***Official*** New Zealand in South Africa

[Tim]

Wiseman is still there abouts, but with Patel & Bruce Martin emerging he's probably falling down the order now.

 

[Scaly piscine]

Hmm... seems like I'm the only one who isn't watching this. NZ would be mad to have Wiseman ahead of ANYONE in the Test pecking order.

 

[Tim]

Well a few years ago he really was the only back-up option. It just shows you how dire our spin bowling was.

 

[Tim]

What the hell is Smith going to achieve so close to the wicket? If he holds on to one, i'd be amazed.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Some first over from Nel, eh? Good aggression. Just what the Saffies ordered.

 

[Tim]

NZ are in a bit of trouble if you ask me. We bat all the way to 11, but someone needs to keep the momentum going.

 

[Tim]

McMillan vs Nel could be interesting this series.

 

[chalky]

LOL @ Boucher celebrating the "wicket" of the free hit. I thought Kallis was supposed to be the thick one?

 

[Scaly piscine]

LOL @ Boucher celebrating the "wicket" of the free hit. I thought Kallis was supposed to be the thick one?

Well there's always the Witness... hero to zero inside 2 hours.

 

[Barney Rubble]

Graeme Smith throws away the match all on his own - brings himself on to bowl the 18th over with 20 needed, concedes them all, and amongst them was a six off a no-ball that was given because he only had 3 men in the circle. Not the best five minutes of his career as captain!

 

[BoyBrumby]

That has to be one of the worst bowling changes ever! Two no-balls from an offie! That's bad in any form, but in 20/20 it's just criminal!

Oram's a big strong lad, isn't he? Not sure about his barnet now tho...

 

[Adamc]

No ball was given due to 3 people being in the circle

That'll teach Graeme Smith not to bowl himself at the expense of captaincy.

 

[BoyBrumby]

That'll teach Graeme Smith not to bowl himself at the expense of captaincy.

Ha, ha, ha! Couldn't happened to a nicer bloke!

He did bat superbly earlier, TBF. & I actually think bringing on a slower bowler wasn't the worst idea in the world, it was just a bit unfortunate he bowled such steaming dog plop!

 

[Tom Halsey]

Lol at this!

 

[Zinzan]

20/20 or not...its first blood and psychological points to New Zealand.

I did think Langeveldt was impressive....he may be a worry in the ODI's for NZ with that inswinging yorker....particularly with the older ball in the 50 over game.

Still think NZ will be brimming with confidence going into the 5 match series though..and I still hold them as slight favourites

 

[Tom Halsey]

Wow. Innings of two halves or what?!

Thought SA were cruising at 82-0 off 9, but fair play to Fleming, he had the stones to bring on Astle & Nathan gets the big scalp of Fat Gray. Good captaincy to give Adams a slip when he came back on too; fortune favouring the brave!

I like the look of young Patel, he's got a good change of pace, not afraid to give the ball some air & got some big turn to get thru Kallis. Some good bowling to the tail from Bond too, classic "you miss, I hit stuff". Always good to see a wicket cartwheeling backwards.

It's amazing how many times it's the slow bolwers that do the trick in 20/20 (all right, Pro20 if they insist...) isn't it? Boje has to come on & I bet Fat Gray bowls himself too. NZ clear favourites from here tho.

Prophetic words, indeed.

 

[Zinzan]

That has to be one of the worst bowling changes ever! Two no-balls from an offie! That's bad in any form, but in 20/20 it's just criminal!

Oram's a big strong lad, isn't he? Not sure about his barnet now tho...

He is a strong boy.....I like the way he clears his hip to hit through the legside.

 

[Blaze]

Didn't see any of it, not that interested in this type of cricket, but I probably will watch a replay of SA's innings to see how the bowlers went.

 

[parisa]

Poor Graeme Smith threw away the game in the end…what was he thinking bringing himself on to bowl! Pollock and Ntini still had a couple of overs to go.Smith was scary at the start today…he really went after Bond and Mills. I think Fleming needs to start formulating a plan for him before the 1st match. Shane Bond’s 1st over was a shocker but it was good to see him bowling really fast and knocking down a couple of wickets towards the end. I’m hoping to see him rip through the South African top order on Sunday

 

[Zinzan]

I just read that Bracewell's ODI coaching record is 23 wins to 9 losses - with 6 of those losses being to Australia.....I didn't realise it was quite that impressive.

On the other side of the coin though his test record is a poor 6 wins and 9 losses with 4 of those wins being against minnows