New Zealand in South Africa

[puddleduck]

No I wouldn't he is a bowler... and was in as nightwatchman, he is a bit of a glorified Hoggard. Has a very solid foward defence, will generally get in the way of anything, but through his career has added a few shots to his armoury that he plays once settled.

Hoggard unfortunately still only has the foward defensive. Obviously congrats to Dizzy, not easy to score a 200 at any time, but much like when Hayden broke the world record, it is in the end a reasonably anomolous statistic, as the opposition on both counts were and are not yet test class.

Had however someone like Gilchrist or Hussey got golden ducks and no runs all series I might have had a wry smile, likewise had Dizzy not taken a wicket, but they did and i didn't

Also, the fact is when England played Bangladesh they often declared well before their lower and middle order got a chance to boost their averages or score maiden tons. Had it been a different captain to Ponting, one who perhaps doesn't believe in nightwatchmen, then Gillespie may never have gotten his chance. However once he got it, with his powers of concentration, reasonably solid defence, and lack of any real quality quick bowler to unsettle him, the stage was set, and full credit to ol' Dizzy he took it with aplomb.

 

[irottev]

We finally declare. Franklin got a ton and was smashing the ball everywhere. Hit Ntini for a nice six. I bet he loves being hit for six by number 9's.

This first innings bowling from us is going to have to be good. We can't really lose now so we need to force the win and not let them settle for the draw. We need early wickets with the seamers and the spinners need to make an impact too.

 

[Xuzuno]

:o Vettori already brought in.

 

[Sureshot]

yet if he hadve scored a golden duck and no runs throughout the series you would be bagging him and saying he cant bat for peanuts.

thats hardly fair.

A big assumption.

So then Gillespie is a fully fledged batsman now then?

 

[irottev]

I noticed, that Gillespie now has a better High Score then the entire South African team aside from Smith. lol.

But anyway, back to this game. Patel strikes early with a caught and bowled. Great stuff. He has started nicely. There is nice turn and one beat everyone which hit the rough. Good signs.

 

[James219]

Smith is really annoying me now. Once again another start, and another failure to construct an innings. The two days in the field would've been tedious and mentally draining, particularly as captain with the added responsibility, but this poor run of form has gone on unbelievably long for a player of his stature. He hasn't registered one half-century during the Test season of 05/06...
Anyway, great stuff from Patel, he'll be relieved to be able to pick up a wicket so early and eliminate some of the initial debutant nerves.

 

[kodos]

Yeah I feel slightly sympathetic for Smith. He is a class act but he just hasn't coverted the starts throughout the summer except for the ODI's. Perhaps next season will be a better season for him.

 

[James219]

Same, I feel sorry for him; he seems to have been cursed throughout this whole international season, and his horrid performances reflect that.
It affects South African cricket in two senses- where one of their vital players is out of touch and that disrupts the balance of the side, and also him being the captain affects the morale of the team environment as the link to the camp is weakened. It harms his leadership as his security in the side is compromised through his own mentality after failing so much.
There couldn't be too many anticipating the end of this season and the beginning of the next like Smith would be. (Well, not really, The Ashes is obviously next season )

 

[aussie1st]

Just looking at that total, geez SA have scored 100 and they are still 491 runs behind lol. Anyone know what the follow on score is?

 

[James_W]

Shouldn't be too hard to work out, FO=NZ-200, where NZ=593 so FO=393. that wasn't too hard.

 

[ZexyZahid]

Just like I expected New Zealand declared by nearly reaching the 600 runs. One or two overs more and they could have actually gone over the 600 runs.

South Africa is scoring really slowly now. Smith has been disappointing again and Dippenaar did make a good contribution.

But South Africa has a lot to do to avoid the follow-on.

 

[venom2011]

people usually think its like some extensive mathematical calculation

starting to drizzle here in cape town. and the commentators worked out that NZ would have to take on average a wicket every 10 overs to win.

AS long as theres no big collapse...this is most likely gonna be a draw

 

[Iron-Haggis]

With Kallis in the team there shouldn't be any problem South Africa drawing the match, as he will be batting for his average.

 

[aussie1st]

Shouldn't be too hard to work out, FO=NZ-200, where NZ=593 so FO=393. that wasn't too hard.

I knew it was a simple one just couldn't remember if it was -100 or 200.

SA's coach has said they are playing for the draw so NZ will have to bowl out of their skins to win this one. Even then that might not be enough to get them the win.

 

[irottev]

Wickets could tumble to the spinners, but it looks like a draw. But thats fine. We still have a good chance to draw the series. Had South Africa caught Patel or gotten our tail out quicker, we would strangly be in a better position.

It could come close though, think about it, we are going to need probably a 30 run average between wickets. Where is Bond

But its definatly possible.