What's new

South Africa finish Day 1 of first Test at 127/5 in response to Pakistan's total of 181

Seems like Haysman is annoyed that Pakistan won the toss and batted first on a boxing day Test

He must be the most biased commentator in the sport. I remember how he would annoy me every single time India played SA. We often make fun of Asian commentators (English isn't our mother tongue either) but some of the SENA ones are pathetic. There are enough tools in NZ, SA and Aus (present, they were good in Benaud/Lawry days), only England have somewhat neutral commentators.
 
:)))

Your post reads like India won the series heroicly in a decider... India won the third test by 63 runs with Amla and Elgar both getting 50s in the fourth innings.

:))

Honestly if Pakistan won a dead rubber and celebrated like that I would be embarrassed.
 
Not bad start. After lunch, one more spell of Styen, if this pair can survive that, PAL'll be at better position by Tea, at say 160-5.
 
After England, South Africa is my favourite place to watch Test cricket.

Pitches usually with good pace and bounce keeping the bowlers interested but where batsmen can score if they apply themselves. Crowds are decent and fair minded, and quality coverage.

South Africa always makes for exciting tests.
 
Dale Steyn seems genuinely touched by Pollock's note there. Quite moving.
 
76-4 at Lunch. I will take that....

Somehow just negotiate these 3 pacers and wait till Maharaj appears and score off him.. that must the plan... Best batting pair at the crease ... Hope they dont lose concentration after lunch... Have light food boys :sarf2
 
Should be trying to go back to sleep right now as it is 3AM and I need to be up at 6AM, but I’m trying so hard to sleep but can not knowing, there is a Pak vs SA Test going on!
 
76-4 at Lunch. I will take that....

Somehow just negotiate these 3 pacers and wait till Maharaj appears and score off him.. that must the plan... Best batting pair at the crease ... Hope they dont lose concentration after lunch... Have light food boys :sarf2

Need Biryani to power up.:sarf2
 
:)))

Your post reads like India won the series heroicly in a decider... India won the third test by 63 runs with Amla and Elgar both getting 50s in the fourth innings.

Talk us through what happened in the final hour or so of day 3 in that test.

And convenient of you to ignore the premise of my post. We weren't served SC like track in Centurion, otherwise SA quicks bowling last wouldn't have picked 19 out of 20 Indian wickets with Maharaj as spinner, that doesn't happen in SC. Ngidi who got 39/6 most likely won't even be picked on a typical SC surface. Hell even your most promising quick Rabada didn't do much in the 2015 series.
 
Pakistan's hopeless tail will start from the next wicket. Hope this partnership tries to dig in
 
76-4 at Lunch. I will take that....

Somehow just negotiate these 3 pacers and wait till Maharaj appears and score off him.. that must the plan... Best batting pair at the crease ... Hope they dont lose concentration after lunch... Have light food boys :sarf2

I worry about Babar first over after lunch. Hope he gets through it
 
:))

Honestly if Pakistan won a dead rubber and celebrated like that I would be embarrassed.

Rest assured if Pakistan won that Joburg dead rubber Test under those green mamba conditions, you would not have heard the end of it. Threads would've been created on how Pakistan has turned over a new leaf in these conditions and Pakistan's Test cricket is back. It would've been the equivalent of the CT win.
 
Azhar was opening in England where we drew yet we changed the combination this winter to accomodate Hafeez, and moved Azhar to 3.

Hafeez retires and Azhar is now down to 4.

Nothing we've done in this winter Test season has made sense.

Total bull.

They will try a million openers but won't use the one in the team. Azhar opening will make the job easier for the middle and lower order , fakhar is his ideal partner who will keep the scoreboard ticking as long as he is in. Why supposedly pakistans kohli is batting at number 6? Once chota akmal was a good odi batsman but they kept playing him at number 6( dont like him at all and not asking him back in the team). Pakistan just do not know how to develop young players or develop a batting order per se. This series is a totally lost cause but still are reluctant to give chances to young bats like saud or saad , when they are over 30 they will be given chances and will be discarded saying that they were never good enough. Fawad and sadaf are now too old to be good at that level but they had wonderful FC careers , giving them chances now will be unfair to them.
 
