Markram All Set To Prove Himself
Aiden Markram is all geared up to prove himself. With only 10 matches in post making his first appearance against Bangladesh in 2017, he has accumulated precisely 1000 runs with 4 centuries. It has taken him less time to be regarded as the important players in South Africa’s cricket team. He is only 23 years old, but has become popular by taking over as Test captain and skippered the One Day International side 5 times. There is no doubt that his future is brighter, but the biggest challenge would be to play a Test match outside South Africa.
AB De Villiers won’t be leading South Africa in ODI
AB De Villiers won’t be leading South Africa in the 50-over format of the game anymore and will provide his services to the team only as a player.
SOUTH AFRICA RANK SECOND IN ICC RANKINGS
South Africa ended with a 1-0 win against New Zealand as the rains forced a draw in the third and final Test after five days in Hamilton.
NEW ZEALAND EDGE SOUTH AFRICA IN THIRD TEST
New Zealand have snapped up the control after the third Test in Hamilton. They now have 321 after the third day against their opponent’s 314.
WE STILL HAVE A LOT TO ACCOMPLISH – JP DUMINY
Just recently, the South African Cricket Team defeated their Australian counterparts in their own grounds during the three-Test series.
Makhaya Ntini is a little bit annoyed that most of the nations don’t opt for their main players
Makhaya Ntini is a little bit annoyed that most of the nations don’t opt for their main players to play the series against Zimbabwe and it’s mostly a group of the newly emerging players which they send. The Reds coach wants to make every Cricket board realize that experimentation can lead to defeats in Zimbabwe and thus, has vowed to thrash the team that has come from the BCCI’s side for the One Day internationals and the Twenty 20s. It’s only weeks back that Ntini was added to the Zimbabwe set up as a bowling consultant and he has had a promotion in the job rather quickly as he is now heading the coaching staff of the national team with Dave Whatmore getting thrown out. Ntini though, being from the African continent himself, would know the Zimbabwean culture well and the promotion of him is not completely shocking. The initial statements of the Ex-South Africa bowler already suggest that he would coach the same way he played and that is with aggression. Whatever he said in the media interaction on Friday evening pretty much suited to the personality he was when he had the ball in his hands. He was as aggressive as anyone else. (more…) Read more...
Although Hashim Amla is a part of the World T20 squad of South Africa
Although Hashim Amla is a part of the World T20 squad of South Africa, he would not be a guaranteed pick in the playing XI. South Africa would probably be opening with the destructive pair of AB De Villiers and Quinton De Kock. Amla has not done badly opening the innings for South Africa in the shortest format of the game, but, his strike rate in the middle period of the innings is a concern. He is a boundary hitter in the power play, but, once there are more than two fielders outside the thirty yard circle, his strike rate drops down significantly. The big hitting just does not come naturally to him. However, he is a good player of spin and has played in India many times before and that’s the only reason he is there in the squad. If it’s a real turner, the team management might choose to pick him as an opener as he can make a difference in the low scoring games on those sorts of wickets. On a flat surface though, De Villiers would certainly be a better bet than him. De Villiers is not a natural opener, but, of late, on a couple of occasions, South Africa has tried him as an opener in twenty 20 Cricket and he has shown he can be deadly in that role. (more…) Read more...
South African fast bowlers are using the short ball tactics
The South African fast bowlers are using the short ball tactics against the Indian batsmen in the ongoing One Day International series and are succeeding in getting them out. The short balls have been the weakness of the Indians over the years, but, mostly in overseas conditions. It’s not a tactic which the opposition team uses in subcontinent conditions because the pitches there happen to be dead. However, the Proteas have looked prepared to bang the ball in even on the slow Indian surfaces and have been able to extract bounce out of them at some fair clip. Morne Morkel, in particular, has bowled game changing spells using his height to great advantage. He has been fiery and quite relentless in the energy sapping heat. In the current Indian set up, there is no batsman other than Rohit Sharma who plays the short balls with full conviction. Almost everyone else is a little susceptible. Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni have been alright with the pull shots in most parts of their careers, but, they have also been dismissed playing that shot a few times of late. Shikhar Dhawan and Suresh Raina have huge problems with anything that is not pitched in their half. The venues where the last two matches of the series are to be played, Chennai and Mumbai, the Indians will not have things easy there. (more…) Read more...