We kick off with the Champions Trophy and that includes round-robin matches against Sri Lanka, England and New Zealand in September. It's probably a good way to kick off our international calendar playing some top-class ODI cricket in our back yard.
After that November rolls around and we play two T20 games, five ODIs and four Test matches against the Poms.
Looking at our side I don't see too many problems as things stand.
- Test spinner - Harris - CHECK
- ODI spinners (Two) - Botha and VD Merwe - CHECK!
- Decent seam attack - yes - going to be interesting to see what role Parnell plays this year. Would be nice to see him pushing for a spot in the test side from a variation perspective.
- Backup keeper plan - Boucher still has plenty to offer us but who is coming through next?
- A lower order allrounder could be nice to identify. Albie is there but the competition with his brother makes it tricky
Could be an interesting match up if the English come into the tour with some momentum from a successful Ashes campaign... but I won't be holding my breath.
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4 comments:
South Africans have had a great couple of years. I don't see them backing down anytime soon. These guys are hungry for success. Parnell has been a good find for the SAs and you are right, I would definitely would like to see him in the Test side. It seems a bit too soon though. I still find him to be a little inconsistent. I say, give him an extended run in the ODI and T20 and slowly build him up for the Test side. I noticed that SAs really put pressure on all their star batsmen. My only criticism with the team is that they still find it hard to fight during the crunch games. It is more of a mental side of it then anything else.
English are an OK side but they do post a threat in their own background. Should be interesting.
It's quite frustrating that South Africans are holding second rank in both the format and have not achieved any ICC title.When SA lost semifinal match against Pakistan in ICC T20 2009 then Greame Smith said we will try to perform well next time but SA cricket fans are fed up with this next time word and they want that SA team should win atleast a ICC trophy to show that they are not 'choker'.
Howzit guys - thanks for the comments.
Agree on Parnell - he needs to blooded for the test match side and with Ntini looking closing to the end there may be a case for him to start being utilised a bit more.
On top of that we still have the unofficial race quotas to contend with.
Obviously Parnell for Ntini would keep the balance the same.
As for the "chokers" tag I don't think it is a little disingenuous to point to the Pakistan vs. SA T20 semi. Gul bowled a spell that would have beaten most sides.
Looking back over the history of the last few major competitions, no one side (apart from Australia) has picked up regular trophies and remembering that we beat both Australia and India on their home turf in test series says something about the mental toughness of this side....
Quite nice article, another point that I would like to point out is whether they will continue with Ashwell Prince as the opener or will they go for a regular opener.
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