Have a good ODI on the go at the moment. SA (me) vs Aus (AI). They won the toss and put me in to bat. Grassy Hard Pristine pitch with some cloud cover above.
Finding it extremely difficult to get the quicks away. Lots of ones and twos but fours have been scarce. Only tried to hit six twice so far. One landed just inside the ropes and the other was from a Free Hit and I missed it by a mile. Haha
Partnerships were the key with slow and steady scoring pivotal in establishing any sort of total.
Pros
Feel of cricket is clearly evident. Had to work extremely hard for every single run.
Batsmen find it hard at first but once confidence is up they play better.
Field never changed that much and generally not too bad. (With the odd exception that makes you go what the tweak are the AI thinking.
Timing gradually improved as players got confident and the ball got older.
Sweep shot is a legitimate release shot now, looks and feels better.
Cons
Spinners are way too easy to play. When Zampa came on it was a huge release. Boundaries were a lot easier to hit against him.
Wides, wides, wides. There are still too many wides from bouncers. 23 in total including 2 byes that should have been wides in my opinion.
Sometimes fields didnt make sense. Leg spinner to a leftie. Third man, deep point, short cover and a straight mid on on the boundary but no one on leg side deep or midwicket.
Overall gonna be an interesting one to finish tomorrow. De Kock is set after grinding his way to a gritty 64*, Miller needs to reassert himself in the middle order. Maxwell will probably be the key for the next few overs. He was just brought on as I exited and the way the batters "handle" him will determine the total here.
Intriguing stuff. Stay tuned!!
