Tag: AB de Villiers

Cricket: South Africa seek whitewash with shuffled side

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Much like the test series the ODI series has been one-sided, which in itself is disappointing especially as the T20 games were so even.  It’s been worse though because of the manner of the defeats.  Sure there was some entertainment along the way, but the wallopings are doing nothing for the crowds or for South Africa’s World Cup preparations.

We’re all hoping for something a bit more even in Port Elizabeth where South Africa have rescheduled in a move that could achieve the levelling effect.

The Last Time These Two Met

The West Indies were feeble in defeat in game three.  Already 2-0 down the West Indies failed to build on winning the toss and crumbled for just 122.  Marlon Samuels top scored with just 26, in an inept display of batting that is sure to worry West Indies fans.  Vernon Philander and Imran Tahir took four wickets and three wickets apiece to easily seal the series in South Africa’s favour.  Philander was man of the match after removing Dwayne Smith and Chris Gaye within the first four overs.  The burst set the tone for a East London walkover that was finished by Hashim Amla (61*) and Faf du Plessis (51*).

The Teams

South Africa (likely): 1 Rilee Rossouw, 2 Morne van Wyk (wk), 3 Faf du Plessis, 4 AB de Villiers (capt), 5 David Miller, 6 JP Duminy, 7 Farhaan Behardien, 8 Wayne Parnell, 9 Kyle Abbott, 10 Morne Morkel, 11 Imran Tahir

South Africa have already determined that Hashim Amla and Dale Steyn will rest in Port Elizabeth.  There exclusions open up opportunities for Morne van Wye and Kyle Abbott.  Regardless of the changes South Africa are still heavy favourites.

West Indies (likely):  1 Dwayne Smith, 2 Chris Gayle, 3 Leon Johnson, 4 Marlon Samuels, 5 Denesh Ramdin (wk), 6 Jonathan Carter, 7 Andre Russell, 8 Carlos Brathwaite, 9 Jason Holder (capt), 10 Jerome Taylor, 11 Sulieman Benn

Many teams ask players who have performed badly in any given match to fix it at the next opportunity.  We suspect the West Indies will allow their demoralised players to atone.

The Key Players

AB de Villiers – He’s had fun in the series but he hasn’t really been tested when under the pump.  40 balls is not necessarily a guide as to how well he’s playing, so it will be interesting to see how he responds if his side loses early wickets.  That might happen too without the rock Amla to see off the new ball.

Leon Johnson – Has only had a small amount of time to familiarise himself with a new role at number three in a sinking ship, but we’re hoping Johnson can rise tot the challenge.  The series need it.  The series needs the runs he scored in the third test.

The Odds*

South Africa – $1.26

West Indies – $3.85

*Courtesy of Unibet.

The Prediction

All good things must come to an end.  How about putting $5 on West Indies to triumph at Port Elizabeth. de Villiers for another hundred too.

 

Cricket: WI hoping change of pace brings change of fortune

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With one eye on the World Cup, and one on the dodgy weather that has plagued the tour thus far, this T20 series isn’t getting a whole heap of attention.  That may be exactly what the West Indies need to be competitive and sneak a couple of wins ahead of the World Cup.

The Last Time These Two Met

Just one run separated the sides in 2010 when they last met.  Plenty has changed since the North Head match though; Chanderpaul and Sarwan were still playing for the West Indies; Smith and Botha for South Africa.  The overall record between the teams shows us that South Africa usually win but by a small margin. 

The Teams

South Africa (likely): 1 Morne van Wyk (wk), 2 Reeza Hendricks/Rilee Rossouw, 3 Faf du Plessis (capt), 4 Farhaan Behardien, 5 David Miller, 6 David Wiese/Justin Ontong, 7 Wayne Parnell, 8 David Wiese, 9 Kagiso Rabada, 10 Marchant de Lange, 11 Imran Tahir

South Africa’s squad features a number of players who are not involved in their World Cup campaign, meaning there is an element of future planning evident in the team.  A prime example of that is U19 World Cup winner Kagiso Rabada.  Of the players who have made the 15, there will be plenty of interest in Duminy’s form and fitness, as well as eyes on Miller and Behardien as they look to build some form for the February tournament.

West Indies (likely): 1 Chris Gayle, 2 Dwayne Smith, 3 Lendl Simmons, 4 Denesh Ramdin (wk), 5 Marlon Samuels, 6 Kieron Pollard, 7 Jason Holder, 8 Darren Sammy (capt), 9 Andre Russell, 10 Sulieman Benn, 11 Sheldon Cottrell

Chris Gayle is the name that jumps out of the reinforcements that have been summoned to make West Indies more competitive in the T20 series.  After sitting out the test series because of a back complaint, the destructive opener will be looking to build on some exciting form he showed for the Lions in South Africa’s domestic T20 tournament.  Smith, Pollard, Sammy and Russell are the other new faces.

