*Official* South Africa in Pakistan

[Bouncer]

Sep 25 (Tue) South Africa team arrive at Karachi either 25th or 26th Sep.
Sep 26 (Wed) Rest
Sep 27 to 29 3-day Game (Karachi)
Sep 30 (Sun) Nets

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Oct 1 to 5 1st Test Match (Karachi)
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Oct 6 (Sat) Travels/Nets
Oct 7 (Sun) Nets

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Oct 8 to 12 2nd Test Match (Lahore)
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Oct 13 (Sat) Nets
Oct 14 (Sun) Nets ** Expected Eid Holidays
Oct 15 (Mon) Nets ** Expected Eid Holidays - warm up One day game
Oct 16 (Tue) Nets ** Expected Eid Holidays at Bagh-e-Jinnah
Oct 17 (Wed) Nets ** Expected Eid Holidays (Date: TBA)


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Oct 18 (Thu) 1st ODI (Lahore)
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Oct 19 (Fri) Travel/Nets
Oct 20 (Sat) Travel/Nets

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Oct 21 (Sun) 2nd ODI (Peshawar)
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Oct 22 (Mon) Travel/Nets

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Oct 23 (Tue) 3rd ODI (Rawalpindi)
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Oct 24 (Wed) Travel/Nets
Oct 25 (Thu) Nets

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Oct 26 (Fri) 4th ODI (Multan)
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Oct 27 (Sat) Travel/Nets
Oct 28 (Sun) Nets

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Oct 29 (Mon) 5th ODI (Faisalabad)
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Oct 30 (Tue) South Africa team departs from Lahore


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Should be one interesting tour. Although i would have loved to see 3 test match atleast in the series.

result wise i think Karachi is the best place to hve a atest match as in Karachi tests end up with result more often than not....usually the wicket provides alot of assistance to fast bowlers on first day...but by end of the game wicket eases out big time....Pak's best bet is to make SA play at Pak's pace and slow'em down like they did with ENg in 05. but back in 05 Pak had Inzi lets see if Yousaf and Younis play to their reputations(expectations), if they do then SA willl have to play very well to beat Pak....Overall this will be one good series to watch.

[Sanz]

Isn't Inzi still available for Tests ?

[Bouncer]

Originally Posted by Sanz

Isn't Inzi still available for Tests ?

He is but i think it is better to Play w/o him.Even if he plays he doesnt have more than a season cricket left in him, they might betempted to Play him coz Pak is playing AUS and india after SA but i think the Sooner Pak team gets used to off playing w/o inzi, the better it is.

[TT Boy]

Two test matches is rather farcical but considering South Africa welcome New Zealand at home just days after this tour ends (another test two series), the less games the better.

Also with the test series being played first it gives the players earmarked as part of the ‘rotation and rest’ policy the chance to return home in preparation for the Kiwis.

[gunner]

i expect pakistan to win this series

early this year pakistan were found out by the bouncy wickets but this time they should make the pitches to their strength and SA's weakness

[Richard]

Originally Posted by Bouncer

He is but i think it is better to Play w/o him.Even if he plays he doesnt have more than a season cricket left in him, they might betempted to Play him coz Pak is playing AUS and india after SA but i think the Sooner Pak team gets used to off playing w/o inzi, the better it is.

Personally I think they should get as much out of anything he has left as they can, TBH.

[Bouncer]

Originally Posted by gunner

i expect pakistan to win this series

early this year pakistan were found out by the bouncy wickets but this time they should make the pitches to their strength and SA's weakness

Specially when Inzi is not in 11, Pak more than likely will go with slow tracks. They also will try to slow the pace of the game by batting for longer period of time, but when SA comes into bat after fielding for 5 and half sessions, Pak will try to take advantage of their tiredness with attacking bowling policy, thats what worked against ENG and thats what Pak is going to go with. 2ndly Karachi would still help seamers on first day, so Toss will be ver important and, SA would waana put Pak in if they win the toss and try to gothrough Pak's Inzi Less batting line up. I think that will be their best chance

[Fusion]

Originally Posted by Richard

Personally I think they should get as much out of anything he has left as they can, TBH.

Chances of his selection are iffy tbh. The current board is not exactly fond of him. They basically blamed him for the whole World Cup debacle (extremely unfair IMO). Also, there is the issue of undermining the Captain (who I'm assuming will be Malik). Inzi's mere presence may cause some other players, even Malik himself, to defer to him. The board would want Malik to build confidence in himself, and as such may look at Inzi as a threat to his progress.

