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South Africa vs Pakistan | 2nd Test | Cape Town | Jan 3-7, 2019 | Pre-Match Thread

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all these players have no shame; lost to SA in 3 days and yet they are laughing :facepalm: disgraceful behaviour
 
People are against Sarfraz because he represents everything that is wrong with Pakistan cricket.

The fact that a mediocre, unfit cricketer with no communication skills, no personality and no star quality is the captain in all three formats shows how much we have regressed.

What do you expect from him, he is doing the best he can from what he has been given, yes he needs to do more with bat but I don't think it is his fault that he is made captain.

Azhar was a terrible captain in odis .Pakistan even by fluke did win CT under Sarfraz.Don't blame lack of talent on Sarfraz. It is not his job to create players.People should have reasonable expectations from their team.

Why are you blaming Sarfraz for system wide failures.
 
These idiots deserve to get smacked by Inning defeat if they do not find a way to include Faheem & Shadab in the squad and kick out useless Yasir.
 
What do you expect from him, he is doing the best he can from what he has been given, yes he needs to do more with bat but I don't think it is his fault that he is made captain.

Azhar was a terrible captain in odis .Pakistan even by fluke did win CT under Sarfraz.Don't blame lack of talent on Sarfraz. It is not his job to create players.People should have reasonable expectations from their team.

Why are you blaming Sarfraz for system wide failures.

Because he cannot speak fur fur angreji even though both his parents are English. Due to this we forget that with his batting he won us a test series against Australia not long ago.
 
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all these players have no shame; lost to SA in 3 days and yet they are laughing :facepalm: disgraceful behaviour

Yeah they should sit and mope around all day long so that posters don't get upset by seeing their smiles.
 
You want them to go into depression due to a loss? Let them play.

According to him, Zimbabwe would have gone into complete depression and would weep all day just because they lost 5-0 against PAK
 
Cape Town - Proteas captain Faf du Plessis said on Wednesday that fast bowler Duanne Olivier would be used in an "enforcer" role as part of a pace barrage in the second Test against Pakistan starting at Newlands on Thursday.

Du Plessis said he wanted to keep the pressure on the Pakistan batsmen after Olivier took 11 wickets in South Africa's six-wicket win in the first Test in Centurion.

There had been speculation that Olivier might have to sit out at Newlands because of the return to fitness of Vernon Philander. But Du Plessis said he would definitely play.

"He brings variety to our attack," said Du Plessis, adding that Olivier provided a contrast to the skill and control of South Africa's other fast bowlers, Kagiso Rabada, Dale Steyn and Vernon Philander.

"Duanne is more of an enforcer who puts you on the back foot and can be a bit challenging for batters, especially when they come from the sub-continent where the ball doesn't bounce as high," said Du Plessis.

"He's a fit guy and he can bowl long spells. He's different, he runs at you, he's around your head most of the time, it's not comfortable."

Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed acknowledged that Olivier had caused problems for his batsmen in Centurion.

"We will definitely talk about him. He's a different type of bowler with a fast bowling action," he said.

Du Plessis said South Africa did not want to let Pakistan off the hook following their collapse in the second innings in Centurion.

"You could see there were one or two things in their batting line-up that we could get through. For me it's about making sure we keep that pressure on them," he said.

Sarfraz said Haris Sohail had not recovered from a knee injury that kept him out of the first Test and was unlikely to play again in the series. He said Pakistan would keep the same batting line-up that played in Centurion.

Sarfraz admitted there were big challenges for his batsmen on fast, bouncy pitches.

"We are used to playing on low bouncing pitches. But our players are good enough and they have been working hard in the nets and talking to the batting coach."

Du Plessis said the Newlands pitch looked similar to those used in recent years, with help for the fast bowlers and the possibility of taking spin later in the match. A Test against India last January was completely in what was effectively three days of cricket.

He admitted that bowler-friendly conditions were difficult for South Africa's batsmen as well as those of the visitors.

"Our success rate in home conditions in the last three years has been very high," he said. "It's been tough on the batters when you're playing against quality seam attacks, which most teams have these days. But we're looking to play winning cricket. Our focus is to win as many matches as we can."

