South Africa under Alrounder80

[Alrounder80]

New Zealand have made the journey to South Africa for the 2 test match series (yes two...) along with 3 one dayers and 2 T20s.



This is how the New Zealand 18-man squad looks like.
Looking at it, there doesn't seem to be any outstanding players in the whole squad. That's been the main problem for them overs the years I recon, they only ever produce average players with the very rare good player. Name one player in the last 10 years that has averaged 50+ in tests with the bat or has a bowling average of under 25 (with at least 40 test matches)? Didn't think so





Wow. Graeme Smith has put in one of the best performance ever on a non-subcontinental pitch. How is it possible to score a triple century in South Africa! But there is some sad news that will be revealed in the review
Ahhh Sorry I should really start with the New Zealand innings. Vernon struck twice with the new ball to remove both openers by the 11th over. The rest of the batters made decent starts without really carrying on. Kane Williamson seems like New Zealand's great hope for the future. He showed a lot of skill to score 83 against such a strong bowling attack but should have really carried onto to the century mark after making that start. Tahir ripped through the middle order and took the wickets of Williamson, Taylor and Brownlie. New Zealand ended with a score of 300 which didn't seem too disastrous initially...
Twas time for South Africa to bat. James Franklin and Brent Arnel opened up with the new ball (comparisons of the Holding and Marshall combination were soon started by the media). The Proteas started with a big partnership of 270. Peterson looked elegant at times. He actually scored 53 of his 139 runs behind square on the offside. Pretty unusual area to score so prolifically! Graeme Smith was just a different class. The highest score by a South African ever and the seventh highest score ever. It wasn't as if the pitch didn't have anything in it. As shown by the South African bowling, if the ball was put in the right areas, there was enough in it to trouble the batsmen but the Black Caps simply didn't do that. But here's the sad news, after reaching his 350 I was going to allow Smith to take another session to allow him the possibility to reach the holy 400 mark. A bouncer from Mark Gillespie ended shattered that hope. He had to hobble of retired hurt with a fractured rib cage. To think of the what could have otherwise happened. Anyhow, Rudolph continued after Smith's injury with a composed 83 and we reached 702 and declared.
With 1 and a half days to survive, it was all to much for New Zealand. They crumbled under the pressure and Steyn and Tahir were the ones that performed. At the end of the match it was announced that Smith would be out for at least 3 weeks which will really hurt the Proteas. I'm looking at either Dean Elgar making a straight swap with Smith or Rudolph opening and De Kock coming in to take the gloves.

Man of the Match went to Kane Williamson for the heart he showed when all else fell around him..... Only in your dreams Kane, Smith got it.

[Alrounder80]

I forgot to put up the XIs for the last match. Sorry!

Second test line ups.

South Africa XI:
H.Amla
A.Petersen
J.Kallis
A.de Villiers(c&wk)
D.Elgar
J.Rudolph
J.Duminy
V.Philander
M.Morkel
D.Steyn
I.Tahir

I decided to go with Elgar in the end simply because he was in outsanding form. Quinton De Kock was very unlucky not to get a game. Otherwise the team is the same as last test.

New Zealand XI:
M.Guptill
B.McCullum
J.Ryder
K.Williamson
D.Brownlie
R.Taylor
D.Vettori
J.Franklin
D.Bracewell
M.Gillespie
B.Arnel

No changes except for Dan Vettori replacing Dan Flynn.



