2 minute read A friend of ours once played the finest bum note we’ve ever heard while performing Eric Clapton’s Wonderful Tonight at a wedding. It was the very last note and it only sounded so marvellously hideous because he’d played everything flawlessly up until that point. That’s how to get something wrong.
Continue readingCategory: South Africa
Mop-up of the day – runs down south
2 minute read After day-night Tests, the latest innovation in the ongoing Australia v New Zealand Test series has been additional opponents. Sri Lanka and the West Indies have been drafted in to keep things fresh, but they couldn’t tip the balance. Australia still had marginally the better day. New Zealand would have
Continue readingHashim Amla practises his forward defensive
< 1 minute read Facing his 46th delivery, Hashim Amla inside-edged the ball past his stumps and into space. Trawling through his memory banks, he happened upon the correct course of action and moved his body up to the other end. With the ball still enjoying a rare moment of liberation, he then jogged
Continue readingSouth Africa batsmen defy both expectations and the Delhi pitch
< 1 minute read There were many who felt that presented with a flatter pitch, South Africa might actually make a few runs during this Test series against India. In Delhi, they have been presented with precisely such a thing. However, these Saffers are made of stern stuff. They refused to bow to expectation
Continue readingKyle Abbott, ones and zeros
< 1 minute read As the old joke goes, there are only 10 types of people in the world. Those that understand binary and those that don’t. It’s not the best binary code joke in that it’s an actual joke and makes actual sense. We much prefer it when the punchline’s the bit in
Continue readingWho says Tests are supposed to last five days?
< 1 minute read We’ve always been of the opinion that a Test can last up to five days and that if all of that allotted time is required, things haven’t really panned out correctly. Others see it differently. We often see comments of the oeuvre ‘a Test is supposed to last five days’
Continue readingIs a turning pitch a bad pitch?
< 1 minute read In our book, all pitches are acceptable unless they result in boring cricket. For what it’s worth, our book is entitled The Book of Unarguable Facts. Some dude in Mohali has curated a cracker (curators curate, yes?) for the first Test between India and South Africa. Flat on a seamer’s
Continue readingHat-tricks are handy
< 1 minute read This and other insights in our latest piece for the Mumbai Mirror which is about the South African team, why it’s good and why it’s bad. For all that the Saffers have some great batsmen and a strong pace attack, there’s also another version of the side that’s fragile with
Continue readingPakistan, AB de Villiers, wickets and jeopardy
< 1 minute read Cricket needs jeopardy. Jeopardy makes things exciting. You have jeopardy in a tournament – the chance of being knocked out – and lo, the match is exciting. Something is riding on it. Tension’s good. You have jeopardy in an innings – the chance of being bowled out – and you
Continue readingHow bad can a fifth bowler be?
< 1 minute read This appears to be South Africa’s thinking after picking only four proper bowlers. It should present a vulnerability, but when you then make 408, you find you have a certain amount of breathing space – perhaps even enough that you could field Jade Dernbach and still harbour reasonable hopes of
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