South African Domestic Season 2008/9

[TT Boy]

Ntini's bizarrely good form continues! 3/7 off 12 atm against Titans.

International bowler in early season = wickets but Makhaya is on fire. Apparently his been bowling pretty quickly as well, pinged a few batsman last week and gave Martin van Jaarsveld a nice working over here. Not bad after the year his had and it will be interesting to see how he gets on when confronted with a flat track. Hopefully he isn’t wrapped up in cotton wool by CSA until the Bangladeshi test series and is given the ok to continuing playing for the Warriors.

Current scorecards...

Dolphins 435 (Kent 110, 77 Smit, Claude Henderson 5/126) Cobras 371/5 (JP Duminy 138, Davids 80, Friend 2/56)

Eagles 329 (Human 93, Tshabalala 55, Kruger 4/74) Lions 171 (Harris 35, Cook 33, Tshabalala 3/48), Eagles 158 (Hendricks 33, Deacon 5/38) Lions 141/6 (Neil Mac 51, de Lange 2/9)

Titans 190 (AB 52, Ntini 3/25, Rusty Theron 3/79) Warriors 119 (Arno Jacobs 34, Morne Morkel 6/47) Titans 173/8 (Morne Morkel 60*, Walters 29*, Ntini 3/36)

Good to see Morne finally amongst the wickets (and a career best with the bat to boot!), JP getting his second ton in a week and Neil Mac making more runs in his new domestic position as opener.

 

[morgieb]

The former Transvaal franchises struggle enough with fielding ‘black’ cricketers at the moment, another side will only worsen the situation. Border and Griqualand West are apparently getting franchise status next year, both sides to whom have produced a plethora of current SuperSport black cricketers.

Racial quotas are dire. Scrap them TBH.

 

[Manee]

I'd love to watch this cricket, it looks the most entertaining stuff on paper...

Morne Morkel with 5/9 off 8 - I'd love to see what sort of pitch and bowling would produce such a spell.

 

[TT Boy]

I'd love to watch this cricket, it looks the most entertaining stuff on paper...

Morne Morkel with 5/9 off 8 - I'd love to see what sort of pitch and bowling would produce such a spell.

SuperSport said the wicket was like green mamba Transvaal played on at the Wanderers back in the 1970s. Fair game from Morne though, career best with the ball, best match figures with the ball and a career best with the bat to boot.

Results...
Dolphins 435 (Kent 110, 77 Smit, Claude Henderson 5/126) Cobras 476 (JP Duminy 138, Davids 80, Pierre de Bruyn 3/39) Dolphins 93/3 (Khan 46*, Claude Henderson 3/33) - Draw

Eagles 329 (Human 93, Tshabalala 55, Kruger 4/74) Lions 171 (Harris 35, Cook 33, Tshabalala 3/48), Eagles 158 (Hendricks 33, Deacon 5/38) Lions 239 (Neil Mac 51, Symes 50, de Lange 4/64, Tshabalala 3/54) - Eagles win by 77 runs

Titans 190 (AB 52, Ntini 3/25, Rusty Theron 3/79) Warriors 119 (Arno Jacobs 34, Morne Morkel 6/47) Titans 173/8 (Morne Morkel 82*, Walters 32, Tsotsobe 3/29, Ntini 3/44) Warriors 77 (Robbie P 19, Morne Morkel 5/9) - Titans win by 196 runs.

 

[TT Boy]

Current standings after three games...

Eagles - 38.18 (2 wins, 1 loss) points
Warriors - 29.44 (1 win, 2 defeats)
Titans - 29.34 (1 win, two draws)
Lions - 27.08 (1 win, 1 loss, 1 draw)
Dolphins - 19.50 (3 draws)
Cobras - 18.28 (1 loss, two defeats)

Leading run scorers...
Imraan Khan (Dolphins) 331 runs @ 82.75
Virus Petersen (Lions) 309 @ 51.50
JP Duminy (Cobras) 308 @ 61.60

Leading wicket takers...
Morne Morkel (Titans) 17 wickets @ 19.17
Claude Henderson (Cobras) 16 @ 23.62
Makhaya Ntini (Warriors) 13 @ 10
Charl Langeveldt (Cobras) 13 @ 22.15

There are no SuperSport games this week, the players have a week off.

 

[TT Boy]

SuperSport kicked off again today...

Current scorecards…

Cape Cobras 182/2 (Gray 69*, Puttick 59) Lions

Warriors 262/5 (Davey Jacobs 73*, Kreusch 61*, Kent 2/29, Mlongo 2/40) Dolphins

Titans 237/5 (Snijman 70, Behardien 59*, Mpitsang 2/22) Eagles

The Dolphins are without HD Ackerman for two games after he was suspended for confronting Vernon Philander after play during the Cobras Dolphins clash two weeks ago. Philander was also given a two match ban but he is appealing and thus is available for selection until his appeal hearing…

Former RSA U19 skipper, Richard Levi makes his SuperSport debut for the Cobras - as does Francois Plaatjies, known as the “Oudtshoorn Express”, Francois is apparently quick but rather diminutive in statue....Alistair Gray also returns after a year long franchise absence replacing Gibbs.

As for the Lions, the injured Andre Nel is replaced by the intriguingly named Etienne Gerber.

