In Retrospect

Cricket matches are always easy to critique after they’re through. Yes, we lost, but I’m not entirely unhappy with it. Had Smither’s not cramped up we may have seen something a little different – and I know we gave Australia the shivers.

However, if I had known, even before the match started, that we would ever consider sending in Kallis and Prince to bat one after the other, I would’ve vomited.

Bottom line, Kallis still has a role to play in our ODI side – his bowling is good and fielding solid. Prince is a great asset, but needs to learn to hit the stumps. That said, having BOTH of them in one side is suicidal.

Last question, does anyone in the South African team have the authority to tell Jacques Kallis when he needs to turn up the gas or get out?

  • http://www.rafiq.za.net/blog rafiq

    Me thinks everyone in the team should at least be able to say something. Like in the local blogosphere, If there are people stuffing up, we should say something.

    PS: Tertia is the queen of amatomu, already :)

  • http://jaxonrice.com Jaxon Rice

    As soon as the people at my house saw Kallis coming in there was a collective groan, which is an indictment on one of the world’s best batsmen. The team management must bear responsibility for this decision, and for their failure to get Kallis to up his run rate from the word go.

    Having said that, its just a game and hopefully this game will serve as a wake up call and motivate the team for the next game against Sri Lanka

  • http://www.stormhoek.com graham knox

    This result is a blessing.
    Now we will win the Trophy.
    Remember that I said that.
    If we had won this gme, the way the 438 game was won, we would have fallen at one of the next few hurdles. All international sport is 90% psychological and emotional.
    If Mickey Arthur has brains, he planned this, in the way that the only game that they are there to win is the final. Better to work your way up, in the way that Federer and Woods do.
    Get better every round, save your best for last.
    The players didn’t plan to play easy. They went out to win.
    But they didnt prepare for this game the way the Aussies did. The Aussies prepared for this match as if it were the final.
    They had to. Five defeats in a row for the world champion can get to be a habit.
    South Africa’s preparation for the Sri Lanka game will be completely different, because of this result.
    They will cut up and dismember the Lankans now.
    It was even good for the team, the way Gibbs got out.
    In fantastic touch, he thought he was god. He could just hit this little pretend-to-be-warne wherever he wanted to.
    He didn’t care to pay proper attention to Hogg’s hand.
    That is unlikely to happen again, until he is over confident again. And that won’t happen again this month or the next.
    (Unfortunately it will happen again, sometime soon, but that’s H. Gibbs.)
    The big weakness in this team is that Mark Boucher is the only tough guy in the bottom half of the order. They can all hit sixes into the next suburb, but when the going gets tough and tight, there is no Smith, Boucher or Klusener down there that can hit a six an over off anyone, when they absolutely bloody have to.
    Fortunately, I don’t think that they’ll have to again. Not in this series.
    Can’t wait for the final.
    Well played Auusies last night.
    Well played Smith and de Villiers.

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  • http://gtde.blogspot.com Peter

    As I was watching I remembered your comments to me (on more than one occasion) about fickle SA sports fans. So instead of throwing something at the TV (easy as the TV was not in my house) I decided to actually look at what was happening. Let’s be honest- we were doing well until 2 things went wrong: AB misjudged a run and Smith got cramps. Until then, the Aussies were worried. And, most importantly, South Africa looked like they weren’t. I haven’t often seen Glenn McGrath hit for 12 off his first 3 deliveries, (neither has Glenn McGrath, one suspects) or ANY international team concede 5 penalty runs for objects obstructing the field. If we keep playing like this (and Smith drinks enough fluids) the guys will do well.

    Maybe Kallis’s role is as the inverse of a pinch-hitter: he floats up and down the order, coming in when we have lost wickets in quick succession and need stability and common sense more than we need rapid scoring.

  • http://stii.za.net Stii

    Although it pains me to say so, you have to admire Ricky Ponting! He planned and played it brilliantly keeping the third power play in hand for when the opening partnership was broken. Very cleverly played. He knew Kallis was not going to accelerate from the first ball.

    Graham is right. If you can remeber the 438 game was like a final and the series depended on who was winning that day. It was therefore necessary that we fired away and put every effort into that game.

    I do have to admit that I do not think that Kallis or Prince really fits in with our style of game we are playing at the moment. We do not have the dangerous bowling attack we had a couple of years ago. We failed to bowl out any team in this World Cup so far. Big concern. None of the bowlers looked really threatening. That is more of a concern than Kallis and Prince slowing the strike rate! If we are not bowling teams out we need to maintain an above average strike rate. Kallis and Prince both are solid anchors, but we cannot afford to have slow anchors in these games if we are not going to have a dangerous bowling attack.

    Hopefully Mickey Arthur is playing a “Rassie Erasmus” and is playing with an eyeblind strategy… I doubt it though, since he is not known to do that and it could be a dangerous game if played wrong! Just ask Rassie.

    I’m a big Loots Bosman fan. The guy is exciting and can bliksem a ball like few other in the game today. Now I know he is too inexperienced, but he fits the type of game we are looking to play. Why were he not given an opportunity against teams like Scotland and the Netherlands? I would have loved to see him in action. Even yesterday he could have made a significant difference.

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