Re: South Africa vs. Pakistan - 3rd Test - Jan Fri 26 - Tue 30 at Cape Town
Akhtar will be sorely missed. His absence might prove to be the deciding factor between victory and defeat. Although there were several match winning contributions at Port Elizabeth like
Inzi's 92 in the first innings
Younis's 45 and 67*
Asif and Kaneria's bowling (7 wickets each in the match) and
ofcourse Akmal's belligerent 57* when things were looking down at 92-5,
it was Akhtar's burst on the opening day that effectively turned the match in our favour. When SA got bowled out for 124 on the first day that gave us a huge advantage. It's another matter that we made our job more difficult for ourselves from thereon thru poor wicket-keeping (Akmal) and irresponsible batting in both innings (Farhat's dismissals in both innings and Yasir's silly runout in the second) not to mention some poor decisions given by mota Parker (Hafeez and Inzi's LBW dismissals in the second innings and Boucher's reprieve in the second innings when he looked even more plumb LBW than Kallis)
Re: South Africa vs. Pakistan - 3rd Test - Jan Fri 26 - Tue 30 at Cape Town
^ very true.... i am guessing Nazir will get another chance to prove his worth... and i really hope he can make use of it this time around, just like he did in the practice game.
Re: South Africa vs. Pakistan - 3rd Test - Jan Fri 26 - Tue 30 at Cape Town
pak had a night mare when they last played SA on this ground, loosing by innings and 142 runs... with smith and gibbs making 151 and 228 respectively. Pak bowling attack consisted of Waqar younis, Sami, Mohammad Zahid and Saqlein Mushtaq.... i hope that this time around paki bowlers will be able to avenge the defeat and inshallah make history ...
Re: South Africa vs. Pakistan - 3rd Test - Jan Fri 26 - Tue 30 at Cape Town
**Pakistan cricket team arrive in Cape Town **
Updated at 2015 PST
CAPE TOWN: Pakistan cricket team arrived Wednesday in South African port city of Cape Town to play the third and final South Africa-Pakistan Test here that begins on Friday.
The national team reportedly started its net practice after taking one-hour rest after the arrival.
Re: South Africa vs. Pakistan - 3rd Test - Jan Fri 26 - Tue 30 at Cape Town
why do they keep playing Farhat, he never looks solid. Batting is all around basically Mohammed Yousuf and Younis Khan, with occasional contributions from Inzamam. Need a batting line up like Australia, so that when one of those two fail, there's others to take their place.
Re: South Africa vs. Pakistan - 3rd Test - Jan Fri 26 - Tue 30 at Cape Town
Apart from one good knock in the first test Hameed hasn't looked all that convincing either but I doubt it very much that Inzi would make wholesale changes for the third test. The only change I am expecting is Rana or Nazir (most likely) in place of Akhtar.
Re: South Africa vs. Pakistan - 3rd Test - Jan Fri 26 - Tue 30 at Cape Town
Akhtar was the one who swung the second test in our favor. If Sami plays, he'll swing the third test in SA's favor. They should play both Rana and Nazir, they show more heart if nothing else. Their test bowling and batting averages are much better than Sami.
Re: South Africa vs. Pakistan - 3rd Test - Jan Fri 26 - Tue 30 at Cape Town
Remember one thing... Asim Kamal will never play a One day match for Pakistan. Selectors will never ever select him.
I like the fact that you think like me for the 3rd test.. Although Sami is useless...Has been given tooooo many chances, so instead we should try to give the same chance & opportunity to Rana/Nazir now.
Re: South Africa vs. Pakistan - 3rd Test - Jan Fri 26 - Tue 30 at Cape Town
both rana and nazir went for over 5 runs per pver in the first test, with rare wickets so i dont think we need any of those again....
atleast sami did not give away so many easy runs and can produce that rare good delivery every two overs....
since rana is faster than nazir and can also bat a bit, i think we'll see rana in for shoaib....
and it wud be wise to let yasir rest and let asim play a test (thought i know asim kamal cannot handle test pressure)....
Re: South Africa vs. Pakistan - 3rd Test - Jan Fri 26 - Tue 30 at Cape Town
If Asim Kamal is not ODI material then Rana is definitely not Test Material. At least Asim showed he can bat in Tests..Rana has failed again and again in tests..
Things look good untill you get to the weak link in bowling. Inzimam must cut out the weak link and put a bowler who if not take wickets, will at least not give away free runs.
SA’s whole batting strategy in the absence of Gibbs will be to hammer the change bowler. They will be extremely careful against Asif and Kaneria.
If Inzi can’t stop runs from the change bowler then chances of winning will be tough unless SA collapse due to weaker batting and maybe resting Nitini or Pollack.
Lets see.
Hope we Win :insha:
Third Test, Cape Town: South Africa v Pakistan
Match starts on Friday at 0830 GMT
Dippenaar will play his first Test in eight months at Newlands
South Africa have rung the changes for the deciding third Test with Pakistan, which starts in Cape Town on Friday.
The recalled Boeta Dippenaar will open for the hosts, with Herschelle Gibbs banned for making racist comments and AB de Villiers moving down the order.
Dale Steyn and Andrew Hall come into the side for pacemen Andre Nel and Shaun Pollock, who have been rested.
Shahid Nazir is likely to step in for Pakistan seamer Shoaib Akhtar, who has returned home with a hamstring problem.
Proteas captain Graeme Smith had said after the second-Test defeat in Port Elizabeth that Pollock and fellow fast bowler Makhaya Ntini might be rested with the forthcoming World Cup in mind.
But coach Mickey Arthur was not keen on the idea and has retained Ntini, while Steyn returns after recovering from a leg injury which sidelined him for the first two Tests.
De Villiers is fortunate to keep his place after struggling recently and would have been dropped but for Gibbs’ ban.
“We know there are problems with AB’s technique but it takes time to sort these things out,” Arthur said.
“What we do not want, is to have this become a serious mental issue for AB in the meantime.”
Dippenaar admitted he was surprised to be called up for his first Test appearance since May 2006.
The 29-year-old has not been scoring heavily in domestic cricket and would have missed out had Jacques Rudolph not signed a contract to play county cricket in England with Yorkshire. Arthur added: “Jacques was available for this match but it would not have made sense to pick him for one match if he’ll be unavailable for the next three years.”