The Key Players

Marchant de Lange – Once destined to play a huge amount of games for South Africa the genuine quick bowler has had his career stall thanks to injury and form concerns.  His numbers rest at just 2 tests, 2 ODI’s, and 3 T20 games.  That’s too few for someone who took seven wickets in his first effort in test cricket.  South Africa will be hoping he can lead the attack in the absence of some of the names they hope de Lange will eventually replace in the test team.

Chris Gayle – The veteran of 193 T20 games owns an incredible record – 14 centuries in all T20 cricket, including a best of 175* (which is, amazingly, better than his highest ODI score).  He’s made a name for himself in the format and has a list of franchises he’s played for longer than most shopping lists.  Expect fireworks from Gayle against the relatively inexperienced opposition attack. 

The Odds*

South Africa – $1.80

West Indies – $2.00

*International Cricket odds courtesy of Ladbrokes Australia.

The Prediction

South Africa’s willingness to rest players may leave them exposed in this series, especially given their form in Australia in the format was less than convincing.  I really like West Indies chances here.  Ladbrokes Australia are offering good money on the win, and good money on the tourists to be ahead after 1 and 6 overs too.

Cricket: SA too strong, too classy; win two nil

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South Africa retained their number one test cricket ranking with an emphatic eight wicket win over the West Indies in the final test at Newlands.  The win helped them seal the three match test series, by two games to nil, and in truth it should have been three if rain hadn’t intervened.  South Africa were, in fairness, superior in every aspect of the game, as evidenced with their eight wicket win here in Cape Town.

AB de Villiers as he so often is, was the catalyst of the win;  he crafted his way to an exceptional first innings score of 148 in South Africa’s 421 that gave them the requisite lead to allow the bowlers to overrun the West Indies in a difficult 2nd innings.

As much as de Villiers’ hundred was the winning of the match, the West Indies second innings was the losing of it.  They managed just 215, with batsman carrying on the trend of making starts without converting them into big hundreds.  They had eight batsman across the match scoring between 43 and 74 without any going on to the match winning knock that was desperately needed.

That’s easier said than done against Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, Vernon Philander and now simon Harmer. The debutant who was featured in our preview earlier in the week, enjoyed a superb start to his test career, taking seven wickets in the match.  Steyn also took seven as the two combined for the bulk of the Windies wickets to a fall in a classic fearsome space / pressure building spin option combo.

South Africa’s fourth innings chase was guided by Dean Elgar, who made 60*, with a useful contribution, his second of the match, from Hashim Amla (63 and 38*).  Despite some minor weather interruptions, South Africa still had plenty of time to seal the win and with it the series.  They’ll be impressed with Harmers first up return in addition to the continued form of du Plessis, Amla, Steyn and de Velliers.  They appear to be building nicely towards the World Cup, but the real test of that fact will in the T20’s starting on the 9th January.

West Indies will gladly welcome some of their stars like Dwayne Bravo, Kieron Pollard and Andre Russell.  They’ll boost the side’s experience and confidence and hopefully make them more competitive in the shorter formats.

South Africa 421 (de Villiers 148, du Plessis 68, Amla 63) and 124 for 2 (Elgar 60*) beat West Indies 329 (Blackwood 56, Johnson 54, Ramdin 53, Steyn 4-78) and 215 (Samuels 74, Chanderpaul 50, Harmer 4-82) by eight wickets

Cricket: Steyn and co to wreck Boxing Day havoc

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South Africa’s concern over their revamped batting line-up was misguided.  In their first outing without Smith and Kallis (and Duminy to an extent) the side amassed a whopping 552/5 to ease the worry about the post veteran era.  The truth is however, that their opponents are significantly weaker and are unlikely to test too many international batting lineups, especially given the uncertainty surrounding the WICB and with their bowling likely to suffer with the injury to Kemar Roach.

Port Elizabeth shapes as a test of depth for the West Indians.  The players are the best available save for injuries and now they just need to prove it.  While the tour will provide a heap of experience for youngsters like Blackwood and Johnson, for the sake of the cricket it still needs to be an even contest and for that reason it needs runs from the pair; along with more telling contributions from Chanderpaul, Smith and Ramdin.