Talk us through what happened in the final hour or so of day 3 in that test.

And convenient of you to ignore the premise of my post. We weren't served SC like track in Centurion, otherwise SA quicks bowling last wouldn't have picked 19 out of 20 Indian wickets with Maharaj as spinner, that doesn't happen in SC. Ngidi who got 39/6 most likely won't even be picked on a typical SC surface. Hell even your most promising quick Rabada didn't do much in the 2015 series.

No, I was replying to the funny exaggeration of your victory that day.
 
Rest assured if Pakistan won that Joburg dead rubber Test under those green mamba conditions, you would not have heard the end of it. Threads would've been created on how Pakistan has turned over a new leaf in these conditions and Pakistan's Test cricket is back. It would've been the equivalent of the CT win.

Comparing winning a world final vs arch rivals (when pressure is at its most) and winning a dead rubber (no pressure) :))).
 
Our last two batsmen at crease.A long tail after that.
Need these two to put up a partnership and hope they don't lose focus after lunch directly.No hope after these two.
 
No, I was replying to the funny exaggeration of your victory that day.

That was the equivalent of SA batting last and winning on a rank turner (Nagpur 2015 style) on Indian soil. Do that next year when you tour India and I will exaggerate your victory, rest assured :). Doesn't matter whether it is live rubber or dead rubber, every test is important unlike pyjama JAMODI bilaterals.
 
That was the equivalent of SA batting last and winning on a rank turner (Nagpur 2015 style) on Indian soil. Do that next year when you tour India and I will exaggerate your victory, rest assured :). Doesn't matter whether it is live rubber or dead rubber, every test is important unlike pyjama JAMODI bilaterals.

Agreed.test win is win.
 
No, I was replying to the funny exaggeration of your victory that day.

There are no dead rubbers when the #1 and the #2 teams play. If SA won the series 3-0, it would make their regaining the #1 ranking easier. India winning the last Test has strengthened their hold on the #1 ranking.

You may have given up on the possibility that SA will get the #1 ranking back, but you can be sure that the members of your country's team haven't.
 
[MENTION=143530]Swashbuckler[/MENTION] the subcontinent like pitch was the second test, so not sure why to are going on about the third test.
 
SA batted first in that match and SA's greatest test spinner Keshav Maharaj had match figures of 93/1 in 26 overs. SA quicks picked up 19 wickets, newbie Ngidi got 39/6 in the 4th innings. I don't see what was subcontinental about that?

Faf was disappointed because he wanted even more extreme conditions as revenge. His curators gave him precisely that in the final test and their batsmen couldn't handle the heat. Elgar and Amla were running away scared and SA experts were wanting the match to be called off despite India taking brutal body blows in their 2 innings. They even doctored the wicket overnight to make it easier for the SA batsmen but after initial resistance on a docile surface, when the pitch returned to normal character they were blown apart by Shami.

Disclaimer:

The events and characters mentioned in this post are completely fictional. Any similarity to actual people is purely coincidental.
 
Disclaimer:

The events and characters mentioned in this post are completely fictional. Any similarity to actual people is purely coincidental.

:)))

My thoughts exactly. I love how the players were scared to face India and people wanted to call the match off fearing for their lives.
 
[MENTION=143530]Swashbuckler[/MENTION] the subcontinent like pitch was the second test, so not sure why to are going on about the third test.

I already addressed that in 2 separate posts

SA batted first in that match and SA's greatest test spinner Keshav Maharaj had match figures of 93/1 in 26 overs. SA quicks picked up 19 wickets, newbie Ngidi got 39/6 in the 4th innings. I don't see what was subcontinental about that?

Talk us through what happened in the final hour or so of day 3 in that test.