Sarfraz said the return of Mohammad Abbas to the bowling line-up would strengthen his team, while he expected the pitch to have "something" for leg-spinner Yasir Shah. "Our bowling gives us so much confidence," he said.

https://www.sport24.co.za/Cricket/Proteas/enforcer-olivier-has-got-pakistan-talking-20190102
 
Still not clear if SA will play 5 bowlers which i personally think is a good idea on this not so venomous pitch .
 
The only reason I have been defending Sarfraz is that the posters are attacking him for everything and making stuff up like he did X y z wrongly. Obviously I have no connection with Sarfraz or anyone in the team to me all are our heroes who have given us good entertainment along with lots of tears. If Sarfraz, as he is showing currently, is on bad batting form then remove him till he comes back in form. Making false statements like his keeping is poor or even his on field captaincy is poor is nothing but personal agenda just because he does not look like Tom Cruise (for those that think he is good looking) is unfair. I have seen all the recent test matches and bar one or two decisions his captaincy along with his keeping has been top notch, but if he would not score runs then he needs to be sent to domestic. Rizwan would not average as much as Sarfraz is averaging, and apart from English keepers there is no one in world cricket who would be far better than in form Sarfraz. Howany centuries does Paine or Pants score ?

Again Test Cricket 101, weather you score runs or stay at the wicket, important thing is you don't throw away your wicket. Even if you don't score but stay on the wicket Like Cumins or Paine, that adds lot more value than throw away your wicket within 20 balls as a clueless tail under, which Sarfraz has been doing for two years...

Paine and Cumins are the reason AUS tail is playing 40+ over pretty much every innings. He helped saved the test match on day 5 in UAE. Cumins has played more balls than probably any AUS batsman in this series and more importantly, you have to get the wicket of Cumins, he is not going to give you one. Now that makes him special for the team.

Sarfraz has not supported Babar at all throughout the year. Babar has been averaging 60, could have been 75, if Sarfraz has shown some support, Babar is 10 years younger and 10 times more mature than him. Sarfraz is not only playing himself carelessly, but showing bad example to rest of the tail. They all think batting is not their duty at all, getting out under 10 overs is normal for Sarfraz and company, which is absolutely criminal in modern day. You are not going to win many test, regardless of home or away, if that is your attitude towards batting...Captain has to lead by example, unfortunately he is setting up wrong example, a very wrong one. If he cannot score runs, he should stay on the wickets, if he cannot do either one, he is certified tail-under. He has not shown any fight while bat in hand, which is very disappointing...

The reason fans and Mickey flipped on seniors in last test, because the threw their wickets so carelessly(non of them were Bowlers wicket, they gifted them shamelessly), all three of them...Juniors had setup the match, with 100/1, 35 overs gone, honey moon period of batting begin (40-80 overs), match plate may rakh kay diya seniors koo... What they did, is absolutely madness, how could they threw away match like this??? - This is not the first time, every other match has same template... Both Shafiq and Sarfraz not only scores once in blue moon, they throw away their wickets carelessly most of the time. Shafiq has been disastrous at no 4, he cannot stay for 20 balls most of the time, gets out the same careless way... Sarfraz is very limited player, had one purple patch 3/4 years ago that too only in Asia, never played any meaningful innings in west. In west he does not have game to defend or attack, essentially a walking wicket :facepalm:


We always drop bowlers, allrounders but not the worthless batsmen...
 
Inzamam, Mickey, and Sarfraz need to be sacked. These guys have shown they are clueless in whatever they do. We have a gutless captain who wouldn't find a place in a minnow team. A stubborn coach who can't see anyone else other then a handful of useless players. A selector who would rather lose 3 series in a row then to drop his nephew. These 3 people are the representation of what is wrong with Pakistan cricket.
 
