RSA vs NZ, 1st Test, Durban
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<p>SA in the second innings are reeling with Southee and Boult the chief destroyers. Problem is the BCs were meek in the first innings. Barring a miracle the boys will be chasing over 400 in the last innings so any chance of a win is pretty much out of the question. Looks like the usual story, if Williamson and Taylor go cheaply she's all over, if one of them busts out a massive innings ( and you get the feeling Taylor used up all his form on Zimbabwe ) then there's the chance of an honourable draw.</p>
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<p>I look at the "pace" attack ( should have a medium in front ) and there is enough talent there to knock SA over quite quickly tomorrow morning but I dread the thought of one of those lower order batsmen getting a frustrating half century and making it a real uphill battle.</p> -
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<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="MN5" data-cid="610657" data-time="1472508308">
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<p>SA in the second innings are reeling with Southee and Boult the chief destroyers. Problem is the BCs were meek in the first innings. Barring a miracle the boys will be chasing over 400 in the last innings so any chance of a win is pretty much out of the question. Looks like the usual story, if Williamson and Taylor go cheaply she's all over, if one of them busts out a massive innings ( and you get the feeling Taylor used up all his form on Zimbabwe ) then there's the chance of an honourable draw.</p>
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<p>I look at the "pace" attack ( should have a medium in front ) and there is enough talent there to knock SA over quite quickly tomorrow morning but I dread the thought of one of those lower order batsmen getting a frustrating half century and making it a real uphill battle.</p>
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<p>Do you know, and this is crazy, but since Hesson took over, I have glimmers of hope that we can do it. Previously I would just look up the score to see what we lost by but now, if we did manage to grind out a win or even a draw, I wouldn't be as surprised as I would have been before the Hesson era.</p>
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<p>It may be false hope but In Kane I trust!</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="MN5" data-cid="610642" data-time="1472504162">
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<p>Never good when 31 is the teams third best score.....and number 10 gets it.....</p>
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<p>And I see Steyn has criticised Wagner for not occupying the crease and supporting Kane. </p>
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<p>As to the toss, Wagner commented that he still thought it was the right decision to bowl at the end of day 1. The drop catch by Nicholls proved costly in the context of the test.</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Hooroo" data-cid="610662" data-time="1472509100">
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<p>Do you know, and this is crazy, but since Hesson took over, I have glimmers of hope that we can do it. Previously I would just look up the score to see what we lost by but now, if we did manage to grind out a win or even a draw, I wouldn't be as surprised as I would have been before the Hesson era.</p>
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<p>It may be false hope but In Kane I trust!</p>
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<p>Agree 100% but let's not forget the guy with the second best New Zealand average of all time* is in the team too and will be keen to atone for the first innings. As I said before getting run out in a test is pretty fucken unforgivable. Another score approaching his mammoth efforts against Oz last year would go down well.</p>
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<p>*Sorry Dempster and Donnelly, you didn't play enough tests to warrant a mention</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Donsteppa" data-cid="610640" data-time="1472503905">
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<p>Why oh why did we bowl first...</p>
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<p>A reasonable question.</p>
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<p>Whatever the plan was, it hasn't worked.</p>
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<p>A quick glance at the Cricinfo website and it looks like there's already variable bounce. Couple that with guys who can bowl at 150kmh and it's never going to be a happy time.</p>
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<p>Pray for rain! :)</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="MN5" data-cid="610664" data-time="1472509455">
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<p>*Sorry Dempster and Donnelly, you didn't play enough tests to warrant a mention</p>
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<p>Madness!</p>
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<p>Like we've got a raft of guys averaging over 50.</p>
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<p>Statistically our greatest batsman was probably Rodney Redmond - he was not quite as good as Bradman, that I'll grant you, but he pissed all over Sir Viv and Sachin. :)</p>
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<p><span style="font-size:8px;">(statistically)</span></p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Chris B." data-cid="610668" data-time="1472510313">
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<p>Madness!</p>
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<p>Like we've got a raft of guys averaging over 50.</p>
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<p>Statistically our greatest batsman was probably Rodney Redmond - he was not quite as good as Bradman, that I'll grant you, but he pissed all over Sir Viv and Sachin. :)</p>
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<p><span style="font-size:8px;">(statistically)</span></p>
