The decider

Well after an absolutely fascinating series of test cricket between South Africa and India we come down to third and final test at Newlands to decide us a winner. The Indian team really came back hard in the Kingsmead test and that will have given them a lot of confidence coming into this third test, especially with Singh having demolished our tail in the first innings.

I'm still comfortable with my bet that South Africa will win the series but I expect India to make a real game of it. They're certainly not going to be any kind of pushover.

The match odds are in favour of the home side with Voltbet offering 13/10 and India at 10/3 while Sportingbet have priced it closer at 11/8 for both sides.

Our picks for the best batters in the first innings are as below:

SA
Jacques Kallis - 7/2
Graeme Smith - 15/4

India
VVS Laxman - 6/1

(Batter odds supplied by Sportingbet)

C'mon SA!

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Best cricket captain in the game?

I was watching South Africa versus New Zealand in the T20 World Cup and it got me thinking about who the best captains in world cricket are at the moment.

I think one of the things about a good captain is that sometimes their skills and attributes are overshadowed by the quality of the players in their team.

Here was the list I came up with and would be curious to get feedback from our readers:

Daniel Vettori: The New Zealand captain is without question one of the most astute players in the game. He's never really had a quality team underneath him but he has made the most of the opportunities when they have presented themselves and in ODI and T20 cricket, Vettori has been surprisingly competitive.

Ricky Ponting: "Punter" inherited a top quality team but it is not easy to make a quality side "gel" and become one of the most successful units in world cricket for the better part of a decade. His competitive nature and his never say die attitude make him one of the best in the world.

Graeme Smith: Is Smith a good captain? This is one the questions that rolls around in my head regularly. There is no question he is an awesome cricketer and the kind of guy you would want in your corner in almost every fight. But is he tactically astute and can he think on his feet in the way that somebody like Johan Botha (his deputy / stand-in ODI captain) can?

Forget the whole "chokers" tage which gets bandied around. Every now and then I get the sense that Smith "innovates" for the wrong reasons or doesn't know how to change the gameplan when things are looking questionable.

Dunno - thoughts on who the best current captains are in world cricket and who are the more tactically astute players we should be watching in the next few years?

IPL Season 3 betting

The third season of the T20 cricket bonanza that is the Indian Premier League (IPL) is on its way and it looks like quite an open season this year.

The pre-season odds as supplied by the team at World Sports Betting:

Delhi Daredevils – 3.5 / 1
Chennai Super Kings – 5/1
Deccan Chargers – 5/1
Bangalore Royal Challengers – 6/1
Mumbai Indians – 6/1
Kolkata Knight Riders – 7/1
Kings Xi Punjab – 7.5/1
Rajasthan Royals – 8/1

I am a Deccan Chargers fan so I’ve backed them and the Rajasthan Royals in this years competition.

The Chargers are a quality outfit and surprised that they are not favourites this year but I’ll take those odds thank you very much!

The Royals also surprised me that they were so far out of favour with the bookies. The side includes some quality T20 players including:

• Graeme Smith
• Shane Warne
• Morne Morkel
• Shaun Tait
• Yussuf Pathan
• Johan Botha

Suffice to say they are my outside bet but the Chargers remain my first pick. Bring on the IPL!

Planning to bet on the IPL this year?

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Hashim Amla - greatest ever?

There is an interesting post on the SA Cricket Blog where Shaun asks whether or not Hashim Amla is the best batsman ever produced... sorry let me correct that...

... his headline says: "Hashim Amla, the greatest batsman that South Africa has produced" and then in the post he writes: "I’m of the opinion that Hashim Amla will become the highest scoring Test batsman that South Africa has ever produced."

There's an important distinction that needs to be made there because highest scoring versus greatest are two very different categories.

"Greatest" batsman ever will always be a contentious issue. You will always remember the positives about the batsman you watch and the guy you remember scoring the winning runs / digging you out of trouble when the chips were down. One generation for instance will always remember the Pollocks of the world.

Me, I think that the Gary Kirsten and Graeme Smith are the two greatest batters SA has produced. Others like Amla while others say that AB De Villiers will still go on to be the greatest. At the moment Amla's record speaks for itself.

At the moment De Villiers, Amla and even Smith to some extent live in the shadow of Jacques Kallis. Have a look at the great mans record below and you will see what I mean! 21000+ runs for South Africa - a true servant of the game.

I dunno - I think it would be an interesting debate. Who is the best and what have they done to get there?

