*Official* South Africa in New Zealand

[Mingster]

Dam, i hope this is not the only reason for Butler to be in the XII.

 

[Tim]

Well i'm not overally convinced either...but this spell could well put him back into contention with Michael Mason.

 

[Mingster]

Well i'm not overally convinced either...but this spell could well put him back into contention with Michael Mason.

I doubt it, considering he still conceded 49 off 7.

 

[Tim]

well considering that Butler seems to be in favour with the NZ selectors no matter what his bowling figures are like at the moment, I wouldn't be surprised if this spell has convinced the selectors that he's worth being looked at for Friday.

I think the South African batsmen will step up on Friday anyway & I can visualise Butler being smashed for 50 runs off about 6 overs.

The selectors will argue of course, that even though Butler conceeded 49 off 7 overs..he still took 3 wickets & so he's more than made up for the high economy rate.

 

[Isolator]

Marshall will do well, I think. He seems quite competent.

 

[Langeveldt]

Welcome Isolator



Good win for SA, what Im most pleased about is the following

Boje 10 0 19 2

Looks like another good spinner has returned I never knew Ashwell Prince was touring, the sooner the SA selectors realized he is a provincial player at best, the better :!(

 

[Tim]

Yeah good win I thought, South Africa stamped their authority on the match right from the 1st over.

Northern Districts have been rubbish this season, so it was no surprise to see them fail once again though. But with 5 NZ players in the team..that was quite a poor effort.

 

[Mingster]

6 actually if you include Hart.

Who's been left out of the 13?

 

[Tim]

Fortunately Northern Districts were the worst side in the NZ domestic competition by a long stretch this season so a thumping loss to South Africa wasn't so surprising.

I would have been extremely worried though if South Africa had done the same to Canterbury or Central Districts.

 

[Craig]

New Zealand will win this series 3-2 or South Africa will win 4-1.

 

[Mingster]

The weather is perfect up here today, not a cloud in the sky.

But lets hope the pitch plays well, it's another dop in but from the South Island this time.

 

[Tim]

it'll be interesting to see how many people turn up considering its a working day.
The general feeling is that they might get close to a sell-out.

 

[stevo22]

Should be a good series tho i back SA in their current form to win it.
Kallis is near unbeatable at the moment and Klusener is
capable of doing a 'razzaq' so NZ better watch out for him or they'll get caned for 10 an over in the last 10.

Having said that fleming is really in the zone at the moment too.
Hopefully Hamish can continue the superb performances and get himself on the tour to England.
There's a few of the Marshall clan buying up ENG Vs NZ tickets here in anticipation!

 

[Tim]

Well the key will be whether NZ can minimise the amount of runs scored off their last 10 overs in the field.

We don't really know if Klusener is still capable of producing the kind of assault that he was known the world over for a few years ago...infact it may be the front end which concerns NZ more with the likes of Gibbs, Smith & Kallis.

 

[Tim]

The fact is, I can't see NZ winning this series.
There are 6 ODI's and surely NZ will win at least 1 but I think it'll be a 4-2 series win to South Africa.

I think there are serious concerns over the middle order with Marshall, Styris, McMillan & Cairns...none of them have had a decent build-up in the State Shield & whether the NZ bowlers can take a satisfactory amount of wickets in each match.

 

[BlackCap_Fan]

Well the key will be whether NZ can minimise the amount of runs scored off their last 10 overs in the field.

We don't really know if Klusener is still capable of producing the kind of assault that he was known the world over for a few years ago...infact it may be the front end which concerns NZ more with the likes of Gibbs, Smith & Kallis.

If NZ can't stop the runs in the field (not the bowling)then I doubt that any side would be able to.

 

[Tim]

New Zealand will definately not get free runs in the field against South Africa like they did against Pakistan.

A good thing is that NZ shouldn't be too worried about the South African fast bowling, having already faced Shoaib & Sami earlier in the year.

 

[Langeveldt]

A good thing is that NZ shouldn't be too worried about the South African fast bowling, having already faced Shoaib & Sami earlier in the year.

Wouldnt Shoaib's demolition of them in the test make them even more worried?

 

[Tim]

Well kind of, but in the ODI series..Shoaib was nowhere near the force that he proved to be in the test series & in the end NZ ended up playing him quite well.

 

[Craig]

I like the look of Papps. He looks good.