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*Official* Sri Lanka Tour of South Africa 2019

vcs

vcs

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The "teams never win away in Test cricket anymore" hoodoo has finally been broken in style over the past few months.
 
Starfighter

Starfighter

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Well well well... seems not only can SA not score against SL away (reasonable enough with the pitches etc etc) they can't even score at home. Absolutely fantastic series win for SL and rather embarrassing for SA I feel.
 
Top_Cat

Top_Cat

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Least likely series win I've seen, honestly. Even better is the the inability of Benkenstein to properly admit the Lankans outplayed their bats. So good.

Amla and Bavuma at 3 and 4 is their death sentence at the moment. That has to change surely. Bavuma jagging almost 40 Tests is just, wow.
 
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A

artvandalay

State Vice-Captain
Dendarii said:
No it's not. He's one player and it's not like South Africa don't have other test-quality batsman, even if they're not as good as AB.

But if you compare the batting averages two years ago with what they are now, it doesn't make for pretty reading.

Elgar 42.07 -> 38.77
Markam N/A -> 43.80
Amla 49.99 -> 46.64
Bavuma 30.00 -> 33.00
Du Plessis 43.68 -> 42.95
De Kock 51.04 -> 39.31

To be fair, Du Plessis and De Kock have been on a bit of an upward trend recently, but the problem is not the loss of AB. The problem is the general decline in South African batting performances, and any claims that it's difficult to bat in South Africa are simply ignoring the reality that there's an issue with the batting for whatever reason.
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they may have other 'test quality batsmen' if we choose to be generous with that categorization, but the point is none are anywhere near as good as a guy who retired and was a difference maker to the team until not long ago and still had quite a bit left in the tank. If Amla can continue hanging on for years despite not having played an innings of substance for sometime then you really have to ask why not AB especially when the team and the batting especially is in a state of flux.
 
YorksLanka

YorksLanka

International Debutant
artvandalay said:
they may have other 'test quality batsmen' if we choose to be generous with that categorization, but the point is none are anywhere near as good as a guy who retired and was a difference maker to the team until not long ago and still had quite a bit left in the tank. If Amla can continue hanging on for years despite not having played an innings of substance for sometime then you really have to ask why not AB especially when the team and the batting especially is in a state of flux.
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To be fair I think it depends on the mindset of the player. No doubt AB is absolute class and could go on but he chose to go out at the top and there will always be a situation that big shoes are very hard to fill ( same as us with Mahela and Sanga who could have also gone on as long as they wanted)
 
weldone

weldone

Hall of Fame Member
Congratulations to all SL supporters in CW. This has been a sudden great news after long long time in SL cricket. Cherish this moment, and hope this win goes a long way to solve internal problems of SL cricket for years to come.
 
Burner

Burner

International Regular
Like I said SL are wild cards. First Pakistan in UAE now SA in SA. BOP Fernando looks a good find too. Great name either way.
 
stephen

stephen

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Congratulations Sri Lanka. What a wonderful series win after the drubbing down under.

Honestly in Australia it was obvious that the Sri Lankans had a lot of heart and played with both pride and passion but were out skilled. It's great to see that pride and passion rewarded with a record breaking win.
 
wpdavid

wpdavid

Hall of Fame Member
halba said:
it certainly is the biggest series upset atleast in 30 years.
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Quite possibly. I vaguely remember India drawing a series in Australia back in the early 2000s when Agarkar bowled them to victory in one of the tests, but this may well be the bigger shock. Going further back, India's 1971 win in England was a massive surprise. And going even further back, Pakistan drawing in England in the mid1950s was completely unexpected. But this may well be the biggest of the lot.
 
Borges

Borges

International Regular
Superb from Sri Lanka, congratulations and all that.

This is the first home series loss for South Africa in a long time; after their 1-2 loss to England some three years ago, they had beaten everyone at home till now:
New Zealand (1-0), Sri Lanka (3-0), Bangladesh (2-0), India (2-1), Australia (3-1), Pakistan (3-0).

In this series, South Africa were below par in all disciplines, more so in batting than in bowling.
They were caught by Sri Lanka who lifted their game so much that they became a different team; a moderate upgrade over their earlier incarnation.

As I see it, this is just a blip. South Africa, like other top teams, will continue to be a major force at home;
a series win in South Africa would still be the most coveted, and most elusive, prize for India.
 
trundler

trundler

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What do we make of Steyn's figures? Didn't watch the match but still a bit shocking he went wicketless. An aberration, but still.
 
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