*Official* South Africa in Sri Lanka Thread

[Richard]

Interesting post, that...

 

[superkingdave]

Well Gibbs is out of the first test..Puttick called up as cover

Who do you think will replace Gibbs, will Puttick come straight in?

 

[nookie_lk]

Maharoof doesn't strike me as the best line-and-length bowler, and Malinga will have to hit the right areas if he's going to trouble anyone. I'll be surprised if they trouble anyone. Sadly, the same applies to Zoysa.
Gibbs, Kallis, Boucher and Van Jaarsveld if he plays have the truest test of their ability they'll ever get.
Rudolph will find life a lot easier (being left-handed) if he can show the judiciousness (is that a word), and Graeme I fully expect to show everything he has thus far shown, and being a left-hander also shouldn't have as many problems with Murali, especially if he doesn't bowl the wrong-'un.

i have seen mahroof play domestic level cricket and believe me he bowls better that he has so far. this will be his first complete tour. mahroof will definitely bowl well. same applies to malinga. unfortunately dilhara fernando and prabath Nissanka who are better that malinga arent gonna play, malinga is the bext best bowler. Malinga will need more exposure so this tour will be ideal for him show his best.

And about murali not bieng a threat...thats funny...specially considering how well SA batsmen play against spin.

 

[Richard]

Well Gibbs is out of the first test..Puttick called up as cover

Who do you think will replace Gibbs, will Puttick come straight in?

Gotta say I hope so, he looks like he could be a terrific player.
Besides, can't see any other specialist openers.

 

[Richard]

i have seen mahroof play domestic level cricket and believe me he bowls better that he has so far. this will be his first complete tour. mahroof will definitely bowl well. same applies to malinga. unfortunately dilhara fernando and prabath Nissanka who are better that malinga arent gonna play, malinga is the bext best bowler. Malinga will need more exposure so this tour will be ideal for him show his best.

And about murali not bieng a threat...thats funny...specially considering how well SA batsmen play against spin.

Murali not being a threat, who said that?
And we'll see about Malinga and Maharoof. But Nissanka... he's never looked anything other that totally useless to me.

 

[Craig]

Well Gibbs is out of the first test..Puttick called up as cover

Who do you think will replace Gibbs, will Puttick come straight in?

I would think so and I hope he takes his chance and gets a big total.

He may sit out when Gibbs becomes fit again, but at least he has created some competition.

 

[Nate]

surely the south africans will win easily...
i like safrica, they are a great side IMO

 

[nookie_lk]

surely the south africans will win easily...
i like safrica, they are a great side IMO

lol....

 

[Waughney]

I think a close series is on the cards. 1-1 for me.

 

[JASON]

The South Africans have become weaker in terms of their batting with the retirement of Kirsten and the injury to Gibbs making him unavailable for this Test. They are also arguably weaker in the bowling front (than the Team of two -three years ago- with a certain AA Donald having retired) and on turning pitches their bowling strength is greatly diminshed (although Boje may well enjoy himself at Galle and Colombo).

Unlike the Aussies who despite conceding first Innings leads, had the ability to graft their way in the second innings to win handsomely, South Africans are not in the same league in this sense.

With Murali back in the Team and having continuously played cricket for the past month or so as a Team, these things are likely to favour the Lankans at Home.

Sri Lanka to win 1-0 or even 2-0 (may not be far-fetched ) in my opinion. They are bound to be very close Test Matches with both Teams likely to be in winning positions, but the tough Aussie tour should have made Sri Lankans tougher and more competitive and harder to beat at Home.

 

[nookie_lk]

The South Africans have become weaker in terms of their batting with the retirement of Kirsten and the injury to Gibbs making him unavailable for this Test. They are also arguably weaker in the bowling front (than the Team of two -three years ago- with a certain AA Donald having retired) and on turning pitches their bowling strength is greatly diminshed (although Boje may well enjoy himself at Galle and Colombo).

Unlike the Aussies who despite conceding first Innings leads, had the ability to graft their way in the second innings to win handsomely, South Africans are not in the same league in this sense.

With Murali back in the Team and having continuously played cricket for the past month or so as a Team, these things are likely to favour the Lankans at Home.

Sri Lanka to win 1-0 or even 2-0 (may not be far-fetched ) in my opinion. They are bound to be very close Test Matches with both Teams likely to be in winning positions, but the tough Aussie tour should have made Sri Lankans tougher and more competitive and harder to beat at Home.

agreed...!!!! the SA side have made a avarage start in thier warmup match against the SL boardXI... this surely will be a very close accounter !!!

 

[marc71178]

I for one don't read anything into warm-up matches - how seriously is a side taking it when their premier fast bowler bowls 1 spell of 5 overs?

 

[JASON]

South Africans have to decide whether to risk playing Puttick who appears to have failed in both innings in the practice game, or play Rudolph or Van Jaarsveld as an opener. I guess Dipenaar could also open if required.

In terms of bowling, they may take the conservative option and play a third seamer (Hayward or Nel) instead of Petersen in an absolute turner at Galle.

 

[Craig]

Rudolph would be a good choice as opener.

 

[Tim]

I'd go with Martin Van Jaarsveld. I thought that in the 3rd test against NZ at Wellington he looked a handy player.

Rudolph I think is more suited in the middle order..he seemed quite vunerable to the new ball at times.

 

[Beth]

I think that it is difficult to guess what will happen in Sri Lanka, as has been noted, the Proteas definitely haven't played to their ability this year but that doesn't mean we should count them out already. The pitches of SL mean that the team would do best to put forward their spin bowlers but they have dropped Paul Adams from the team . He is now set to play in Bangladesh with the A team. Gibb's injury will hurt their batting chances and from the looks of the warm up game, his substitue Puttick hasn't really made an impression. The Sri Lankans are a strong team in their back yard but I think Ntini has been in top form lately and will damage their chances at the crease. I will be very curious to see how it all goes.

 

[Andre]

Cricket Web Series Preview

 

[Revelation]

I think that South Aftrica will win it though.

 

[dude]

FYI willow tv is broadcasting live broadband video feed over the internet of the SA tour to SL. US viewers can watch for free on ZEE TV.
here's what i got from willow.

Dear Willow TV user:

Willow TV is back with its first live cricket offering of the new cricket
season! Starting August 3, 2004, we will carry the South Africa versus
Sri
Lanka series in its entirety. This series includes 2 Test matches and 5
ODIs. Watch the Asia Cup winners Sri Lanka (#3 in the World ODI rankings)
compete with the exciting South Africa team (#4 in the rankings) -- every
ball live in high quality streaming video delivered to your computer!
Stay
tuned to Willow TV for more exciting series offerings in the future!

Please visit our site at www.willow.tv for details and to sign up for
these
exciting events.

Regards
Willow TV

 

[NikhilN]

Sri lanka win the toss and will bat first


Team for the match


Sri Lanka

*MS Atapattu, ST Jayasuriya, KC Sangakkara, DPMD Jayawardene,TM Dilshan, UDU Chandana, WPUJC Vaas, +RS Kaluwitharana,TT Samaraweera, M Muralitharan, MF Maharoof.

South Africa


*GC Smith, HH Dippenaar, JA Rudolph, JH Kallis, M van Jaarsveld,+MV Boucher, SM Pollock, L Klusener, N Boje, M Ntini, M Hayward.