South Africa v India

axe2grind

Throw the bat for last 3 balls and be a hero for life......but this is not T20

He does but misses.

axe2grind

Wow a draw, 8 runs in it at the end.

Beasty

Maybe neither team deserved to lose, but I think SA missed a great opportunity to go down in history.

Davei141

Gutless stuff from SA management.

dfx-

Davei141 wrote: »

Gutless stuff from SA management.

Considering they were 146/6 in the first innings, I'll take it.

Rjd2

They bottled it, shame because they had a monumental chance to create history.

Still will probably win the second test assuming they don't play Tahir.

booth70

Great test until the last 3 overs....I can understand both teams wanting to protect a loss but pretty bizarre scenes in the end....Philander refusing to take singles and Dhoni having every one out on the fence with the tail in

Sad thing is bcos this ended in a draw nobody'll remember it in a few months time.....one of the teams had to take a chance and win it in the end for this test to go down as a classic

Of the two captains I'd say Graeme Smith would be the more disappointed one while Dhoni will think he got out of jail after the way AB and Faf were going

Still considering that India were given no chance before the series I'll take the draw:)

Dirty Dingus McGee

What a load of bollocks.I may not be the biggest cricket fan in the world but I enjoy a good game.Is the cowardice shown at the end not the major reason test match cricket is losing its appeal somewhat.

dfx-

As I said before, there was nothing with the bat beyond Steyn, yet Dhoni didn't chase it either with no slips and everyone on the boundary. He also gravely under used Shami.

I do wonder who made the decision, Steyn looked furious at the end, but at whom.

booth70

Dirty Dingus McGee wrote: »

What a load of bollocks.I may not be the biggest cricket fan in the world but I enjoy a good game.Is the cowardice shown at the end not the major reason test match cricket is losing its appeal somewhat.

Agree pretty spineless from both teams in the end:mad:

As for test cricket losing its appeal couldn't disagree with you more there.....what greater advert for test cricket than have a test match go into the last over on the 5th day with all four results possible:)

Skid X

Hard not to feel underwhelmed at the conclusion, after a great day's cricket.

I know SA had their reasons to play conservatively at the end, but the six off the last ball was like a tease.

It was the third highest fourth innings total in Test Cricket

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/records/222199.html

Davei141

dfx- wrote: »

Considering they were 146/6 in the first innings, I'll take it.

dfx- wrote: »

As I said before, there was nothing with the bat beyond Steyn, yet Dhoni didn't chase it either with no slips and everyone on the boundary. He also gravely under used Shami.

I do wonder who made the decision, Steyn looked furious at the end, but at whom.

Philander and Steyn would have won that match 9 times out of 10 if they weren't shackled by gutless management. 16 runs needed with 3 wickets in hand in 3 overs, it didn't even require reckless batting just ones and twos. If one of steyn or philander get out then sure take the draw and block. Such a great test match let down at the end. I don't blame the fans for booing.

Dirty Dingus McGee

booth70 wrote: »

Agree pretty spineless from both teams in the end:mad:

As for test cricket losing its appeal couldn't disagree with you more there.....what greater advert for test cricket than have a test match go into the last over on the 5th day with all four results possible:)

It was a great match but the end was just so frustrating.

dfx-

Davei141 wrote: »

Philander and Steyn would have won that match 9 times out of 10 if they weren't shackled by gutless management. 16 runs needed with 3 wickets in hand in 3 overs, it didn't even require reckless batting just ones and twos. If one of steyn or philander get out then sure take the draw and block. Such a great test match let down at the end. I don't blame the fans for booing.

I think you're massively overestimating Steyn with the bat, but he is at least better than Tahir who is a genuine 11.

Had either Steyn or Philander got out, India had it. These were the last two that SA had some control/say in the game and it's understandable that SA were prepared to go for it until Faf got out.

booth70

India 'won' the draw
South Africa 'lost' the draw

Match result - Drawn

From 20/2 in the first hour of the test match, India did better than expected and SA should have have won it from 402/4 in the last hour

All to play for in Durban

Davei141

dfx- wrote: »

I think you're massively overestimating Steyn with the bat, but he is at least better than Tahir who is a genuine 11.

Had either Steyn or Philander got out, India had it. These were the last two that SA had some control/say in the game and it's understandable that SA were prepared to go for it until Faf got out.

