SA blow hot and cold
After their convincing win last Friday, the Proteas disappointed as England eased to a seven-wicket victory in Port Elizabeth on Sunday.
The crowd at St George’s Oval were up beat and expected another stellar performance from the Proteas after their heriocs with bat and ball in their 112-run win at Newlands.
The Proteas batted first again, but this time England had the momentum. James Anderson led their way, with figures of 5/23, as the Poms ripped through the South African line-up.
Skipper Graeme Smith fell as early as the second over, while the rest of the top order failed to steady the innings. By the 14th over, the Proteas only managed 55 runs with four wickets down.
Alviro Petersen provided the only resistance in the middle order, top scoring with a patient 51 as he watched the rest of the batting line-up crumble.
Petersen was eventually the last batsman to fall as South Africa were bowled out for 119.
Jonathan Trott and Andrew Strauss set the platform for the win with a 74-run opening partnership.
Johan Botha claimed two wickets and Ryan McLaren grabbed one, but this was not enough as Trott and Eoin Morgan saw England through for the easy win.
England now lead the five-match series 2-1, with one game remaining.
South Africa 119 all out (36.5 overs)
Alviro Petersen 51, AB de Villiers 22, James Anderson 5/23.
Engalnd 121-3 (31.2 overs)
Jonathan Trott 52*, Andrew Strauss 32, Johan Botha 2/22.
England win by seven wickets
November 29th, 2009 at 4:15 pm
They blew pretty cold if u ask me. Our batting was awful. It just shows u how mentally soft we must be if we can score 350 two days ago then get destroyed today.. Soft dragons.
November 29th, 2009 at 5:18 pm
choking proteas!if ever there were a trophy for chokers they and the wc-kiwi rugby team would kill one another to lay their hands onto it
November 29th, 2009 at 10:16 pm
I reckon Mickey’s time is up and a fresh face is required to not only stretch this team but to also give our selectors a new perspective. Let’s face it Johan Botha should have played all the games and should perhaps take the captaincy of the one day side as well. I was disappointed with Smith’s field placings defending the small target. We just had to bowl them out yet so many balls went through the slip cordon.
November 29th, 2009 at 10:23 pm
Smith let the side down today big time in fielding first. Was a no brainer to bat first.
Petersen was sensible and good today. McLaren should be dropped for Albie. And JP should be dropped for Hersch. They’ve worked him and his weakness against the short ball out.
November 30th, 2009 at 4:50 am
@Shakes:
Absolutely spot on, Shakes.
The Smith/Arthur partnership has made little if any progress…one step forward, one step back.
Hardly surprising, as they’re not the sharpest tools in the shde, Smith AGAIN making an absolute hash of the toss win. This guy would struggle to outwit an amoeba.
Relieve him of the captaincy, let him develop into a truly great opening batsman. And show Mickey the door (long overdue). Boucher too.
Won’t happen, as these three cosy bum-chums are beyond criticism, virtually run the show.
Which is why our criket will continue to blow hot and cold.
@WP_:
How many more chances do you wish to give the 35-year-old slapgat? He has only himself to blame for being on the outer. Enormous natural talent, slapgatheid and immaturity beyond comprehension.
No, leave JP there, he’s the future.
November 30th, 2009 at 8:50 am
#wp
Boucher shoulg og and AB takes the gloves. creating space for another batsmen (Gibbs)
# 5
Why cant we give evryone the same treatment.
NTini and Gives were fired as part od the old school., but boucher and kallis retained.
P de villiers must avery week fight for his job, bu do you see the media asking a quetion about Mickey.
certain players are certain of a position in the cricket team. (Kallis ,Smit, AB Boucher, Steyn, Botha and Foelof, morkels,and now maclaren )
November 30th, 2009 at 10:34 am
Gibbs and Ntini were dropped because they werent performing.
Ntini, although he still has a role to play in the tests, is no longer a one day bowler. He has been way too inconsistent and expensive to be considered one for a while now. Plus there are better young bowlers around like Parnell and Tsotsobe.
Gibbsy was dropped after a poor run of form and maybe its the sentimental side of me that wants him to get another chance. As we all know how talented he is.
Ah the old have a go at Boucher and Kallis story.
Get over it, its old. Kallis is one of the greatest all rounders of all time and still is the best in the business. His place is rightly in no danger. Nor will it be till he retires.
Boucher on the other hand hasnt performed in ages in one dayers and AB should take the gloves away from him in my opinion. Only in one dayers though.
November 30th, 2009 at 2:14 pm
@BOD:
Agreed, Boucher’s time is up for SA (in the ODI game) where AB can take over. McClaren is overrated in my opinion since he has very little to offer with bat and ball.
Kallis should be left at the top of the order where he and Amla should battle it out to join Smith as the opener…at the moment Kallis should get the nod because he offers a bit as a bowler.
