First test

SA are 79/3.   Elgar did the expected - out for a duck - first ball in the test,   

Markram was rather negligent - he seemed to play a ball he should not have played - but he made 20 runs from 23 balls and for the ret he was actually very good.

Hamza made 39 runs from 67 balls and did the same as Markram did playing at  a ball he should have left alone.  He showed some class during the time he batted.

Du Plessis showed nothing thus far - making 14 runs from 49 balls is pathetic.   

Van der Dussen looks like Faf batting - nothing much to report.

Of the four batsmen who actually batted Hamza and Markram played some good shots - Faf and Van der Dussen did not.

Bad start for the test.  

England 144 for 5. Hope ou Saffex is keeping it together. 

England 176 for 7. Did Saffex speak to soon? 

Well England a out for 181.

Guess Saffex should have waited to see how England would bat on this wicket. 

Philander had 4 wickets at a cost of just over 1 run per wicket. Not bad for an old coot hey Sassex! 

SA. are 300 runs ahead seems ou Saffex read this all wrong?

Would say poor Saffex should stick to rugby but that would be a mistake! 

Dave

Van der Dussen 51 runs and Nortje as night watchman made 40 runs,    The situation is better than I expected with 197 for seven runs of which De Kock - the one Mozart said cannot bat - hit 29 runs from  17 balls inclusive of two sixes from Archer.

Nortje nearly made the number of runs made by our openers and double the runs made by Faf - something is very wrong with our batting line -up.      

The lead is now 300 and De Kock and Philander are still there, I think a lead of 350 is possible - hope it happens,  

Mike careful not to be misled by snapster. Just saying! 

Hope Proteas don't now spend two plus days in field. 

376 for England win. Proteas in good position. 

Always like this.

As soon as 1 so wicket falls, suddenly 4 more will follow.

They'll go from like 100-0 to 130-5.

Wish you are right - it is now 114/1 - just not good enough,  

Wish you are right - it is now 114/1 - just not good enough,  

So van der Dussen ......tell us again Wanker.

Way too many easily left balls this morning from Rabada.

No shape. Nothing on off stump. 

England all out - 268 - with Rabada taking 4 wickets and Nortje 3.  Nortje to my mind did better,   He took out the English batters - Root, Burns - and then Archer,   England made 147 runs losing 9 wickets.    They had 203 runs for 3 and then lost 7 wickets making 64 runs      

Mozart would be seriously disappointed.  The man who according to him cannot bat - Quinton de Kock - is the MOM.             

Great win but didn't poor snapster make a right jackass of himself!??

Mike

The collapse came a bit later than expected but it arrived nonetheless.

England were never gonna win this. 

If it were sunny the last two days the pitch wouldn't have helped them either.

They were lucky it softened up.

Nice win. Good to see a bit of fight returning...coincidental or leadership?

Mozart

Lets look at the runs made by the players and the number of balls faced before you get into your normal state of idiocy:-

South Africa

Markram             22 runs   -   26 balls

Elgar                   22 runs    -   27 balls

Hamza                43 runs   -    88 balls

Du Plessis          48 runs   -   108 balls

Van der Dussen  57 runs   -   101 balls

De Kock            129 runs  -   165 balls

Pretorius              40 runs  -     52 balls

Philander              81 runs  -   149 balls

Maharaj                17 runs  -     31 balls

Rabada                 28 runs   -    36 balls

Nortje                   40 runs   -    95 balls

England 

Burns                   93 runs    -   169 balls

Sibley                  33 runs    -   102 balls

Denly                   81 runs   -   101 balls

Root                     77 runs   -    190 balls

Stoke                   49 runs   -     101 balls

Bairstow              10 runs   -       31 balls

Buttler                  34 rums  -      72 balls

Curran                  29 runs   -      34 balls

Archer                   7  runs   -      16 balls.

Broad                    8 runs    -      13 balls

There is just one player who made more than 100 runs in total in the match and that iis the player you claimed  should be replaced.   See where prejudice  gets you dimness?  

Tell me who is a better wicket keeper batsmen than Quinton in the world today ? 

Wanker did you notice when the game ended.....that's right, with a day in hand.  Speed of scoring is sometimes crucial, often not in  test cricket. Dussen's innings was crucial....if he went early we could have been out for a 100 less.

You never played the game I'm guessing.

A few Quintie facts.

74 innings/69 dismissals/2683 runs....average 38.88

39 home innings/35 dismissals/1593 runs...average 45.5

34 away innings/33 dismissals/ 1090 runs...average 33.00

Average for his first 11 away games...44

Average for his second 10 away innings 37.0

Average for his last 12 away innings....19.5

...............

