Bumpy Roads Ahead of South Africa Cricket

There is no doubt that if you ask who has been the most consistent cricket team in test cricket during last decade or so, the answer would be comprehensively South Africa Cricket team. The ride for South Africa cricket has been quite smooth thus far. But with retirements of likes of Jaques Kallis, Graeme Smith and with Dale Steyn getting old by the day the South African Cricket team's caravan is likely to find a bumpy road and ride could be quite uncomfortable in coming days.

Even after the recent loss to Australia at home 2-1 in test series South Africa maintain the ICC ranking of number 1 in test cricket. This is an indicator of how consistent they have been in the past. A loss here and there doesn't make different to them as far as ranking of teams in concerned in test cricket. But this could be something that has happened in past and something that might not happen in future. The current crop of South Africa cricketers don't look equipped enough with skills to resurrect their team from such deadly losses.

South Africa will undoubtedly be knocked from their number one ranking - no cricket fan or pundit has an issue with that - that's sport. All teams rise and fall. WI (West Indies) dominated the cricketing world for a while but haven't been there for decades now, Australia dominated for a while but haven't been there for many years now. SA have enjoyed a good patch over the last few years but will also be taken over by another team sometime. At the end of the day the rankings are nice and do show who is playing the most consistent cricket but as long as teams are playing good competitive cricket then fans are happy, especially if team is around the top 3 or 4 in ICC rankings. Does this loss against AUS mean that AUS are now the best team in the world? Of course not - SA are still the best shown objectively by the rankings system. Aus were beaten every now and then during their reign as number one but that didn't mean they weren't still the best team in the world at the time. Aus still have to win many more games before they can claim the number one status again. Same can be said about India, who also won more than they lost when they achieved the no. 1 ranking in cricket.

Great or not, SA played good test cricket for a while. They were the closest to a champion team in all conditions though they failed to beat India in India. But then again, not many teams beat India in India which is why England's feat in 2012 was remarkable. South Africa have some decent players left in the tank but they are ageing. Dale Steyn will only get slower and older, AB De Villiers is already at his peak, Hashim Amla isn't the force he was 2 years back. Then you have guys like JP Duminy and Faf Du Plesis who are relatively inconsistent at test level. Finally, there are youngsters like Elgar and Quinton De Kock who are untested in different conditions. Add to that, SA still don't have a quality spinner. So it will be tough for SA to replicate their successes of the past 4 years. They will still be a good team at home but one is not so sure about their overseas chances.

May be this is the opportunity for South Africa to concentrate on ODI cricket more, than the other forms of cricket. South African cabinet is pretty bare when it comes to collection of  ICC trophies. Despite having a good set of players they have never threatened to win a world cup. ICC cricket would cup 2015 will be great opportunity for the rainbow nation to win the cup if they concentrate and plan towards it from now on.

Recently the South African colts won the ICC U-19 (under nineteen) world cup. Now, with their test cricket going down, South Africa has perfect chance to make forward moves as far as limited overs cricket is concerned. A twenty twenty (t20) world cup in Bangladesh will provide the latest chance tow in a world cup for South Africa. The present set of players in South Africa team also look to be more suited to shorter form of cricket rather than test cricket. May be we will see them winning couple of world cups over the next year or so.

The biggest problem CSA(Cricket South Africa) is facing immediately is to declare a captain for the cricket team. AB De Villiers looks to be the likely cricketer who will take over the reins of South African cricket team captaincy now that Graeme Smith is retired. But this move could be counterproductive as De Villiers is the best batsmen in South Africa cricket eleven and load of captaincy on his shoulders might wear him down quicker than what CSA wants at the moment.

Although the article might seem a bit negative but I will end it on a positive note. Change is inevitable and South Africa should embrace it as they have a core of top quality players to take them into a confident and successful new era. They need to look forward, not mope around lamenting recent retirements and searching for non-existent world-class all-rounders. Six batsmen, a wicketkeeper batsman, a bowling all-rounder and three fast bowlers. Don't believe that a side of Hashim Amla (capt), Elgar, van Zyl, de Villiers, du Plessis, Duminy, de Kock (w/k), Philander, Abbott/Hendricks, Steyn and Morkel will be any weaker than the sides SA fielded over the past 18 months. In fact, given the performances of the retired trio in their twilight years,one can say that 'new model' is a better one than old one.

Top 10 reasons for Australia loss to South Africa at Port Elizabeth

South Africa has been able to come back and level the 3 test match series which now stands at 1-1 after 2 matches. South Africa won the 2nd test match played at Port Elizabeth on 4th day by 231 runs margin.

