Re: 1st Test: Pakistan v South Africa, Johannesburg, Feb 1-5, 2013
South Africa are effectively playing with 4 openers.
They have two back up openers at 6 and 7, Faf and Dean Elgar. This is to counter the SECOND NEW ball
Re: 1st Test: Pakistan v South Africa, Johannesburg, Feb 1-5, 2013
Smith today equalled Ponting’s record of most test wins (48) as captain
[TABLE=“class: engineTable, width: 630”]
Most matches as captain[TR=“class: head”]
[TH=“class: left, align: left”]Player[/TH]
[TH=“class: left, align: left”]Span[/TH]
[TH=“class: padAst”]Mat[/TH]
[TH]Won[/TH]
[TH]Lost[/TH]
[TH]Tied[/TH]
[TH]Draw[/TH]
[TH]W/L[/TH]
[TH]%W[/TH]
[TH]%L[/TH]
[/TR]
[TR=“class: data1”]
GC Smith (ICC/SA)
2003-2013
100
48
26
0
26
1.84
48.00
26.00
[/TR]
[TR=“class: data1”]
AR Border (Aus)
1984-1994
93
32
22
1
38
1.45
34.40
23.65
[/TR]
[TR=“class: data1”]
SP Fleming (NZ)
1997-2006
80
28
27
0
25
1.03
35.00
33.75
[/TR]
[TR=“class: data1”]
RT Ponting (Aus)
2004-2010
77
48
16
0
13
3.00
62.33
20.77
[/TR]
[TR=“class: data1”]
CH Lloyd (WI)
1974-1985
74
36
12
0
26
3.00
48.64
16.21
[/TR]
[TR=“class: data1”]
SR Waugh (Aus)
1999-2004
57
41
9
0
7
4.55
71.92
15.78
[/TR]
Re: 1st Test: Pakistan v South Africa, Johannesburg, Feb 1-5, 2013
South Africa are effectively playing with 4 openers.
They have two back up openers at 6 and 7, Faf and Dean Elgar. This is to counter the SECOND NEW ball
there you go....spot on!
at no 6 and 7 you need someone who can mange new ball.....laxman did it for india for so long...Gilchrist used to destroy new ball at no 7 for aus ....
this current team....only nasir jamshed can play the new ball...rest of our team cannot play seam, swing and pace with new ball.... PERIOD....younis misbah no one....but it is what it is....you play with liabilities...somehow put 250+ on board...get rid of freakin umar gul for god sake.....bring irfan and rehman in....well actually that budha guy tanvir is not bad....he is much much better than umar gul.....the only problem is that tanvir relies on "pitch full and swing" but his speed is slow and SA players will destroy him.....with "pitch full" mode, you need to bowl at least 140+ with swing or you end up delivering too many half volleys.....but he can get few wickets early on when he is not tired and delivers 135+.....i will play him with junaid, irfan and ajmal....irfan fitness is a huge question...why is he in the test squad if he is not fit...
and yes ajmal was a huge failure....hardly any ball spun ....ABD literally toyed with him in the second innings....he used his feet, played reverse sweeps, cover droves, regular sweeps, late cuts....with no problems what so ever....ajmal need to deliver or else we are ....
Re: 1st Test: Pakistan v South Africa, Johannesburg, Feb 1-5, 2013
there you go....spot on!
at no 6 and 7 you need someone who can mange new ball.....laxman did it for india for so long...Gilchrist used to destroy new ball at no 7 for aus ....
this current team....only nasir jamshed can play the new ball...rest of our team cannot play seam, swing and pace with new ball.... PERIOD....younis misbah no one....but it is what it is....you play with liabilities...somehow put 250+ on board...get rid of freakin umar gul for god sake.....bring irfan and rehman in....well actually that budha guy tanvir is not bad....he is much much better than umar gul.....the only problem is that tanvir relies on "pitch full and swing" but his speed is slow and SA players will destroy him.....with "pitch full" mode, you need to bowl at least 140+ with swing or you end up delivering too many half volleys.....but he can get few wickets early on when he is not tired and delivers 135+.....i will play him with junaid, irfan and ajmal....irfan fitness is a huge question...why is he in the test squad if he is not fit...
and yes ajmal was a huge failure....hardly any ball spun ....ABD literally toyed with him in the second innings....he used his feet, played reverse sweeps, cove droves, sweeps, late cuts....with no problems what so ever....ajmal need to deliver or else we are ....
