here. These fickle pricks piss me off too much!!!

Cheers

Major!!

Hey All,

That really was a dismal display of cricket. On a pitch which was really good for batting and Austalia losing a bowler, South Africa threw wickets away. Day 2 is going to be a big batting day and I think if Ponting, Hughes and Clarke can come off we may be looking at an innings loss here.

The batsmen have yet again put a lot of pressure on our bowlers, and I hope that they can use the right line and length to take the early wickets needed. With rain tonight, it may help us in the bowling, but I am not sure. Lyon got some turn and I look forward to seeing Tahir now.

Either way, I am afraid that we fell 240 runs short and we should have made at least 500 in the first innings…

Just my opinion.

Chat soon

Major

Hey All,

Well I am certinly looking forward to this test match. Although I am supposed to be studying for an exam on Friday, I will still be keeping an eye on the screen to watch some great action. Lets have a run through a couple of things.

The Teams

Australia

There are a couple fo changes to the Aussie line up that will take place, one is that Shaun Marsh will miss out because of his injury and David Warner will take his place. Cummins is said to be coming into the line up but ahead of who I am not sure, the toss up is between Johnson and Siddle. I personally would give Siddle a rest and play Johnson, just for teh mental battle Smith needs to face against this guy. Although he is not at full tilt, I think the pitch and condiditons may aid his bowling, but that is also debateable. So I think the Aussie team will look something like this:

1. Shane Watson

2. Phil Hughes

3. Ricky Ponting

4. Micheal Clarke

5. David Warner

6. Mike Hussey

7. Haddin

8. Mitchell Johnson

9. Ryan Harris

10. Pat Cummins

11. Lyon

South Africa

I personally dont see South Africa making any changes. Some may be calling that Lopsy play this one and Philander sit out, because the conditions won’t suit him, but it needs to be said that they are pretty close to each other with regards to pace and swing, and I think Philander may get more out of it. Then again the question arises between Tahir and Harris, and Harris does have more experience etc. and Tahir did not exactly perform in Cape Town, but the pitch did not work for him and also I think he needs to be calmed down a bit, he seemed a bit hatsy and tries too many different deliveries, he needs a stock delivery and then he can pull one or two of the six others in his cavalry out in an over, but to try and bowl a different ball every delivery may be his down fall. Still for me the team stays the same.

1. Smith

2. Rudolph

3. Amla

4. Kallis

5. AB

6. Prince

7. Boucher

8. Philander

9. Steyn

10. Morkel

11. Tahir

The Pitch and Conditions

Wanderers has always played a decent test match, with these 2 teams facing eachother here 10 times and a result coming 8 out of those 10 is pretty impressive. I feel that the Wanderers pitch does offer a little something to bot batsman and bowler. With the rain clouds expected overhead on thursday morning, it may just favour the bowling team for the first couple of hours of play. Friday morning is the same, with rain expected, but a tiny amount that may only really play a part in the morning sessions, and then the sun comin out and making it nice for the batsmen. Sunday, which will be day 4 will see a little more rain and thunder, with thunder showers expecting throughout the day, but knowing Jo’burg, probably only at about 4 pm…

If I look at the ODI played here, I do think that the spinners will play a role, especially from day 3. the pitch in the ODI was slower, but that was a pitch prepared for ODI and not tests. A test pitch will be harder on day one and will suit guys like Steyn and Cummins, but from day 2, Philander and Watson may be the better options.

I think that if we were to win this toss, and remember I have not seen the pitch, so my view might change, I would have a bat first, let Smith and Rudolph see off the new ball and from there it will be a lot easier to bat, then we can look at a good first innings total of around 350 – 400 then this test will be game on. Australia does hold the highest total on this ground with a massive 652/7 which was a first innings total, and they won that test match.

South Africa have faced Australia 10 times on this ground, Winning 3, Losing 5 and Drawing 2.

Players to watch

Australia

Ricky Ponting

Ricky is under pressure to score runs here or his place in the side may be a lost. I feel that this guy is a cricket great and to write him off would be naive! He is like a wild dog in a corner, unpredictable, and I think that this test is make or break for him and I think he may just come out all guns firing. I enjo watching him bat and I enjoy it when he makes runs. So now we can just wait and see?

Phil Hughes

He never came off in the last game, but very few did. I think Hughes can take a game away from you if you are not careful and he will do it with killer accuracy.

David Warner

This lad has a point to prove! He has been trying to break into the test arena and has said that he does not want to be labelled a T20 player. The man can hit hard and far, but I would be interested to see if he has the patience for test cricket.

Pat Cummins

Another debutant… I like this kid, he has that X factor, not scared to mix up the pace and also can bang them in there at a scary pace! I think South Africa may try and target him, because his inexperience may be his main weakpoint. Once they get him away a couple of times, he may start to lose focus, this is where Clarke will have to show his strength as captain!

