< 1 minute readGraeme Smith’s things are hitting the bulk of the runs in a fourth innings chase and winning Test series. There were no miracles from Australia’s bowlers, because the bowlers who could perform them are gone. South Africa chased down 183 for the loss of one wicket, won the match, won
Continue readingMonth: December 2008
Ricky Ponting – an admirable batsman
< 1 minute readRicky Ponting, eh? He’s not likeable, because of the face, the face and also the face. However, he is admirable as a batsman. Look Ponting in the face and it’s tricky to know whether to sigh and hope he goes away or to start with the punching. Watch him bat
Continue readingNeil McKenzie: brave, stupid or mental
< 1 minute readNeil McKenzie did something. Tony Greig called him brave, Mark Nicholas branded him stupid. We’d like to add ‘mental’ to the equation as well. Of course, Neil McKenzie is known to be a bit mental, but this was a different kind of mental. He took up a fielding position maybe
Continue readingJP Duminy shows South Africa’s resilience
< 1 minute readJP Duminy’s Test record is improving: one in his first innings, 50 not out in his second and 166 in his third. The 166 kicks in the balls that he gave Australia’s bowlers were particularly useful as they helped produce 275 ball kicks for South Africa’s last three wickets. Those
Continue readingPeter Siddle’s bowling speed
< 1 minute readArch woodchopper cum fourth choice Australian quick, Peter Siddle, can whang the ball at speeds up to about 150kph, which is about 93mph in old money and officially makes him a fast bowler on the King Cricket scale. In light of this, we now want to see all young English
Continue readingShakib al Hasan takes five
< 1 minute readShakib al Hasan’s taken five wickets in three Test innings in a row. 5-70 against Sri Lanka follows 5-130 and 6-99 against South Africa. He’s currently ranked the 27th best one-day bowler and the eighth best one-day all-rounder. The earth can consider itself safe from shattery, nor is it in
Continue readingMatthew Hayden gives you a choice
< 1 minute readMatthew Hayden’s been getting a few rough decisions of late, as batsmen often do when the ball’s missing the bat time and time again. Hayden says: “Hawkeye I think gives you a pretty good understanding of what line the ball pitched at, but take my lbw decision in the second
Continue readingAustralia’s selection policy
2 minute readJust what do they think they’re doing? There was a sign that the wheels had come off when Ricky Ponting said: “We’ve really got to pick horses for courses with our selections,” when the Australians were in India. Selection is one of the Aussies’ greatest strengths. Historically, they’ve actually planned
Continue readingAB de Villiers follows Graeme Smith
2 minute readSouth Africa could never have chased down 414 without a hundred from Graeme Smith. After he was out for 108, they couldn’t have won without a hundred from AB de Villiers. What’s really impressed us about this South African win is not that they chased down such a huge total
Continue readingKevin Pietersen’s switch hit
< 1 minute readWe’d bet that there aren’t many reading this site, but there are nevertheless a great number of people out there who’d brand Kevin Pietersen’s switch hitting ‘irresponsible’. It really isn’t. He doesn’t just do it on a whim. He decided it was a good way of scoring runs with a
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