Tag: Cricket

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: Williamson and Watling instigate turnaround win

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As far as come from behind victories go, this could easily top the list.  For once, New Zealand’s Black Caps battled back from certain defeat to register an improbable comeback win over Sri Lanka at the Basin Reserve after falling dangerously behind on the first innings, and further behind half way through their second innings.

Instead of collapsing to a limp second innings total and surrendering a series lead, the little pair of Kane Williamson and BJ Watling added 365 runs, in 111.3 overs, over an entire day’s play (in terms of balls faced) to completely transform a match that was in Sri Lanka’s favour for almost every period prior.

There may have been an argument that the Black Caps had some control at 141/2 in the first innings with Williamson and Ross Taylor at the crease, however, they both fell, for 69 and 32 respectively, and both to inside edges as Sri Lanka rampaged their way through the tail to limit NZ to just 221.  The Sri Lankan seamers, led by Nuwan Pradeep, bounced back from the criticism they received in Christchurch with a nice display on surface that did not help as much as predicted.

Just as quickly though Sri Lanka returned the momentum to NZ by collapsing themselves to 78/5 at stumps on day one.  This was the second of many shifts in dominance in the test and it wasn’t the last.  Day two brought with it another surprise and am absolute gem of an effort from Kumar Sangakkara.  He started the day as the key wicket, and handled the responsibility admirably as he expertly shepherded the tail to ensure his side achieved a healthy lead.  In the process he scored 203, including his 12,000th test run.

While the lead was only 135, it was looking exceedingly better than that when the Black Caps suffered from a classic case of the middle order collapse disease they have so often been affected by.  At 159/5 they were effectively just 24 runs in credit and five wickets down; they shouldn’t have won.

The epic unbroken partnership beat the record – only recently set by Brendon McCullum and Watling at the same ground against India last year (McCullum’s 300) – for the highest sixth wicket partnership in all of cricket.  Williamson (242*) made his first double hundred despite gifting upwards of five chances to the fielding team, and Watling (142*) inched his way to a fourth test century.

The partnership also deflated the Sri Lankans.  They spent 172 overs in the field (almost two full days) and were understandably tired as they began a hefty fourth innings chase of 390.  It was inevitably too much for them; bowled out in the second session for 196.  Lahiru Thirimanne got most of those, his 62* a welcome return to form for a key member of the ODI squad and World Cup plans.  Mark Craig continue his rapid ascent in the cricketing stocks by taking 4-53; performing a spinners key fourth innings role diligently.

Kane Williamson was man of the match.  If you need reasons – the first innings, second innings, and a screamer to dismiss Angelo Matthews in SL’s second dig.

ODI’s next.  Starting in Christchurch on 11 January.

New Zealand 221 (Williamson 69, Pradeep 4-63) and 524 for 5 dec (Williamson 242*, Watling 142*) beat Sri Lanka 356 (Sangakkara 203, Chandimal 67) and 196 (Thirimanne 62*, Craig 4-63) by 193 runs

Cricket: New dawn for India in emotional decider

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India usher in a new era of their test history with a swirl of praise and rumours for their retired guardian Mahendra Singh Dhoni.  The conjecture on the “whys” of Dhoni’s retirement will continue for some time, so the task of silencing them comes down to new captain Virat Kohli and the rest of his team.  Many, including their opponents chief firebrand Mitchell Johnson, are tipping India to have a more aggressive edge under Kohli.  An edge that would certainly help the self belief within the team, but one that also comes with a risk of recklessness.

Australia have less to ponder.  They may consider using Ashton Agar in a second spinner / allrounder role, and they may carefully watch the performance of Shane Watson as to determine his suitability for their next important test cricket assignment – the Ashes – given his continue run of mediocrity.

Sydney traditionally takes more spin than any other local ground, so the teams could spring some surprises at the toss, but the placid nature of most of the pitches this series will help alleviate the Johnson threat (much to his dismay) and should see plenty of runs scored.

The Last Time These Two Met

The MCG encounter had all the bluster and bravado of a pre-bout boxing weigh in, but unfortunately lacked the knock out punches as both teams lost their nerve on the final day.  Amongst all the aggression and agitation the Australians dominated much of the game through their superior lower order batting and India’s inability to build enough pressure with the ball.  Not for the first time in the series Steven Smith and Virat Kohli were the stars with the bat, in this one they lead their teams against each other for the first time.

