Viru's 219 and what it means to Indore

What a player. What a player.

219 is now a  benchmark for a captain's innings and that benchmark would be bettered very few times in the World cricket, at least in ODIs. 

A man who was out first ball duck in Motera scores a double hundred in Indore's Holkar stadium. The man who was best bet to score a 200 in ODI and he took 12 years to get there, but when he got there, he got in style when he cut Pollard for a four to go past his idol's 200*. What a player, if I can chant in Tony Greg style.

Virender Sehwag, the Indian captain for this series and the terrific Delhi opener has scored a 200 in ODIs, which is scored only for 2nd time in history of ODI cricket. And both of those scores of 200+ have come in the state of Madhya Pradesh, not famous for many things. But now its on the world cricket map. Indore is on the world cricket map to have hosted this incredible match which saw highest individual ODI score and highest ODI total for India. 

India's 419 is its highest ODI total ever making it only team to go past 400 4 times. The other teams have either not crossed this mark or at max done it 2 times. 

Virender Sehwag has scored 219 in ODIs as his highest score, 319 in Tests. And he also crossed 8000 runs in ODIs and he is 20 runs away in Tests. Too much for a man who didnt have a good technique and was dismissed as flop star in 1999?

Dilip Vengsarkar almost ruined the career of this incredible batsman in 2007 when he dropped Sehwag from the team to Australia in favor of Boss DK. Thanks to Anil Kumble who got the man back for Perth test and since then its been a revamped Sehwag.  The likes of Sehwag make the game more interesting to watch in the era flooded by T20 bandagwons and for this precise reason and the ODI highs India has seen this year, the ODI cricket must stay on. 

Sehwag makes everything in record book look obsolete and its not long before Sehwag gets a double double hundred in Tests too eclipsing Brian Charles Lara, another cricketing great.

South Africa would be relieved team today passing on the buck to West Indies to leak the highest ODI score.   Both 200 scores have come in MP. Gwalior and now Indore. Indore is now redeemed in the cricketing world and after the 1997 fiasco when a match was abandoned due to bad pitch, the cricket is truly back in the city of Poha Jalebi. 

Indore has had a rich cricketing history in India unfortunately, it didnt get its share of matches or didnt give country many players. CK Naydu, the first Indian captain, Narendra Hirwani, the current selector and famous 16 man are the 2 most famous cricketers from this city besides some domestic giants. And yes Indore is also the city where great Rahul Dravid was born!! But thats it. 

The pathetic Nehru stadium was a blot on Indore and this excellent cricket stadium in the heart of the city makes a grand return of cricket in the city of Indore. Like every other city in the country, the city of Indore has rejoiced on every great cricketing milestone of India and people have congregated in the heart of city -- Rajwada in thousands, lacs waving tricolor and chanting India India. Be it 2011 World cup wins (QF, SF and then final) or 1996 win over Pakistan or Dhaka win in 1998 or Lords 2002, people in this city have always celebrated with rigor and highest enthusiasm. Its not like Mumbai which boos its own heroes or is indifferent to the cricket in the town. Or like the other big centers where the crowd interest is dwindling. 

Holkar stadium today wrote the name of Indore with bright golden letters on world cricket map -- city to host highest ODI score in history of 40 years. And what a pity, I am not around in my own hometown to witness this epic moment in the history of Indian cricket and of course, the history of Indore.

Virender Sehwag well done, we Indoris are proud of you and thank you to redeem our city's cricket and bringing back the glory and respect it always deserved.

SA choke

Going going going gone. At 3/121 to 172 all out.

SA lose by 49 runs to go crashing out of the semi final race and Kiwis make yet another appearence in the semis. For the first time India and Kiwis go to the semis together. And if tomorrow its England who come up trumps its going to be India vs England final.

Mouth watering stuff.

But SA. What are they made of ? After restricting NZ to 221 and just needing 3 222s to win, they lose yet again. 121 is a dreaded # for them. They collapsed at 121 itself against England and today again they went down.

Generations have gone by but the South African dream has nt materialized.

1992 : Semi final crash, they were not to be blamed for that 21 off 1.

1996: First signs of choking with loss in QF. Thanks to Brian Lara

1999 : Epic choke to Australia 2 times.