The Last Time These Two Met

The first test went exactly to plan for the favourites.  Their batsman got some valuable crease time and added centuries to their career stats columns.  What’s more their new number six (and possible opening solution if Alviro Petersen continues to fail) got in on the act too.  Stiaan van Zyl scoring 101* to match hundreds from AB de Villiers and Hashim Amla.  That meant South Africa only needed to bat once as the West Indies struggled to just 201 and 131 with none of their batsmen passing 40.

The Teams

South Africa (likely): 1 Alviro Petersen, 2 Dean Elgar, 3 Faf du Plessis, 4 Hashim Amla (capt), 5 AB de Villiers (wk), 6 Stiaan van Zyl, 7 Temba Bavuma, 8 Vernon Philander, 9 Dale Steyn, 10 Morne Morkel, 11 Imran Tahir

South Africa have lost wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock for the series to an ankle injury which will see AB de Villiers take back the gloves to assist the balance of the team.  The final batting spot should go to Temba Bavuma in a historic selection.  Kyle Abbott is also out; Imran Tahir replaces him.

West Indies (likely): 1 Kraigg Brathwaite, 2 Devon Smith, 3 Leon Johnson, 4 Marlon Samuels, 5 Shivnarine Chanderpaul, 6 Jermaine Blackwood, 7 Denesh Ramdin (capt, wk), 8 Jerome Taylor, 9 Shannon Gabriel, 10 Sulieman Benn, 11 Sheldon Cottrell

Shannon Gabriel for Kemar Roach is expected to be the only change.

The Key Players

Dale Steyn – Steyn had no wickets in the first innings at Centurion but destroyed the West Indies in the second dig snaring 6 in just over 8 overs.  It was his 25th five wicket haul and further outlined his potency in his home conditions.  He is so effective on bouncing wickets and Port Elizabeth should be be no different. I hope for the West Indies sake they have tightened their back foot defence in preparation for some Steyn chin music.

Shivnarine Chanderpaul – It’s rare when Chanderpaul doesn’t score runs.  For someone that has scored over 11,000 test match runs at an average above 52 there are not many rough patches.  However, he may be going through one at the moment.  It may only be three innings but the 40 year old has struggled in South Africa thus far.  He followed up his warm up game duck with 21 and 4 in the first test, getting caught behind the wicket on both occasions.  The tourists will be desperate for Shiv to bounce back from the double failure and rediscover the form he had in the Bangladesh series.

The Odds*

South Africa – $1.22

Draw – $5.00

West Indies – $15.00

*International Cricket odds courtesy of Ladbrokes Australia.

The Prediction

The menacing South African pace attack of Steyn, Philander and Morkel will inevitably be too skilful for a West Indies team that is missing two quality batsman to pose any real threat.  The South African batsman could really feast out on the West Indies attack too, so steer clear of any low odd run scoring and lump on a South African win.

Cricket: South Africa start as favourites in WI series

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When you scratch names like Kallis and Smith from the team sheet and also throw in injuries to names like Duminy, the South African test cricket side starts to take a very unfamiliar shape.  New names like van Syl, Elgar, Bavuma and Rabada replace the mainstays and carry the burden of a new era of cricket.

The new era begins tonight with a test match series against the enigmatic West Indies team.  Centurion hosts game number one in what many are tipping to be a one-sided contest.  Despite the personnel changes South Africa go into the match and series as heavy favourites.  They still possess enough quality in de Villiers, du Plessis, and Amla to trouble even the best in World and should enjoy the home conditions against a West Indies attack lacking in out and out quicks.

What the tourists lack in quicks they make up for in reliable professional cricketers.  Most of the squad are now comfortable in the international environment, fitting in well around the experience of Samuels, Chanderpaul, and Ramdin. They played nicely in their only warm up game against an invitational XI and will be hoping to reprise similar form as they step up to the test arena.

The Last Time These Two Met

The two teams play for the Sir Vivian Richards Trophy.  The last time they met to contest the trophy was in 2010 when South Africa won the series 2-0 in the West Indies.  South Africa had big wins in Bridgetown and Port of Spain while the match at Basseterre ended in a draw.

The Teams

South Africa (likely): 1 Alviro Petersen, 2 Dean Elgar, 3 Faf du Plessis, 4 Hashim Amla (capt), 5 AB de Villiers, 6 Stiaan van Zyl, 7 Quinton de Kock (wk), 8 Vernon Philander, 9 Dale Steyn, 10 Morne Morkel, 11 Kyle Abbott/Robin Peterson

West Indies (likely): 1 Kraigg Brathwaite, 2 Devon Smith, 3 Leon Johnson, 4 Marlon Samuels, 5 Shivnarine Chanderpaul, 7 Denesh Ramdin (capt & wk), 8 Jerome Taylor, 9 Kemar Roach, 10 Sheldon Cottrell, 11 Sulieman Benn/Shannon Gabriel

The Key Players

Alviro Petersen – A catchy tagline describes Petersen’s recent form.  23 innings and 23 months without a century.  It’s a worrying statistic for South African cricket who have lost a host of big names with big cricket experience.  Being heavily scrutinised might suit Petersen though as he often plays some of his best cricket under pressure.