I just hope they judged the pitch correctly. Cape Town does offer something for the spinners but is there enough to justify playing a specialist spinner who has a poor record on bouncy wickets? The last match the bowlers did struggle somewhat due to fatigue, 3 quicks can manage only if Yasir bowls a good amount of overs otherwise it's better to have Faheem and Shadab.
Firstly, for a leg spinner to put any pressure on the opposition you have to have runs on the board. Can this batting line up actually put on 250-300 against saf. Bowling on this wicket?
If they can’t then I doubt shadabs batting can help.

Secondly if they can score 250-300 only one spinner can help contain and take wickets at same time and that’s Yasir not shadab. On almost every parameter we can think of Yasir trumps shadab in tests. LOI’s are a different matter altogether.
 
Well enough said... It is high time that Pakistan selectors identify 5-6 batsman of test quality and grind them in the NCA... With no test match after SA series till Sept.. Oct.. It is high time to at least get 2 batsman for test team... My core batsman shall be
Saud shakeel
Saad 1
Saad 2
Usman salahuddin
 
CSA Media Release: Proteas take confidence and form into Newlands clash

Wednesday, 02 January 2019

The Standard Bank Proteas enter the second Castle Lager Test match against Pakistan starting at PPC Newlands on Thursday with confidence and statistics on their side. The squad is on a high following the six-wicket win in the first Test at Centurion last week, and will be further backed up by their impressive record in Cape Town where they have only lost one match in the last 17 played.

Faf du Plessis has led his team to victory in the last three matches at the ground - the last being a resounding 322-run win against Australia in March last year- and has never lost a series at home as captain. The Proteas have slipped to No.4 on the ICC Test rankings and a series win will earn them valuable points towards climbing back up to the summit.

“It’s a pretty good office to come to with the backdrop of the mountain,” Du Plessis said of Newlands ahead of the match. “If you ask any cricketer which is their favourite ground in the world Newlands will be up there. You come here and enjoy it; like with any job you want to come to the office with a smile on your face and a good mindset. We know the conditions well here. We know what works, we have been consistent with that. For me it lies in the mental strength.

“I’m extremely proud,” he said of his record as captain. “Personally for myself, I remember when we started on this journey we were the No.7 ranked Test team. For me it was a personal challenge to get us back to the top. Graeme (Smith) did an amazing job by getting us there for the first time ever and it was a goal of mine to try and work with Russell (Domingo) then and Gibbo (Gibson) now to try and get us back to No.1. We have been dominant in home conditions over the last few years, we are trying to get back to No.1”

Vernon Philander will make his way back into the side after making a full recovery from a hand injury, and will be looking forward to making a return at his most successful ground. He has taken 49 wickets in the nine matches he has played at an average of 17, with a lethal strike-rate of 35. Du Plessis confirmed that man of the match from the previous match, Duanne Olivier, is a definite starter.

“We are still talking about what we need to do,” he said of selection. “Historically Newlands is a ground where the pitch spins a bit, so it is about finding that balance. For us it is always a tricky circumstance finding that balance, there are a few combinations of either playing the extra seamer, spinner or playing a batsman less.

“He is the enforcer and brings variety to our attack,” he said of Olivier. “We have a lot of skill in our attack, he puts you on the backfoot and can be challenging for the batsmen, especially when you come from the sub-continent where the ball doesn’t bounce as high. We like the fact that there is variety in the attack, he is fit and can bowl long spells, we like to have that option in our armoury.”
 
If Pakistan thought that there was a role for Yasir in the 1st test, then given the venue, not playing him in the 2nd test can't be explained.
 
Well we can’t make much changes in terms of batting due to the revolutionary not picking another middle order batsmen.
 
Good balanced post instead of the usual doom and gloom, Gali gloch by many posters.

I can write balanced post because, I am just a fan of PAK team, more than SAF - it ends with the game, may be a day or two at most. Here, posters are emotionally attached and it hurts them (actually more than game result it hurts me as well to see this free fall of PAK cricket - I grew up as a kid in AUS & UK, watching IK, Javed, Wasim, Zaheer .... from there Sarfraz & Asad & Amir & Azhar .... you know) - most of them are desperate to see PAK doing well and PAK Captain leading from the front, which is not happening and PAK Captain sadly is leading from the opposite end.