2003 : Their own world cup, they need 1 run to go through instead they tie and go out.

2007 : Lose their way in semis to Australia

2011 : Kiwsi blast them out.

Many termed SA as fav team to win the world cup. Not to be. They choked. They had a super team this time.  Amla, Kallis, Smith, ABD and Duminy. None fired when it mattered. Amla got good starts but except 1 100 never went on to make a hundred.

Imran Tahir, their new playtoy couldnt fire against big teams.

And biggest of them all, they choked in their minds. They chased 297 successfuly against India but could not  chase 172 and 222.  There are plenty of South African coaches around, none as best as Gary Kirsten for India. And now they shall desparately want him to coach them.

No decision reviewed this game. Good

What a game Kiwis had. Both captains are going to step down post this campaign, but its Vettori who'z  got better of Smith on a venue where they lost 0-4 to Deshis. Oram, Ryder, Nathan McCullum had a super game today.

And now they travel to Colombo for their semi final against SL or England (England my favorite).

SA need some time off and may be a reconditioning program for empowering mental strenghts. This is a World Cup and it doesnt get bigger than this. They had 4 spinners, but that didnt matter in the end cos their batsmen lacked the steel resolve to conquer something which India, England and Australia have.

Its a glorious upset and what a turnaround for Kiwis.

All attributed to one man, who started it all for Indian turnaround, good 11 years back. Take a bow for John Wright.

Saffers seem to be choking again

3/121 to 7/147.

Only Saffers can do that. They have to accept that they are eternal chokers and they shall always do it. Though they are yet to lose this or win this, but a big ? is set up on their worthiness of winning this tournament, which they desparately want to.

And 8tgh gone.

South Africa cannot win the bigger games, no matter waht conditions, no matter which countries. Pity India lost to them and they couldnt get Saffa choke.

And whoz the hero of chokers? N McCullum and J Oram.

Cant stop laughing.

Deshis crashing out is good for

What a insipid display by Deshis in a game they had to win to go through. They just folded out for 78 and lost by 206 Goddamn runs. 

Good they are out, they didnt deserve to be in the quarter finals with such a pathetic performance.

Looking back at the moral sapping defeat to SA

So India lost the first game of the tournament and in an insipid style.  In a way it was good they didnt deserve to win after spineless performance from the lower middle order and the middle order.

Yuvraj Singh attempted what he does the best -- hit successfully, but Saturday wasnt his day. MSD has forgot to hit fours and sixes and like dogs he scratches around and then stands infurirated and gives some spectacularly inefficient statements in the press. Yusuf Pathan is a mug and he shines occasionally to seal his spot for next few games. He has never delivered when needed the most. The best he can do now is to focus on IPL career. No more needed in the world cup.

He is useless in all departments. Cant bat, cant bowl, cant field.

Same goes for Virat Kohli. After that opening 100, he has faltered away. He has been bowled, caught & bowled, run out in last 4 games. What was he attempting on Saturday is best answered by him.

Coming to the fielding, it was the best display in the tournament unforunately didnt come good. Munaf Patel continued to be lax and listless with ball and field. Do we really need him? He is too passive and Sreesanth is too charged up. Extreme characters in the team.

He leaked runs in 48th over in England game too and here again. Both times he got the opposition in the game again after Zaheer Khan and Harbjhajan respectively had got India back into the game.

Foolish stuff.

Ashish Nehra, I guess his India career is almost good as over. No imagination, no yorkers like Zak and no wickets. Giving last over to him was a big mistake. Well if he did manage to get RP out and somehow stop 13 runs from being leaked, India could have hailed him as hero. But he did a good favor to the side by leaking 18 runs to a tail ender.

India needed this defeat at this stage and hopefully after the 8 day break they shall come out all guns blazing. The quarters scnario would be clear by then. They shall know what they'd need to do to go through should there be some upsets in this next few days.

Hopefully they will learn something from the games so far and make some changes in the personnel :

Suresh Raina for Virat Kohli in his IPL home ground

R Ashvin for Munaf Patel in his home and IPL home ground

May be Sreesanth for Nehra

Sreesanth is drama queen / king, is erractic and all the negative things, but only one thing he's got what others in the pace department dont have -- PACE. And if he is ready to play in the team cause and not let his emotions get better of him, he can very well turn out to be surprise package for West Indies.  But dont know predictions dont always come true in Indian team combination.

