Indian tour of South Africa, December-January 2010/11

[Cricketman]

Who knows, maybe Bhaj will be promoted up the order...

 

[pcfan123]

edit: wrong thread woops

 

[isrararrafi]

A good idea would be to send the lower order in first so that they can waste the first 10 odd overs and make the ball old...and then the real batsmen will come out and go for the win since steyn and co will be a lot less effective by then (dare I say!)

 

[pcfan123]

I don't think sending the lower order to face a rested Steyn with the new ball is a good idea. Especially in the morning on Day 5.

 

[War]

But the big question is, do they choose Tsotsobe over Parnell because he's more black or because they think he's the best coloured player?

Ha good question. Fact is none of Tsotsobe & Parnell are good enough for test cricket regardless of the colour of their skin.

If they wanted a talented colured/black bowler to bad this was the man:

Craig Alexander | Cricket Players and Officials | ESPN Cricinfo

But understandly he is a bit injury proned so realistically even with out a unofficial quota policy, he probably wouldn't have been considered for a test birth currently.

I don't know about that, but there's always been a bit of politics in selection, going right back to the days when the MCC would refuse to pick a professional to captain England. These days you'll still find heated arguments about picking players from a particular state in India and Australia, while there seems to be a lot of nepotism in Pakistan.


South Africa definitely can't ever pick an all-white team ever again. Whether they have quotas or not, it would be something of a social disaster. That's unfortunate, but it's the burden of history. However, we'd all like to think that there are now enough players to ensure it.

Those problems in AUS (the so called NSW bias) & IND are understandble & are hardly ever significant however though.

The quota problem & Nepotism in PAK selection is a direct consequence id say of a weak ICC. If the ICC was strong like FIFA for example neoptism in PAK would have been rooted out years ago.

Plus SA cricket wouldn't have a quota system or else they could have definately been banned again as the case was in 1970. SA would then have encourage the majority black population via investment in the rural areas's to play/like cricket. Since ppl dont acknowledge that generally blacks in S Africa play football & rugby farrr more than cricket & its the whites that play cricket more, yet outside influence wants to force mediocre/unqualified black/coloured players to be in the cricket team for image sakes.

Its crazy & one of these days again like what happened last season vs England a quota selections/s will cost S Africa a series.

 

[SaiSrini]

A good idea would be to send the lower order in first so that they can waste the first 10 odd overs and make the ball old...and then the real batsmen will come out and go for the win since steyn and co will be a lot less effective by then (dare I say!)

If India have to win, Sehwag has to give us the rollicking start that he is used to do. Sending lower order to the top and all is a foolish idea. Steyn will rip them apart so easily, and it will boost his confidence up more and the regular batters will face the brunt of it. Sehwag has done it once in Chennai where he set India up for a super chase. Hope he can repeat that again. If not, atleast Laxman, Dravid, Tendulkar and co should steer us to a draw which is good for us too

 

[mohit_dude10]

Going by the trend at end of 1st day SA were on top, 2nd Day Ind.. 3rd Day was even, 4th day SA on top.. will India come out top on 5th day?

 

[sami ullah khan]

Hats off to Kallis. He has played one the best test innings of all time. I heard one of the commentators say that Kallis averages the best among top ten highest test run getters . He is definitely as good as Sachin but his all-rounder skills make him the MVP of test cricket . India have only one way to go in this test and that is for a draw. With their depleted batting resources, they will be ill advised to go for the win. They have their bowling and some strange captaincy to blame for the quagmire, they find themselves in.

 

[stefan]

Ha good question. Fact is none of Tsotsobe & Parnell are good enough for test cricket regardless of the colour of their skin.

If they wanted a talented colured/black bowler to bad this was the man:

Craig Alexander | Cricket Players and Officials | ESPN Cricinfo

But understandly he is a bit injury proned so realistically even with out a unofficial quota policy, he probably wouldn't have been considered for a test birth currently.



Those problems in AUS (the so called NSW bias) & IND are understandble & are hardly ever significant however though.

The quota problem & Nepotism in PAK selection is a direct consequence id say of a weak ICC. If the ICC was strong like FIFA for example neoptism in PAK would have been rooted out years ago.

Plus SA cricket wouldn't have a quota system or else they could have definately been banned again as the case was in 1970. SA would then have encourage the majority black population via investment in the rural areas's to play/like cricket. Since ppl dont acknowledge that generally blacks in S Africa play football & rugby farrr more than cricket & its the whites that play cricket more, yet outside influence wants to force mediocre/unqualified black/coloured players to be in the cricket team for image sakes.

Its crazy & one of these days again like what happened last season vs England a quota selections/s will cost S Africa a series.

Cricket has always mainly been played by the white and coloured population and not the black population except for the eastern cape. That's why the selectors have such a problem pleasing the politico's who want a real black african to replace ntini. Lots of talented coloured cricketers in the system but very few black africans.

Alexander has real pace, if only he could stay fit. He seems to be going the way ngam did.

Regarding tsotsobe and parnell. If parnell develops he can be good enough for test cricket, he just needs to sort of a few things out with his action and learn patience while with lopsy I think in the long run his lack of speed will mean he isn't a test quality bowler except on seamer friendly wickets.

 

[War]

Cricket has always mainly been played by the white and coloured population and not the black population except for the eastern cape. That's why the selectors have such a problem pleasing the politico's who want a real black african to replace ntini. Lots of talented coloured cricketers in the system but very few black africans.

Alexander has real pace, if only he could stay fit. He seems to be going the way ngam did.

Regarding tsotsobe and parnell. If parnell develops he can be good enough for test cricket, he just needs to sort of a few things out with his action and learn patience while with lopsy I think in the long run his lack of speed will mean he isn't a test quality bowler except on seamer friendly wickets.

Indeed on everything.

Would be disappointed if Alexander does go down the road of Ngam though. Has eveything you would want in fast-bowler as you rightfully highlighted.

Parnell indeed has the skills, so yea i reckon eventually he will be good enough for test. Just that he hasn't found that range yet & really shouldn't have been considered for selection for test right now.

On Tsotsobe however i dont see any skils. Even on seaming decks as we saw in this series id say the Indian bats gave wickets to him & should be really disappoimted with that. He really shouldn't be getting good test batsmen out at all.

 

[sohum]

I've decided to watch till Sehwag gets out, which shouldn't be more than 15-20 minutes I suppose.

 

[sami ullah khan]

And Sehwag's very average tour ends. South Africa will be relieved to see his back.

 

[Adarsh]

He's out. Standard. Back to Gambhir Tendulkar Laxman and Bhajji to bail us out of this one.

 

[ZoraxDoom]

70.4 overs to go.

302 to win.

Required run-rate is too high, chasing it down is out of the question.

So just need to bat out these 70 overs for a draw. End the series 1-1. Which is kinda disappointing, but considering the way India played, they should be pleased with it. Go away, find some new pace bowlers, have some time off to let Zak and others recover from minor niggles. Re-evaluate Dravid's spot in the side.

As I type, another over is played out. Only 70 left...

 

[Gurjot95]

You can judge the Indian approach by the way Sehwag played.

I say get 3 runs an over and play aggressive in the end if you have enough wickets in hand.