Latest News – Sanjay's Cricket World

The summer of cricket between South Africa and Australia is over. It’s been tightly contested, and has been fairly tight except for the one dayers.

The test series were shared one apiece for a 3-3 aggregate, and the Pro 20′s were also shared 1 series apiece for a 2-2 aggregate. However it was the one dayers that were one sided with South Africa convincingly taking both series for a 7-3 aggregate.

Overall the test series was quite even, I still felt South Africa were too reactive, with the Aussies looking to be aggressive and take control from the beginning. The fact that Ponting won 6 tosses out of 6, and was able to bat first certainly helped him, but South Africa were guilty of not exploiting the conditions enough on the first day of all the test matches, when there was something in the wickets. By and large Australia’s batting was solid, and the number of centuries scored bore testament to this fact. The one day our bowling did gain the advantage ie Newlands, we were able to really ram home the advantage and gain a concisive victory.

In chasing totals, South Africa did not gain a passmark. We collapsed dismally in Perth before having a great second innings, relied on the magic of JP Duminy in Melbourne, and came up short in Sydney. Back home we failed big time, before making it count in the dead rubber at Newlands.

Other than Steyn no one else really gave him enough support. Either we need someone else to take wickets or someone to really be more economical than Morkel or Ntini. I would drop Morne Morkel and Ntini and bring in Parnell and Tsotsobe. They will earn more wickets and do more with the ball.

The batting lineup is solid, they just need to be more consistent and dominate more. For instance Jacques Kallis was his usual consistent self, but needs to convert those 40′s-80′s into big hundreds. Amla, Duminy, De Villiers etc need to do the same. I’d still like to drop Boucher and give the gloves to AB, and then bring in Albie Morkel. It’s offer muych greater depth in batting and bowling.

The pro 20′s and one day squads are almost right. We simply have to back our abilities more to dominate games. Go after the bowling earlier, really put the foot down. The one guy who looked to be supremely confident was AB De Villiers and by the end of the series he had a gameplan that worked for him.

Whilst we didn’t dominate the summer, it was important we didn’t lose to the Aussies once again. Mentally we will take much from this, and hopefully break free from the self-imposed schackles we have placed upon ourselves. I look forward to the shortened versions of the game ie Pro 20 world cup, before the summer against the English! Let’s put them away and get some silverware!

The one day series was dominated in the middle stages by South Africa for a deserved 3-2 series victory. Other than the first game in Durban where we missed the balance and class of Jacues Kallis, we have won all the important moments when the pressure was on. That has been the most pleasing aspect from a longer term view.

In chasing down a gettable total in Durban. We succumbed dismally with the loss of too many early wickets. The fact we bounced back with a great bowling spell at Centurion, really hit the Aussies hard when they were looking to dominate.

Capetown and Port Elizabeth were great for the fact we batted first for a change (I was beginning to think we really didn’t know how to set a total) and got great competitive totals. AB De Villiers has been in sublime form. The Aussies have never been great chasers and their middle order simply couldn’t respond.

The last game at the Wanderers was a bit disappointing. It didn’t help not having Johan Botha, but we did well to limit the Aussies to 300 after their start. Runs on the board is always valuable, but it was a gettable total. We started off well and what didn’t please me was the fact we seemed to have learnt nothing this summer. Gibbs caused a lot of the problems in my view by going to slowly, especially at a time Kallis was motoring along. He lost all the momentum, and from that stage we never got the run rate down to an easy level. I’d have liked to see us go harder, faster at the total as by the last 10 overs came around, it was too big a task. Also we could’ve used the power play earlier, as by the time we tried to take it, the game was effectively over.

To finish the series 3-2 in South Africa, and 4-1 in Aus, shows we were the dominant team, but still a long way from the finished article.

As we moved away from the test series, South Africa was able to carry its momentum and comfortably win both pro 20′s matches. It shows the confidence within the younger squad of our pro 20 team, and they are getting better all the time. I feel it is a better balanced squad than the test squad, with more game breakers.

One of our biggest weaknesses, spin bowling is now our big strength, espcially during the middle overs of the shorter versions of the game. They are able to slow the stem of runs, and create wickets through pressure and attacking bowling. It compliments our pace attack well. Our fielding has always had great enthusiasm, our execution just needs to become a bit sharper.

The batting at the top of the order is still slightly concerning. I still feel Gibbs is not the answer. It will be good to have Smith back for the one dayers. Amla, De Villiers and Duminy create a decent middle order, and then Albie Morkel needs greater support at the death. It’s a pretty good formula is we can fine tune it.

As we move into the one dayers, this is the result that will judge our summer. If we can convincingly win the series then the overall season will have been deemed a success. If we lose it is honours shared and back to the drawing board. At home we just have to do it…