This is a successful international batting career, in every respect.  But his home vs away discrepancy is rather large. And his away performances rather than improving with experience have declined alarmingly. 

I tend to agree Dave. He isn't a super star, more of a solid citizen....but the youngsters have to confirm their opportunities when they get them. The Pom test was disappointing again for the newer bats.

Mozart

You have been attacking De Kock from 2013 when he replaced Graeme Smith  in ODI's and has never relented.   As recently as this year you suggested that he should be replaced by Klaasen,

It is typical of you to have a go at De Kock - because his batting average of 38,38 - and the attack is typical - he is OK, but he is poor in away tests.    I also had a look at the stats of Mark Boucher in tests - his batting average was 30,30 - but you never once attack him the way you attacked De Kock for 6 years now. 

Instead of admitting it you were wrong about De Kock - you remain a total fool through prejudice.              

I see de Kock as a modern day Roy Mclean....he has batting flaws but a brilliant eye. He will score effortlessly when the ball isn't  moving.....but if it is, or the pressure is on so he can't play his natural game, he will tend to fail just when you need him most.

He is also clearly a better player at home than away.

Play him at 6, a low pressure position that bats after the shine is off the ball....and take what he gives you. Your original idea of de Kock as a replacement for Smith as a Bok opener was clearly naive.

Dave

Markram is out of the series with a broken finger and he has been replaced by KD Petersen = a 23 year-old - who made 111 runs in the SA A team against England,  

I would have picked Verreine - but I guess they are looking for a number 1 batsman to replace Markram and Verreine is not an opening batsman.   

My guess is that the team for the 2nd test starting on 3 January 2019 will be as follows:-

*   Elgar, Petersen, Hamza, Bavuma, Du Plessis, De Kock, Pretorius, Philander, Maharaj, Rabana and Nortje.   

I think Elgar is on borrowed time and doubt very much if Bavuma will be any better than Van der Dussen was in the 1st test.              

Mozart

He initially replaced Graeme Smith as opening batsman in ODI's and not as test opener, The last 12 innings you listed was not the norm  and the story about him not being able to bat when the ball is swinging is just a repeat of what you wrote in the past 

Nowadays the better bowlers are able to bowl reverse swing balls with older balls and that is often enough problematic with older balls - not with new balls.   This is the third category of bowling that you claim is problematic when it comes to De Kock's batting,    Initially it was fast bowling, followed by spin bowling and now swing bowling.

The fact is where did you get the batting averages of De Kock in the last 12 innings in away tests from and since when is that the norm?   If you refer to the six tests played against England and India name me any batsmen who did not under-perform in those six tests.   Anyway one could always find by nitpicking examples where players did not perform well and make out that is the norm for he performance of players.   You tak e 12 innings out of 90 innings played  amd turned that into a norm - just really funny,   

By the way - your story about strike rates are interesting,   When in tests strike rates are below 50 and players only stand around for long periods with an extremely low average strike rate is like watching drying paint -  chances are that tests will be drawn.  It just does not happen anymore in modern cricket,   Strike rates nowadays should be above 50 and that normally indicates why the number of drawn tests are much lower than it used to be.  I looked at the batting strike rate of players and of the top players Kallis at 45,98 was the lowest - all of Barrry Richards, Graeme Pollock  and Graeme Smith are well above 50 and roundabout 58 to 59 and on their days those were regarded as top tests batsmen.   In the modern era strike rates above 60 is the norm for top test batsmen.                        

You make up BS stories to justify your attacks on players - normal with you anyway,   Why did you not do the same iro of for instance Amla - when Denny and I pointed out that his batting was tanking over he last year, you went ballistic.               

I know this squad was selected by some technical committee made up of a bunch of nobodies so I’m hoping moving forward that Boucher has a say in the make up of his squad.

Fixed!

I would add Smith in the last sentence  of Denny,   The example set by Erasmus is clear - tell the politicos to bugger off and decide on squad selection based on performance should be the norm. .  He picked duds too - but only let them start in tests where he wanted to rest the real frontline players.     

The present squad for the England tests is a joke in bad taste and should not be repeated.            

Duplication

Dave

I cannot understand the approach by SA Cricket.  Players like Malan, Verreine and Van Tonder will be high on the Kolpak radar soon and will then be lost to SA cricket,   They should be forcing the English clubs to release players on demand for test and shorter version series like is the case with SA Rugby players at present,

England is hiding behind the Kolpak rulings since it favours them and Australia and India does not have similar problems - so it is in their interest not to have the ICC to adopt a policy similar to what World Rugby decided on.  The Kolpak issue is going to self-destruct when the UK leaves the EU and that would remove England from judicial rulings of the European Supreme Court,   

The whole thing is a farce at present and that is the long and the short of the matter.      .