Another impressive outing from South Africa.
It wasn't as easy as the last test though. I moved Amla up from number 3 to an opener for this game. Didn't really work out (at least for the first innings). A perked up Franklin bowled Amla with a peach. Amla went back to the sheds with a golden duck. Two overs later Petersen went fishing for one and was caught by McCullum of Franklin. Our batsmen understandably went on the defensive. This lead to us being far to bogged down and before we knew it we were 5 down for 34. Elgar dissapionted with a 3 ball duck. De Villiers and Duminy really buckled down though and put on a stand of 160. They really saved us from an embarrassingly low score. Duminy's been like the test version of Lance Klusener this season! Well we ended up with 260 which I was very happy with after the start we had.
Guptill and McCullum batted very compactly and played out the new ball well. After doing the hard work however, they gave it away. Kallis took his billionth slip catch of Steyn when McCullum lost his concentration. Tahir googly soon went through Guptill's defenses and wickets fell at regular intervals from then on.
Our top order were much improved for the second innings. Amla's move up to open worked this time around with an excellent century. De Villiers played another outstanding knock. Another notable performance, though, was that of Dean Elgar. I would have normally declared sooner as I knew New Zealand wouldn't be able to chase anything above 350 but I wanted to see how Elgar went. This must have put some pressure on him but he performed with a solid 50 not out. At an age of 25 where he can still be considered young and yet has quite a bit of experience on his shoulders, he's one to look out for.
Surprise Surprise, Kane Williamson put up the main bit of resistance from New Zealand but eventually ran himself out. Tahir bowled with nice control and picked up 4 wickets.
Man of the Match went to the captain for two brilliant knocks. Is there any point putting up stats for a 2 match test series? I guess I'll have to... I'll get to it later tomorrow!

[Alrounder80]

You know what? It's pretty pointless providing series stats for a 2 match test series so I shall only do the awards.

Best Batsmen Award: Graeme Smith
Who else?

Best Bowler Award: Steyn/Tahir
Both took 12 wickets at similar averages and economies. Wouldn't be fair to pick one out of them.

Surprise performed for New Zealand was James Franklin. Highest wicket taker with 13 at an average of 28. Certainly showed the media!

We move on to the 3 one dayers.

[Alrounder80]

15 man squads for both teams shown below.

SA Squad



Some new faces there but nothing unexpected. Dane Vilas is dropped after not performing well enough in the last ODI tour way back before the T20 world cup when we faced England. Elgar is retained from the test squad. Levi's also in there but unlikely to get a game unless someone under performs.

NZ Squad



For some odd reason, BJ Watling is included in the squad even though he will be unfit for two of the three ODIs. ANYHOO.

The teams.

South Africa XI:
H.Amla
J.Rudolph
D.Elgar
J.Kallis
A.de Villiers(c&wk)
J.Duminy
F.du Plessis
J.Botha
V.Philander
D.Steyn
L.Tsotsobe

New Zealand XI:
J.Ryder
M.Guptill
K.Williamson
R.Taylor
D.Brownlie
B.McCullum
J.Kranklin
D.Bracewell
M.Bates
T.Boult
B.Arnel

Dan Vettori performed bowled economically and picked up a couple of wickets against the Dolphins in the friendly has been left out in favour of Bracewell. Not seen much Bates but is apparently rated highly in the New Zealand ranks.



Begun with a solid opening stand between Rudolph and Amla. Then Elgar came in a really struggled. He ate up 67 balls for his 35 and was subsequently bowled by a Bates yorker. Kallis (53) and de Villiers (55*) played wonderfully together and shared a 106 run partnership. We reached 285 of the 50 overs. It could have been much more had not Elgar played so slowly in the middle of the innings.
Truth be told, we were ahead for most of the game. We had them struggling when the Black Caps were 48 for 3. However Brownlie (34) and McCullum played around Jessie Ryder as he went on an absolute rampage. Even then, at 200 for 5 with 12 overs left with Franklin in, a win for New Zealand looked unlikely. But Franklin put his hand up and played a crucial knock of 38*. Tsotsobe was the main victim of poor death bowling. He put the ball up on a plate for Ryder and Franklin to smash and ended up leaking 73 runs for no wickets. Botha was not much better giving away 63 for no wicket. Some changes for the next ODI are in check!

[cricfan1]

Good to see NZ doing well

[Alrounder80]

Good to see NZ doing well

Yeah, not often you get to witness that

[Alrounder80]

For the 2nd ODI I've replaced Johan Botha with Albie Morkel.



