So near, but yet so far

A quality innings from this man{Image via Wikipedia}

Sri Lanka pulled off a great escape that even Houdini would have placed on his “impressive” list.* They nearly pulled off what would have been an ironic choke against the masters of the trade, South Africa.

From a South African point of view, it was great to see Graeme Smith take a step back to devastating form. A century was well needed from a sheer ‘runs under belt’ aspect, but the way in which he was middling the ball put hope into me like no other innings of his has of late.

AB was his awesome ODI self and although I don’t rate him highly as a Test batsman, I feel that he is quite possibly the best ODI batsman in the world. His captaincy has so far proven to be top notch, and I completely admit that I was wrong in suspecting him of being anything less. His decision to give Robbie P the white ball for the final over was inspired (although I don’t feel that Robbie should have been in the team in the first place).

The Sri-Lankans must have batted well although I admittedly didn’t catch much of it due to another engagement. I saw the end, though, and the near-choke made me excited – had SA taken their tag by the scruff of the neck and thrown it into a den of Sri-Lankan lions? The answer was no – our biceps couldn’t quite handle the throw. The fact that we did as well as we did at the end is a positive, though.

A New Leaf?

The Proteas have been inconsistent against Sri Lanka recently, but there has been one major plus to come from this series – AB de Villiers keeping. His captaincy has been a minty breath of fresh air to a side that has long been stereotyped as “predictable” and “boring”.

I’ll admit, initially I was very disappointed with the election of AB over Hashim Amla. I felt that Hashim was a thinker whereas AB would just be a friendly face. However, he has been very inventive with his field-placings and bowling changes – something that has always been lacking in recent South African captains.

Faf du Plessis showed another trait that South Africans have been struggling with – a calm head in a pressure situation. South Africa are famous for throwing matches away, but Faf did quite the opposite when he took a bad start by the top order and turned it around. The eventual Duckworth Lewis victory can be attributed to his ugly yet clever batting. Add to this that South Africa took a strong Sri-Lankan batting start and pulled themselves back into the game makes me wonder: Have South Africa developed a gutsy edge to their armour?

Its too early to say, in my opinion, but one thing I can say is that this series has not been a waste of time. We have found a gem of a captain and a gutsy middle-order batsman – quite a good ‘easy series’ at the office!

Meanwhile, Pakistan look ahead in their match against England, but England won’t mind how today went. All of the English bowlers with the exception of Chris Tremlett got among the wickets which is always good to see at the beginning of a series.

Collapse

A freak event occurred yesterday. Massive, in fact. Sri Lanka collapsed for just 43 runs, chasing South Africa’s total of 301. Words cannot describe the events that took place in that innings. Credit must go to the SA bowlers for bowling well, though. Lopsy looked like a new bowler, nipping the ball into the right handers and getting lots of bounce.

King Kallis displayed his tremendous class yet again before being run out. Hashim Amla was dominant as usual, and AB smashed the bowlers around the park with ease.

The Sri-Lankan bowlers, with the exception of Slinger Malinga, just put the ball on the pitch and hoped for the best. The batsmen… well there’s not much to say, is there?

Onwards to East London, then, where South Africa will hope to maintain their dominance. Sri Lanka will look to bounce back, and bounce back they should, if only for their fans.

Sledging showdown

The treaty between Australia and India has been discarded with the violence of a rabid lion. After accusing the Indian team of being fragile mentally, Brad Haddin was told by Zaheer Khan that his keeping was fragile and that he should focus on that. The best, although well hidden, comment came from Peter Siddle, however. He was plagued with questions about the war of words at a press conference and handled them diplomatically before, according to Cricinfo, slipping in: “Brad’s a very competitive cricketer. He does like to play it hard and fair. Me and Jimmy like to bowl bouncers, stuff like that.” Suddenly being excluded from the Test team sounds sweeter to Suresh Raina!

In other news, SA take on SL in an interesting ODI series starting tomorrow. With Malinga and Kulasekara into the lineup, SL are a much scarier prospect in the middle version of the game and SA will have to be at their best. England look to crush a resurgent Pakistan with a Bresnan-less attack. If any English arrogance leads to sloppiness, Pakistan will jump at the opportunity. Some great cricket will be on display in the coming weeks, and that’s always good news for a cricket fan!

