FCKING BLOG

Whatever that means. I can’t make sense of it just like I can’t make sense of why we folded twice in two days to Steyn, Morne on-the-up Morkel and Paul mo@~*f)&^%#g Harris.

I thought they were awesome and unplayable but I’m not a test player. The best cricketers from one country are supposed to compete with the best cricketers from another, not sit back and be glad that one of the two debutants will take the fall.

Saha, Tyagi and Mithun with .33% of test match experience each have been dumped from the squad for the second test. Dinesh Karthik, Sreesanth and Suresh Raina come in.

Karthik/Raina can come in the place of Saha, I don’t know where Sreesanth comes in. He should definitely not come in at the cost of Mishra because the bigger problem no one is talking about is the Harbhajelephant in the room. Bring in Ojha, bring in Sreesanth and stick with Zak and Ishant.

Graeme Smith will be prepared for a repeat of Kanpur ‘08. It’ll be pretty funny to see Johann Botha and Paul Harris running through us. Hopefully the inner Hulk in Gambhir has been angered enough for him to churn out a series saver.

That is what the next two weeks could be.

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India’s ascension to the top of the test rankings, their apparently bare Test calendar for 2010 and the media’s newfound love for our best interests saved this series from being shelved altogether.

It’s a good one, against our closest competitors according to rankings, Test matches, ODIs, no T20s but also, very importantly, NO Sri Lanka.

India (first Test): MS Dhoni (capt/wk), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, S Badrinath, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Amit Mishra, Pragyan Ojha, Ishant Sharma, M Vijay, Sudeep Tyagi, Abhimanyu Mithun, Wriddhiman Saha.

South Africa: Graeme Smith (capt), Hashim Amla, Johan Botha, Mark Boucher (wk), AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, Paul Harris, Jacques Kallis, Ryan McLaren, Morne Morkel, Wayne Parnell, Alviro Petersen, Ashwell Prince, Dale Steyn, Lonwabo Tsotsobe

Dravid scored against SL with a vengeance and carried on in the same vein against Bangladesh but he forgot to hop when on Nelson in the second test only to find his jaw broken.

The very little amount of tests they play gives teams like India no chance to try out their youngsters and now they have no option but to just throw their bench strength in the deep end against South Africa to see if they sink or swim.

Sehwag, Gambhir, Tendulkar, Dhoni and Laxman are all in great touch but the uncertainty over Laxman is another reason for bother. I can’t imagine Rohit Sharma making a big impact if he were to play, an uncertain 15 maybe but it’s easy to imagine Steyn, Morkel and Parnell exploiting his patience with short balls.

Vijay has shown that he belongs and it’s now up to him to demand inclusion in the strongest middle order in the world should the rotation policy ever come back. Yuvraj’s contributions against Sri Lanka may not look impressive in scorecards but his runs mattered, especially on the first morning at Ahmedabad when he started the rebuilding with Dravid. He wasn’t fluent against Bangladesh but he will be missed unless Vijay delivers.

Badrinath has very big boots to fill but that just makes him the wild card, doesn’t it? Let’s hope he doesn’t blow his chance after having waited all these years for it.

Ishant has been Zaheer’s most constant partner in India’s pace attack and is in excellent form in tests. The duo have been impeccable, they know how to take 20 wickets bowling on the roads of India and they’re the ones it all comes down to in case there’s a Centurion/Newlands repeat.

Harbhajan’s place as a spinner is locked in while Mishra and Ojha are being rotated regardless of performance. Johann Botha, who modelled his action after Bhajji will hope to out perform his counterparts. Paul Harris’s recent form in the series against England in which  he took a beating while Graeme Swann dominated the South African batsmen casts a doubt over his inclusion.

Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel bowled their hearts, guts, backs and pants off against England and got their due at the Wanderers with a little help from Wayne Parnell. Here they will however encounter confident batsmen on pitches less punishing than the ones in South Africa.

Gambhir has perfected the art of hitting attritional, time consuming centuries and he is currently the most in form batsman in the Indian line up. Sehwag, Sachin, Laxman and Dhoni, everyone’s spanked the inexperienced Lankan and Bangladesh pace attacks of late but have the game to counter the Saffers.

Steyn has already targeted Badri, Vijay and Rohit in his pre-match comments citing their relative n00bness in international test cricket as a reason why they should be easy to crack. But that’s where Mickey Arthur helped them out so much. Steynje’s good for a plan A but it was Mickey’s help on the extensive analysis of each opposition batsman which helped them a lot over their past few seasons.