It was a good performance performance from the home team who rode on performances by Hashim Amla in batting and impressive Dale Steyn while bowling.

Dale Steyn, fastest  bowling spell demolished Australia
as he picked up 4 wickets for 55 runs

When I sit to find out the reasons for defeat of Australia, I found some of them:

1. Slow Wicket - Australia have always been vulnerable when cricket match takes place on low and slow wicket. Their record in Indian subcontinent is a proof of it. Lack of quality spinner after the retirement of great leg spinner Shane Warne, and inability of batsmen to play a bit late i.e. to wait a bit longer for ball to arrive on a slow wicket, are the main contributors towards bad performances on wickets that lack pace.

2. Inability of bowlers - To deliver on a wicket where no ready-made assistance is available from the pitch, fast bowlers need to show more skills and they need to show that they have more in them then extracting pace and bounce off the pitch. The reverse swing comes handy. In the past Aussie bowlers showed that they have capability to reverse swing the ball, especially on their tours to India. But in South Africa they did not manage to achieve it as much as South African bowlers did. Result - Australian bowlers found picking up 11 South African wickets a bit too difficult a task.

3. Batting Failure - Australian openers started off well in chase of 478 runs to win the test match and series after captain Graeme Smith declared bit too early for the liking of some of the cricket experts. Openers, David Warner and Chris Rogers put up opening stand of 126 runs. But they failed to carry on, which is crucial in big chases, and after that it was collapse. Shaun Marsh has developed habit of scoring ducks, something ducks won't be happy about.

4. Complacency - This is where this team is incomparable to the great Australian team of previous years. Australian cricket teams of past were known to keep down their opponents when they had them down. There was no let up. But under Michael Clarke, barring the recent Ashes series win, this has been the norm. Clarke has also failed to prove himself as a proactive captain and has often seen waiting for things to happen themselves.

5. Home run by a home team - Over the last couple of years home teams have been difficult to beat. Be it India's whitewashes in England or Australia or Australia's 4-0 loss in India, its always a home team who has had a an upper hand over the visiting team on a cricket field. Defensive captains who just don't know what to do with their wards once they got out of their comfort zone of home environment is the main reason for it.

6. Mosquito's and Sleepless nights - Once an Australia captain made an excuse when he lost a test series in India. "Throughout the series our players haven't been able to sleep properly due to mosquito bites late nights and hence they were unable to perform at their best due to lack of sleep," he said at the post match presentation. Maybe Aussies are encountering mosquito's in African Safari.

7. IPL 7 on mind - Cash rich t-20 cricket league, the Indian Premiere League (IPL) is about to take off in few month's time. More dollars will be deposited into the accounts of the players. It must be difficult for Aussie players to concentrate in a test match arena when they are about to get millions of dollars for spending just 20 and few more overs on a cricket field.

8. Johnson Mustache length - Mitchell Johnson just started to do well after he grew Mustache of certain length. An erratic bowlers suddenly found his line and length, sorry bounce, to trouble all batsmen, especially poms.  But the length is important. It has happened to Shikhar Dhawan, the opening batsmen of India, as well. Both need too make sure that Mustache is of perfect length, otherwise they might loose their form which they gained by growing it.

9. Cool Killer Amla is hungry again - Over the course of last 2 series Hashim Amla was seen loosing his wicket in a strange manner. He was getting bowled out by leaving the ball, ducking the ball, and swaying away from the ball, as if ball was coming to kill him and he became so nervous that he forgot to stop it with his bat. But in Port Elizabeth Hashim Amla was reminder by someone, possibly by AB De Villiers, what a cool customer he has been over the years. He is out on the road again with his secret weapon. Watch out Australia!

10. Michael Clarke praised by Ian Chappell - Not the first time it has happened and it won't be the last time that the former Australian Captain writes a column to show that his countrymen is a better captain than the other captain and the praised captain is fallen into the well. Just a day ago Ian Chappell wrote in 'espn cricinfo'  that MS Dhoni's time is over and he needs to go. He compared how Michael Clarke is better than Indan captain.

See: Will MS Dhoni resign from Indian Cricket Captaincy

One can find many reasons for Australia's humiliating loss to South Africa. Australia now needs to show that it was one off and that they are capable of making a come back just like the number 1 ranked team in ICC rankings has shown us. In the end one has to say: "Well Played South Africa!"

Poor technique galore against fast bowling, Australia v South Africa test series

Just when Indian X cricketers were busy criticising young Indian batsmen  for their poor technique to play fast bowling, I was watching South Africa vs Australia test series on television.