 

[aussie]

Was wondering TT Boy, is it possible for South Africa to play international cricket at home during the months of July/August?

 

[Goughy]

Was wondering TT Boy, is it possible for South Africa to play international cricket at home during the months of July/August?

Strange to address a general question to a specific person. I guess Ill not answer it

 

[aussie]

Ha sorry, forgot you also are a solid adviser on SA cricket around here. Feel free to reply sir..

 

[Goughy]

Ha sorry, forgot you also are a solid adviser on SA cricket around here. Feel free to reply sir..

Would depend on what is acceptable weather.

If it was my general opinion. The answer is Yes but with conditions.

It is debatable whether it is possible on the highveld (Jo'burg and Pretoria). It doesnt rain in winter (June/July) at all on the Highveld but it is cold in the morning and the frosts make growing lush grass difficult. It certainly wouldnt be impossible to play a 20/20 afternoon game though as the weather gets very pleasant in the afternoons before getting cold again at night.

Cape Town probably is not realistic as the storms hit in the winter. Hard rain and winds (though it can be nice as well) would make scheduling Tests difficult.

The best bet though would be Durban. Reliable weather in the low 20s would be fine for cricket. Somewhere like Durban could hold Test cricket throughout the winter.

SA is interesting due to its different climates. The highland is very different to the low land and the East coast is very different to the West coast.

EDIT- Just thinking about it. If the stadium was upto scratch then Nelspruit would easily be able to host games in winter. A very nice lowveld climate.

 

[aussie]

Safe Goughy, going off-topic here. Have you ever seen any clips of Clive Rice batting or bowling?. Can't seem to find any...

 

[Goughy]

Safe Goughy, going off-topic here. Have you ever seen any clips of Clive Rice batting or bowling?. Can't seem to find any...

Not in years since I was a boy or just short clips on SA television. Unfortunately Im not aware of much that is online.

 

[aussie]

Damn so Rice clips really aren't around, ah well based on the little you saw how would you describe his bowling especially, if its not too much to ask at this early hour?

 

[Goughy]

Damn so Rice clips really aren't around, ah well based on the little you saw how would you describe his bowling especially, if its not too much to ask at this early hour?

Possible a little quicker than he looked, he would never be mistaken for Devon Malcolm or Brett Lee in terms of pace.

Quick enough to break hands, he was more of a nippy, skillful seam bowler that was pretty deadly on the old green tops at Trent Bridge.

I wouldnt want to describe his action as the memory plays tricks and its been a while since I watched.

 

[Langeveldt]

Would depend on what is acceptable weather.

If it was my general opinion. The answer is Yes but with conditions.

It is debatable whether it is possible on the highveld (Jo'burg and Pretoria). It doesnt rain in winter (June/July) at all on the Highveld but it is cold in the morning and the frosts make growing lush grass difficult. It certainly wouldnt be impossible to play a 20/20 afternoon game though as the weather gets very pleasant in the afternoons before getting cold again at night.

Cape Town probably is not realistic as the storms hit in the winter. Hard rain and winds (though it can be nice as well) would make scheduling Tests difficult.

The best bet though would be Durban. Reliable weather in the low 20s would be fine for cricket. Somewhere like Durban could hold Test cricket throughout the winter.

SA is interesting due to its different climates. The highland is very different to the low land and the East coast is very different to the West coast.

EDIT- Just thinking about it. If the stadium was upto scratch then Nelspruit would easily be able to host games in winter. A very nice lowveld climate.

Spot on, in fact we have had some pretty dire early summer weather.. Would be nice if they could consign all T20 cricket in SA to the middle of the winter, so it would have to compete (and lose) to rugby

 

[TT Boy]

End of Day 2 scorecards...

Cape Cobras 348 (Gray 71, van Zyl 71, Levi 69, Symes 3/56, Gerber 2/37) Lions 163/2 (Cook 55*, VB van Jaarsveld 40*)

Warriors 375 (Davey Jacobs 74, Kreusch 72, Rusty Theron 58, Friend 3/89, Kent 2/37) Dolphins 162/4 (Miller 70, Ahmed Amla 69*, Ntini 2/43, Tsotsobe 2/33)

Titans 423 (Behardien 150*, Tshabalala 3/68, Mpitsang 2/40) Eagles 140/5 (Elgar 57, Rossouw 44*, Harris 2/31, Tahir 2/39)

 

[Goughy]

Titans 423 (Behardien 150*,

Wow

 

[TT Boy]

Wow

Goughy, do you know Farhaan?

 

[Goughy]

Goughy, do you know Farhaan?

No. I dont know him personally and I dont recall playing against him.

I only know what I saw on TV and he seemed like a make-weight in the team. Thats why I said 'wow' at his 150 as that could be a breakout innings.

 

[TT Boy]

No. I dont know him personally and I dont recall playing against him.

I only know what I saw on TV and he seemed like a make-weight in the team. Thats why I said 'wow' at his 150 as that could be a breakout innings.

Farhaan has had a good start to the season but this is the first time his converted a start into a substantial innings. I saw him in a MTN game last year and he came in and just absolutely smoked the ball everywhere with some aplomb and looked like a decent talent. But it is probably fair to suggest he was initially in the side to make up the numbers given that he failed to make in the Cape but he was also a law student and apparently was always more interested in studying then cricket.