I am sure most of them had their full support for Sarfraz, may be even a year back; but the fat guy has let every fan down with his cricket, with his on field attitude, with his captaincy, with his fitness, his double standards and with his biased selections - selection is not alone his fault, but he has been absolute spineless despite being the overwhelming supported PAK Captain in some years. Today, he is the perfect yes man who will drag PAK further lower unless at least he mans up on & off the field.

Playing capabilities are limited which he can’t improve overnight, but these sort of press conference, body language, on field expression and definitely team selection are within his control - at least he can try, when he is almost certain to lead PAK in WC. Do you think it’ll help PAK team in World Cup if he keeps silent for whoever is selected to represent PAK or does this sort of press conference improves PAK’s image where he might start with Amla Bhai, Rohit Dada, Shakib Yaar, Shadab beta .........
 
Reporter: What do you think of Hashim Amla’s form?

Sarfraz: Hashim “bhai” is a great player....

What we need is a captain who will respond by stating that he is not concerned with the opposition players, even if it is our favorite “bhai”.

This is the type of mindset and attitude that we need. However, it is not possible considering our rotten, mediocre cricket culture.

These “first of all I would like to think my seniors and [insert name] bhai for giving me confidence” type paindu cricketers have run our cricket into the ground.

Hahhaha paindu cricketers so true.. bhai tune kya kiya ye bhi bata... management gave confidence, seniors gave advice... my role was to do this and do that.. they are least bothered about winning games... too overawed most of the times
 
Is it necessary to disclose your team a day before the game? Doesn't it let out your team's strategy in a way?

When you have such confidence in your own incompetent and illogical decision making - then no!
 
People are against Sarfraz because he represents everything that is wrong with Pakistan cricket.

The fact that a mediocre, unfit cricketer with no communication skills, no personality and no star quality is the captain in all three formats shows how much we have regressed.

NAILED it bro!! He's unfit in EVERY sense of the word!!!
 
There's a quote, "what's the definition of stupidity - repeating the same mistake repeatedly and expecting a different outcome" Must have been coined by someone in touch with Pak cricket
 
There's a quote, "what's the definition of stupidity - repeating the same mistake repeatedly and expecting a different outcome" Must have been coined by someone in touch with Pak cricket

I think that was a definition for insanity.
 
[MENTION=131701]Mamoon[/MENTION] you are right Sarfaraz gives the imprythat everything I IA qrong with Pak cricekt and I have zero expectations from this mediocre team lead by club level crickter.
 
The only reason I have been defending Sarfraz is that the posters are attacking him for everything and making stuff up like he did X y z wrongly. Obviously I have no connection with Sarfraz or anyone in the team to me all are our heroes who have given us good entertainment along with lots of tears. If Sarfraz, as he is showing currently, is on bad batting form then remove him till he comes back in form. Making false statements like his keeping is poor or even his on field captaincy is poor is nothing but personal agenda just because he does not look like Tom Cruise (for those that think he is good looking) is unfair. I have seen all the recent test matches and bar one or two decisions his captaincy along with his keeping has been top notch, but if he would not score runs then he needs to be sent to domestic. Rizwan would not average as much as Sarfraz is averaging, and apart from English keepers there is no one in world cricket who would be far better than in form Sarfraz. Howany centuries does Paine or Pants score ?
Even the likes of MSD were questioned when the team lost so who is mr Sarfraz.
No one here is related to rizwan or sarfraz or anyone
Sarfraz is mediocre as a player, he had a good couple of years with the bat and has been ordianry before and after that patch. Even in this rotten culture he would have been dropped by now if he wasnt the captain.
 
Well we can’t make much changes in terms of batting due to the revolutionary not picking another middle order batsmen.

I'm not absolving the selectors of criticism but is Sarfraz a deaf mute ? He could've easily asked to keep Saad Ali in the squad.

It was his decision to waste five Tests on Mohammed Hafeez when he could've debuted Saad Ali or another youngster on those flat UAE pitches.
 