Here is some food for thought in terms of stats for Amla, Smith, Kallis and Kirsten:

Hashim Amla
Age: 26
Test runs: 3261
Average: 47.26
ODI runs: 848
Average: 47.11

Graeme Smith
Age: 29
Test runs: 6799
Average: 49
ODI runs: 5613
Average: 40.47

Jacques Kallis
Age: 34
Test runs: 10843
Average: 54.76
ODI runs: 10498
Average: 45.44

Gary Kirsten
Age: No longer playing
Test runs: 7239
Average: 45.27
ODI runs: 6798
Average: 40.95

They're all awesome cricketers that's for sure.

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.

Selections - second T20 - SA vs England

After the rain in the first T20 game, it looks like the English have come here to play good, hard cricket this summer which is quite encouraging.

They take on South Africa today in the second of the T20 games and I expect the South Africans to put on a more convincing bowling performance this time around. Credit must be given to Morgan for his destruction of the bowlers at the Wanderers - there were some massive sixes hit there.

I have backed:

- South Africa to win today
- Graeme Smith to be the top SA batsman
- Either Jonathan Trott or Morgan to top score for the English

ICC Champions Trophy - Sunday betting

Two big clashes for Sunday and two fixtures that should ultimately decide one of the groups.

New Zealand vs. Sri Lanka
After losing to England earlier in the week, Sri Lanka will be looking to wrap up their semi-final spot with a victory over the Black Caps.

I can't see Sri Lanka losing this one and neither can the bookies.

Bets taken:

Dilshan to top score for Sri Lanka
Grant Elliot to top score for New Zealand

South Africa vs. England
A critical fixture for both teams with the winner pretty much assured of going into the semis having each picked up a win.

The pressure itself is piled on the South African team as both the home team and pre-tournament favourites. After stumbling in their first game against Sri Lanka they are left in a "must-win" situation.

In contrast England have very little to lose - they've come off a drubbing from Australia and then surprised Sri Lanka the other day. If they beat the local team the English press will have an absolute field day....

My picks:

South Africa to win
Graeme Smith to top score for South Africa
Paul Collingwood to top score for England

C'mon SA!

Botha vs. Smith

Well the first full ODI's are here and the tour is headed into the last leg of what has been an awesome summer of cricket.

Lots of runs, wickets, bumps, bruises and of course beers have been for the taking in what will long be remembered as a real clash of the titans.

With the tour winding down, it was interesting to read Ponting's criticism of the decision for Johan Botha to stand down now that Graeme Smith is back. Normally I'm all for the assigned captain to carry through the captaincy duties but Botha's captaincy in Oz and here for the T20 games makes that decision tricky.

His grasp of rotating bowlers in the ODI format is top-notch and you can see he is always thinking about batters and their field positions... and importantly it hasn't dulled his ability to perform with his own bowling.

Maybe a bit of a snub for him? Can you believe that Botha hasn't got an IPL contract?! Geez he's probably the best T20 bowler around at the moment...

Payback is a bitch...

That's all I can say - we got put in our place by a damn useful Aussie side in front of our home supporters... Ouch!

Now before we do the usual South African story of throwing our hands up in the air and berating our side, we need to step back and try and put these performances into perspective.

Number 1: When we were in Australia it took heroics from Duminy, Steyn and Devilliers to ultimately keep us competitive in the first two tests which we won... We didn't walk all over the Aussies and I think that is something we need to emphasise. Both sides could have won either of the first two tests in Australia. We were less competitive at home.

Number 2: This is a good Aussie side... We mustn't forget how good this Australian side is... Johnson, Ponting, Hussey, Clarke and Katich are amongst the best in the world in respect of the positions they occupy. On top of that, Hughes looks like a world-beater in the making. Quality cricketers don't roll over and get beaten under any circumstances.

Number 3: Injuries played a part.... An injury to Graeme Smith and the knock that Kallis took invariably rattled us in our first innings. If they had been able to contribute another 100 runs in our first innings and Smith a few in the second innings the series would be all square and we would be patting ourselves on the back for chasing a mammoth total.

We didn't win it and we have to get over it. Imraan Khan and Ashwell Prince have been moved in for the injured Smith and the out-of-form Mckenzie which makes some sense and Wayne Parnell has been added to the squad in place of Morne Morkel...

... and this is where I get irritated with selection in SA cricket. Where the hell is the consistency in moving players in and out.

Bowlers: First test match Lonwabo Tsotsobe is the 12th man and I as a fan believe he will be the replacement bowler if somebody moves out. The second test match, he gets drafted out and Albie Morkel moves to the bench. Third test match, MORNE Morkel gets dropped and Parnell moves into the lineup.... Who the hell is the next choice bowler?!

Personally I think that Tsotsobe or Parnell should be at the top of the line because they offer some variety with left-arm seam where as Albie Morkel (while offering something with the batting front) offers just straight-up right arm seam. Dunno...

Batters:
I think it is great that Khan got a hundred against the Aussies in the warm-up game and he has been the top domestic run getter so he deserves a chance to play. My question is - where was he in Australia or the T20's or the ODI games?