The Teams

Australia (likely): 1 Chris Rogers, 2 David Warner, 3 Shane Watson, 4 Steven Smith (capt), 5 Shaun Marsh, 6 Joe Burns, 7 Brad Haddin (wk), 8 Ryan Harris, 9 Mitchell Starc, 10 Josh Hazlewood, 11 Nathan Lyon.

Johnson is injured and could be replaced by Mitchell Starc, Ashton Agar, or Peter Siddle.  We believe they’ll use Starc, who gets the opportunity to once again revive a stop start test career.  He’s been good in the Big Bash League so at the very least he brings with him some good form.

India (likely): 1 M Vijay, 2 Shikhar Dhawan, 3 Cheteshwar Pujara, 4 Virat Kohli (capt), 5 Ajinkya Rahane, 6 Suresh Raina/KL Rahul, 7 Wriddhiman Saha (wk), 8 R Ashwin, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar/Umesh Yadav, 10 Varun Aaron, 11 Ishant Sharma.

India could be tempted to give KL Rahul another go after his terrible debut and may even consider him at the top of the order instead of Dhawan.  If not, Raina will come in at six.  Rumours are he has practiced extensively in the Sydney nets.  Bhuvneshwar Kumar could also come into the mix if he is over his injury concerns; Umesh Yada’s position is the most under threat if he does.  Wriddhiman Saha will take the gloves from MS Dhoni if he recovers from illness.  And lastly, Varun Aaron has returned to Australia after a funeral back home and should play instead of Mohammad Shami.

The Key Players

Shane Watson – For all of his talent Watson should have more than four test hundreds.  From 103 test innings’ in a nine year career the return is underwhelming for such a genuine match winner.  As much it would be nice to feature a key player at the top of their game and delivering the hundreds the public deserve, unfortunately, we’re picking Watson as a key player to save his test career.  He’s been steady with the ball in the series, but if the 33-year-old wants to book an Ashes ticket next year, he needs runs.

Wriddhiman Saha – After waiting patiently in the wings of an alright shadow, perhaps the most influential shadow in Indian cricket, Saha gets the opportunity to let his keeping do the talking.  One stumping chance aside, Saha gloved the ball nicely in Adelaide in his only start of the test series thus far, but he’s also going to play an important role with the bat.  Coming in at 7 it is crucial the 30-year-old manages to bat some time and forge a partnership with whichever set batsman he joins.  Otherwise the tail will continue their house of cards impression.

The Odds*

Australia – $1.70

Draw – $3.50

India – $5

*International Cricket odds courtesy of Bookmaker.com.au.

The Prediction

Australia 3-0.  I cannot see any other result in this one.  Even Melbourne’s draw was tight.  India only have three players on form (Vijay, Rahane, Kohli, with maybe a case for Ashwin) and it’s too much to ask for them to get the better of a quality Australia attack time and time again.  Form also means they are due failures.

If you fancy it, consider Warner and Watson for top 3 runscorers.  They were both playing in the SCG game where Phillip Hughes was fatally injured.  They’ll be looking to pay a special tribute in this match.

Cricket: Southee doubtful for Black Caps at Basin

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New Zealand’s 2014 was uncharacteristically positive.  Sri Lanka’s was decent too.  Now, in a World Cup year the focus is less on the five day format and more on the one day international showpiece starting in February.  That shouldn’t stop the teams from taking the second test at the Basin Reserve seriously though.  Sri Lanka need a win to continue their solid overseas record of late and draw the series, while New Zealand will look to continue their momentum after the first up win in Christchurch.

Whatever the motivation for this match up, it’s likely to be played on a very green wicket, with early indications suggesting this pitch will do plenty early on.

The Last Time These Two Met

New Zealand’s first up win confirmed their rise to genuine world beaters.  A blistering 2014, which saw them record 5 test wins, has set the tone for their immediate future and for their World Cup chances.  The Black Caps dominated throughout the Christchurch first test; Brendon McCullum wrestling away the early initiative and despite some second innings stoic resistance from Sri Lanka, Trent Boult and Tim Southee finished it off.