South Africa

Graeme Smith

There are 2 reasons I think Smith is a player to watch this game, firstly he is starting to get real form back and I for one would love to see him score another double ton to finally stamp out the nay sayers! but more importantly, although his stance etc. is not text book, I want him to do well! The second reason to watch Smith is in his captaincy, an experience and clever captain, but has never had to captain a guy like Tahir, I want to see Smith taking the reigns with Tahir and getting him to bowl to Smiths game plan and Smith needs to captain this guy! I feel a big one coming for Smith and I feel he deserves to show those who booed him in Jo’burg last time, that he is the BEST!

Jacques Rudolph

Altough he did not come off in Cape Town, he looked like he was really focused and hungry for some runs. I think he enjoys bat on ball and the opening day may just be what the doctor ordered for him to get a good 75 or 100 runs. Rudolph can score big runs, but he needs to be reminded that he has all day to score them!

Dale Steyn

I am not going to say much here. I think the pith may just be perfect for Dale on days 1 and 2, and if Aus take a heavy roller on any of teh other days Steyn may be in for some wickets. There is a reason this guy is number one in the world and I really look forward to him bowling at Wanderers with a high pressure system overhead, that means a little bit of nice outswing for him!!

With an 80% result ratio on this ground between these 2 teams, I think we will have a result in this match. I hope that South Africa can pull that result through and topple the Aussies over, but at the same time I do feel that Australia are still a good side, and although Wallabokiwi says they are a second rate Aussie side, I disagree and think these guys are definately still good.

Here is to 5 days of cricket, not 2 and a half, but 5!!! Lets go boys!!!

Chat soon

Major

Hey All,

Well that was possibly the most horrible display of cricket I have ever seen, at least inning 2 and 3… Philander really did well and proved that he can play cricket with the best of them! Smith and Amla did their duty, and all those people booing Smith… I hope you like your eggs nice and soft!!!

Ok now, the main point of this post is to try and explain the reasons why Newlands doesn’t usually play test cricket in November… Also a couple fo pointers as to why 23 wickets were lost in one day. Now lots of people will blame the pitch, others will blame the poor batting and some will just say it was great bowling, I say it was a combination of all three with the pitch possibly playing a major part of that. Now here is my full pitch idea… on the days running up to the test match, Cape Town had a couple of weeks of rain and sunshine, it was kind of 4 seasons almost every week, with rain then sun then rain, you get the point… OK, so the would create a moisture in the pitch, a slightly deeper moisture, si the first 5-8cm of the pitch were “dry” while below that there was a lot of stored moisture. So they started putting the covers on a while before the match because they wanted to keep the pitch dry, which is the norm! But this created a sweating pitch with expands the top layer and when rolled, brings some moisture to the top of the pitch, which if it was sunny, would dry up pretty quickly.

OK so now the match starts, and Wednesday, it is raining… so that moisture under the surface is not ‘escaping’ but rather, because of the covers, is ‘bleeding’ to the top, so when we finally start, there is a lot of moisture in the pitch just under the surface, hence the ability for Philander and Steyn to get the swing they wanted, given the cloud cover helped with this. At stumps on Wednesday the pitch had a little bit of sun and a little bit of wind and again the top 5-8cm of the pitch should have been pretty dry, but not bone dry. There was a lot of moisture in the air on Wednesday evening and a  little bit of rain if I recall, so the pitch was pretty cold under the covers, and the sweating pitch would not have been as bad.

Day 2, Micheal Clarke asks for a light roller! Good idea, if he had chosen to take a heavy roller, which most would think because it flattens the pitch, it would have brought up a lot of moisture and the ball would have played the same as the morning session on Day 1, but the light roller, just flattened what needed to be flattened! We finally take the wickets and Smith goes for the heavy roller, which at this point is not a bad decision, because althought the covers came off a little bit later than usual, because of concern for rain, the pitch had still seen enough sun to dry up enough of the pitch, say from 8cm down, so a heavy roller may bring that up, but not enough to make that much of a difference. South Africa then did well for the rest of the session only losing Rudolph. It was teh next session that caused all the problems, and the pitch was playing as  a bit of a demon! witht eh ball nipping off the seam more than usual and nipping back into the batsman more than usual, it must be said that the ball was doing funny things off the pitch, and that was a huge contributing factor as to why most wickets fell were LBW! It was playing one line and geting struck in another. Again the bowlers used this to their advantage and hit the right areas!!

When South Africa were bowled out just a couple of hours after going in Clarke again opted for the light roller, but this time, because the heavy roller was used just 2 hours prior, the moisture and was present and also the roller didn’t flatten the pitch as much, and I really feel that had Clarke called for the Heavy roller, it may have been a slightly different story and I think Australia may have reached at least 130? But the light roller came on which did not help the pitch but instead brought the moisture up just enough to be effective again, whereas is the heavy roller was used, the moisture would have been close enought to the surface and the first 20 mintues would have been difficult, but after that, it would have dried up and batting would have been a lot easier!