One thing I was carefully looking for was how Australians, South African batsmen play fast bowling so that I can compose an article comparing the techniques of Indian batsmen and them, and can pinpoint what exactly Australia and South Africa batsmen do well that they handle the short pitch fast bowling much better than the Indian batsmen. I was very disappointed and even confused with what I saw. 

Chris Rogers, Australia Opener, needs to show
more than a fancy footwork to survive against
fast bowling of South Africa to prove he is better than
Shikhar Dhwan of India.

I have no doubt, with what I saw on TV, that Indian young batsmen, in particular Murali Vijay, Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara, and Ajinkya Rahane displayed much better technique and temperament than South African and Australian batsmen while facing a fast bowler. Even Shikhar Dhawan looked better than what openers Graeme Smith and Chris Rogers are looking at the moment. Even the pitches are comparatively flatter in this series, no doubt about it, then what we saw in South Africa vs India series recently.

In the first match of the series, Mitchell Johnson proved too much to handle for South African batsmen. Hashim Amla, Grame Smith, all are in sixes and sevens when facing him. Other bowlers also took advantage of fear created by Mitch in South African batsmen and they picked some easy scalps too.

On second day of 2nd test between Australia and South Africa, being played at Port Elizabeth, South African fast men were all over the Aussie batsmen. Only adventurous David Warner was able to score some runs, with outside and inside edges mostly, while other 4 top order batsmen went back to pavilion by loosing their wickets due to poor technique rather than great bowling.

Seeing these batsmen, who are supposed to have the best technique against fast bowling, struggle so miserably and who are looking completely out of control, one wonder why all hell breaks out when some of Indian young batsmen, likes of Suresh Raina and Shikhar Dhawan, gets out to faster bowlers. They also don't face quick bowlers too often as they play more of their cricket on turning (not flat) Indian pitches. Clearly, double standards are adopted while judging players of India to others.

Also there has to be some balance when techniques are judged. Over the years Indian batsmen have mustered more runs in Australia and South Africa than the batsmen of those countries have managed to score on turning tracks in India. Indian batsmen,Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar, leading test runs getters, have plundered runs all over the world. Same can't be said about non-indians when it comes to their performance in India. For example, a modern day great batsmen 'Ricky Ponting' of Australia, hardly managed an average with bat in India that can be called respectable. Ponting's average in India is 26.48 while his overall average is 51.85 runs.

Top 5 overrated bowlers in cricket

Sometimes ICC player rankings can be quite misleading. Today we will talk about few such bowlers who have been ranking high consistently in the rankings table, but doesn't deserve to be at the top.

1) Vernon Philander (ICC rank 2) - He has taken 106 test wicket in 21 test matches so far at an average of 18.75.This South African medium pace bowlers manages to bowl at a speed of about 28 kph, on average. He rarely swings the bowl. But he doesn't have to be fast nor he needs to swing the ball to achieve higher rankings and pick large number of wickets. The wickets in South Africa does all the work for him. Specially designed wickets are making this mediocre bowler look great, even as everyone knows he has nothing in his armory to trouble the batsmen when he goes abroad, especially in subcontinent.

V.D. Philander

2) Ravichandran Ashwin (ICC rank 10) - With 104 wickets in 19 test matches at an average of 28.50, R Ashwin is one of the fastest spin bowler's to enter the hundred wicket club. While this is exciting for indian cricket, what is disappointing is his inability to take wickets overseas and win India matches. So far what we have seen of him he doesn't look capable enough to take wickets out of subcontinent.

R. Ashwin

3) Tim Southee (ICC rank 9) - This New Zealand medium pace bowler is again a bit of 'green track bully'. He bowls a good channel outside the off stump on green New Zealand pitches. But he lacks speed and his length is just perfect for batsmen to clobber him out of the park if he does not get ready-made assistance from the conditions. Southee has taken 112 wickets in 31 test matches at avg 30.69 for his wickets.

T.G. Southee

4) Saeed Ajmal (ICC rank 5) - He is pakistan's 'off spinner'. But don't get fooled by the introduction. Saeed Ajmal does everything else other than 'off spin'. He has the bowling action which purists were praying that no one will have after Mutthiah Muralitharan of Sri lanka. Ajmal has taken so far 169 wickets in 33 matches at an avg. of 27.46 runs per wickets.

