Mickey Arthur departs

I've never been a fan of Mickey Arthur as the South African cricket coach. Yes he has a decent record but in reality he acquired a really top quality team.

At any stage in his tenure he had the worlds top all-round cricketers (Jacques Kallis and Shaun Pollock), one of the worlds top batters and longest serving captains (Graeme Smith), the worlds top-ranked fast bowler (Dale Steyn) and a host of other superstars in the side.

I was thinking back over his time in charge and trying to work out what were the real highlights for him.

• We won in Australia - but that result was courtesy of some exceptional individual performances. Does that get attributed to the coach?
• We couldn't follow this up with a win at home (Mental toughness? Unlucky?)
  
• We drew with England at home with the side blowing hot and cold. Some odd selections and a side that looked very undercooked for the ODI and at least the first two test matches

The only one that really jumped out at me is the performance on the sub-continent where really strong management is vital. Winning a test series in India requires a concerted effort both by the players as well as the support staff and this we managed.

As a slight aside - it is interesting to see our Corrie Van Zyl continues to chug along as a regular feature in this side. He's obviously doing something right!

The real question now is who is going to takeover in the long run. I suspect that it has to be somebody with a really strong personality that can work well with Graeme Smith. Is Van Zyl or somebody like Kepler Wessels the right man? Maybe...

My personal choice would be Gary Kirsten but I'm not sure he'd give up the big money India job just yet.

JP Duminy

Well at least we have a win at the Wanderers and a draw in the series preventing the English pigs from taking our pride and dignity by beating us on home turf.

A small observation is that JP Duminy has just picked up the last two wickets with his off-spinners and has actually been surprisingly good with the ball in this series. Maybe if the SA selectors are not keen to have Harris as part of the test setup then one idea might be for Duminy to come in at number 7 in place of Ryan Mclaren so we have some variety in the attack.

We could then find an opener and shift Prince back into the middle-order.

I wonder if the South Africans and English side are keen to paly a T20 game to decide the series?

England destroyed

Well England took a bit of a pasting on the first day of the fourth test against South Africa at the Wanderers.

Hostile bowling from Dale Steyn (5-51) and Morne Morkel (3-39) reduced England to 180 all out. Ashwell Prince (15) and Graeme Smith (12) managed to see us to the close of play at 29-0 which was encouraging... I guess the real question is whether or not the weather is going to play ball.

It still looks a little overcast in Johannesburg today.

It was nice to see Wayne Parnell get a run but he managed to roll off just 3 overs for 18 run - fortunately the rest of the team (including Ryan Mclaren) managed to pick up his slack and roll over England.

Mclaren was useful (1-30) although I'm not totally convinced he's long-term test cricket material. I can't see what he brings to the party. Fortunately JP Duminy has been delivering with his off-spinners so it does provide some variety for Graeme Smith to call on.

Will be interesting to see how the SA batters fare today. I got the impression that Englands batters contrived to get themselves out rather than problems with the pitch.

Let's see what Day 2 holds

Does Mickey Arthur have a plan?

I know that coach-bashing is a popular past-time in South African sports, but the more I look at the selections and planning around our national cricket team, the more I wonder whether or not Mickey Arthur really has a clue about where he’s taking this team?

The openers crisis
Our inability to find a decent opening pair is a starting point. Yes Ashwell Prince has had some success there but he’s indicated that he doesn’t want to play there on a regular basis and it puts a lot of pressure on the rest of the team when he gets out cheap.

Yes these may be our six best batters, but why are we trying to make an opener out of somebody out of a middle-order batter?

We have the Andrew Putticks and Stephen Cooks of the world who are chalking up the runs, but whenever the mess hits the fan we draft Herschelle Gibbs back in or try and invent an opener.

Friedel de Wet
De Wet at the age of 29 has come out of nowhere to represent the test squad and somehow is now the first choice back up to Dale Steyn. With Ntini’s retirement this makes him part of the first-choice attack. Where did he come from? He was never given a run in the ODI or T20 side before he suddenly got a surprise call-up.

Wayne Parnell, Lonwaba Tsotsobe, Rory Kleinveldt, Johan van der Wath, Yussuf Abdullah, Ryan Mclaren and Albie Morkel have all been given a crack in the ODI side. Somehow De Wet leapfrogs over all of these guys and Johan Botha into the first test team?

Imran Tahir
The Pakistani / we think South African spinner was out of the blue included in the fourth test match squad at the Wanderers.

Then he was dropped when questions around his eligibility were raised.

All of a sudden he has jumped ahead of all the other bowlers – including the very successful and experienced Johan Botha as a test candidate?

For sure it is easy to be an armchair fan and criticise Arthur and the selectors for the makeup of the team, but there doesn’t look like there is any real process happening here to develop and build a sustainable long-term team.

England sneak home

Graham Onions is probably the most hated man in South African cricket right now as he once again frustrated the home team and made sure that England for the second time in three test matches hung on for an improbable draw.

There have been some incredibly exciting moments in this test series and to have had two of them go down to the absolute wire is good for the game.

One of the commentators summed it up perfectly that South Africa have outplayed England for most of the series and apart from one really bad day in the second test, we should be 2-0 or 2-1 up. Yet somehow we are not.

The Proteas are going to have to take a long hard look at themselves going into this last test match. There is some gnashing of teeth and threats that JP Duminy, Ashwell Prince and Paul Harris are under pressure to maintain their places.