And convenient of you to ignore the premise of my post. We weren't served SC like track in Centurion, otherwise SA quicks bowling last wouldn't have picked 19 out of 20 Indian wickets with Maharaj as spinner, that doesn't happen in SC. Ngidi who got 39/6 most likely won't even be picked on a typical SC surface. Hell even your most promising quick Rabada didn't do much in the 2015 series.

That 3rd test part was a reply to Bilal7 who talked about dead rubber, revenge etc in the context of our Johannesburg win.
 
No Philander. No Ngidi. Steyn on his last legs.

No team will get an easier South African attack. Agreed Pakistan is 7th ranked but they can still fancy their chance to get to a decent total.
 
Super impressed with Azhar’s technique though. Soft hands, angled bat and punishing the bad deliveries. Babar looks iffy.
 
No Philander. No Ngidi. Steyn on his last legs.

No team will get an easier South African attack. Agreed Pakistan is 7th ranked but they can still fancy their chance to get to a decent total.

Steyn is still bowling 140 plus, close to his best
 
Total bull.

They will try a million openers but won't use the one in the team. Azhar opening will make the job easier for the middle and lower order , fakhar is his ideal partner who will keep the scoreboard ticking as long as he is in. Why supposedly pakistans kohli is batting at number 6? Once chota akmal was a good odi batsman but they kept playing him at number 6( dont like him at all and not asking him back in the team). Pakistan just do not know how to develop young players or develop a batting order per se. This series is a totally lost cause but still are reluctant to give chances to young bats like saud or saad , when they are over 30 they will be given chances and will be discarded saying that they were never good enough. Fawad and sadaf are now too old to be good at that level but they had wonderful FC careers , giving them chances now will be unfair to them.

We have no clue how to develop batsmen. The ideal opportunity for Saud Shakeel to debut were the two series against AUS and NZ in UAE. At least he could've bedded into the team before a tough tour of SAF.

I still don't understand why we recalled Hafeez citing his off spin when he bowled a grand total of 19 overs in 5 Tests. He then retired after the series. What a waste of a spot.

I don't buy the age excuse for sidelining Fawad when we give countless recalls to Hafeez and continue to play both Hafeez and Malik in LOIs.

As for the batting order - we seem to make it up as we go along. Since Younis and Misbah's retirements all the main batsmen has played just about everywhere in the top six.
 
:)))

My thoughts exactly. I love how the players were scared to face India and people wanted to call the match off fearing for their lives.

They are just sore that their idol and greatest pace attack combined to give them a 1:6 record in England and South Africa this year, in live games. Therefore they have to craft fairytales to make that dead rubber look like an amazing victory when it was quite obvious that South Africa had the worst of conditions and the two best batsmen on that treacherous pitch were Amla and Elgar.
 
Anyways, let us get back to the topic. Please, Indians, feel free to post about Team India in their designated match-thread.
 
Disclaimer:

The events and characters mentioned in this post are completely fictional. Any similarity to actual people is purely coincidental.

:)))

My thoughts exactly. I love how the players were scared to face India and people wanted to call the match off fearing for their lives.

'If Indians Had Walked Off, They Would Have Been Called Sissies': Gavaskar

Sunil Gavaskar is someone who doesn't mince his words and the former India captain showed his anger as Day 3 of the third Test between South Africa and India was called off early after players walked off the field due to a dangerous pitch.

The ball hit South African opener Dean Elgar on the head, before the umpires decided to call the match referee, who then took the players off the field and had discussions with both the captains.

Gavaskar was on air at that time and said that if Indians would've been in South Africa's shoes, they would've been called sissies. Despite producing Kohli's, Tendulkar's, Sehwag's and Dravid's, they would've been called sissies because of the reputation they have off batting in pacy conditions.

The former opener blamed Elgar's technique rather than the pitch, saying that it was a short ball and Elgar didn't help himself by getting into a difficult position.

Replays confirmed that the Bumrah delivery hadn't unexpectedly shot off from good length areas as in previous cases and it was a well-directed bouncer that Elgar failed to deal with.

