2 minute read We remember Dale Steyn’s Test debut. For his first wicket, he arced a yorker into Marcus Trescothick‘s middle stump. Not bad. While he touched 90mph during that Test, it was rare and we sort of put him to the back of our mind in our mental draw marked ‘South African
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Jacques Kallis, interesting?
< 1 minute read We don’t know what’s going on here. There we were idly reading a short piece about New Zealand quick, Mark Gillespie, when suddenly the writer makes the most outrageous claim imaginable. Will from The Corridor – who knows what he’s on about – describes Jacques Kallis as ‘dazzling’. ‘Dazzling’ is
Continue readingShoaib Akhtar overshadows South African series win
< 1 minute read It’s one of those big looming shadows that’s accompanied by a low octave minor chord. You know what that shadow and that chord means – it means trouble. Apart from two Twenty20 internationals against Namibia, this was Shoaib Akhtar’s first international outing since January when he played a single Test
Continue readingEveryday cricket every day
< 1 minute read Here’s a comparison. The Rugby World Cup finished last Saturday. England played in the final. Their next international fixture will be on the second of February. England’s final match in the Cricket World Cup was on the 21st of April, against the West Indies. Their next international fixture, a Test
Continue readingShaun Pollock’s arms of expression
< 1 minute read There is literally no cricketing event that Shaun Pollock can’t portray through subtle distinctions in his ‘arms aloft’ pose. An lbw appeal. Celebrating a wicket. Celebrating a hundred. You’ll also notice that Shaun tends to appear as a mirror image when celebrating a wicket.
Continue readingImpotent miserliness or profligate wicket-taking, which wins a one-day match?
< 1 minute read Well obviously wicket-taking miserliness is what you’re aiming for. But there was a fire-and-ice, chalk-and-cheese, black-guy-and-ginger-guy contrast between South Africa’s opening bowlers in the first one-day international against Pakistan. Shaun Pollock didn’t get a wicket but only went for three an over from his full allocation. Makhaya Ntini went at
Continue readingDon’t drop Jacques Kallis
< 1 minute read Because paradoxically we end up having to watch even more of him. The South African selectors felt they could do without the world’s most willing batsman and least willing bowler for the Twenty20 World Cup. Jacques Kallis was a little irritated by this and resigned the vice-captaincy. He also claimed
Continue readingSouth Africa select bowlers on the basis of bowling ability
2 minute read How are South Africa managing to beat Pakistan? They won the first Test and now they’re on the verge of taking a 150-run first innings lead in a despicably constricted two match back-to-back series. Well, rather ingeniously and for just about the first time since their readmittance to Test cricket
Continue readingMark Boucher breaks record for Test dismissals
< 1 minute read Ian Healy, Australia’s wicketkeeper before Adam Gilchrist, had 395 victims in 119 Tests. Mark Boucher’s just gone past him in his 103rd Test. Quite impressive really. There are fewer draws these days and a couple of poorer teams, which goes some way towards explaining how Boucher managed to reach this
Continue readingJacques Kallis fills the void
< 1 minute read Shaun Pollock may have been dropped, but South Africa have got more than one crushingly dispiriting all-rounder at their disposal. In fact, South African cricket can boast a whole battalion of line-and-length-bowling competent-batting dullards. Jacques Kallis is a little better than competent, of course, although he’s a dullard in more
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