Had you seen Ehsan Adil Bowl? - You would'nt want Tanvir in the test side not even Irfan had you seen this guy's potential
Re: 1st Test: Pakistan v South Africa, Johannesburg, Feb 1-5, 2013
Had you seen Ehsan Adil Bowl? - You would'nt want Tanvir in the test side not even Irfan had you seen this guy's potential
if u say so nikemae...i have not seen him....people comparing him with asif...asif was simply a genius,....well an evil genius....
bottomline...u cannot win test matches with umar gul and rahat ali...just imagine how pathetic umar gul is..he never ever played any test match when ammir and asif were fit...and now that constipated action bowler is our main bowler...
Re: 1st Test: Pakistan v South Africa, Johannesburg, Feb 1-5, 2013
if u say so nikemae...i have not seen him....people comparing him with asif...asif was simply a genius,....well an evil genius....
bottomline...u cannot win test matches with umar gul and rahat ali...just imagine how pathetic umar gul is..he never ever played any test match when ammir and asif were fit...and now that constipated action bowler is our main bowler...
Lets just say he reminded me of Asif :D
and Umar Gul - I have strongly believed since late 2009 that he is one of the weakest links in Pak 11 who lives on 3-5 good yorkers in ODI/T20 a year and gets to play all forms of the game. He needs to be sat out for sure in test matches.
Re: 1st Test: Pakistan v South Africa, Johannesburg, Feb 1-5, 2013
based on this link, ehsan looks a pretty good prospect but i heard he is struggling with the type of balls they are using in SA
anyway he is tall…shd get bounce..he balls at a higher pace than asif and his line length looks good…
Ehsan adil Bowling , Batting and Fielding skills - YouTube
Re: 1st Test: Pakistan v South Africa, Johannesburg, Feb 1-5, 2013
Lets just say he reminded me of Asif :D
and Umar Gul - I have strongly believed since late 2009 that he is one of the weakest links in Pak 11 who lives on 3-5 good yorkers in ODI/T20 a year and gets to play all forms of the game. He needs to be sat out for sure in test matches.
agreed...gulla pretty much finished around that time period....his match fitness went down
Re: 1st Test: Pakistan v South Africa, Johannesburg, Feb 1-5, 2013
Well those are the balls that were used in the A team tours and U19 tours that he was on and bowled pretty well - then the first half of Pak QEA trophy was played with Pak balls which offered more assistance to his bowling so he exploded and took bunch of wickets then in the lst few games they started using kooka balls with smaller seam and thats why he got little messsed up - but even with all that - watching him has given me more excitement than Umar Gul has done for last 3 years combined.
you have followed Pak cricket long enough to know that a lot of times new comers are ‘labeled’ one thing or other or a certain reputation for them starts to circulate among Pak cricketing journalist people by them and most of the time it is just to accommodate players from their own regions etc etc I am sure over last few years you have heard “Ahmed Shahzad is talented but he has attitude problem” or “Sharjil Khan is talented but he is too much of an on side player” or “Moh Talha has good pace but he is wayward” “Hammad Azaam is good prospect for future but we need XYZ’s experience for this xyz series” and mother of them all "Umar Akmal needs to site out because…"etc etc. While players like Imran Farhat, Moh Sami, Sohail Tanveer, YK, Gul, Afridi, Faisal, Abdul razaaq keep getting recalls after recalls.