There is a very little chance India might not make it to the final 8.

The remaining games are:

SA vs Ireland : SA expected to win and get 8 points

WI vs England : England need to win this to stay afloat. if they do they shall end up with 7 points.  If they lose, they are out and BD go in. India also go in.

SA vs Bangladesh :  SA should win this and top the group with 10.  If BD win they go through and if SA lose this one they should still make it provided they dont lose to Ireland.

India vs WI : If India lose to WI and BD win their other game vs SA and WI lose to England they could go out depending on how bad they lose. If India win they end up 2nd in the group and go through.

I guess the turning point in Saturday's game were:

1. 9 for 29 in 9

2. One additional over for Zaheer in batting power play where he leaked 17 runs and if he was saved for last over, he could have got India 2 points.

3. Nehra over Harbhajan

Hopefully this was the bottom India saw and hereon they shall rise to the occasion and not squander the 100s from Tendulkar and starts from Delhi dashers.

SA mind games

What pressure and heat are Lance Clusener and Hashim Amla talking about ? This just seems to be another loose talk from their camp. South Africa are now in a precarious position and should they lose tomorrow, every thing would come down to their last game vs Bangladesh.

Saffers choked to 165 from 3/124. Their batsmen failed to conquer a decent target of 172. Their frontline spinner is injured, their best bowler in Tests is no force in ODIs. So what kind of pressure or heat is on India?

India is unbeaten in the group and if they win tomorrow SA would be in a real tight position. Let Saffers look at their own problems rather than looking on in Indian camp.

What if SA choke once again tomorrow ? Bwhahahahaha.

Friday is going to be key in deciding Group B stndings

Friday is going to be a big day in deciding the potential QFs of the Group B. England take on Deshis and Windies take on Ireland.

England win and they are through to the next round and Deshis are out.

Windies win and they almost go through. Ireland win they would be in for key chance. Should Deshis win in the other game, they would then need to beat Netherlands in their final league game.

India would probably want to win the remaining both league games. WI should not pose a problem and SA are too familiar with India now having played 8 ODIs over year and won 4 games each.  Get in Amla, DeVilliers and SA are captured.

I believe India, South Africa, England and Windies / Ireland would make it to the next round.

West Indies vs South Africa

West Indies and South Africa played out the first game in Northern India of the world cup and it was being played in the capital city of India and the home ground of Delhi trio -- Sehwag, Gambhir and Kohli. The same ground which had itself banned from hosting international games in Dec 2009 hosted a match today and did so well. The Ferozshah Kotla, the ground which has its own legacy and has 2 record milestones achieved on this ground : Kumble's 10 and Sachin's 35th Test 100 in 1999 and 2005 respectively.

Back to this match, the Windies started off well to race to 1/114 and then losing wickets in "clusters" as Darren Sammy later said and Nasser Hussein said on the air.  Barring Darren Bravo's 73 and his brother's 40 none could go onto make a big score as AB did later and that was the difference between 222 and 272.  The likes of Gayle, Sarwan and Chandu failed and there went the Windies chance to stamp the authority over the Saffers.

The Windies were also done in by debutant spinner Imran Tahir's 4/41 figures in his debut game. He bowled with subtle control and variation, turned the ball square and along side Johan Botha controlled the Windies run making spree. South Africa are taking the spin bowling a bit too seriously when they opened the bowling with Botha and played 3 spinners.

223 was not going to be a score that would have scared SA, but they did for a while when they lost Amla and Kallis early with just 20 on the board, WI sensed some victory but AB jolted them with a fine 100. He knows the ground in and out as he has played 2 IPLs here for Delhi Daredevils in 2008 and 2010.  Smith was scratchy given he was ill and Duminy played a perfect partner to the 4th wicket partnership that saw SA home.

SA remain 2nd on the group behind India on NRR and they now wait another week to play their next game against Netherlands.