Inzamam, Mickey, and Sarfraz need to be sacked. These guys have shown they are clueless in whatever they do. We have a gutless captain who wouldn't find a place in a minnow team. A stubborn coach who can't see anyone else other then a handful of useless players. A selector who would rather lose 3 series in a row then to drop his nephew. These 3 people are the representation of what is wrong with Pakistan cricket.

Mickey cannot turn water into wine. No coach in the world can beat South Africa in their backyard with this shambles of a squad carrying so many passengers including the captain.

Most of our recent problems can be traced back to Sarfraz - he's been inept in every aspect of his captaincy. His batting performances have been nearly nonexistent, his on-field tactics are average, but worst of all is his inability to assess conditions and plan accordingly.

Here's a guy who thought it'd be a good idea to play 3-4 specialist batsmen in the recent ODI series despite our notoriously fragile batting, with one of them being the unreliable Asif Ali, and the rest of the batting being made up of bits and pieces. He was the one who played one spinner vs SRL last year in UAE conditions.

He wasted five Tests on Mohammed Hafeez when Saad Ali was in the squad for the recent UAE season on the grounds his offspin would be needed - yet proceeded to give him just ten overs across two series.
 
Who will bowl the First over for Pakistan?

Just for fun I wondered that ever since Abbas played without Amir, he bowled the first over of Test match for Pakistan and became the spearhead, but now since Amir has returned and after 7 months they will bowl together will it be back to old ways or is Abbas the leader now and will bowl the first over that is if Amir plays which is almost certain?
 
Because he cannot speak fur fur angreji even though both his parents are English. Due to this we forget that with his batting he won us a test series against Australia not long ago.

If poeple want Sarfraz to be be Adam Gilchrist then it is their problem. Sarfraz is fine by Pakistan and other keeper standards.

People need to stop blaming selectors and captain for lack of talent in country.
 
Mickey cannot turn water into wine. No coach in the world can beat South Africa in their backyard with this shambles of a squad carrying so many passengers including the captain.

Most of our recent problems can be traced back to Sarfraz - he's been inept in every aspect of his captaincy. His batting performances have been nearly nonexistent, his on-field tactics are average, but worst of all is his inability to assess conditions and plan accordingly.

Here's a guy who thought it'd be a good idea to play 3-4 specialist batsmen in the recent ODI series despite our notoriously fragile batting, with one of them being the unreliable Asif Ali, and the rest of the batting being made up of bits and pieces. He was the one who played one spinner vs SRL last year in UAE conditions.

He wasted five Tests on Mohammed Hafeez when Saad Ali was in the squad for the recent UAE season on the grounds his offspin would be needed - yet proceeded to give him just ten overs across two series.

hope sarfraz supporters read this
 
I'm not absolving the selectors of criticism but is Sarfraz a deaf mute ? He could've easily asked to keep Saad Ali in the squad.

It was his decision to waste five Tests on Mohammed Hafeez when he could've debuted Saad Ali or another youngster on those flat UAE pitches.

Well I have said before Sarfraz should stand up to the selectors. But his fans only take credit for players who do well.
 
Shambolically poor squad picked in 1st place with no middle order back up batsmen. Then after a shambolic 1st test we pick same batting, same batsmen who failed against NZ aswell.
 
Again Test Cricket 101, weather you score runs or stay at the wicket, important thing is you don't throw away your wicket. Even if you don't score but stay on the wicket Like Cumins or Paine, that adds lot more value than throw away your wicket within 20 balls as a clueless tail under, which Sarfraz has been doing for two years...

Paine and Cumins are the reason AUS tail is playing 40+ over pretty much every innings. He helped saved the test match on day 5 in UAE. Cumins has played more balls than probably any AUS batsman in this series and more importantly, you have to get the wicket of Cumins, he is not going to give you one. Now that makes him special for the team.

