SA in Lanka

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Amla hits a hundred and anchors the inning....ABDV powers it in the middle and Miller packs a punch at the end to get them to a 300+

until lanka has batted we will not know if this is a good score or another "patta" sub-continental pitch

.malinga didn't do much and surpirsingly didnpüt finish his quota of 10.

interesting series with in the light of Lanka's new earned respect

Gerry SA wrote:Biltong how can you not feel Philander's under pressure?

He was poor against Australia and was pretty much a non event in Sri Lanka. 

He's been piling on the weight and he's lost that nip he had 8-12months ago. 

Without a proper spinner, we can't just rely on Steyn and Morne to do all the work. 

de Lange, Abbott and Parnell should be sensing an opening IMO.

He is contributing, that is all you can ask.

We lost Kallis, who in the last few years didn't contribute a hell of a lot with the ball, so we need all rounders that can contribute a bit more in general.

He may be a little out of form with the ball, but he s still miserly, he will come right.

Tahir deserves to stay in the side for going down with cramp after 21 balls to waste time

That's Stuart Broad level of d1ckness. Incredible stuff

I haven't seen it, but I had no effect on the game. Once the extra 30 minutes are taken, an extra eight overs Have to be bowled, come hell or high waters. Just embarrassing really. There's no need for it.

Regarding the team. The fact that we've reached #1 after a brief break shouldn't hide the fact that we are a work in progress. I do worry that we've become too dependent on Steyn, given Philander's recent travails, and the fact that Morkel is never going to be the lead wicket taker. Can't really look to change much with the batting. Petersen is obviously under threat, but that's about it. Now for the big issue - the spinner. Imran isn't working, but the problem for me is that if you drop him, he'll take 50 wickets again this summer... more to the point - if Imran stays the best spinner locally, then questions have to be asked about our local lads spin playing ability, and therefore questions have to be asked about the real quality of our local spinners. I'd probably prefer a Robin Peterson type spinner who can plug an end, take 2-3 sticks a game, and is good for 30-50 runs.

I thought Tahir's cramp was hilarious, there was only time for one over anyway, but I guess he wanted to make sure he does not have to face another ball.

kingraf wrote:I haven't seen it, but I had no effect on the game. Once the extra 30 minutes are taken, an extra eight overs Have to be bowled, come hell or high waters. Just embarrassing really. There's no need for it.

Regarding the team. The fact that we've reached #1 after a brief break shouldn't hide the fact that we are a work in progress. I do worry that we've become too dependent on Steyn, given Philander's recent travails, and the fact that Morkel is never going to be the lead wicket taker. Can't really look to change much with the batting. Petersen is obviously under threat, but that's about it. Now for the big issue - the spinner. Imran isn't working, but the problem for me is that if you drop him, he'll take 50 wickets again this summer... more to the point - if Imran stays the best spinner locally, then questions have to be asked about our local lads spin playing ability,  and therefore questions have to be asked about the real quality of our local spinners.  I'd probably prefer a Robin Peterson type spinner who can plug an end, take 2-3 sticks a game, and is good for 30-50 runs.

Peterson was very average against Pakistan and couldn't even do the containing job properly. Think he's not consistent enough to do that job and anyways he's not a major wickettaker. SA has to pick one of Harmer or Pete, both are young, and both can offer a bit with the bat as well, and they can't be worse than Tahir can they be?