Talk about coming back with a vengance!
We actually didn't get of to a good start. Number 2,3 and 4 didn't perform. Elgar again disappointing with a golden duck. But when de Villiers came in everything soon changed. New Zealand understandably set a fairly attacking fields with some early wickets. But de Villiers from the off looked to be aggressive. He struck a few over mid on for four to get himself going and then played beautifully all around the wicket. Lots of great pull shots for four. Du Plessis was no different to him and was as aggressive. A dominating 6th wicket stand of 214 really put us on top. We set an imposing total of 328.
A very impressive spell from Steyn (helped by New Zealand's reckless aggression) meant that New Zealand had no chance. His spell included a hattrick! The victims were McCullum, Franklin and Bracewell.
Good stuff. Man of the match was de Villiers for setting up the game.

[Alrounder80]

Elgar dropped with Richard Levi replacing him for the 3rd ODI. New Zealand side is unchanged.



Ohhhh way to close for my liking. I'm starting to find out why the overall performance in the ODIs wasn't as good as it should have been.
Our batting display was pretty poor. Rudolph (49) played well enough along with Kallis. But failures from Amla, Levi and de Villiers. Duminy effectively got us out of jail with a rapid 80* of 77 deliveries. First problem is that Graeme Smith's replacement (Elgar and Levi) haven't performed whereas Smith performs very consistenly.
In the bowling, we bowled well with the new ball and the Black Caps found themselves 45 for 4. Williamson and McCullum rebuilt well with a 114 stand. McCullum continues as the lower order players supported him. With 15 runs required of about 3.3 overs. McCullum tried to bring the target down with a boundary (and to get to his century) but miscued the shot. Kallis got under it and took a crucial catch. Tsotsobe, who bowled horribly, ended up bowling Brent Arnel cuing celebrations from the team. Vernon Philander five-for got him the man of the match.
The second problem! It's the fact that our fourth bowler is not strong enough. Botha isn't good enough for me and Morkel who replaced him doesn't also fit the bill. I'll look have to look for a better fourth bowler soon.

[Alrounder80]

For the T20s, Tsotsobe, De Kock and Rudolph are the guys to miss out with Juan Theron, Dane Vilas and Ontong coming in.
New Zealand have decided to carry on unchanged.

1st T20 line ups.

South Africa XI:
H.Amla
R.Levi
D.Elgar
J.Kallis
A.de Villiers(c&wk)
J.Ontong
J.Duminy
J.Botha
V.Philander
D.Steyn

New Zealand XI:
J.Ryder
M.Guptill
K.Williamson
R.Taylor
D.Brownlie
B.McCullum
J.Franklin
D.Vettori
M.Bates
T.Boult
B.Arnel

An easy victory for us today. Elgar compiled a very well made 41. He took a liking for the extra cover boundary especially. Richard Levi (33) and Kallis also made decent enough contributions to get us to 147 for 5. I wasn't sure if that was par but luckily it did turn out to be par (if not above).
Philander is like god with the new ball. Two quick wickets at the beginning put the chase into disarray. Surprisingly, Kallis bowled exceedingly well along with Johan Botha (at long long long last) with figures of 2 for 18 after his 4. A meek performance by New Zealand this time around. They'll be looking to bounce back for the 2nd T20.
Kallis was the man of the match for his all round contribution.

[Alrounder80]

Both teams have gone with the same XI from last match.



Bounce back they did. No early wickets this time which allowed New Zealand to lay a solid foundation to go all out at the end. Ryder played out of his skin.
Amla tried his best to keep up with the rate. Elgar didn't help with a fairly slow 36 of 33 balls. But despite regular fall of wickets, with 3.4 overs to go we needed 47 runs to win. Ontong (32 of 18) and Duminy (21 of 9) went all out. With 17 needed of the last over though a win was unlikely for the Proteas. But Ontong suddenly hit 3 fours. Only 4 needed of 3 and Ontong fluffed it with two swings and misses. We ended with loosing by 2 runs.
So the T20 series has ended as a draw.

[Alrounder80]

ODI series stats (no point in T20 stats).



All the batsmen played their part with the exception of Graeme Smith's replacement (Elgar and Levi). Vernon Philander figures look outstanding there along with Steyn's.