So I suggest you start paying more attention to your instinct about new players and judge them as you see them and not pay much attention to those so called experts who have their own benifits associated to make sure why a new xyz guy gets a certain reputation.
Re: 1st Test: Pakistan v South Africa, Johannesburg, Feb 1-5, 2013
Well those are the balls that were used in the A team tours and U19 tours that he was on and bowled pretty well - then the first half of Pak QEA trophy was played with Pak balls which offered more assistance to his bowling so he exploded and took bunch of wickets then in the lst few games they started using kooka balls with smaller seam and thats why he got little messsed up - but even with all that - watching him has given me more excitement than Umar Gul has done for last 3 years combined.
you have followed Pak cricket long enough to know that a lot of times new comers are 'labeled' one thing or other or a certain reputation for them starts to circulate among Pak cricketing journalist people by them and most of the time it is just to accommodate players from their own regions etc etc I am sure over last few years you have heard "Ahmed Shahzad is talented but he has attitude problem" or "Sharjil Khan is talented but he is too much of an on side player" or "Moh Talha has good pace but he is wayward" "Hammad Azaam is good prospect for future but we need XYZ's experience for this xyz series" and mother of them all "Umar Akmal needs to site out because......................."etc etc. While players like Imran Farhat, Moh Sami, Sohail Tanveer, YK, Gul, Afridi, Faisal, Abdul razaaq keep getting recalls after recalls.
So I suggest you start paying more attention to your instinct about new players and judge them as you see them and not pay much attention to those so called experts who have their own benifits associated to make sure why a new xyz guy gets a certain reputation.
thx for the explanation on type of balls......and yes we have very few junior players coming up these days...talented players like hammaad azam have been destroyed...so generalization shd be avoided
Re: 1st Test: Pakistan v South Africa, Johannesburg, Feb 1-5, 2013
Misbah Ul Haq is the only Pak player to be in the top 10 test batsmen!!!
and most of you like to bash him 
Re: 1st Test: Pakistan v South Africa, Johannesburg, Feb 1-5, 2013
thx for the explanation on type of balls......and yes we have very few junior players coming up these days...talented players like hammaad azam have been destroyed...so generalization shd be avoided
We have very few new players coming up that is NOT because we dont have good new players that is because they are systematically NOT given chances.
This is how i answered this question to a South African cricket fan on another forum
[QUOTE]
As someone who has closely, very closely followed Pak cricket for over two decades - I can tell you Pak batting talents has absolute no lack of quality - in fact I will even go ahead and say that the promise, maturity, talent that I have seen in our domestic batsmen since 2008 is far beyond what I used to see in them in 90's. Batsmen like Umar Akmal, Ahmed Shahzad, Sharjeel Khan, Umar Amin, Azziz Ghumman and others whose name are skipping my mind ATM are far far better batsmen then many Pak batsmen who played domestic and even International cricket for Pak for years.
Here is my very very first impression of Haris Sohail on the very first day I saw this kid play (The Mod on that forum later added Shakil Ansar & Gohir Ali to title)
Problem with Pak cricket is that these guys are either not picked, or when they are picked they are not given a long run, often they are given a run in the squad just so to give them an opportunity to fail at some point (which is not surprising because it is their first time playing at International level and adjustment from domestic to International (no matter how good you were at domestic level) does take time, But as soon as they start their learning curve and they should be persisted with in their learning curves at international level - the politically driven captain whose main job (for the most part) is to assure his tenure and his selection for future tours and selectors do not hesitate to raise the "Inexperience flag" and "immaturity flag" bring back the players that Captain is more comfortable having in the 11 (to ensure his tenure etc etc) under the blanket of experience and maturity etc etc.
These decisions get easily covered up as long as you keep batting on non challenging conditions which Pak test cricket has been going through last 2 years and in 90's it was blanketed under 50's scored by batsmen in twice a year sharjah tournaments and by strong bowling displays. But one just has to look at how those batting line ups stood up against SA/Aus and in Eng (2001/2006/2010) and you will understand the damage that gets caused by NOT giving consistent opportunities to new promising batsmen who deserve it.