Suddenly the guy has been drafted in to the setup... where is the succession planning. As far as I knew the next two batters in line for international spots (based on selector behaviour) were Herschelle Gibbs and Vaughn Van Jaarsveld with Andrew Puttick on the fringes... Suddenly they are pulling in Khan....

In the same way I see that Ashwell Prince is supposedly going to open the innings. This doesn't make sense and we seem to be carrying on with this idea of "making" openers out of middle-order batters.... Dunno - no consistency.

Let's see how it goes

Cricket Strategist reviews the SA tourists

A 4-1 victory over Australia in the One Day Internationals (ODIs) wraps up the away leg of the tour. We look at some of the cricketers whose reputations were advanced and who went backward on the tour.

Advanced

JP Duminy: Without question the find of the tour. Runs, wickets and a reputation for being a tough and nuggety player under pressure. (10/10)

Graeme Smith: Love him or hate him, Smithy led from the front with runs and a tough as nails attitude that was apparent in the spirit shown by the entire side. (9/10)

Johan Botha: Following in the footsteps of Graeme Smith was always going to be tough. His bowling in the ODI's was tight and played his role to perfection. His stock definately advanced in world cricket ratings. (8/10)

AB Devilliers: A match winning innings that will probably never be forgotten. Devilliers has answered any doubts about his ability as a middle order batter in both forms of the game. (8/10)

Dale Steyn: The worlds premier fast bowler again showed his class and that partnership with Duminy which buried the Aussies will probably be the stuff of bar legends for MANY years to come (8/10)

Hashim Amla: I battled to judge Amla's performance. Without question he's proven he can play the game at this level and get runs in both the Test and ODI arena but I thought he got out at some bad times in the series. Answered any questions about his technique. (7/10)

Morne Morkel: Morkel came into the test series with a few questions hanging over his head. Plenty of fire and more importantly BRAINS in his bowling. (7/10)

Jacques Kallis: Bowled his heart out and made some important breakthroughs when they were needed. A little disappointed in his batting over the series though.... (7/10)

Makhaya Ntini: I reckon Ntini impressed this series. I think there were some concerns that he had grown a little long in the tooth but he delivered a solid performance (7/10)

Paul Harris: Harris played his role to perfection. Personal opinion - the Aussies didn't hold him in particularly high regard - but his hard work and scrapper spirit earned a few more fans. (7/10)

Albie Morkel - I'll confess I was a little surprised to see him named man of the series in the ODI's but he weighed in with some nice little contributions. Needs a bit of work on his bowling but a brave performance all in all. (7/10)

Unchanged / Too little to judge

Mark Boucher: I have to be honest and say Boucher didn't do much to advance his reputation in the series. Kept wicket solidly and chipped in with a few runs but really expected a bit more from him. (6/10)

Lonwabo Tsotsobe: A surprise inclusion for the tour he spent a lot of time on the sidelines. Four wickets on debut shows some ability, but he needs more game time. (6/10)

Wayne Parnell: A good opportunity for a youngster - can't say we had enough time to judge him. (6/10)

Ashwell Prince: Injury ruled him out early on. Without the injury the tour would not have belonged to Duminy though... makes you think.... (5/10)

Went backwards

Neil Mckenzie: He had such a vital role to play in the side and yet he never really got going. A few scratchy contributions but never seemed to stamp his authority on the game at any time. (5/10)

Herschelle Gibbs: Flashes of his true ability and one innings where he really got going. Going to have to work harder to deliver the runs to keep his place (5/10)

What a tour though... Can't wait till the Aussies hit our shores.

Dale Steyn and Neil McKenzie are going to have vital roles to fill if the South African cricket side expects to be competitive against the Australian’s in the home and away tours commencing in December.

A solid base at the top of the innings is going to be important and with McKenzie expected to fill the role of test opener he is not going to be able to drift through the tour scoring 20s and 30s.

Guys like Hashim Amla, AB Devilliers and Ashwell Prince will also need to deliver the goods, but McKenzies role is amplified because he has to be the first guy to front up to the Aussie pace attack.

If the Australians get early wickets and get on the front foot, then it will place a lot of pressure on the rest of the South African batting lineup.

The other asset that McKenzie brings will be his experience, but that won’t be enough to guarantee his place in the side. There’s enough competition for batting spaces at the moment that if McKenzie doesn’t bring the scores, his spot is going to be under pressure.

Managing Dale Steyn
Dale Steyn is arguably the world’s premium fast bowler, but managing him is going to be a big trick for the SA selectors. They cannot afford to bowl him into the ground for the sake of results.

Steyn’s priority is to bowl in the test matches. Dragging him into the Twenty / 20 games and over bowling him in the One Day Internationals is asking for disaster. An injury to our frontline strike bowler will cripple our entire campaign.