The Teams

New Zealand (likely): 1 Tom Latham, 2 Hamish Rutherford, 3 Kane Williamson, 4 Ross Taylor, 5  Brendon McCullum (capt), 6 James Neesham, 7 BJ Watling (wk), 8 Mark Craig, 9 Neil Wagner, 10 Tim Southee/Doug Bracewell, 11 Trent Boult

Tim Southee is under an injury cloud after suffering a minor ankle problem in training.  Doug Bracewell is on standby and didn’t play the latest round of domestic cricket in NZ in what could be a strong indiction he will play.  Corey Anderson is fit again but won’t push out Nessham after his crucial runs and wickets in game one.

Sri Lanka (likely): 1 Dimuth Karunaratne, 2 Kaushal Silva, 3  Kumar Sangakkara, 4 Lahiru Thirimanne,  5 Angelo Mathews (capt),  6 Dinesh Chandimal, 7 Prasanna Jayawardene (wk), 8 Rangana Herath/Tharindu Kaushal, 9 Dhammika Prasad/Nuwan Pradeep, 10 Shaminda Eranga, 11 Suranga Lakmal

Sri Lanka could make any number of changes to their side.  Heath could be fit and will walk into the side as the third best test bowler in the World.  Danish Chandimal may play instead of Niroshan Dickwella, and lastly, Dhammika Prasad’s place may be under threat from Nuwan Pradeep.

The Key Players

Mark Craig – Easily the most improved member of the Black Caps side.  Craig may be a late bloomer but he’s certainly making a great impression in his first season of international cricket.  He’s averaging 45 with the bat, is a sound slip fielder, and has already registered a five wicket bag and ten wicket bag in just seven matches.  Look for him to continue to contribute at the Basin Reserve.

Dimuth Karunaratne – How good was the little left-hander in game one?  Facing a stern Boult and Southee test the opener showed his fellow top order batsmen how to cope with the unfamiliar conditions by playing late and deciding in advance his best areas to score.  If Sri Lanka are any chance in Wellington they need to prevent losing early wickets, something Karunaratne can help achieve.

The Odds*

New Zealand – $1.73

Draw – $5

Sri Lanka – $3.25

*International Cricket odds courtesy of Betstar.

The Prediction

The weather looks good for all five days and with the rate that modern day teams score their runs draws are few and far between these days.  The $5 odds are tempting, and Sri Lanka did bat for long periods in their second innings.  That said, we’re picking 10-13 wickets on day one and New Zealand to win by an innings.

Cricket: Newlands hosts New Year battle

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Rain may have ruined the second test between these two, however, it hasn’t ruined the series for the West Indians though who survived a series loss thanks to the frequent rain.  Now at just 1-0 down they could do the unthinkable and sneak a series draw against one of the best around.  The green pitch at Newlands should aid the South African team’s cause and a win to them is the most foreseeable result, for bookmakers and cricket experts.

The Last Time These Two Met

It rained centuries.  And it just rained.  So much so that a result wasn’t possible in Port Elizabeth.  The game worked well for the career statistics of the four centurions (Elgar, du Plessis, Brathwaite, and Samuels), but it wouldn’t have made too many punters pleased.

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/Simon Harmer

Simon Harmer is an uncapped 25 year off-spinner who will be pushing the inconsistent Imran Tahir for a place in the side.  Other than his potential inclusion, the team should be unchanged giving van Zyl and Bavuma another chance to shine.

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

Numbers 3 and 7 are the big concerns as Johnson, Blackwood and Holder have all struggled for runs.  If the West Indies are tempted to make changes they’ll make them in this positions.

The Key Players

Hashim Amla – The South African captain finally gets a chance to lead his side at the intensely patriotic Newlands crowd.  The last time Newlands saw the South African test side was Graeme Smith’s last in charge so they now get to welcome a new captain – one who failed in the second test and will be looking to make up for it here.

Jason Holder – Another newly appointed captain is Jason Holder.  After only 23 ODI games, Holder was appointed ODI captain in a surprising move by the WICB.  At just 23-years-old it’s a big test for the young all-rounder, but some wickets in runs in this match would make everyone a little bit more comfortable with the promotion.

The Odds*

South Africa – $1.22

Draw – $5

West Indies – $15.00

*International Cricket odds courtesy of Ladbrokes Australia.

The Prediction

No matter how appetising the draw money is looking, South Africa will win.  Steyn, Morkel and Philander are just too good for the out of for West Indies batting lineup.  There has been, and there could be again, some money to be made on tipping the first wicket partnership of the West Indies team outperforming their South African counterparts so look out for that.