All the batsmen but for Ashwell Prince have been in good form of late. Duminy showed grit to get starts and a fifty against England despite his poor form so some more tenacity will help him out. Smith, Amla, Kallis, de Villiers and Boucher had a good series against England bar a few untoward sessions and they can match the Indian batting line up.

How they play out Bhajji, Mishra and Ojha, especially after their floundering against Swann will decide South Africa’s campaign.

Paul is quiet, on New Year’s Day.

Collingwood may sit out of the Newlands Test and Michael Carberry, a left handed batsman from Hampshire is being talked up as his replacement. Why not simply give Luke Wright a look in when he’s available and served time playing ODI’s?

Graeme Smith has said that “the right selections need to be made” for the third test and one can only assume that this means Ntini will be dropped and Friedel de Wet brought in for the third test against England to be played at Cape Town although the spinners are expected to be the main men here.

Paul Harris and Graeme Swann have both been crucial in the campaigns of their respective sides; Swann played a crucial role even with the bat in the first test and rightfully deserved the two ‘Man of the Match’ awards he won. Stuart Broad bowled brilliantly alongside as England ambushed South Africa in the second innings.

Strauss will be relieved that his two biggest worries in the batting department, Cook and Bell came good and scored centuries. Smith will find a hard time deciding the fate of Ashwell Prince who has been terribly out of sorts in the opening slot and bringing Herschelle Gibbs back into the squad would be a huge risk. Morne Morkel has bowled well alongside Dale Steyn while Ntini has been ineffective and needs to be dropped if Smith wishes to remain in contention for this series.

In the other new year’s test, Pakistan’s batting is as precarious as it can be and yet the selectors have not taken a call on whether Younis Khan should be flown in to join the squad. Mohammed Yousuf, Umar Akmal, Salman Butt and Misbah got runs but failed to build on their starts as Australia cruised to a 170 run win. Their inconsistency made Ponting’s declarations look good. Mohammed Aamer and Asif worked hard but were let down by their batsmen and were left playing catch up. Farhat is expected to retain his place for the second test while Gul and Kaneria will replace Rauf and Ajmal respectively if they are fit in time. Sami will get a game thanks to the injury to Aamer.

Shane Watson had a brilliant test overall with scores of 93, 120*, two catches and a wicket as he took home the man of the match award. Watson improves as a series goes on so this could be a blockbuster series for him. Nathan Hauritz and Mitchell Johnson bowled brilliantly and they were well aided by Doug Bollinger. Peter Siddle returning to form can only be better news for them. The only batsman Ponting will be worried about is Marcus North who has generally struggled since his match winning century in the fourth Ashes Test at Headingley, Leeds.

Graeme Smith’s saved himself some worrying by deciding that it would be a straight between Steyn and Friedel de Wet if the former recovers in time for the second test against England.

Ntini didn’t have a very memorable 100th test in contrast to the debutant Friedel de Wet who was impressive, triggering an English collapse late on the last day. England’s lower order men batted out for a draw under the supervision of Paul Collingwood evoking memories of the Cardiff Test and the Ashes that followed.

England have their worries in the forms of Alastair Cook and Ian Bell, the two couldn’t even get going in the first test. For all the romantic pull of an exciting draw I’m sure they want victories too and these two need to chip in for that to happen. I think their bowling is alright at the moment.

The problem the 100% South Africans face in their batting: Captain and Vice Captain. Graeme was grim and Ash wasn’t well at the Centurion, everyone else chipped in. These two guys need to get their game on, they were the ones along with McKenzie who built SA’s win in England, SA needs them.

The bigger, the badder, the more entertaining Boxing Day Test will be between Australia and Pakistan at the MCG. Pakistan stand a chance of winning this series, it’s not a big chance but it’s there and theirs if the batsmen come good.

The Pakistan middle order is still undecided with the competition being between Faisal Iqbal, Fawad Alam, Khurram Manzoor and Misbah Ul Haq for three or even two spots.

Salman Butt did himself a big favour by slamming a century in the practice match against Tasmania. Akmal with a J Ajmal picked up four wickets to remind Mo Yo that he’s a part of the squad and yes he does go beyond taking three wickets at a time.

