Poms let off the hook
18 Dec 2009
South Africa’s inability to wrap up the tail allowed England to fight their way back into the first Test.
Paul Harris picked up some important wickets in his five-scalp haul, and part-time off-spinner JP Duminy also weighed in with the wicket of Stuart Broad. But the seamers were disappointing, Morne Morkel and Makhaya Ntini failing to produce much with the second new ball.
Graeme Swann, who took five wickets with ball, spearheaded a 106-run ninth wicket partnership with James Anderson. Had South Africa wrapped up the tail, the hosts would have gone into bat with a significant advantage.
Having dismissed the dangerous Kevin Pietersen before he cracked on and removing Andrew Strauss early in the day, they would’ve expected to finish the day on top. But Swann has ensured England still have a say in the outcome.
Graeme Smith managed to avoid a pair after his 0 in the first innings, but Ashwell Prince chopped an Andersen delivery onto his own stumps without scoring. Nighwatchman Harris managed to see out the day with his skipper.
South Africa – 1st innings – 418
Jacques Kallis 120, JP Duminy 56, Mark Boucher 49, Graeme Swann 5-110.
England – 1st innings – 356
Graeme Swann 85, Paul Collingwood 50, Andrew Strauss 46, Paul Harris 5-123.
South Africa – 2nd innings – 9-1
Graeme Smith 6*, Paul Harris 2*
South Africa lead by 71 runs
For the full scorecard, click here.
47 Comments
18 Dec 2009, 10:08 am
Early wickets the key if not it’s going to be a long day in the heat without the option of Jakes as a bowler.
Harris and JP will have to bowl quite a few overs between them.
Go Proteas!!!
18 Dec 2009, 10:11 am
We need to bowl them out today or else it will be heading for a draw.
18 Dec 2009, 13:04 pm
Agree WP, we need to bowl them out today. We need to get KP and Collingwood out as soon as possible in the middle session.
With the odd ball creeping along the ground, why are our bowlers insisting of bowling OUTSIDE of off stump? They should bowl at the wicket to have a chance for LBW or clean bowled. Ntini bowling Strauss showed them what can happen if you bowl at the wicket. Why are they not doing it more often?
18 Dec 2009, 14:47 pm
Yeah I suppose they are still looking for edges so bowling outside the off stuff makes sense.
Also if you bowl too straight you can be clipped easily off the legs and leak runs.
But it wouldnt help to bowl a few more at the stumps.
Harry is bowling very well tho.
3 wickets for him. 211/6
18 Dec 2009, 14:53 pm
CHOKERS!
18 Dec 2009, 15:22 pm
@Mighty Horua: What provoked that?
18 Dec 2009, 18:53 pm
Why is it that we can never get the tail out cheaply..
18 Dec 2009, 18:55 pm
Makhaya in his 100th test wasted the new ball along with Morkel. You would think that after playing 100 test Makhaya would know how to bowl a decent spell with a new ball to the tail enders.
18 Dec 2009, 18:58 pm
True, they didnt bowl well with the new ball.
And we dont seem to know how to bowl to tailenders either. You must just bowl the same way you bowl to the top order.
It is hard sometimes as you just want to bowl at the stumps but you should just bowl normally
18 Dec 2009, 19:06 pm
swan is hardly a tailender…he opens for his county occasionally…
18 Dec 2009, 19:11 pm
Swann isnt a tailender at all. Anderson is however.
Still fact is we didnt bowl well to them
18 Dec 2009, 19:13 pm
@WP_:
quite right…they gave him too much width …
swann should only get bouncers…
18 Dec 2009, 19:26 pm
Yeah Swann loves width. He just hits through the ball on the off side and down the ground. Thats his real strength.
I feel Morne is still too inconsistent
18 Dec 2009, 19:30 pm
@WP_:
he hates the well directed short ball … aussies sussed that out during the ashes…strange that we would have ignored that….
18 Dec 2009, 19:37 pm
Morne Morkel needs some more aggression,he has all the attributes to destroy batting line up’s but he does not seem to have that fire that Allan Donald or Dale Steyn has. Swan can bat but to look them score that many runs down the order is unacceptable.
18 Dec 2009, 19:40 pm
Gunther
Ya, I noticed that during the ashes, funny we hardly bowled short to him at all.
Sometimes I wonder if Vinnie Barnes does anything whatsoever
18 Dec 2009, 19:44 pm
@WP_:
me too…bring on AD….before the poms snap him up…
18 Dec 2009, 20:10 pm
@WP_: @gunther:
It’s essentially because Smith was, remains and will forever be a **** captain.