[Richard]

TBH I cringe at the prospect of Malik as Test captain ITFP as I've never rated his batting in the longer form, but I'd presume they'll go with him as Younis and Yousuf are already out of the running and unless they're thinking to pick Shoaib Akhtar or summat, you have to doubt it.

Can see what you mean about Inzy's selection, though. It'd be a real shame, however, if he still had something to offer with the bat.

[gunner]

and he also needs only 19 more runs to be all time highest test scorer for pakistan
he should be allowed to retire at the end of the aussies tour

[Bouncer]

Originally Posted by Richard

TBH I cringe at the prospect of Malik as Test captain ITFP as I've never rated his batting in the longer form, but I'd presume they'll go with him as Younis and Yousuf are already out of the running and unless they're thinking to pick Shoaib Akhtar or summat, you have to doubt it.

Can see what you mean about Inzy's selection, though. It'd be a real shame, however, if he still had something to offer with the bat.

Malik was/is Pak's best option to lead the team. he has been brought up to be Pak's captain he has been leading his local team in first class scene ince 2003-2004. I liked him as guy who has got courage to stand for him team against authority, people are bringing up the 20/20 when he threw away a game to prove to big boys(teams from karachi and lahore) to not to take/treat teams of smaller cities(like Malik's) as someone who can be bullied in Pak's domestic scene. in Pak culture it takes alot of courage to do so, it is not easy for anyone to stand infront of authority and tell them that they were involved in wrong doings and it is not going to be tolerated. Since that day i knew that this guy is going to be next captain of Pak as he has shown immense charecter during that 20/20 saga.

His batting i personally think is not perfect but still little under-rated. In Pak he is the only one who is capable of playing according to situation (obvoiusly after Yousuf and younis), can play defensively and get into quick mode too. Last years he batted for good (i donoo)8+ hours to save a test match against Murali, this from a guy who just two months befre that was scoring quick runs against india in home one day series was an remarkable inning and showed the maturity of Malik, unfortunately he got injured for ENg tour, which would have been a good test for Malik as batsman.

[Richard]

I'm not for a second disputing Malik is a fine leader. But I don't think he's a good enough Test cricketer to be in the side, and he's never played much Test cricket.

And you can't captain unless you're good enough to play. IMO.

[Bouncer]

Originally Posted by Richard

I'm not for a second disputing Malik is a fine leader. But I don't think he's a good enough Test cricketer to be in the side, and he's never played much Test cricket.

And you can't captain unless you're good enough to play. IMO.

I agree, but in Pak's case this is the best move as if Malik is not a captain he'd still end up in the team and someone else will be leading who may not be able to lead the team 3 years downtha road. So lets Malik give some responsibility, and see how he does. If his career is anything to prove, we would see that every time the situation demanded for some good, Malik more oftenthan not delivered.

[Sanz]

Originally Posted by Bouncer

Malik was/is Pak's best option to lead the team. he has been brought up to be Pak's captain he has been leading his local team in first class scene ince 2003-2004. I liked him as guy who has got courage to stand for him team against authority, people are bringing up the 20/20 when he threw away a game to prove to big boys(teams from karachi and lahore) to not to take/treat teams of smaller cities(like Malik's) as someone who can be bullied in Pak's domestic scene. in Pak culture it takes alot of courage to do so, it is not easy for anyone to stand infront of authority and tell them that they were involved in wrong doings and it is not going to be tolerated. Since that day i knew that this guy is going to be next captain of Pak as he has shown immense charecter during that 20/20 saga.

His batting i personally think is not perfect but still little under-rated. In Pak he is the only one who is capable of playing according to situation (obvoiusly after Yousuf and younis), can play defensively and get into quick mode too. Last years he batted for good (i donoo)8+ hours to save a test match against Murali, this from a guy who just two months befre that was scoring quick runs against india in home one day series was an remarkable inning and showed the maturity of Malik, unfortunately he got injured for ENg tour, which would have been a good test for Malik as batsman,

Throwing a game is not the best way to show your leadership skills. That was in domestic cricket and he was lucky. If he ever tried to do it in International Cricket to show that he got ballz, he would be sitting next to Salim Malik in the history of Pakistan Cricket. Needs a lot of work on his leadership skills to be considered a decent leader. Obviously we will know, hopefully good things, a lot more about him in next few months.

That said I agree with you on his batting skills, he is bit under-rated as a batsman and has the makings of a very good test batsman despite his limitations.

[Beleg]

Inzamam is still Pakistan's best batsman. (or at a stretch, second best) He should play as long as he's performing, be it ten months or ten years.