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*Official* Pakistan v South Africa in UAE

harsh.ag

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
I thought Azhar Ali batted well today. Although he hasn't been very successful but I think he will be the batsman of Pakistan's next decade, given that Umar Akmal threw it all away.
 

flibbertyjibber

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So it looks like SA were just caught cold last week and this is more like the real them. Should win from here and avoid a series defeat which is no disgrace away at a tough place to go.
 

harsh.ag

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Yup, SA proving themselves again as they have done for the last 3 years. Winning without their best batsman should really strengthen their rep too. Love it when Steyn revs it up and goes ballistic moving the ball in all directions. Tahir's googlies won the day.
 

Black_Warrior

Cricketer Of The Year
well 8 wickets went to Pakistanis and only 5 went to South Africans so I'd say Day 1 belonged to Pakistan.


On a serious note, what's frustrating about this performance is the total lack of preparation that went into this match..you can tell that there was absolutely no work done on Tahir before this match and the total lack of growth in players like Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq. These two have been playing for 3 years now and yet I'd say they're pretty much the same players they were when they started..on the other hand you look at someone like Amla or Clarke, these guys were dropped early in their careers and they are two of the best batsmen playing today.
That shows just how much they have worked on their game and improved themselves.
The only batsman in recent times who has shown that kind of growth in Pakistan was Younis Khan who started off as an ordinay player but worked his way up and went through a transformation around 2004-05 period.
 

JontyPanesar

U19 Vice-Captain
I really need to find ball-by-ball of Tahir's spells. Not sure if he bowled brilliantly or if it was typical Pakistani batting incompetence. I know he got a couple of wickets off of pies, but he also seemed to keep things uncharacteristically tight. Still, it's nice to see resilience after the worst ever test bowling performance I had ever seen.
 
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smash84

The Tiger King
according to Wessels the pitch looks really bad today.....there will be uneven bounce and more spin. Pakistan are well and truly ****ed :laugh:
 

smash84

The Tiger King
it is not only that we fail to find decent batsmen, the thing that really ticks me off is as to how come there is not one single decent wicket keeper in all of Pakistan. The wicketkeeping has cost us so many matches that it is not even funny
 

Dissector

International Debutant
Haven't been watching the series closely but it's an interesting one from the perspective of evaluating SA as a potential long-term no.1 team. They should be able to win the game and draw the series from here on in and certainly if they fail to do so their standing as a true champion team will take a hit.

I have been a bit more skeptical than many here about SA's capacity to be a lasting no.1. Firstly it looks like Kallis is in the decline/retirement phase and that will create a big hole in the team since he contributed so much with bat and ball. Without him at his prime, the SA batting looks merely good rather than excellent and the bowling loses a certain edge.

Secondly SA is struggling to develop a quality test spinner. Perhaps Tahir may develop into one but there is still a long way to go. SA also seems to fall short of producing that third quality pace bowler. Sometimes Morkel looks the part but then he fades away. An attack with Steyn, Philander ,two average bowlers and little or no Kallis looks good rather than great again. And I am still not convinced that Philander will be the kind of ATG bowler who can lead the attack on all surfaces. With Steyn himself on the wrong side of 30, I wouldn't be surprised if this attack and the team in general are already past their peak with the no.1 ranking in jeopardy in a year or two.
 

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