The two Akmals, Butt, Farhat, Mo Yo, Gul and Asif are the certainties in the Pakistan squad for now. I don’t why the f*$% they brought in Sami, it could be a decision between him and Aamer I favor Aamer to make it ahead of Sami here. The spinners spot is still a toss between Kaneria and Ajmal. Ajmal is hot right now but it was Dan from Pakistan that outperformed Dan from New Zealand in New Zealand with the ball.

Australia is battling injuries. That’s stale news. Siddle and Hilfenhaus have been included in the squads but I’d prefer they rehabilitate a bit longer. Bollinger and McKay deserve a another chance as does Hauritz. Johnson was effective against WI even if he didn’t look anything like it and he was able to lead the younger inexperienced guys well.

Their batsmen were so-so against the West Indies and really need to step up against the Pakistan bowling attack. Ponting, if he is fit by then, along with Katich will be Australia’s hope in this series. Hussey, Haddin, Clarke, North and Phil Hughes, if he gets a game will face a quite lethal attack better get their batting sorted to avoid embarrassment going into 2010.

It’s a pity Shahid Afridi doesn’t play tests anymore, I would have loved to see his reaction to Watson’s celebrations.

South Africa were expected to dominate this series, win it outright but going into today’s rain threatened match at Durban, it’s the English who are in the lead.

Jacques Kallis’s injury, their team composition woes and the public mental disintegration overdrive that Smith is on with coach Mickey Arthur is hurting him even more while Stoic Strauss holds the aces after the ODI series.

Gibbs was dropped for this series for his inconsistency, now more than half the squad is guilty of being so. England were no models of consistency, they followed emphatic victory with abject defeat but thankfully kept their mouths shut while at it.

The slumps in the SA camp coincides with fighting, gutsy efforts from the homegrown England squad members. AB de Villiers, Duminy, Steyn and Graeme Smith himself have been unpredictable while Bresnan, Collingwood, Morgan (ok he’s Irish but at least he’s not South African) and Broad were on the mark for England.

These guys make up the core of each team’s test squad too and these developments set a nice sub plot for the test series. Now, only for Pietersen and Smith to get into their groove and kick the saturation out of the South African fan’s system.

Update: The last ODI has been called off due to incessant rain and it’s a series win for England. Cricinfo says they’re only the fourth team after Australia, West Indies and South Africa to win an ODI series in SA.
England. Of all teams. This one especially. 2012 is coming soon and here’s a sign.

Drop him like he’s hot. Drop him like he’s the pressure. Drop him like a letter in the post box.

Kallis is out of the ODI series between England and South Africa thanks to a fractured rib. He may even sit out of the test series. Drop him like he’s fat man.

The very highly priced Kallis opens up room for bringing in more than just a suitable replacement if you plan your transfers wisely.

Hashim Amla is expected to be the replacement opener Kallis but the selectors might want to try out Loots Bosman who was in hulk smashing form in the T20s.

The worrying thought for SA will be the gaping hole in the bowling department. Vice captain Johann Botha will have to do with part timin’ Duminy as his spin partner while Morkel and McLaren will have to help Steyn and Langeveldt/ Parnell with the pace bowling load. Roelof van der Merwe is the person most likely to be rolled off here.

England has had some luck with the premier all rounders of their test opponents. Earlier this year, it was Dwayne Bravo who wasn’t selected in the Windies squad that toured England because he was returning from an injury. Andrew Symonds messed up on his three strikes long after being dropped from the Ashes squad. Now Kallis injured himself.

Will this be the third series they win a row?

One of the strongest squads England has put together in years will take on a formidable South African side in a five ODI series beginning today.

All of England’s batsmen have played substantial knocks in their past two series and the return of Kevin Pietersen adds to their strength. Anderson, Broad, Mahmood are the preferred first line up for the pacer’s slots with Bresnan and Onions being the replacements in that order of preference.

The loss of Broad and Swann to injuries for the first two ODIs weakens their bowling as well as lower order batting stocks. It also means that Bresnan and Adil Rashid will play the first two ODIs.

South Africa captain and opener Graeme Smith, who has been in superb form for two seasons now faces a choice between Amla and Kallis as his opening partner. Kallis will play even if he doesn’t open but if he does then Amla will sit out. Roelof is the guy who might be dropped out if Amla does play.

Among the bowlers, Charl Langeveldt is likely to make the team ahead of the promising but erratic Wayne Parnell as partner for Dale Steyn; also the selectors would want to be cautious about Parnell as he is coming off an injury induced break. Lonwabo Tsotsobe is a question mark, the side already has surplus pace arsenal thanks to its army of all rounders.