Positives for SA :

• Spin bowling especially Johan Botha opening
• Imran Tahir's promising debut
• Dale Steyn's late overs burst
• AB Devilliers form

Positivies for WI :

• Darren Bravo's batting
• Suleiman Benn opening the attack and getting the turn
• Kemar Roach

Besides they have a man called Chandu Paul in their team who doesnt make runs when needed, doesnt pace his innings, yet finds himself in top 10 of every ICC ranking. Weird!!!

Team Preview : South Africa

In the ongoing series of team preview, this is the turn of South Africa today. South Africa, the perennial chokers and unlucky ones in the World Cup and similar tournaments. They threaten to walk away with the title every time they begin their campaign, but they fizz out when it matters or as they say they peak out too soon.  This time its going to be no different. The preview of the things to come was very much visible when they lost 2 games to India from winning positions and the fact that they have not won any ODI series convincingly against strong teams since Australia 2009.

Current Form

They started 2009 with a bang by defeating Australia 4-1 away and 3-2 home after losing the test series. They won against Zimbabwe and West Indies in this duration 5-0 and 5-0 and that inflates their winning score of 26-13. Take this 10 wins and that reads 16-13.  They lost in the CT in their own backyard and lost to England 1-2 followed by a 1-2 defeat in India in 2010.

After that they won against India and Pakistan 3-2 but not before stuttering and fumbling till the final game of the series.

World Cup record

1992 : Semi final exit owing to the disastrous rain rule which left them to chase 21 off 1 ball when the rain stuck.

1996 : Quarter final exit to a master class from Brian Lara after having won all 5 league games convincingly. First signs of choking.

1999: Semi final exit thanks to the epic defeats to Australia in Super 6 and then the tied semi - final. Thanks to the master class from Lance Clusener, they came close witin a run to go the finals, but Donald panicked and the rest is history, Herchelle Gibbs dropped that sitter from Steve Waugh in the super 6 clash and since then SA lost its steam in the world cups till date.

2003 : Again choked in the must win game against Sri Lanka. Mark Boucher wrongly interpreted the D/L rule and when they needed 1 run to go through the next round, he defended the last ball only to find that they are out of the world cup. Earlier, they had lost to NZ in a high scoring game and the tied game with Lanka meant they crashed out in the first round itself in their own world cup. Shaun Pollock lost his captaincy and Graeme Smith, 22  was elevated to the captaincy which he shall quit post 2011 world cup.

2007 : Peaked too early and when it mattered lost to Australia in the semi-final by bundling out to a sub 150 score. They scored big in the league and the super 8 stage, but when it mattered they choked and exited in the semis.

Team

Smith, Amla, Kallis, AB Devilliers, Duminy, Faf Du, Ingram, Morne Van Vyk, Steyn, Morkel Morne, Tahir, Tsotsobe, Parnell, Botha, Robbie Pieterson

Opening:

Smith and Amla form a terrific opening partnership given the form Amla is in over last couple of years. This pair ranks one of the best opening pairs in the world cup after the most prolific pair of Tendulkar - Sehwag.

Middle Order:

With Kallis not around in the ODI series against India in SA, the middle order looked shaky, brittle and the tail was a bit long. Kallis would do well to regain his # spot and also play up as a bowler who could bowl close to his quota of overs.  AB and Duminy would be dangerous at 4 and 5 with 2 of Ingram, Morne Van Vyk and Faf Du occupying 6 and 7. Faf Du impressed in the only game he played before the squad was announced. AB has been in prolific ODI form over last few seasons, so the team would look forth for some runs in the tournament which matters the most.

Bowling:

SA has got the best bowler of the world in Tests in their ranks, but he has not played that many games to qualify as threatening in the ODIs as well. But given any day he can still extract the pace out of placid flat tracks, he would be dangerous.  Morne Morkel is the support cast to the hero Dale Steyn and the conditions in the subcontinent would be as such that one of Parnell and Tsotsobe would play at most of the times. ALso its possible that neither could play as Kallis can be the 3rd seamer and the next 2 bowling spots would be occupied by the spinners.

Tahir, Pietersen and Botha are the spinners in the team. Tahir is unknown commodity and the other 2 are at their best, restrictive bowlers. Neither of them would be expected to play an attacking spinner role. Smith and Duminy would roll over their arms when and if required.