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<p>I always thought Mark Waugh should have retired after his first test. Woulda made the Xmas get togethers more fun laughing at his twin for taking 30 odd innings to achieve what he got first time round.</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="tubbyj" data-cid="610672" data-time="1472511007">
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<p>Don't forget Guptill.</p>
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<p>His hundy on debut was in an ODI and he has gone on to have a great career in that format. It's the longer version that he struggles with.</p>
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<p><span style="font-size:8px;">he needs to bat at 5</span></p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="mimic" data-cid="610717" data-time="1472520212">
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<p>I don't see why we can't just blood in the new guys from 5, even if they're openers.</p>
<p>Not sure what Nicholls has over Raval and Popli.</p>
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<p>Is Popli an opener? He basically only has one good season doesn't he? Also we don't really have that much talent as openers anyway. Most of our openers aren't good enough to bat 5.</p> -
<p>Do we just accept that we're never going to have all the components of a world class test team at one time ? by the time another opener ( Latham is good enough ) and a test class spinner emerge Taylor may well have retired and therefore the two class top order batsmen we have are reduced to one. The next Bond or even Hadlee may come along but by then Williamson might have gone etc.</p>
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<p>It seems NZ cricket has been on the hunt for an opening pair since Edgar retired and left Wright on his own and even then he wasn't exactly world class, he was solid and did his job.</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="hydro11" data-cid="610756" data-time="1472531571"><p>Is Popli an opener? He basically only has one good season doesn't he? Also we don't really have that much talent as openers anyway. Most of our openers aren't good enough to bat 5.</p></blockquote>
Sorry I was really talking about Raval.. who I think is better than Nicholls.. <br>
Popli has only one good season, but it shits on anything Nicholls has done.. -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="mimic" data-cid="610776" data-time="1472538461"><p>
Sorry I was really talking about Raval.. who I think is better than Nicholls.. <br>
Popli has only one good season, but it shits on anything Nicholls has done..</p></blockquote>
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Nicholls got his chance because he combined a good domestic breakout season with a good A series v SL A.<br><br>
There is method to it. <br><br>
Now he's being given an opportunity to prove himself at international level. Odds are he won't make it, but they're giving him a decent crack, and there's no one yet banging down the door that he is keeping out.<br><br>
There is another A tour coming up. If Popli and Young are good enough and take the opportunity then doors are wide open. If they don't, well, nothing lost. -
<p>I'll just leave trhis here as I know how much folk on here enjoy spitting coffee all over theior keyboard -</p>
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<p><a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.espncricinfo.com/county-cricket-2016/content/story/1051649.html'>http://www.espncricinfo.com/county-cricket-2016/content/story/1051649.html</a></p>
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<p>Jeetan Patel was hailed as "one of the best overseas players Warwickshire have ever had" by Ian Bell after his career-best one-day bowling performance guided his side to the final of the Royal London Cup.</p>
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<p>Patel, with the first five-wicket haul of a limited-overs career that stretches back to the previous century, expertly applied pressure on a Somerset batting order chasing a testing target on a slow, used surface. With some balls turning and some skidding on, Patel claimed all his dismissals with leg before shouts, punishing Somerset's habit of playing across the line. Warwickshire will play Surrey in the final at Lord's on September 17. When Patel signed for Warwickshire in 2009, he looked a modest addition. He was not the sort of star name that increased the gate and did not have the sort of record - he had a first-class bowling average above 40 - that suggested he would prove a match-winner.</p>
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<p>But a star he has been. He has taken at least 50 wickets in each of the last five first-class county seasons - he is the leading wicket-taker in Division One of the County Championship this year - improved his batting to the point where he averages 26.69 for Warwickshire in first-class cricket (with two centuries and 11 half-centuries) and proved himself indispensable. <strong><em>He deserves to be rated, alongside Allan Donald, Brian Lara, Rohan Kanhai </em></strong>and the rest, as the best Warwickshire have had. He has already agreed to return in 2017 and, if the club ask, will sign for 2018 as well. He insists he has not thought about qualifying for England ("wouldn't I just be holding back a young fella?" was his typically no nonsense response to that question) but admitted it was an intriguing idea. Nobody in England bowls spin anywhere near this standard.</p>
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<p>Or New Zealand for that matter. But Patel turned down the last approach for a recall a couple of years ago reasoning that leaving in the middle of a county season may compromise his relatively secure day job with Warwickshire for two weeks of modestly-paid international cricket. He is, though, a far better bowler - and batsman, actually - than the man who last played international cricket in January 2013.</p>
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<p>Also anything north of a 175 chase for us we have zero chance, no one has ever chased 260+ at Centurion & I can't see Guppy, Nichols & that tail changing that. We were fucked the minute we bowled first in helpful conditions against a mediocre side & bowled a pile of shit at them for a day </p>