[/QUOTE]
Re: 1st Test: Pakistan v South Africa, Johannesburg, Feb 1-5, 2013
This was bound to happen
We cant handle the new ball .........As soon as Steyn got the red cherry he destroyed us again
There goes another chance of winning series in SA .......Now wait for 2017
Its going to be a clean sweep for us
Re: 1st Test: Pakistan v South Africa, Johannesburg, Feb 1-5, 2013
really, SA par itna bura waqat aa gia tha kia kah hum series jeet jatay 
Re: 1st Test: Pakistan v South Africa, Johannesburg, Feb 1-5, 2013
pathetic gul 
Frist Sami and 2nd this Gul 
I don’t know who is the supporter of this pathetic pacer.
Yes me too want to see Rehman in action and I had hope from Taufeeq as he has good record against SA but he was unfit now they should play another opener and replace outfor Younis / Azhar!
Re: 1st Test: Pakistan v South Africa, Johannesburg, Feb 1-5, 2013
Why so much poison against Umar Gul. Lets look at his bowling figures for this match:
First Innings 2/56, with an economy rate of 2.94
Second innings 2/58 with an economy rate of 4.14. (BTW, you might have noticed that only three wickets fell in the second innings, of which Gul took two)
Only Gul and Hafeez got 4 wickets each in the match.
Till you get another Aamir or Asif that is the best you have got and he is not bad and therefore to say he should sit out the tests is just not good. We always hark after untested players here saying why so and so is not playing and when they do play they are just not International standard. Rahat being the latest example.
Re: 1st Test: Pakistan v South Africa, Johannesburg, Feb 1-5, 2013
Gul is hated cz poor guy is a hardworker in the team and always gives his 100percent unlikes other guys who are parchis
Re: 1st Test: Pakistan v South Africa, Johannesburg, Feb 1-5, 2013
From People who are talking about Harris Sohail
From Twiiter
News in: Haris Sohail declared unfit. He is ruled out of South Africa series and will return home. No replacement named yet. #PakvSA
Re: 1st Test: Pakistan v South Africa, Johannesburg, Feb 1-5, 2013
Why so much poison against Umar Gul. Lets look at his bowling figures for this match:
First Innings 2/56, with an economy rate of 2.94 Second innings 2/58 with an economy rate of 4.14. (BTW, you might have noticed that only three wickets fell in the second innings, of which Gul took two)
Only Gul and Hafeez got 4 wickets each in the match.
Till you get another Aamir or Asif that is the best you have got and he is not bad and therefore to say he should sit out the tests is just not good. We always hark after untested players here saying why so and so is not playing and when they do play they are just not International standard. Rahat being the latest example.
problem is that this is the best he can do after 10 years.....he can never run through any batting line up...just look at his test performance in last 4 years....
just to give you perspective ... I did filter his test record ...
in last 30 matches since 2009 he has secured 95 wickets with no 5 wickets/innings performance and yes in those 30 matches, he did play matches in Australia, England, NZ and WI as well where wickets are fast ... and when he takes wickets it is always 2 or 3 wickets here and there....never a convincing spell....now that is pathetic performance to say the least from the senior most bowler...junaid has done so much better
but i do agree with you that we don't have much on the bench either.....but the counter argument is that had we invested in a "donkey" for last 4 years, even he would have taken 90 odd wickets in 30 matches....so why not invest in young blood? ...who knows that young talent may improve.....umar gul nay abb kaya improve hona hai....
Re: 1st Test: Pakistan v South Africa, Johannesburg, Feb 1-5, 2013
@Phoenix I agree, PCB should start looking at recent 5 wicket hauls and 50's averages more to keep players in the team rather than just by name or they are playing since long.