Prince is in a no-win situation at the moment. He is playing a role he doesn’t like, he’s relatively short of cricket and he knows he is under pressure in terms of his form. If they are not prepared to shift him down the order, they are doing him no favours keeping him there.

Duminy’s success with the ball in this test match means he will almost certainly keep his place, but he really needs to get some runs and add some stability to our middle-order.

Ironically Paul Harris is the one player whose position is under threat with many people blaming him for our problems and inability to bowl out opposition. The criticism laid at Harris’ door is that he doesn’t take wickets – the reality is that he has taken 11 wickets and only Morne Morkel (12) has taken more than him. Admittedly Steyn missed the first test but the statistics don’t lie.

The wickets he has taken have also not been mugs. Pietersen, Cook, Strauss, Collingwood – they’ve all been taken by Harris at some point in this series.

More important than all of this is the initial reason Harris was included in the side. Harris does a very specific job in the side that allows Graeme Smith to rotate his seamers. Harris ties up and end, squeezes out wickets and he has done it very well for South Africa.

We have one test match to go in this series and it is a must-win situation. By all means look at a jiggle in the batting line-up and find a way to get Wayne Parnell into the side, but don’t lay the blame at the door of Paul Harris.

That's better!

Ah a MUCH more satisfying day in the cricket. My only grumble is that World Sports Betting didn't have any bets up for a top SA batter in the second innings as I was trying to lay down some moola on Graeme Smith.

I actually thought that Hashim Amla batted particularly well today and while Smith got the really big score, it was Amla who looked more fluent - surely it makes more sense for Amla to move up to partner Smith and drop Prince in the middle order if the selectors want to stick with this top 6?!

Otherwise it is time to give either Andrew Puttick or Stephen Cook a crack at the opening berth... unfortunately the selectors don't appear to have given much thought to building squad depth and haven't really given them much t of a run in the ODI side so its a bit difficult to know how they fit into this side.

While the Prior / Onions partnership for the last wicket was a little frustrating, I thought that we actually bowled really well. Morne Morkel finally looked like he wanted to show the world what he can do and Dale Steyn looked fast and scary. While Friedel de Wet didn't pick up any wickets I thought he played his role well and his figures were respectable (16 3 36 0).

I have to say that I am a little surprised that Steyn didn't pick up the original new ball - will be interesting to see what happens in the second innings.

Very satisfying to see the Poms being belted around "Fortress Newlands".

Predictions - 3rd test at Newlands, England vs. South Africa

The third test match is here and the Proteas are smarting from the hiding they took in Durban.

You can see that Graeme Smith is not a happy man and I’m expecting the Proteas to finally come to a game switched and ready to scrap. When this SA team has its back to the wall and is taking flak from supporters and the media alike they tend to bounce back … and hard!

With the first innings I am backing either Graeme Smith or Ashwell Prince (no announcement has been made that he won’t play) to top score for us. I’m getting odds of 3/1 for Smith and 5/1 for Prince.

Smith is likely to lead from the front and Prince is too good a player to get himself bogged down after two bad performances.

For the English I am backing Jonathan Trott who I got at 5/1.

C’mon the Proteas.

Two tests down and its not looking good

By: Marc Ashton

So South Africa and England have squared up against one another in two test matches:

• Result one was a hard-fought draw with the poms hanging on for dear life.
  
• Result two - the English steam-roller the home team at Kingsmead

Before the first test match started, I had concerns that the South African attack was lacking sufficient penetration and variety in their attack. They managed to take 19 wickets but for big parts of that final day it looked like their attack was going to let them down.

The second test match was a disaster with the English team only needing to bat once and the South African bowlers chasing leather.

In both test matches spinners Paul Harris and Graeme Swann have proven their worth. The second test match, Harris was not his usual tidy self and the lack of variety in the attack was shown up for what it is worth.

Where to from here?
This is the question on all the South African fans lips at the moment.

Let's look at the weaknesses at the moment:

• Ashwell Prince has been short-changed being forced up into the openers berth. He' s a middle-order batter and is worth his weight in gold when he holds an innings together. He has said he doesn't like opening but will take one for the team. I am not totally sure that this is the most appropriate treatment for one of your most senior players?
  
• We need a genuine opener and if he has to come in for either JP Duminy or Prince then we need to bite the bullet and bring somebody who is used to the new ball. A bold selection would the decision to include Andrew Puttick but I doubt that the selectors will make that move and will instead plug away with the team that they have.
  
• Wayne Parnells exclusion is completely baffling. Neither Makhaya Ntini nor Morne Morkel have fired in the last two test matches and both Parnell and Friedel de Wet are chomping at the bit and on song.
  

Graeme Smith has said that wholesale changes are not needed but you have to ask how hungry this South African side really looks at the moment. You can see that the English have come to fight - that has been their attitude from the time they touched down in the country.

De Wet - a selection I admittedly didn't think had merit - and he showed how hungry he was in the first test and got rewarded with wickets. Two or three fringe players being given the chance to create a bit of competition for places isn't the worst thing in the world. Look how hungry Duminy was when he finally cracked the nod last year against Australia - he piled on the runs.

I am pretty sure that the South African selectors won't make any real changes for the third test. There may be consideration to either a swap with Morkel or Duminy, but nothing in the past has shown that Micky Arthurs selection policies are likely to be particularly bold.