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?

Aaaahhh England takes the second Ashes test at Lords

I haven't had so much fun cheering for an Australian side pretty much well... ever!

Geez I enjoyed this Test match. A bit of drama with the English (through their prolific SOUTH AFRICAN run-scoring connections), a bit of class - Freddie Flintoff showing what a loss he is going to be when he goes and the Australians making a game of it when everything looked to be lost.

Eventually it was a step too far and Australia will rue some average umpiring and the fact that they didn't get the runs in the first innings.

As an English cricket fan you have to proud. It is quite obvious that the guts shown by Collingwood in the first test match has worn off on the others who have suddenly realised that they can be competitive. Flintoff impressed me - as did Prior. I still think they are a batter / allrounder short and their lineup is going to be seriously exposed when Flintoff retires but
in all these guys put their hands up to be counter.

I don't rate Graeme Swann particularly highly but he deserves some mention as he seems to have come on a long way in the English setup. Personal opinion, I think he has done well because he knows what is expected of him. In a similar vein I think Paul Harris knows what is expected of him in the South African side and he has settled.

In comparison the expectation around Nathan Hauritz doesn't seem to have been settled.

Which brings me to the Australian side. There is not a lot wrong with this side when they click. Would Australia be 1-0 down after 2 games if Brett Lee had been in the side? I don't think so but he could have dished up a dogs breakfast and maybe they would have so there is no point theorising.

As an armchair fan personally think there are only two things that need to be done from an Australian side.

Number 1 - they need to decide if their strategy includes or excludes Nathan Hauritz. If it includes him then they need to tell them what they expect of him and back him on and off the field.

Number 2 - Ponting needs to remind them that they have come back from a loss at home to beat a far more formidable South African side not so long ago they can win this.

Still think the Aussies are good to take the series but hats off to the Poms for showing some grit and determination!

Hhhhmmm

Trying to work out if Nathan Hauritz is bowling well or whether the Poms are just tossing away their wickets as the pressure is mounting.

So far he has picked up decent wickets in this match getting out the likes of Strauss and Pietersen....

Thoughts?

Johan Botha

I see that Johan Botha has now been reported to the ICC for his bowling action action - specifically his "doosra" and his quicker ball.

Gotta say that I find that highly frustrating as a South African cricket fan. The guy has been through the whole review thing with the ICC and he has taken the corrective action and passed him... how can it be reopened again?

I think that Muralitharan had a similar issue with Darryl Hair not so long ago.

The ICC has ruled - how can an action suddenly be refered again?

It's frustrating - the guy is getting his shot at success after reworking his action and this has to come up again. Hopefully common sense prevails.

SA attack this morning

I thought the South African cricket side bowled curiously this morning when they had Collingwood and Sidebottom together.

Collingwood didn't score a single run straight on and milked the bowlers the moment they bowled short and wide. Yet for some obscure reason, we insisted on bowling short and wide to him? The one delivery that Morkel pitched full and straight nailed him front on and should have been out.

I thought Morkel bowled particularly well to Sidebottom when he got stuck in, but it proved the point that you have to vary your lines for batters. Collingwood was happy with the short stuff where Sidebottom struggled.

Obviously sitting on the sidelines, it is easy to criticise, but the South Africans (in my opinion) but themselves under pressure by not being disciplined and bowling at Collingwoods weaknesses.

On a side note - good call by the 3rd umpired - Ian Gould (??), I also didn't think Devilliers made a clean catch this time around....

Young spin bowlers

I'm probably going to take some stick for this post but I'm a big believer that young spin bowlers should use "Action Cricket" as a way to work on their accuracy and delivery.

I was a leg-spinner and my biggest problem was that I simply had no control of where the ball was going to come out. I'd walk in, hope, pray and spew... Sometimes it worked and sometimes it went spectacularly wrong.

After I stopped practicing seriously I started playing a lot more action cricket and I found the more I played, the tighter my accuracy and control became.

Relaxed atmosphere, a 1 step run up and a flat throw down of the ball that provided an ENJOYABLE contest between batter and bowler.

It's important to note here that many spin bowlers who are over-coached, lose their ability to flight the ball. Too much flat action cricket bowling will increase this problem. Special sessions should also be included to include flighted control so that the spin bowler does not lose the "shape" of their action.

Over-coaching young cricket players

Coaching is always tricky.

But it becomes increasingly harder when you are trying to balance naturally talented young players AND correcting technical faults in an attempt to make a better player.

For instance take Paul Adams, the South African spin bowler with his "frog in the blender" type action. Without question it is one of the most improbably bowling actions you will ever come across and it would be near impossible to get him to change it. Yet during his time with the South African test cricket side he was one of the top strike bowlers - he landed the ball in the right place and turned it a fair distance. As a captain or coach - what more can you ask for?

Shiv Chanderpaul with his extremely wide (almost baseball style) stance - if a coach tried to correct that then he MAY have lost some of his skills and timing as a batter. His 45+ average proves he knows what he is doing.

I have a mate who is quite actively involved in coaching junior cricket at a leading school here in South Africa. Every year he sees the same problems playing themselves out - a talented young kid scores a ton of runs in his first year in high school and he gets sent off to an "academy" or "specialist coach" who is going to 'refine' his technique. The kid comes back with a completely changed batting style and for the next 2 seasons he can't get the ball off the square.

Instead of focusing on his natural talent and hand-eye coordination, coaches look at what he is doing wrong and then try and change his whole style to change this.

Obviously in the early stages of cricket playing, it is easier for an average player to stand out simply being bigger, stronger and quicker on the ball.

But coaches should be wary before implementing full scale changes in a young players style, until they know what the kid is doing right and why they are successful.