Expectations:

On paper, SA look balanced team and Ponting has classified SA as one of the team to look for, but in the given reality South Africa could do well only if they gave up choking and raised their game when required.

A quarter final entry looks easy but after that its going to be how they play on the given day.

Match days:

 2/24 vs WI, 

 3/3 vs Netherlands at Mohali (SA fast bowlers would love this), 

 3/6 vs England, 

 3/12 vs India (Nagpur, Dale Steyn would have fond memories of this ground), 

 3/15 vs Ireland

 and 3/19 vs BD (SA would look for revenge against BD as would India)

ODI series preview

The IPL auction has hogged the limelight away from the upcoming ODI series with South Africa. This ODI series is last series before the world cup and how India fares in it would give a fair idea how the team would perform in the world cup.

The injuries are looming around the corner and the team management has done a fair job in resting/ sending Gambhir, Sehwag and now Praveen Kumar back to India to recuperate in time. That leaves Murali Vijay or Rohit Sharma as contenders to partner Tendulkar on the top.

The bowling attack looks good with Zaheer and Nehra as new ball openers. They would remind us of the epic 2003 campaign in the same country in which India raced back to the world cup finals. Srinath was the leader then, its Zaheer who is the leader here.

It should be a fairly fought contest with a possible scoreline of 3-2 for either team. It wont be horrible as 0-4 last time, but it wont be easy either to conquer them.

Let the game begin in the prologue to the upcoming grand event back home, even bigger than the IPL. The Cricket 50 over world cup.

World Cup 2011 contenders

South Africa and India are to play 5 ODIs each before the World Cup.

Australia and England 7 each, Pakistan and NZ -- 5 each. West Indies depend on the mercy of the SL board if they are to play any more games before he world cup.

BD and Zim would play their last game before the world cup. And who cares about the other teams. 

What about SL ? Well they would play mind games and their fat arse ex captain Arjun Ranatunga would go all over the talk shows saying that his country is favorites for the world cup cos they have Sanga, Mahila and Malinga.

Bhaat the Fuck!!!!

Before the world cup begins, the focus would be on 3 key Test series:

1. India vs South Africa.

2. Ashes

3. Pakistan vs New Zealand.

England wont win the world cup cos for them Ashes is the world, if they would win the Ashes they would be content. Australia is in the disarray. If they lose the Ashes, they are going to blank England 7-0 in the ODIs. India is on the winning streak of 6 ODIs in row in completed games. But they are back in the country where they last won an ODI good 7 years back -- the semifinal win against Kenya.  They last played a series in 2006 when they lost 0-4.

Sorry, they last won a ODI in 2009 beating the West Indies in ill fated CT. Saffers have played few ODIs this year and they won against Pakistan, West Indies, Zimbabwe and lost to India 1-2. They hold the record now for conceeding max runs in ODIs in an individual innings. 

IMO there would be tough competition between 5 teams for the 4 semi final slots. 

1. Australia

2. South Africa

3. India

4. England / Pakistan

Pakistan cos they are unpredictable lads and its ages we last heard of joker called Ijaz Butt speak or do anything lampoonic...So if they play well and steer clear of any unwanted controversy, they can reach semis and they would then have to give a walkover to the other semifinalist as they wont like to play in India in the finals. They wont be allowed to play due to the ongoing freeze in the bilateral relations.

Difference between Srikanth and Aravind DeSilva as selectors

Asia Cup should be rechristened to Dambulla Cup as all games would be held in the single venue. More to do with the reconstruction of typical Colombo grounds for the WC'11. 

Who is going to watch this miniscule tournament when World  Cup fooshball is on in South Africa. 

I liked Aravinda DeSilva's first press conference on reasons behind every player selection and exclusion. Though his tactical reasons to exclude Ajantha Mendis were a googly, but the logic behind dropping Jayasuraiya, picking up Maharoof and sending centurion Dinesh Chandimal to Australia was awesome.

He also said he would talk to every player to explain the reason behind inclusion / exclusion and what plans selectors have for him in long run.