Commentary link: http://www.espncricinfo.com/series/18065/commentary/1122278/south-africa-vs-india-3rd-test-ind-in-sa-2017-18

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Two things I will say about this test .. if anyone ever calls this Indian batting line up flat track bullies again they need to be reminded of the skill and bravery they have shown in this innings ..</p>— Nasser Hussain (@nassercricket) <a href="https://twitter.com/nassercricket/status/956862343316754432?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 26, 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">So what’s the difference of this pitch than earlier today? Sunny G is right. If the umpires were going to call it off, then it should have been done earlier.... but India battled through it. Now SA should have to do the same.. sadly Elgar didn’t play it well.</p>— Dean Jones (@ProfDeano) <a href="https://twitter.com/ProfDeano/status/956909290828083200?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 26, 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">India have put their cards on the table. They want to carry on. And why not? It’ll be interesting to see what SA decides on the morrow. Lose the match or lose the venue, may be. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SAvIND?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SAvIND</a></p>— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) <a href="https://twitter.com/cricketaakash/status/956928358566285313?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 26, 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Can check the match thread on PP or go through various commentary links about how SA wanted to call off the match on day 3 evening. Elgar and Amla went to dressing room and refused to come back, it appeared the match would be called off. But it would have resulted in 12 months ban on the ground, so CSA forced them to take the field the next morning after the curators repaired certain portions overnight.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Can check the match thread on PP or go through various commentary links about how SA wanted to call off the match on day 3 evening. Elgar and Amla went to dressing room and refused to come back, it appeared the match would be called off. But it would have resulted in 12 months ban on the ground, so CSA forced them to take the field the next morning after the curators repaired certain portions overnight.

Source? That sounds like pure speculation and, frankly, made up.

Yes, yes. We know the pitch was bad, no one is even arguing that. We're laughing at your exaggeration of events.
 
Guys, match starting. Please resume the India discussion elsewhere if you wish to pursue it. Thanks.
 
Need these two to hang around until tea, though more likely headed for a 180-200 score.
 
Shan and his legendary massive grin, he will play the next Test match also
 
Need these two to hang around until tea, though more likely headed for a 180-200 score.

200 should be a decent score and one that I will gladly take at this stage. Pakistan have the bowlers to bowl SA out for 220 on this track.
 
The kind of wicket where you would hope Hassan Ali could add a quick fire 30 odd

Yasir Shah also with a few lusty blows
 
Very good yar, keep playing positive strokes and add as much as possible. Backing Pakistan's bowling attack to make major in roads!
 
Classy weave from Azhar. And then good movement into the drive. Looking really good masha’Allah. Needs to make it count.
 
How bad is the rain in this part of the world, usually? Would be a shame if rain ruins the game.

Up in the Johannesburg/Pretoria area they get these late afternoon showers in the summer. We called them "staatsdiens reen" (government showers) as they occur when the government buildings close for the day. Nothing like monsoon rains or anything, but fairly regular. I think the umpires are more worried about thunder tbh.

That's why Cape Town is generally a safer bet when it comes to rain. Cape Town's rainy season is in the winter.
 
That's a shame. Azhar really looked solid and was punishing any bad balls. Great catch though.
 
This series should mark the end of Sarfraz's test career. He has the worst possiple technique for these conditions
 
Talk us through what happened in the final hour or so of day 3 in that test.

And convenient of you to ignore the premise of my post. We weren't served SC like track in Centurion, otherwise SA quicks bowling last wouldn't have picked 19 out of 20 Indian wickets with Maharaj as spinner, that doesn't happen in SC. Ngidi who got 39/6 most likely won't even be picked on a typical SC surface. Hell even your most promising quick Rabada didn't do much in the 2015 series.

SA was facing severe droughts which limited them from dishing out even spicier pitches for India.The pitch in 2nd test was no less subcontinental.It was not our fault that India couldn't take advantage
 
Back
Top