The English saw Phillip Hughes’ weakness against the lifting ball at the body…two Tests later and Hughes, the great Aussie hope, is in the wilderness.
Our ‘think-tank’ allowed him to score two centuries in SA earlier this year. Clueless, that’s what we are.
Agree on the Swann issue. We’re essentially a stupid (albeit talented) cricket side led by two stupid people in Smith and Arthur.
The evidence is there for all to see.
18 Dec 2009, 20:12 pm
The problem is they cant get guys involved that wont take nonsense because guys like Ray Jennings,Kepler,Donald etc would not mix well with the Smith clique,I know I’ll probably get shot down here but notice at the coaching staff,Mickey Mouse,Barnes etc,all soft and wont say it like it is and take the tough calls.. Hence us continually falling out of knock out tournaments,not being able to knock off the tail and we keep getting the same feeble excuses..
18 Dec 2009, 20:14 pm
Smith is a great opening bat but a horrible tactician and its plain for all to see.. Problem is he is the best we have,nobody currently is around to replace him.
18 Dec 2009, 20:23 pm
@Joe Maher:
actually the english saw the hughes weakness because he had been playing county cricket for two months before the ashes…but don’t let the facts get in the way of a good story…alan donald gets on very well with the players…they ALL hate kepler…
18 Dec 2009, 20:26 pm
I actually think that smith was a poor captain to start with but has come on in leaps and bounds….and now guys like you would toss him with the best years ahead…arthur I have never been convinced about…I would love duncan fletcher to take over…
18 Dec 2009, 20:36 pm
I can’t comment on this as I know Smith, so my opinion would be biased. Not sure about Mickey, to be honest.
18 Dec 2009, 20:46 pm
I think Smith is a great player,his record speaks for itself,but something is missing with the brains trust.. There seems to be no fresh new ideas coming through and thats what worries me the most,they talk of brave cricket,I have only seen it twice,the 438 game and the test where we chased down 414.
18 Dec 2009, 21:02 pm
I think Smith is a great player but an ordinary captain. Kallis and Boucher dont seem to be too much better I dont reckon.
Problem is, as has been mentioned, there is no dynamic captain in waiting to take over.
I dont rate Mickey at all. I think he’s a ‘yes-man’ and is dictated too by the senior men. He’s useless I reckon.
Problem with have is all the great cricket brains are in commentary, lol.
I’d get Kepler and Donald involved in the national set up. And I know Robin Jackman is a great coach and tactician.
Duncan Fletcher must take over soon I hope. However they wont get rid of Arthur as the side’s doing well and of course Mickey is Smith’s *****.
18 Dec 2009, 21:04 pm
#24
I think you have only seen ‘brave cricket’ twice when it worked!
Doesnt mean they’ve only played it twice.
18 Dec 2009, 21:09 pm
Usual Sa problem syndrome. Big Bok stupid idiotic arrogance can’t see wood for trees. Same in all our sport, rugby much the same, everywhere you look in Sa sport its big bok breeker’s that know pretty much sweet f.all. Kop toe idiots that got no gray matter between their ears when reality bites.
18 Dec 2009, 21:11 pm
@Winston: Smith was getting it right but his bowlers seemed to not understand the plot…
18 Dec 2009, 21:21 pm
Dont get me wrong,I rate Smith,he’s a great player,I thought he was nothing but an arrogant prick that was a one hit wonder but after he scored hundreds in England and Australia last year and helped us beat them away from home I realised he is the real deal. He seems to have matured a lot as well which is great. But I just think with some proper guidance we could be number 1 in test and odi cricket by some distance..
18 Dec 2009, 21:31 pm
@skopskiet:
speaking of knowing pretty much sweet fa….
18 Dec 2009, 21:42 pm
#30 gunther
haha, I was just thinking the same thing.
I dont know, maybe we’re being a bit harsh on Smithy. Dont get me wrong he’s a good captain, I just feel he misses a trick every now and then that a great captain wouldnt…
We have had some great wins under him though…
18 Dec 2009, 21:51 pm
WP … yep I think at times we are too inflexible in our tactics not sure that’s entirely down to smith though..
18 Dec 2009, 22:14 pm
Ah excuse e moi the hoity toity snot nose skittle sticks fraternity are discussing strategy with their long noses and bony pinky’s pointing up in the air. Better dof doos dodo’s such as I better butt out of this sanctified place of upper crust wisdom and exalted learning.
18 Dec 2009, 22:16 pm
Ya I’m sure it’s down to Arthur too and the individuals implementing them
18 Dec 2009, 22:23 pm
@skopskiet: I think in the past year I have only understood 2 posts
18 Dec 2009, 22:23 pm
good idea…
18 Dec 2009, 22:26 pm
33 skopskiet
Bye now.
