I would of thought it. We are underrated. For some reason I am not surprised about our bowling performance.
Kyle Mills bowled absdolutly fantastic, I know he is capable of spells like that. He is a very mature and consistant performer. 13th on the rankings or something yet no one really rates him. Possibly the most underrated bowler around. Not quick but he is very accurate and wil lget a bit of swing.
Franklin was very tidy. Did a fantastic job of holding up 1 end during the 20 powerplay overs. Oram bowling well is a good thing to see, he is such an asset with his bowling and batting skill. Vettori, like Franklin did an awesome job of holding 1 end. He really kept the runs down and got a wicket. Patel looked very threatening. By then he could afford to attack and bowled some nice rippers. Good to see. He is a nice prospect. A lot different to Vettori, more turn and right arm so is a nice combo!
Our fielding was important also, no dropped chances and we put pressure on by saving runs.
The pitch wasn't brilliant, but SA can't put all of the blame on the pitch. They were outplayed by us.
I think Vincent's innings, though short was important, he showed confidance and got into the SA bowlers minds. I think thats a key, SA never demonstrated any intent early on (though they did lose 2 early wickets which really made that hard). You have to get into the bowlers minds.
The way Smith is complaining about it in the media is childish and pointless. They won the toss and bowled, he admits that was a bad call though. They watched us bat on it, they knew it would be tough. The batting was poor from them. The pitch was possibly worse later on but still, you can't take away the fact that our bowling was all straight and good length.
Fleming and Smith were the only two players to really look good with Astle probably pushing that 2. 3 of the four best batsmen in the game. Kallis the other looked bad, he got a lucky break when he sliced the ball back behind him and went out softly to a fantastic catch.
I thought we may have been a little short on runs at the start but we had pleanty. 80 something runs is a huge win in a low scoring game really.
Smith couldn't afford to throw his wicket away like he did. He had to score some runs though because all our bowlers were superb and wern't giving anything away.
Fleming was absolutly fantastic, he has soo much talent. He is in the form of his life in both forms of the game. That was exactly what I predicted and wanted, Fleming to lead from the front and it proved to be the difference. In the end he was unlucky not to make 3 figures but the win will be more important to him. Captaincy perfect again.
Gibbs bowled AGAIN. He has some serious problems in this area. I thought the decision on Dippaneer was a little bit towards the bowler at first but it ended up being the right decision according to hawkeye.
The South African commentator screams of absolute BIAS! The restare growing on me. The Aussie guy knows his stuff, I quite enjoy him.
Sri Lanka up next for us. Will be a tough game, we beat them at home comprehensivly but this pitch will probably suit them more. Should be a great game! I think we have a shot.
Pakistan the other match, I think we will definatly be in with a huge chance with them missing Asif and Akhtar.
We SHOULD make the top cut from here. That first game was such an important one to win. I stick by my prediction I made a while back of SL and us going through,
Fantastic performance boys!