Thinking along the same lines, Graeme Smith also needs to be careful not to turn to Steyn every time he needs a wicket and use him as a stock bowler. Steyn is a strike bowler and must be bowled as such.

Without question Neil McKenzie and Dale Steyn have huge roles to play in the tour and the correct management of these players could be a make or break factor in determining a positive outcome for the SA team.

Observation - fielding

Just watching the South Africans playing against Bangladesh at the moment and Ashraful has just dropped Graeme Smith on 51.

Earlier in the innings, Mortaza dropped Hashim Amla on 15.

Both batters are now comfortably trucking along at around 5 and a half an over.

The Bangladeshi's I think dropped one on Friday night as well and then their fielding was very undisciplined at the Twenty/20 game on Wednesday night.

I actually watched them warming up before the Twenty/20 game and even when they were practicing, there was a pretty high number of drops. If you're dropping catches in your practice sessions, then you can't be surprised when catches are going down in matches...

You can't dispute that they are enthusiastic about their cricket, but they need to really sharpen up this aspect of their game if they are going to make a go of a match...

If you consider that they game away 6 runs in over throws in the Twenty/20 game, which they lost by 12 runs, you start to realise just how important those basics are....

‘Bit’ players in cricket

It is probably a result of the sheer volume of one day cricket that is played these days, but sides seem to becoming increasingly dependant on ‘bit’ players to fill their teams and I believe this can be counter productive.

For instance, a side like England, are big into having a bunch of guys who sort of bat a bit and then trundle in and deliver a couple of overs of spin or medium pace. New Zealand is another side who prefer a similar strategy.

I suspect that in a lot of ways, this is promulgated by the fact that they don’t have enough depth player-wise to fill the team with specialists.

Worryingly I think South Africa might be trying to go this way as well, and I urge the selectors not to get suckered into this trap of flirting with the mediocre. I think too many coaches and selectors get suckered into this idea that you can stock your side with 10 guys who all bat and bowl and a wicketkeeper – it doesn’t work that way.

A lot of people call these players ‘all rounders’, but they are not. They are ‘bit’ players.

To me, a player like Adam Gilchrist is an all rounder. When he can average 50 with the bat and still keep wicket then you can be considered an all rounder. Jacques Kallis would be another example – it wouldn’t be unusual for him to score 100 with the bat and then take a fifer.

Differentiate between ‘bit’ players and those who play as all rounders.

Unfortunately winning cricket matches, very often comes down to a few cold hard moments in a game.

As a South African cricket fan / selector / player, you need to ask yourself – do I want an expert like Dale Steyn bowling a key over in a one day game or am I happy to rely on a trundler who comes in 115km/h?

What about batting wise? Would I rather have Graeme Smith, who has a proven track record of scoring hundreds quickly, or am I happy to pick a guy who MIGHT come off and score a 100 but has typically scored 20s and 30s?

Don’t get me wrong - variety is great in a side, but great sides are made by great specialists not by good ‘bit’ players…

Graeme Smith shouldn't step down

Following on a bruising and physically exhausting tour of England, the debate has risen about whether it is time for Graeme Smith to step down and whether or not AB Devilliers or Hashim Amla should step up and take his place as the captain.

I have to be honest and say I don't understand the logic here.

Graeme Smith is the South African captain - there shouldn't be a discussion here...

... if he gets hurt, fine pick a new face to caretake while he recovers but he is only starting to come into the point where he can be considered a mature captain and this is when he will take the team to the top and keep it there.

Smith doesn't NEED to step down to concentrate on his game. He averages around 50 in test cricket and 40+ in one day cricket so the argument shouldn't be raised.

I think Smith and the bowlers in particular need a good break before they go on to play Australia and him getting hurt now should give him that break that he needs to come out firing again.

I also don't see merit in splitting the side into two with a specialist one day captain and specialist test captain. One captain, one mentality and one style of cricket is what the side needs and the strongest captain should be the captain in all forms of the game...

Graeme Smith

Love him or hate him, you can’t deny that Graeme Smith is tough.

This toughness is one of the attributes that has won South African many games in the last few years. The way he dominated the English attack and scored 154 in an afternoon shows just how focused he was on thumping the Poms.

A target of 281 to win was doable but not a straight forward run chase. When we lost 4 of our top order quickly, doubts could have crept in.

But one just got the sense that Graeme Smith went out there to win. No bullshit.

I think Smith receives a lot of criticism for his perceived arrogance. At the end of the day, we look back at the likes of Ricky Ponting and Steve Waugh remember that they were an equally “arrogant” bunch sod – but they brought their A game when Australia went out to play and that’s why they were able demolish most sides on a consistent basis.