19 Dec 2009, 07:07 am
@gunther:
Actually, we live in a highly advanced technical age where hours of footage can be accessed and studied, on just about every player.
We could have learnt a whole lot about Hughes long before he arrived and cut us to pieces. That we didn’t says an awful lot about the stupidity and arrogance of the ‘brains trust’ of Messrs Smith and Arthur.
But Gunther, don’t let the facts get in the way of your blind patriotism.
@gunther:
If you’d care to open your eyes to the facts, you’d see that Smith’s captaincy improvements coincided with Neil McKenzie’s time in the national side. He used Neil as a sounding board and Neil, beng a natural captain, gave him excellent advice.
Now that Neil’s been shafted, old ‘Biff’ is all at sea, with his amoeba brain, Mickey, ‘Bouch’ and Kallis for help.
The saddest part of it all is that I don’t expect much, if anything, to change as SA Cricket lacks the backbone to take action.
Blood Amla as captain, get Fletcher in for Arthur, get AD in as bowling coach, get Kepler involved, get rid of Boucher and allow Smith to focus on batting – his primary talent.
Then, and only then, will this dictatorial reign of the Smith clique come to an end…and we’ll perhaps start winning a few trophies of note, put an end to the yo-yo stuff we’ve become accustomed to.
Finally, anything short of a 2-0 series victory at home against this English side should be viewed as a failure. The Aussies, despite their current weakness, will obliterate the English in the home Ashes next year. We’re a better side than Australia right now so should expect nothing less than a solid victory in the current Test series.
19 Dec 2009, 07:22 am
Completely off the topic….the new SA Rugby magazine a real treat….well worth getting and reading…..Jake White categorically stating he wants the D O R job in SA….amongst other things….
All columnists now openly saying the Smit to 3 move a proven failure and surely now at an end…..so i expect a few apologies from some chaps here please in my Xmas box …..
Also a swing to including Saffas overseas in future Bok teams…..
All in all a worthwhile buy….
19 Dec 2009, 09:30 am
@Joe Maher:
you seem very agressive…
hughes had played a handfull of first class games before he came here…and thats the
neil didn’t get shafted…. he was batting like a tosser..where are the “facts” that him being in the team “improved” smiths captaincy? sure neil’s got a good cricket head but I think you are overstating the point…
don’t make me larf..
oh and you want to can boucher too?
19 Dec 2009, 09:35 am
australia despite their current weakness will obliterate england…
you are clearly not watching the tv right now…they are struggling against the west indies…
19 Dec 2009, 09:59 am
@grant10:
mate you need to get over yourself…
19 Dec 2009, 10:13 am
gunther
Please boet, explain to me how one would bat like a tosser.
Neil wasnt doing badly… And he was in the team for more than just him batting, as joe said
19 Dec 2009, 12:38 pm
@WP_: The cricket guys do as they plaese, its like a boys club. Morne Morkel for all his talent needs someone to light up a fire under his arse, Smith/Arthur wont do it, he’s their mate. Its simply Smith must tell Morne that if he cant bowl at 150k’s and hitting batsman, he wont play ever again for SA for as long as Smith is captain, then he must drop his big mate Boucher, averaging 20 odd after 10years is simply not good enough!!!
This should be the SA Team:
1. Smith
2. Dean Elgar
3. Hashim Amla
4. Jacques Kallis
5. Ashwell Prince
6. JP Duminy
7. AB De Villiers
8. Morne Morkel ( with a red hot chillies up his crack)
9. Paul Harris
10. Dale Steyn
11. Parnell/Ntini
Head Coach: Fletcher
Bowling Coach: Alan Donald
Batting Consultant: Kepler
19 Dec 2009, 16:43 pm
Boucher got 49 in the first innings. And is batting well in the 2nd…
19 Dec 2009, 17:02 pm
he is batting brilliantly in the second dig giving our innings momentum at just the right time..I can never understand why you would want to get rid of one of the best glovemen in the world with a batting average of 30 and all that experience…
well batted hashim great knock
poms wilting now time to put the pedal down and get a few in at their openers..
20 Dec 2009, 07:29 am
@gunther:
I repeat (and you’re welcome to come back to me for an apology should this prediction prove incorrect in about a year’s time)
Australia, despite its current weaknesses, will obliterate England in the Ashes in Australia next year.
As for Boucher, yes, he has had a good Centurion Test but it’s the first decent Test performance from him in ages. If consistency applied in the SA cricket set-up, Boucher would have/should have been discarded long before McKenzie got shafted.
Of course, Neil was never part of the little dictatorial power clique. That’s why he was ditched and Boucher retained.
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