Kraigg Brathwaite – The 22-year old is unlike many West Indian batsman.  He doesn’t bat with any of the traditional flair, instead he accumulates using his immense powers of concentration.  He was in sublime form against Bangladesh in September (212, 4*, 63, 45) and has carried that on with some handy knocks against Sri Lanka A.  Brathwaite is an accomplished back foot player so he should be able to cope with the South African attack on South African pitches.

The Odds*

South Africa – $1.33

Draw – $4.00

West Indies – $12.00

*International Cricket odds courtesy of TopBetta.

The Prediction

South Africa will have too much quality for their opponents in this match and in the series.  The seamers in particular are expected to be a difficult prospect on the quick and bouncy surfaces.

 

International Cricket Preview – NZ v South Africa

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New Zealand and South Africa begin their 2015 Cricket World Cup preparations today in an unusually scheduled October three match series kicking off at Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui.  Winter has only just finished in New Zealand, and the nations favourite sporting team (the All Blacks) are still commanding most of the media coverage on the back of a narrow weekend victory and an end of season tour squad announcement.  That has allowed South Africa to sneak into the country, and the Black Caps to prepare for the series without too much fuss.  In fact to be even talking about cricket in New Zealand during October is unheard of; there has never been an international cricket match played in New Zealand in October.

The players could command some headline space with some series heroics, however, most will be using the series to press their claims for inclusion in their sides’ World Cup squads.  Fine tuning combinations, testing new game plans and managing workloads / injuries will be the norm in the series.  The combination of small New Zealand grounds and the fact that 350 scores will win the World Cup (not 280) should see some decent scores in the series if weather does not intervene.

New Zealand 

1 Jimmy Neesham, 2 Martin Guptill, 3 Dean Brownlie, 4 Brendon McCullum (capt), 5 Tom Latham, 6 Corey Anderson, 7 Luke Ronchi (wk), 8 Daniel Vettori, 9 Kyle Mills, 10 Mitchell McClenaghan, 11 Trent Boult/Matt Henry

New Zealand’s probable line-up features a number of talking points.  Injuries to Ross Taylor, Kane Williamson, and Tim Southee mean plenty of opportunities for fringe squad members to prove their wares.  All-rounder Jimmy Neesham will get the chance to open although it doesn’t appear to be a baptism of fire rather than an opportunity to savour.  Facing Steyn, Morkel and Philander on an October pitch seems scary.  Middle order novices Dean Brownlie and Tom Latham come in to the middle order basting of decent winter form.  With Taylor, Williamson, and potentially wild child Jessie Ryder to return, the pair appear to be fighting for a batting back up spot only.  Daniel Vettori also returns; he’ll bowl his ten overs for very few runs and generally labour around the outfield.

South Africa

1 Hashim Amla, 2 Quinton de Kock (wk), 3 Faf du Plessis, 4 AB de Villiers (capt), 5 JP Duminy, 6 David Miller, 7 Ryan McLaren, 8 Vernon Philander, 9 Dale Steyn, 10 Morne Morkel, 11 Imran Tahir

On paper the South African squad is Beyonce flawless.  The squad is well settled; they have no injury concerns.  The team also enter the series in a rich vein of form having toppled Australia (and Zimbabwe) in a recent ti-series.  A couple of question marks remain about their soft middle order of Duminy, Miller and McLaren, but those three are only required if du Pleases, de Villiers and Amla miss out (which is incredibly rare).

Predictions 

Win Match 1 – New Zealand – $2.68 – Topbetta (NZ are a strong ODI side at home, worth a punt)

Most Runs SA – Faf du Plessis – $4.50 – Tom Waterhouse (Faf du Plessis’ last nine international innings include three centuries, two nineties, and two fifties)

Most Runs NZ – Dean Brownlie – $6 – Tom Waterhouse (In dominant form for NZA recently. A quality back foot player, which will help against Morkel, Steyn.  Test century against SA.  Other NZ’ers without much cricket recently)

Most 6’s – South Africa – $2.10 – Unibet (Nothing in the odds, but aside from McCullum and Anderson they don’t hit sixes.  de Villiers, Miller and de Kock will).