Thats contrasting with our joker chief -- Mr Srikanth. He chose Asia cup team and did not bother to inform why Yuvraj was dropped or  why M Vijay was dropped despite hailing from Chennai and doing good in EyePeeYelllll.

Mr Srikanth has just one vision -- have guys from Chennai da to crowd in the national team and try to win Borld Cuppa for Tamil Nadu. Not India mind you.

Thats the reason why Dinesh Karthik keeps coming in after sitting out one tour and failing with bat / ball / gloves in domestic cricket or even EyePeeEllll.

R Ashvin goes to Sri Lanka, Naman Ojha is dropped.  Ashok Dinda stays on while Pankaj Singh, other one match bonder is dropped.  Dinesh Karthik is out for Asia Cup but would return for SL tri-series with New Zealand.

Subbu Dabrinath is kept on stand by should one of Rohit / Kohli get injured or be out of form.  Makes sense. Chennai is nearest Indian city to fly in Dambulla rather than flying anybody from say Mumbai or calling top performer from England to SL.   Or who knows Dinesh Karthik would fly in.

He made a blanket statement on Zimbabwe fiasco. He says he now knows who played and who did not. Unfortunately he refuses to see DK and MV in that list.  He refuses to give chances to out of favor seamers like Ishant Sharma or Irfan Pathan to go and play in A team in England and prove something to earn a  recall in national team. 

He got A Mithun travel to Zimbabwe when R Vinay Kumar was injured in Zim. Who was replacement to A team ? Some Ganpathy. Another lad from Tamil Nadu, supposedly an allrounder.

Guys like Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara, Manish Pandey have been amongst runs in domestic circuit and in A series too, but they aint given any chance. And who are given ? Yusuf, jinxed Jadeja and DKMV.

Where are other players who play in Plate league but fail to make it to the team cos Chief joker refuses to look upwards beyond Sahyadris.

This all examples show how good vision Kris Srikanth has. Something he should learn from Aravinda DeSilva.

weekend Cricket

So the first T20I in US soil resulted in Kiwi win over Lanka. Lanka had the wicket its way.  Slow and low.  Low bounce and turn. Yet they lost by 33 runs. Failed to cross 100 in 2 of 4 T20Is.

In other game West Indies lost by 66 runs to South Africa.  Yawn!!!

Hashim Amla plays a ODI and scores a 100. Shows what kind of bowling attack WI has. They have not won in 4 years against SA in ODIs.

England are considering resting few of their victorious players against the low key BD series this week.  That includes Colly, Broad and few others. 

Indian biggies are resting and the C team would take on weakened Lankans and Zim in Zim after 5 years. Thats India's first tour of Zim in 5 years, the last one being a wretched one when Greg Chappell began his disastrous coach tenure with the team and soon after Ganguly was ousted.

Cricket would be yawning till the Pakistan vs England and Pakistan vs Australia series begin. Lets see if Pakistan win anything in Tests in Old Blighty. They have failed to win a Test in 3 years since 2007 or (prolly they beat SL last year once).

Coach captain fiasco in Saffa

One more coach has walked the fire of getting axed with relations being damaged beyond repair with the captain.

Mickey Arthur has supposedly resigned as Saffa coach due to strain with Graeme Smith after the series draw with England.

Another coach crucified due to the ego clash after Peter Moores and Kevin Pieterson.

And Mahek for you : if you dont like any post, why personal mud slinging. Attack the post, not the poster. One saintly advice for  you (not sure you are guy or a gal).  Else the best advice for you is do not drop by. But do not abuse please. 

Suffocating England

England's late surge on truncated day 1 of Boxing Day test have got so much of huge highlights on cricinfo that it virtually suggests that England have won the series and they are the only quality side around and have the rights to save the Test cricket.

Every day England plays Test cricket is a marvellous and goes the distance in saving the Test cricket, whereas the other teams are killing the Tests slowly and lowly.

Every day of Eng vs SA test series has been highlighted as the series of  the decade.

So much of focus on England is suffocating when they cant play that level of cricket to win a Test match.

Test cricket saving stuff ?

First they allow themselves to get into the mess by being the undisputed kings of collapses and then somehow through jelly beans they sodemnise the opposite bowlers. And somehow again they escape the defeat by gritty last wicket stand. Colly at one end and a Chris Martin clone down the other end. Yet they escape.