Sarfraz has not supported Babar at all throughout the year. Babar has been averaging 60, could have been 75, if Sarfraz has shown some support, Babar is 10 years younger and 10 times more mature than him. Sarfraz is not only playing himself carelessly, but showing bad example to rest of the tail. They all think batting is not their duty at all, getting out under 10 overs is normal for Sarfraz and company, which is absolutely criminal in modern day. You are not going to win many test, regardless of home or away, if that is your attitude towards batting...Captain has to lead by example, unfortunately he is setting up wrong example, a very wrong one. If he cannot score runs, he should stay on the wickets, if he cannot do either one, he is certified tail-under. He has not shown any fight while bat in hand, which is very disappointing...

The reason fans and Mickey flipped on seniors in last test, because the threw their wickets so carelessly(non of them were Bowlers wicket, they gifted them shamelessly), all three of them...Juniors had setup the match, with 100/1, 35 overs gone, honey moon period of batting begin (40-80 overs), match plate may rakh kay diya seniors koo... What they did, is absolutely madness, how could they threw away match like this??? - This is not the first time, every other match has same template... Both Shafiq and Sarfraz not only scores once in blue moon, they throw away their wickets carelessly most of the time. Shafiq has been disastrous at no 4, he cannot stay for 20 balls most of the time, gets out the same careless way... Sarfraz is very limited player, had one purple patch 3/4 years ago that too only in Asia, never played any meaningful innings in west. In west he does not have game to defend or attack, essentially a walking wicket :facepalm:


We always drop bowlers, allrounders but not the worthless batsmen...

Yes more than the lack of runs its been the lack of fight that has disappointed every1
 
so they should be all happy that they lost to SA in 3 days and not in 2 days? yay :36:

After a loss you're supposed to sit around and mope 24/7?

They can practice and also live their life. It's not lie they stop doing daily activities.

Hyperbole is always way too rampant with sports fans.
 
Pakistan will likely lose this badly, even though I expect great bowling, the batting is so fragile and have no temperament whatsoever.

I will enjoy what our captain has to say after another failure or of course on the off chance he succeeds and says it wasn't his fault, nullifying the last 15-20 mediocre innings.
 
I'm not absolving the selectors of criticism but is Sarfraz a deaf mute ? He could've easily asked to keep Saad Ali in the squad.

It was his decision to waste five Tests on Mohammed Hafeez when he could've debuted Saad Ali or another youngster on those flat UAE pitches.

Sarfraz surely possesses much more influence than people think. I am sure he could have pushed for an extra batsman.
 
Reporter: What do you think of Hashim Amla’s form?

Sarfraz: Hashim “bhai” is a great player....

What we need is a captain who will respond by stating that he is not concerned with the opposition players, even if it is our favorite “bhai”.

This is the type of mindset and attitude that we need. However, it is not possible considering our rotten, mediocre cricket culture.

These “first of all I would like to think my seniors and [insert name] bhai for giving me confidence” type paindu cricketers have run our cricket into the ground.

Excellent - well said.

Lack of educated class in cricket means we won't see the glamor and cricket stars that we used to have in the 70s, 80s, 90s.

No aura, no swag on the field. Meek, timid, ranked no.7 .
 
It'll be interesting to see who the 3 pacers will be.

I was impressed with Shaheen Afridi in the 1st Test and I think he deserves another chance in the 2nd Test.
 
Mickey cannot turn water into wine. No coach in the world can beat South Africa in their backyard with this shambles of a squad carrying so many passengers including the captain.

Most of our recent problems can be traced back to Sarfraz - he's been inept in every aspect of his captaincy. His batting performances have been nearly nonexistent, his on-field tactics are average, but worst of all is his inability to assess conditions and plan accordingly.

Here's a guy who thought it'd be a good idea to play 3-4 specialist batsmen in the recent ODI series despite our notoriously fragile batting, with one of them being the unreliable Asif Ali, and the rest of the batting being made up of bits and pieces. He was the one who played one spinner vs SRL last year in UAE conditions.

He wasted five Tests on Mohammed Hafeez when Saad Ali was in the squad for the recent UAE season on the grounds his offspin would be needed - yet proceeded to give him just ten overs across two series.

Sarfraz is awful but as far as selections are concerned then the coach also has to take blame because am sure he provides his input and is able to wield his influence especially someone like Mickey if he feels strongly about not having a specific player in the team.