Needless to say, after the Aussies were bowled out for 47, Smithy again took the heavy roller, which means a lot of the moisture would have come up to the top of the surface and would have had some time in the sun to dry. And as tehy say, the rest is history. Day 3 was a batters dream and Smith and Amla took full advantage.

With all the pitch etc. it must still be said that if the bowlers did not hit the right lines and the batsmen did not play the crappy strokes, then the game would have played out very differently.

When all said and done though, South Africa came back fighting, with Smith leading his troops with full confidence even after being bowled for 96. That takes balls and Smith must be applauded as Captain! and each player must be applauded fo this great comeback.

I spoke to a couple of “people in the know” and they explained to me that because more than 15 wickets fell in a day, Newlands will go under review and footage will be reviewed and a decision will be made as to whether the pitch was substandard, however, the ICC regulations do state that a pitch and outfield report must be filled in by match referee, and the captains and umpires must be consulted for this purpose, movement off the seam and bounce are taken into account and then the general condition of the pitch must be reported. I would love to see the pitch report that the match referee filled in for this one!

I now look forward to Wanderers and hoe the highveld storm do not play too much of a role there!

Chat soon,

Major

Hey all,

That was an awesome day of cricket! Graeme Smtih winning the toss and then sending Australia in to bat was a gem of a decision, while Clarke said he would have batted first anyway, I think Smith made the right decision. Had we batted first, I do fear that the Smith/Johnson battle would have been a difficult one for me as a massive Smith fan…

However at 40/3 with Ponting going for a meagre 8, I felt that we were doing well, Dale Steyn not appealing for that was understandable with 2 distinct sounds, but a good call by the experienced captain, Graeme Smith! I feel it was Steyns day and he delivered everytime he was given the ball. There is a reason this guy is the number one test bowler in the world! Now it must be pointed out that Dale has not been at full tilt in the ODI’s and the commentators and many other people have been saying this, but this guy is a world class bowler and understands that bowling a 148km/h ball is not always what is needed of him. The pitches for the ODI’s did not favour pace, so he took some off. This pitch however has favoured his style of bowling to a tee!!

The thing that makes Steyn dangerous is the fact that he can bowl the ball at a 150km/h and still get last minute outswing to the right hander!! He showed his class on day one and firmly showed why he is Number 1!!

Vernon Philander, a man who used be considered a batting all rounder showed that he does have good reason to be there! On debut, he has bowled good lines and lengths and has proven difficult to get away. While swinging the ball in any direction he has proved to be a thorn in the side. Great call there by the “brains trust” to get this guy to open with the overhead conditions like they were, he was a perfect choice!! So once again, great Captaincy there by the experienced Smith!

The otehr bowlers have bowled “moose” deliveries and should they start hitting their stride, I fear the Aussies may in for some interesting batting attempts!!

When Australia were putting on a big partnership I started to get a little worried, and Smith kept a very attacking field. This was a conern for me, but as an experienced captain he proved that the attacking approach was the one he needed for the type of pitch and the type of bowling he wanted from his bowlers, which sadly only 2 of the 5 bowlers have bowled this way! This once again shows his experience as a captain and shows his attitude about the tests and winning them! If this is his mindset, I look forward to him batting!!

When all is said and done, a huge congratulations must go to captain Clarke!! an unbeaten 107 thus far, half the Aussie total, was a fine performance and an innings saving knock. While men have fell around him he has still stayed calm and collected. He has shown that he is a class player and that he is worthy of the Aussie captaincy. A massive well done to Clarke, without him the Aussies would be nowhere!!

Day 2 offers a little more sunshine and maybe allowing the pitch to “bake” a little, making it a flatter wicket and more batter friendly, I think this was Smiths plan, day 2, 3, and 4 are all sunnier and warmer days, allowing the pitch to bake and be more batter friendly, but Saturday night Rain is forecast and it will probably rain all night, giving the pitch a little bit of something for teh seamers again and also helping Tahir out. I personally would not want to be batting against Dale Steyn on day 5 with a moisture in the pitch, cloud cover and higher humidity. Once again some great dcisions made there by an experienced captain! Lets hope all goes according to plan, and the pitch does bake later today, from about 12!

To end once again my top four players of the day are Dale Steyn for a great bowling performance, Philander, for backing Steyn up and also attacking! Greame Smith for great decision making and last but definately not least Micheal Clarke, for a great century and one I am sure he will cherish!

Caht soon,

Major

P.S One last thing, when Shaun Marsh went out he called for a review, now most people said that he was wasting teh review and he knew he was out. Well he is my resoning… When you look at his reaction, the first thing he did was look at his stance, and if you look where he ended in his non shot, he may have felt that the ball hit him outside the line! Now, of course it didn’t, but because of where his front foot ended, please note ended, he may have thought there was a possibility it hit outside the line, and the law clearly points out that if the ball hits outside the lin when playing a shot, the batsman cannot be ruled out! Just my opinion?