Later we hear all the rants from them how they play attractive Test Cricket and how they save Test cricket.

I ask isnt it ugly to see them land from 4/165 to 9/228 in space of session and half ? Not Test cricket saving stuff.

But they are allowed to go away with this cos that prevents Saffers from winning by 2 Test margin to reclaim # 1.

England vs SA : Preview

England and  South Africa are heading for another tussle which would see a lot of needle from the crowd and the Saffa players.

Thanks to the half the number of players in  England team from Saffa land. Most prominent among them to be Strauss, Trott and Kevin Pieterson.

Graeme Smith has already predicted that crowd would rally against KP owing to later's outburst against quota system in SA cricket.

Given the backdrop and given the lovey dovey relations Smith, Strauss enjoy and Smith, KP enjoy, this series could be acrimonious as India - Australia 2008. Actually that would be good for Test cricket.

Need crowd to rally behind some players and get the atmosphere vibrant.

English are the favorites for the series win as they come post an Ashes win. Saffers havent played Test cricket in 9 months and a lot of their players havent played first class either. They have been jerks in the ODIs they played so far. So England would be favorites to go in the series starting 12/16.

Players to watch for :

England :

1. KP
2. Strauss
3. Trott
   
4. Swann   : can he spin in fast conditions ?

South Africa

1. Graeme Smith : Best test player and the man to lead. How he plays in 4th innings would be a big factor when Saffa chase. He has been the best in the 4th innings in last few years.
2. Ntini : Only the 7th fast bowler to play 100 Tests and 3rd Saffer fast bowler. How he plays would be a big factor cos he hasnt been that effective off late.
3. AB  : Bloggers' favorite and supposedly the "cutest" one. 

My prediction : England to win with a selfish motive that if Saffa win India dont remain on top.  

Some things never change

Some things never change.

• South Africa choking with the sight of rains
• Sri Lanka's test record in strong Test nations
• Younis Khan's drama
• Pakistan cricket's mess
• Running out of steam for India
• Sreesanth's antics.
• Arm Ball's abuse and insane posts

And of course Sachin Tendulkar's passion for the game. I'd give away all the above things for the last one.

Harmison hammered!!

Steve Harmison has his career almost over after he was ignored for the SA tour. To me there are 3 memories of him :

• Forgotten debut against a team which had just started to see its best opener in years. First test as opener for that man and first test for Harmi as a England player. Harmi got hammered and that player scored 110 odd runs.
• 7/12 against West Indies.
• Cheek breaker delivery that set the tone for epic 2005 Ashes win. The batsman on receiving end was Ricky Ponting.

He was one good bowler who was let down by his own inconsistencies and his own homesickness.

England have now lost all 5 of the bowling attack that won them Ashes 2005. Hoggard , Giles, Jones, Freddie and now Harmison. Add Vaughan and Tresco to that.

Last time England toured SA, they won tests 2-1 and a new star was born in the ODI series loss. KP.

The coming 3 months are key for 4 teams. The number 1 team plays number 5 in the rankings. And no 2 (they should not be) play the no 3 (they should be 2) in no 3 country where no 2 country have not won even a single Test.

And then no 1 would then play no 3 in no 3. Before that no 3 would tour no 9 for 2 Tests.

Figure out the numbers................

SA trump NZ

Saffers have got back to the track and they are now in contention for the semis. Their next opposition is England, whom we all know the worth of in the ODIs. I would still bet my money on England to go through.

England and New Zealend can beat each other and if any one of them upsets or both upset Sri Lanka, then their result would be keen for knowing who goes through to the next round.

Kiwis are crap. They just have no heart to fight.

Years back Stephen Fleming in a TV ad in India had said "Bada he to Better hai". They should now say "Bada format he to hum bekaar hai". They won the T20s in SL, but lost ODIs and Tests. Thats the same story here.

Wayne Parnell who had a good series against Australia got a 5-for and AB, Amy's favorite saw them through.

Purna would be the happiest fan today on a Saffa win. Aint you lady if you reading this ? Yeah Herschelle Gibbs didnt play but then he should be back in the all important game with England.

Go England go.