New Zealand used just the 11 players for the series. Surprising considering Bracewell's terrible figures (1 for 74 and 1 for 81) in the first two ODIs and Arnel poor bowling average.


Best Batsmen Award: AB de Villiers
Brilliant performance despite registering a duck in the last ODI! He also scored his run at a very good strike rate as well.

Best Bowler Award: Vernon Philander
Took wickets and very economically. Dale Steyn took more wicket but it's surely deserves this more.

It's time for Pakistan to head over to South Africa. We're playing 3 test matches, 5 ODIs and 2 T20 mathces.

[Alrounder80]

South Africa XI:
G.Smith(c)
A.Petersen
H.Amla
A.de Villiers
J.Rudolph
J.Duminy
Q.de Kock(wk)
V.Philander
D.Steyn
M.Morkel
I.Tahir

Quinton de Kock makes his test debut South Africa. Sure it's a very proud moment for him.

Pakistan XI:
U.Salahuddin
A.Shehzad
Y.Khan
A.Shafiq
M.Yousuf
S.Ahmed
M.Hafeez
A.Rehman
W.Riaz
U.Gul
A.Ahmed

Pakistan won the toss and chose to bat first. They put up a par score of 375. With the exception of Philander picking up Ahmed Shehzad early on, all the other batsmen down to number 9 scored above 21.
Our batsmen were blown by the debutant, Afaq Ahmed. Amla and de Villiers did, however, play well but could have carried on to the triple figure mark. Their spinners played their part as well by bogging us down and severely drying up the runs. Second time round, Pakistan had a similar innings with all batsmen getting into double figures. With the pitch starting to take some spin, Tahir came into his own.
With 455 runs to win, we were unlikely to win. A 145 opening partnership gave the Proteas some hope but the spinners made sure it never turned into anything. Rudolph (63) and Duminy at the end managed to push us to a respectable total but a resounding victory for the Pakistanis in this test.

[Alrounder80]

Obus Pienaar has replaced Quinton de Kock for the second test. For Pakistan, Ahmed Shehzad is replaced by Azhar Ali.



On this occasion, Pakistan batted first again and posted a much lower total of 283. The two guys listed on the scorecard were the only ones to get any amount of runs. Brilliant effort from Vernon, keeps churning out the wickets.
We were in danger of getting all out for below 250 runs when we were 197 for 7. Who other than the spinners to have caused most of the damage? But Petersen at number 5 carried the tail with incredible grit. Him and Morne Morkel put of a 116 run partnership and Steyn came in and went in full block mode as Petersen carried on. His knock ended on 149 with Rehman deceiving him in the flight and Petersen was caught at long off.
Pakistan posted exactly the same total as their first innings in their second in more or less the same amount of overs! Tahir performed which will keep him in the team (he's on the fringe of being replaced with a younger spinner). We knocked of the runs without any fuss. Smith scored his fifth century for South Africa this season to carry on his brilliant form.
A ridiculous decision to give Younis Khan the Man of the Match. Petersen was the obvious candidate that should have got it.

[Alrounder80]

No changes for me. Pakistan have RANDOMLY decided to drop Abdur Rehman and brought in Nazar Hussain. They also brought in Shezhad in place of Umar Gul. Anyone else find the AI selection process a bit random? Sometimes they don't seem to care about performance.



Ah, series win!
Great win here. The very low first innings score from Pakistan followed by my very high one put them totally out of the game. Very easy win for us. Dale was true class and Smith just keeps going and going. Dropping their second spinner was a terrible decision and 11 wickets having been taken by spinners shows that.

[Alrounder80]

Series stats for both teams below.



Our series stats suggests that most of the batsmen and bowlers showed up for work, and rightly so!



Pakistani seamers lacked any penetration. The spinners were the ones that caused our guys problems. Only three batsmen did well for Pakistan in the batting department.

Best Batting Award: Alviro Petersen
Great job by him, he's really solidifying his position in the team now. Smith's was unlucky to get the award by the way!

Best Bowling Award: Dale Steyn
As Dale often does, he took loads of wickets.