Kallis, Duminy, Morkel, Botha, McLaren and van der Merwe provide all rounder power to Smith and Boucher is ahandy wicketkeepre batsman. They compliment the few specialists they have like Smith and de Villiers.

England owed their victory in the first one to a bungle up by the South African batsmen and were roundly beaten in the second one. The return of Strauss at the helm should rally the team to compete harder and hopefully we’ll get some fierce competition in the series.

If you can’t figure out who’s playing for who in this series, you’re not alone. This ensemble is good enough to make a soap opera of a series with all the underlying allegiances and doubtful loyalties.

England has in its ranks players of South African and Irish origins while South Africa has in its ranks Ex Kolpak players who decided to come back home rather than play under another flag.

The T20s begin today and coupled with injuries,  some weird selection decisions have been made. Alistair Cook, who doesn’t feature in the England ODI squad is set to open the batting. Andrew Strauss, their most prolific scorer in Tests and ODIs and captain of those two teams does not like playing T20 and hence will sit out. But wait, Cook is doubtful to start due to a sore threat and Strauss may just play under Collingwood in the T20 team.

The South Africans have a much stronger team. The sheer amount of players who can pass off as all rounders is their trump card. They have Albie Morkel, Duminy, Botha, van der Merwe and Ryan McLaren. So strong is their squad that they have rested Jacques Kallis for the first T20.

England’s response to this crack team of all rounders is a rather modest line up of Paul Collingwood, Luke Wright, Graeme Swann. Dimitri Mascarenhas is not in the team, Stuart Broad is out with an injury and Tim Bresnan has not done much besides a solitary 50 in the Champions Trophy.

The batsmen on either sides could probably match each other. Graeme Smith, Loots Bosman & A B deVilliers against Joe Denly, Jonathan Trott and Eoin Morgan.

The bowling is much more balanced with Dale Steyn, Charl Langeveldt and Wayne Parnell up against James Anderson, Graham Onions and Bresnan/Sajid Mahmood.

South Africa will use the T20s to test young wicket keeper Heino Kuhn as a choice for the future. He has been consistent in his batting and keeping for his domestic team and will be eager to seal a place ahead of other competitors such as a Morne van Wyk.

Group B of the 2009 ICC Champions Trophy is a story of consistent underachievers. Between the four of them they have one World Cup victory, two Champions Trophy winners and a joint CT winner. And the millions of semi final and final defeats it took them to get those results.

I.B. #Eine: South Africa
The favourites of the tournament. South Africa have a mountainous pile of reasons why they can win this tournament. Balancing all of them singularly, and rather spectacularly on the other arm of the see saw is their proven Inglourious Chokers tag. But this time something seems different. Will it be their year?
Inglourious South Afrikaners: Jean Paul Duminy, Roelof van der Merwe, Wayne Parnell & AB de Villiers.

I.B. #Zwei: Sri Lanka
The most naturally talented side, they have Angelo Mathews & Ajantha Mendis winning them matches by rolling over of the arm and flicking of the fingers respectively. They need their young batsmen to put in those big match winning knocks. Thilina Kandamby is already staking his claim so could this be the tournament in which Chamara Kapugedara lives upto his promise?
Inglourious Lankans:Tilakaratne Dilshan, Thilina Kandamby, Lasith Malinga, Nuwan Kulasekara.

I.B. #Drei: New Zealand
Any tournament they go in, NZ are expected to make it to the next round. More often than not this is as the result of the inconsistency of others rather than due to their own abilities. And they’ve made it to the second rounds and semi finals of many tournaments but haven’t had much luck going beyond that. The one time they did get through in 2000, they won the Champions Trophy. This time around too, the Black Caps have a lot of firepower but the question remains, will it go off?
Inglourious Kiwis: Shane Bond, Ross Taylor & Jesse Ryder.

I.B. #Vier: England
The most inglourious story of them all. More than anyone else, England are painfully aware of their own shortcomings in LOI cricket. In the past year they’ve beat a supremely disinterested West Indies & tired South Africa. But they lost very badly to a fighting NZ, a rampaging India & almost 7-0 to a vengeful Australia. To add to their misery, their best ODI players KP & Freddie are out with injuries and not playing this tournament.
Inglourious British: Luke Wright, Joe Denly, James Anderson & Graeme Swann.

The pitch had plenty to offer for the fast bowlers so he was obviously delighted when he won the toss having yelled "Headssssssssssssss!".