Saeed Ajmal

5) Dale Steyn (ICC rank 1) - This might come as a surprise for most of you. But Dale Steyn is much overrated than one might have thought. He is just an 'outswing' bowler. South African speedster lacks the ability to ball 'inswingers' and struggle to ball to left hand batsmen. 356 wickets in 70 test matches at an average of 22.90 isn't that special, especially when you bowl in South Africa cricket conditions. Also he averages 45 plus when it comes to taking the wickets of left hand batsmen. It's not that he is a poor bowler. In fact he is quite good. But rank 1 is definitely bit too high for a bowler with so many limitations.

Dale Steyn

*Note - The ICC rankings in this article are stated as on Feb 19, 2014. Also I wasn't quite in my full senses while compiling this cricket article.

South Africa V Australia who will win test series?

A mouth watering fast bowling tussle seems to be on cards as South Africa will take on Australia at Centurion today in first test match.

While many a cricket fans are lining up to see which is the better bowling attack and will south africa be able to finally remove their chokers tag, there could be disappointment. The news coming from South Africa is depressing as the cunning groundsmen of South Africa has removed the grass from the pitch on request of south african team management to save their batsmen from the bouncers and bone breaking deliveries of Mitchell Johnson.

The squads are as follows:

South Africa Team : GC Smith, HM Amla, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, F du Plessis, D Elgar, RK Kleinveldt, R McLaren, M Morkel,WD Parnell, AN Petersen, RJ Peterson, VD Philander, DW Steyn, TL Tsolekile

Australia Team : MJ Clarke, BJ Haddin, JM Bird, AJ Doolan, RJ Harris, MC Henriques, MG Johnson, NM Lyon, SE Marsh,JL Pattinson, CJL Rogers, PM Siddle, SPD Smith, DA Warner, SR Watson

Dale Steyn would like improve on his recent bad showing in test matches, even as Mitchell Johnson again returns to South Africa in form of his life

Against India, all the groundsmen were specifically told to let the grass grow as there was no real fast bowler, but against Australia south african batsmen don't want to become sitting ducks. It is well known fact that most south aftrican batsmen lack technique to handle fast bowling at test level.

While pace battle is on the cards, here are some interesting views coming from cricket fans of both australia and south africa:

truththecovers says:"Everyone is licking their lips re the match-up of the 2 bowling attacks, which is wrong in my opinion. It should realy be looked at as the SA batting line-up vs the Aus bowling attack and vice versa. Looked at it this way, it becomes a fairly simple equation from there. No one in their right minds would give the Aus batting line-up lower odds to outlast the SA bowling attack than the other way around. The absence of Kallis is a big factor, but the SA top 5 will prove yet again a very hard nut to crack. Harder than their counter parts."

Madan Shivkumar is not ready to give Australia any points for their Ashes victory "I guess the Aussies are reading too much into a victory over a battered and bruised England. The saffers will be much harder to beat with the kind of line up they have,never mind kallis s absence - he was not the player he was anyway; steyn philander and morkel are more than enough to bowl out the Aussies considering that they are going to have 2 new faces in the XI. Most of the Aussies are confidence players and if the saffers can break the rhythm of Johnson then its gonna be pretty hard for the Aussies." 

 Greatestgame, the supporter of South Africa cricket is irked when someone mentioned about the inability of south africans to handle spin bowling, he says: "Stop making excuses for, or raising the topic of, SC teams here. We hear that "SA cannot play spin." Now you say "SA cannot play pace." How did SA get to be #1 they can't play pace or spin?SA national cricket is dominated by genuine pace bowling, on quick, hard tracks - the bowling they grow up, & thrive on, & play every match.

In 2012, before SA's series in Eng, debate raged about "the best" attack, much like today. The English attack, pronounced as "the best in the world" by Eng media & management, took 2 for 637 dec in test 1. Amla 311* Kallis 182* Smith 131 etc.

SA destroyed Johnson & Starc that year, at Aus' quickest venue, Perth. Amla scored 196 at SR 88.68. ABdV scored 169 at SR 91.84. Smith scored 84 at SR 84.These guys can decimate genuine pace, and this series has NOTHING AT ALL to do with SC teams."

Comments apart, what can really trouble South Africa is the egoistic nature. They think they are too talented, but they are far from it. We saw in a series against India how at times they did not wanted to be out on the park and were trying fast bowlers in fading light to run away from competition. This lack of fight will hurt them badly against Australia who are known to take advantage of such moments by playing aggressive cricket. South Africa don't have ability to handle pressure situations, in absence of Jaques Kallis in particular.

Fact tha Ab Devilliers never contributes under pressure and that Vernon Philander is more of a threat only in tailor made conditions, it won't be a surprise if Australia defeats South Africa. Also to be noted is that South Africa has recently won more matches against minnows than a top test team. The victory against India was gifted by umpires.