Our mates over at The Baggy Green are cursing their boys today after they dropped the ball in the first ODI international...
Well it says something for the psychological strength of our boys and chalks up a few points for Johan Botha who took a bit of criticism following the losses in the two T20 games...
Even though he has taken some flak, I rate Botha as a good, thinking cricketer. He's no Graeme Smith but people regularly underrate him and his contribution to the side... Note who was there at the end (even though he gave us some heart attacks along the way)
JP Duminy's golden summer continues as he made 71 - WITHOUT A SINGLE BOUNDARY BEING SCORED... tells you what a good thinking cricketer he is.
Neil McKenzie also came to the party with a vital 63 and then it was left up to Botha (12*) and Albie Morkel (40* off 18 balls) to see us home.
The Aussies made some pretty big fielding mistakes in the last few overs and at the end of the day those two misfields cost them dearly.
Vaughn Van Jaarsvelds problems continue having dropped two catches and then getting run out for 4. I just can't understand why they don't push him to the top of the order and put some bloody responsibility on the kid - he thrives on aggro situations and it makes more sense to open with Vaughn than it does with Amla (in my humble opinion) ...
I thought Kallis' contribution with the bat and ball needed to be highlighted. He scored 41 and then bowled 10 overs taking 0/35. The way he changed pace and mixed and matched it up a bit was an important lesson for anybody looking to bowl well in the ODI form of the game .
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2 comments:
After being one up, lets hope for a bit of aggression from the SAs today. Some of Botha's statements about being the underdogs is a bit idiotic. They certainly performed better then that. Personally, for me, jury's still out on Botha. He is a thinking cricketer when there are 3 or 4 people telling him what to do in the field.
I wouldn't worry too much about Vaughn YET. The guy is playing in Australia and it is the probably one of the toughest places to play along with India. However, I still have not even seen an INCH of reason as to why he is in the team but I'm a believer in backing new players. So lets hope we see some fireworks from him, sooner rather then later.
Yup Vaughn having a 'mare at the moment and I see that he didn't crack the nod for this game...
More dropped catches in the second test is not good.
Botha a different type of captain to Smith so personality not comparable but yeah lets leave the results on the field to answer questions about his captaincy
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