Inconsistency Is Our Speciality

SRT: The ultimate showman! {Image via Wikipedia}

Think of a flower. This particular flower is beautiful – some days. Other days it wilts with no apparent reason. It has a green stem, but people argue as to whether much of the liquids inside of this stem are green or not, as different days of testing yield different results. This flower has reputation for being choked when with other flowers and it may just collapse in a heap on the ground, allowing the other flower to thrive. Which flower are you thinking of? Yes, the Protea.

The Proteas cruised to victory in the opening test – as everyone rightly expected they would – before being thrashed in the Second Test. Surprised and annoyed, fans started viciously calling for players to be dropped. Enter the Third Test, and worried fans turned on their televisions at ten o’clock on day 1 before running behind their couch and watching from that security, fearful of what they might discover. As the next few days went on, their fear turned to caution, their caution turned to hope, their hope turned to satisfaction and their satisfaction turned to delight.

South Africa look way out in front as we head into the fourth day, and most would expect them to wrap the match up today – possibly before lunch. The optimists will call the match a success, the realists will call it satisfactory, and the pessimists will say that it was the a third of the minimum requirement for the series, and that we only achieved 67% of our goals. I will say that it is a fascinating display of inconsistency.

Jacques Kallis put his heart into maintaining an inconsistent style of play, scoring a pair in the Second Test before scoring a double century, his highest score, in the Third.

Meanwhile, Michael unselfishly sacrificed a shot at the world record Individual Test Score to give Australia the best chance of winning their Test match against a dispirited Indian side. Mr Tendulkar continued his brilliant, WWE-esque plan of getting the fans on the edge of their seats by dangling a carrot in front of them before ripping it away just as it touches their fingertips. Yes, the WWE has its haters, but haters gonna hate.

2012 Test Cricket Previews: England

England sit pretty atop the Reliance ICC Test Rankings thanks to a stellar season. After beating Australia in the final Ashes Test to win the series 3-1, England waited until June before their next Test series – a three match series against Sri Lanka which they one 1-0. They then thrashed India 4-0 in the four match Test series against India, known as the Pataudi Trophy. Amazingly, the English did not lose a Test match all year.

In 2012, England will be looking forward towards polishing the solid machine that is their Test team. Anchored by the reliable Alastair Cook, their batting line up is solid and consistent. Jonathan Trott is another rock in the top order, and is well supported by the classy Ian Bell and the dynamic Kevin Pieterson.

Matt Prior has nailed down a position that has been juggling players as a clown would since Alec Stewart retired. A reliable keeper, what has been most refreshing is his batting. England can now rest assured that they have quality batting beyond the top 5, something that has been further assisted by bowling all rounders such as Stuart Broad and Tim Bresnan nailing down spots in the line up.

England are blessed with tremendous depth in the bowling department. Anderson, Broad, Tremlett, Bresnan, Finn, Dernbach and Swann all fight for 4 or 5 positions (depending on how England approach the game), and then there are still many more quality youngsters coming through the ranks that can’t get a look in at the moment.

Predictions

Newcomer of the Year: James Taylor, the 22 year old Nottinghamshire batsman has been performing brilliantly for both Leicestershire and the English Lions over the past year. He averages just under 50 in FC cricket, and has hurled his name to the top of the “talented young batsmen” list. Expect him to get an opportunity this year, and expect him to take it with both hands.

Player of the Year: Alastair Cook will have huge pressure on his shoulders to maintain the performances he put out in 2011, and whilst his average of 84.27 will take some beating, I firmly believe that he will perform admirably in the coming year. The clash he has with Dale Steyn when England take on South Africa will be mouthwatering for the neutrals.

End of year Ranking: 1st.

Agree with anything? Disagree with anything? Comment below!

The New Year Blues

Will the West Indies cope without this man?{Image via Wikipedia}

So its nearly New Years where I am. I’m sitting with a few friends who are on their phones, so I am doing the laptop equivalent. We’re so exciting, I know.

The upcoming cricketing year will be anything but boring, though. England will go into it holding the no 1 Test spot, but will an aging India manage to continue relying on top performances from their aging stars? Will South Africa get their act together and perform to their potential? Will Australia rediscover the famous “Aussie grit?” Will Pakistan manage a drama-free year? Will Sri Lanka build on their first win for 18 months? Will New Zealand’s young players continue to develop positively? Will the West Indies find stability in life after Chris Gayle? Will Bangladesh and Zimbabwe upset any stronger nations, and will they create solid platforms for the future?

Look out for a 9-piece series on my 2012 thoughts, previews and predictions for the top 8 Test nations and the Test minnows.

Happy New Year to all readers. What are your cricketing predictions for the upcoming year?