Mickey is a good coach but he deserves criticism as well.
 
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Shafiq scoring here and then failing in the third Test will be the most Shafiq thing to happen.

I think the most Shafiq thing to happen would be that he fails here and Pakistan lose the series at which point Shafiq shows up and scores a 100 in the next test which Pakistan also lose. :shafiq2
 
Yasir is gonna be useless and this will be a mistake.

Hassan
Abbas
Afridi
Aamir
Faheem Ashraf (in for Shafiq)

That would be my attack but Yasir is undroppable and they are banking on him exposing SA's ineptness vs spin beyond conditions and wicket
 
I remember [MENTION=132916]Junaids[/MENTION] having read Mickey's books saying that Arthur is hell bent on having A/R's in such conditions, isn't it strange that Faheem is not in his plans...
 
I remember [MENTION=132916]Junaids[/MENTION] having read Mickey's books saying that Arthur is hell bent on having A/R's in such conditions, isn't it strange that Faheem is not in his plans...

Seems like Mickey wants Faheem, but Sarfraz Yasir.
 
I remember [MENTION=132916]Junaids[/MENTION] having read Mickey's books saying that Arthur is hell bent on having A/R's in such conditions, isn't it strange that Faheem is not in his plans...

I think it's Sarfaraz's batting that's getting in the way of that plan. Can't have him at #6.
 
Seems like Mickey wants Faheem, but Sarfraz Yasir.

I think it's Sarfaraz's batting that's getting in the way of that plan. Can't have him at #6.

Faheem can easily make the team ahead of Shafiq who is dead weight so he cant do any worse regardless of his batting option but he would be an extra bowling option who would give the others a nice rest and ease the work load which is vital here, Faheem isn't a legend or something but he has a skill set which can be useful here in terms of our gameplan
 
Faheem can easily make the team ahead of Shafiq who is dead weight so he cant do any worse regardless of his batting option but he would be an extra bowling option who would give the others a nice rest and ease the work load which is vital here, Faheem isn't a legend or something but he has a skill set which can be useful here in terms of our gameplan

I agree.

I am assuming that the team management thinks that Yasir can do well at Newlands which is why they're persisting with him, otherwise we may have seen the 5+2+3 combo. Unless Shadab plays, I don't think Faheem will play. They both go hand in hand. Don't think they trust Faheem's batting enough yet to have him as a top 6 batsman, nor do they trust his bowling enough for him to play as one of four specialist bowlers.

I just hope there is something in the pitch for the spinners otherwise the pacers will be overworked once again.
 
Keep doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results... you call that ....:inti
 
The combination does not matter , its about attitude of the XI playing. Unless they have some self dignity , no one can do anything about it.
 
At this point I just hope that the bowlers and Babar/Shan/Imam have a good outing at least, and perhaps win because of them. It's asking for too much here but at the very least it will give a bigger indication (as if wasn't already) that we need to move on from our glorified seniors. I like Sarfraz, I really do, but he has to be the worst player to captain a side.
 
Inzamam, Mickey, and Sarfraz need to be sacked. These guys have shown they are clueless in whatever they do. We have a gutless captain who wouldn't find a place in a minnow team. A stubborn coach who can't see anyone else other then a handful of useless players. A selector who would rather lose 3 series in a row then to drop his nephew. These 3 people are the representation of what is wrong with Pakistan cricket.

Cape Town is one of the few grounds in SA, that supports spin!

Ajmal ran riot on here last time and heck, even Duminy picked up a 4-fer against Aus on this ground.

If Duminy can pick up 4 wkts, then that tells you it is a pitch with something in it for the spin bowlers.
 
Yasir is waste of space in South Africa

Should have gone with faheem as 4th seamer

Cape Town is one of the few grounds in SA, that supports spin!

Ajmal ran riot on here last time and heck, even Duminy picked up a 4-fer against Aus on this ground.

If Duminy can pick up 4 wkts, then that tells you it is a pitch with something in it for the spin bowlers.
 
Cape Town is one of the few grounds in SA, that supports spin!

