***Official*** South Africa in India

[pug]

Honestly, not the way you would want a tour to begin. I was looking forward to see Gibbs bat.

 

[Sudeep]

South Africa's squad announced

Graeme Smith (captain), Johan Botha, Mark Boucher (wicket-keeper), AB de Villiers, Andrew Hall, Jacques Kallis, Justin Kemp, Charl Langeveldt, Albie Morkel, Andre Nel, Makhaya Ntini, Justin Ontong, Robin Peterson, Shaun Pollock, Ashwell Prince.

 

[Protea]

Crossing fingers that Robin Peterson won't play...Johan Botha has only been bowling spin for fifteen months but surely he's the better option? I'm surprised Garnett Kruger wasn't picked. 28 wickets in 3 matches at an average of 14.92 is impressive. I hope he keeps it up and is considered for the Australian tour next month. Vernon Philander (20) is a good deal younger but he's had a great start to the season with the Cobras: 17 wickets at 13.58 in 3 matches.

Also, where is Neil McKenzie? He's possibly one of our best players to spin bowling. Are our selectors blind? Although, considering South Africa have a pretty long unbeaten streak, it would be unfair to drop any of the current players.

 

[Pratters]

Are our selectors blind?

Yes.

 

[honestbharani]

Sounds a strong squad that RSA have selected.

 

[ramkumar_gr]

Sounds a strong squad that RSA have selected.

Read that Botha has modelled his action after Harbhajan Singh and he also claims to have this doosra. Could be a good tussle. Let us hope Botha does not go Avaiskar Salvi's way.

 

[Woody_cloudofsm]

i'd say its 50-50 for who will win, SA will be weakened by the absense of Gibbs & Boje so we will see how they go...

Man who si this botha fellow a medium pacers whos bowled ofbreaks for 5 firstclass matches hell yeah tehy will miss boje you only had to look at murali karthiks success against sri lanka in the ongoing seris to see that a decent left arm orthodoz ie nicky boje would have been a handful not to mention hes taken his maiden test 5for in india and made runs so he has a proven record in india. I think this Botha gamble is huge to be an effective offie u need to have something special in your arnoury. As for robin pete i hope they use him as the number one spinner doesnt set the world on fire but could be suited to indian conditions. all i know i this seris is gonna be a graveyard for the quicks and nel langaveldt ntini and company will have to be on song or they will go at 6 plus runs an over. good luck to the springboks but i dun give them a chance unless someone can spin it for them.

 

[honestbharani]

I still think it is very possible that the best side may not go on to win this series. 4 day and night games, and between two reasonably matched sides, it is all going to come down to the toss.

 

[Pratters]

I still think it is very possible that the best side may not go on to win this series. 4 day and night games, and between two reasonably matched sides, it is all going to come down to the toss.

Day and night matches and due factor means the team batting second has so much of an advantage a lot of times in India that its just not fair.

Also, apart from every thing else, how South Africa will be able to play in India will be of vital importance. I have my apprehensions over this because of which I think India is favourite for this series.

 

[ir0n desi]

This will be an interesting series. I think its pretty 50-50 as to who wins, and if both go on to win their respective ODI series they are currently playing, it'll make for a fascinating limited overs series.

I agree, it's going to be a very interesting series. Both teams are in sensational form. South Africa are ready for this series after having a great series against New Zealand, and India are also ready for this series after having a great series against Sri Lanka. Both teams are equally matched as they both got players that can perform. I hope Gambhir gets a couple of games. He definitely is a really good batsman, he proved is ability by playing some really fine shots in that century he recently made against Sri Lanka.

 

[Snippie]

Does anybody know where I can find a scorecard for the warmup match played today between SA and India A, I have had absolutely no luck on finding info on the game, and how things are progressing!

 

[Pradeep]

Does anybody know where I can find a scorecard for the warmup match played today between SA and India A, I have had absolutely no luck on finding info on the game, and how things are progressing!

There you go...
http://live.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/2005-06/RSA_IN_IND/SCORECARDS/RSA_HYD-XI_14NOV2005.html

The link on cricinfo was posted incorrectly. I had to do some research with the URL to get there...

Anyways, SA finished it off easy, will be interesting to see how they counter 'Team India'.

 

[Sanz]

SA have lost only one of last 20 games they have played in and they have played some good teams such as Eng, NZ as well. So they are on a bigger roll than us and their confidence would be as high as ours. This series will be a real test of some of our new comers like Dhoni, Raina, Rao, RP Singh and also the likes of Irfan who people think has the potential to become a handy batsman.

Let's hope that we win, my prediction India 3-2.

 

[Sanz]

Does anybody know where I can find a scorecard for the warmup match played today between SA and India A, I have had absolutely no luck on finding info on the game, and how things are progressing!

South Africans whip Hyderabad XI
http://us.rediff.com/cricket/2005/nov/14sa.htm

 

[Snippie]

Thanks both Sanz and Pradeep!

I heard on the news that we had won, but they didn't show any footage, or even the scorecard, this helped a lot!

It seems Johan Botha has already started to show why he was included in the squad.

It's great when the youngsters shine, even in warm-up matches.

Here's to hoping him and AB continue to have a great series!

 

[PY]

South Africans whip Hyderabad XI
http://us.rediff.com/cricket/2005/nov/14sa.htm

I was wondering why they were saying in the article that Botha had played really well for 3/54 which is half the runs of the innings but then looked at the scorecard and he appears to have done some good work for 3/34.

I'm quite looking forward to this series, two of the top three teams in ODI I reckon.

 

[honestbharani]

I personally think AB is one of the best batting talents (potentially) ever produced by RSA. With time and hard work, I think he can even go on to be better than Kallis. But the key player for RSA will be Kemp. Grounds like Chennai and Mumbai aren't that big.

 

[Magrat Garlick]

It seems Johan Botha has already started to show why he was included in the squad.
)

I'd be more worried about the no-balls and wides (not just him but everyone), than him getting three wickets caught, with his main victim being the number six who played his first quasi-official game, along with numbers nine and ten for a state side who wasn't even fielding their best batsman (Rayudu).

 

[Snippie]

I was wondering why they were saying in the article that Botha had played really well for 3/54 which is half the runs of the innings but then looked at the scorecard and he appears to have done some good work for 3/34.

I'm quite looking forward to this series, two of the top three teams in ODI I reckon.

I had also noticed that, and they mention that Nel had taken two wickets, when infact he had taken three

It seems somebody was in a hurry whilst writing the article and hadn't taken much time to double check the facts...

 

[Snippie]

I'd be more worried about the no-balls and wides (not just him but everyone), than him getting three wickets caught, with his main victim being the number six who played his first quasi-official game, along with numbers nine and ten for a state side who wasn't even fielding their best batsman (Rayudu).

That's true, but at least he has shown that he is able to take wickets, if he becomes another Langeveldt, somebody that is brilliant at the depth of an innings, well we need that as well. It was his first game for his country, albeit only a warm-up match, and he took the same amount of wickets as one of our strike bowlers (Nel), at least that shows that there is talent.

I also admit that some of them have had problems with line and lenght, but it has improved a lot over the year, at the beginning of this year it really was a disgrace to watch. Pollock, even though he was still quite economical, had gone through a rough stage where he would bowl more than 5 nb in an innings, at least that has gone down dramatically...