That fool, vd Merwe should never be in the team as an all-rounder…any idiot can see that. I would bat him at number 11 in my team. He is a better option than Botha at present because the latter is struggling a bit with form/confidence possibly due to the chucking saga…and I fear he may have to retire from international cricket because his doosra gave him the edge but now he is simply a slow right arm bowler with little variation.
Gibbs should never see the green and gold again. He made a mockery of the jersey in his final few seasons and his personal life has taken a serious toll on his performance at national level of late. He should rather stick to boozing it up in Camps Bay and Claremont. He seems to enjoy that much more than the cricket any way.
November 30th, 2009 at 6:05 pm
Seems you know very little about Hersch. He no longer drinks after his stint in rehab at the end of last year. Just by the way he got a 70 ball 100 not out in his last domestic limited overs game.
Dont be fooled, Roelof can bat, he just often comes in when the slog his on, hence his slogging.
December 1st, 2009 at 11:23 am
@WP_:
You are right, I know little about him. I am glad that he is off the sauce and hopefully his personal life will get back on track. However, you have to admit that he has been God awful for the past 3 seasons and as far as I can see it he has had more than enough opportunities to the detriment of younger players.
The time has come for players of his generation to move on ala Ntini (and look how Parnell has come through in his absence). Come to think of it, look how JP has progressed as a result of Gibbs’ absence. Alviro Peterson is also starting to make his mark now due to the Kallis injury.
Point is, some players are given plenty of opportunities while others such as Neil McKenzie, Boeta Dippenaar, HD Ackerman, etc are dropped after a few bad games. Gibbs has done sweet f-all and yet he is being considered for the final one-dayer.
Roelof can’t bat…he plays street cricket. Watch him next game. He can’t even play a forward defensive shot with a straight bat, which is the bare minimum for a so-called batsman. Roelof is a number 8 at best.
Even Loots Bosman has learnt the art of batting recently. I never rated him, but his batting has improved so much over the past season that he currently deserves his place in the 20/20 side.
December 1st, 2009 at 11:25 am
@WP_: What’s your opinion on McClaren? Refer to my earlier post.
December 1st, 2009 at 11:37 am
@Golden Boy:
Geoff Boycott reckons McClarren is a “f***ing tosser”. (Radio 5 Live, 29 November 2009)
Geoff knows a fair bit about the game so maybe that is the answer
December 1st, 2009 at 11:43 am
Why should any of Botha or roelof play.
Duminy should be given the role of spinner.
Duminy
4.84 -Economy
40.5 -Strike rate
Roelof
4.85
40.3
Botha
4.47
52.1
December 1st, 2009 at 12:32 pm
@Robzim:
I totally agree with Geoff on that!!!!! LOL!!!!!!
@BOD:
We need a specialist spinner in the squad. Remember a few seasons back when we had no spinner and Smith did that duty? Duminy is useful as a partnership breaker, but should rather concentrate on his batting for now.
I agree with you though, he is much better than either of the two incumbents.
December 1st, 2009 at 1:28 pm
@Golden Boy: Agreed on that point. Guys like McKenzie and Dippenaar and even Jacques Rudolph never got decent chances for extended periods like Hersch has. (By the way McKenzie got a brilliant 140 the other day for the Lions, would mind seeing him in the test squad getting a run)
But then were they as talented as him? No. More consistent? Yes.
It’s a tough one. Like I said above, maybe it’s just sentimentality – which I know has no place in professional sport. I just think he is too talented to throw away. But like you say he’s has been way too inconsistent his whole career. The problem is his head, and his temperament.
Roelof is not a proper batsmen. He can hit a long ball tho. I agree with you, he needs to work on his technique.
McLaren? Decent provincial level cricketer… Has shown nothing at International selection to keep his place in the side. Has hardly scored a run with the bat and his bowling has been average.
I’d rather have Albie Morkel back in the side, much better batsman, and similar bowler. It will only add to the side.
December 1st, 2009 at 1:32 pm
@BOD: JP is getting better and better, but we need another spinner in the side to bolster the spinning options.
No one was complaing about van der Merwe or Botha when they were tying the Aussies in knots at the beggining of the year.
Only problem since then is Botha can no longer bowl his doosra, so he become a lot more predictable.
December 3rd, 2009 at 11:04 am
@WP
I we dont have spinners dont play them. they are not striking reguraly.
duminy can bat and bowl. (Kallis) Smith when robin Petersin were playing.
a lot of specialist coaches have worked on Botha and Harris, why can’t the same be done to duminy.
AB taking the gloves gives us 4 Batsmen(Smith, Ab, Alviro (amla or gibbs or puttick)) and Kallis and Duminy in the top 6
5 bowlers (steyn, parnell, langeveld, albie ot Morne, Maclaren )
langeveld and maclaren can also restrict the batsmen.
why carry two fools with just for the sake of so called spinners