Ajmal ran riot on here last time and heck, even Duminy picked up a 4-fer against Aus on this ground.

If Duminy can pick up 4 wkts, then that tells you it is a pitch with something in it for the spin bowlers.

I really thought they would bring in Saud, Rizwan and Shakeel this game in place of Sarfaraz , Shafiq and Azhar..
 
Why is this forum so negative? I agree Shafiq should have been dropped, but to be fair he does have a better record in Cape Town. Also hopefully after playing a match here our batsmen are more adapted to the conditions now. This is probably a good lineup, it's not good to put bits and pieces players here when they aren't ready.

Also I do think we should dump the seniors except for Azhar for our next UAE series, and bring in new batsmen like Saad Ali, Saud Shakeel, Salihuddin.
But for now, this is the best we've got.
 
Spoke to one of my close friends and he said Abid Ali is replacing Haris Sohail for the 3rd test. Can anyone confirm?
 
At any given time, throughout our batting history, there have been at least 2-3 batsmen in our 11 who are horribly out of form. So it’s inevitable that Asad Shafiq, Azhar Ali and Sarfraz Ahmed are not going to score runs. Therefore, it is very important for Imam and Shan, the in form batsmen, to capitalise on their good starts and score big 100s. Even if tailenders chip in and score 15-20 runs each then these will be the fine margins that will separate the winning team from the losing team.
 
Interested to see what SA does to its brittle middle order. Do they have any good replacements for De Bruyn? Looks like a walking wicket to me.
 
Just a reminder.....

Asad Shafiq has made a Test century on this ground against Philander and Steyn.
 
Micky is just a drama queen. He got mad when senoirs keep failing but keep retaining same players for years.
 
Agree with this mostly. Shadab could have been picked only because I think he may have had a bit of success against this SA line up and I think a bouncier surface suits his leg spin more + the batting he brings. The batting order I'd have is Imam, Fakher, Shan, Azhar, Babar, Shafiq and Sarfraz. Amir, Yasir, Hasan and then Abbas.

A dry surface would mean Hasan could get some reverse swing of which I think he's the best bowler to utilise. Amir and Abbas to open bowling.

Shafiq has been so poor that Faheem could have been a replacement for his batting ability alone but I think with Shafiq having made a century last time in Cape Town against an attack just as good as the current SA attack has probably edged him in to the XI. I've always thought of him as one of the better players of spin when in form.

I think it's unfair to Bring Rizwaan in for a must win game against the best bowling in the world. Under immense pressure.

I also don't think that Sarfraz is the kind of person to keep someone like Rizwaan out because of his fear of being replaced as first choice keeper, mainly because he has already spoken of stepping down as test captain and also 8 years ago Sarfraz was in a similar position to which Rizwaan finds himself now where he was in-form, in the squad vs Australia and King Akmal was causing havoc for the team behind the stumps and in the dressing room. IIRC Ak mal Jr. threatened to boycott a test when the possibility of Kamran being dropped was brought up.
 
Interested to see what SA does to its brittle middle order. Do they have any good replacements for De Bruyn? Looks like a walking wicket to me.

As if we have Mcgrath, Marshal, Donald in our bowling line up. If its a green track and we bat first we will not score not even 50 in any innings. South Africa just needs to score 200 runs to win by innings and Amla is no Azhar and Philander and even Steyn are better batsman than our mr. Technique and some of our batsmen.
 
Just a reminder.....

Asad Shafiq has made a Test century on this ground against Philander and Steyn.

True, but he had the bog average bowling of Peterson and Kallis to fall back on. This South African attack does not have any filler, weak-link bowlers. He will have to work twice as hard for his runs this time.
 
It's clearly evident that there is no strategy whatsoever. But you can't blame the team management when you have a minnow-level batting line-up at your disposal to choose from.
 
True, but he had the bog average bowling of Peterson and Kallis to fall back on. This South African attack does not have any filler, weak-link bowlers. He will have to work twice as hard for his runs this time.

Maharaja is the weak link for me. Steyn is the not that great either. Should be dropped for Vern.
 
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