I think you are seriously underestimating him, he is well capable of playing shots and winning the game. He has came into those situations a million times before in the IPL. It was only 16 runs in 18 balls, its not like they had to sky a few shots, they just needed to hit some singles. Saying that if Steyn or Philander got out that India would have won is a cop out. I'm sure Tahir and even an injured Morkel are capable of blocking a few deliveries.

axe2grind

It seems the shame of loosing is greater then the glory in winning, so the fear in loosing took over.

With a 2 test series, a loss here meant no chance of a series win and that is the biggest prize.
But Steyn proved a point with the last ball!

To refuse the singles in the penultimate over was astonishing.

booth70

For somebody who burst on to the scene in 2008 with that superb 160+ in Australia , Duminy's regression has been astonishing.........he's only played 20 odd tests since and looks out of sorts now at the Test level......Philander looks a better no: 6 than Duminy does

Rjd2

booth70 wrote: »

For somebody who burst on to the scene in 2008 with that superb 160+ in Australia , Duminy's regression has been astonishing.........he's only played 20 odd tests since and looks out of sorts now at the Test level......Philander looks a better no: 6 than Duminy does

Their is talent their but so often when needed he fails, he loves batting when runs on the board and he smashes associate bowlers like nobody, but everyone knew he would fail today.

Do you remember his innings at the 2011 world cup and more recently the Champions Trophy in England, bottled it.

Anyways it was poor from South Africa, one of Steyn and Philander should have backed the other to see it out if either got out. Tahir is poor with the bat but its not asking the world asking him and Morne to block a few balls.

Also Dhoni leaving Shami off for so long?

booth70

India was one bowler lite today bearing in mind Ashwin is pretty much useless outside the subcontinent and if he can't take any wickets on a 5th day pitch does not belong in the team

Dhoni had to juggle his pacers around all day and got it wrong with Shami in the end

Don't know what the pitch in Durban is like but if it dosen't take any spin India need to cast aside Ashwin and go in with either Yadav or Kumar

Royale with Cheese

Was following this on twitter, shaped up to be an amazing end. Then they batted out the last two overs for a draw, I couldn't believe what I was reading. I don't care what kind of batting came after the two at the crease, not going for the win was absolutely criminal. The chance to chase down the highest total in test history and to get that close and not even try, just pathetic. Even if they only had one wicket left I'd have been pissed off at what happened, but with 3 in hand? Mental stuff.

dfx-

Philander picked up his 100th wicket in the 2nd innings and overtakes Dale Steyn as no 1 bowler:cool:

Rjd2

Royale with Cheese wrote: »

Was following this on twitter, shaped up to be an amazing end. Then they batted out the last two overs for a draw, I couldn't believe what I was reading. I don't care what kind of batting came after the two at the crease, not going for the win was absolutely criminal. The chance to chase down the highest total in test history and to get that close and not even try, just pathetic. Even if they only had one wicket left I'd have been pissed off at what happened, but with 3 in hand? Mental stuff.

I do agree they should have gone for it but in the cold light of day am not as annoyed as I was yesterday. Tahir is a genuine number 11 whose confidence was shot, lets not forget AB bowled before him ffs. I wouldn't trust him to keep out a ball, and it depends on how much pain Morne was in. Morne can bat but if he was struggling to stand then he like Imran may not be trusted to see of an over.


Next test in Durban, time for the spinners to step up. Do India try and crow bar in Jadeja?

booth70

Rjd2 wrote: »

Next test in Durban, time for the spinners to step up. Do India try and crow bar in Jadeja?

If the track takes spin India should drop Ashwin and go in with Jadeja......Ojha is the other spinning option instead of Ashwin but that will weaken the batting

On another note was just watching the highlights of Day 5 ( again!....the quality of batting was so good I had to see it again!!)....While I am happy India escaped with a draw, I would not have been entirely unhappy if SA had nicked it in the end!!... SA really did miss a great chance to go down in history.....if they had won they would have been worthy holders of a unique record of chasing down both the highest ODI score and highest 4th innings Test score.....and both on the same ground.... What an achievement that would have been

Rjd2

It would be really harsh but maybe Rahene for Jadeja? India need a fifth bowler and Jadeja is no mug with the bat.To early to drop Ashwin.

booth70

http://www.espncricinfo.com/southafrica/content/current/story/703801.html

Kallis calls it a day......

Surely must be ranked as one the best batsman and probably the best all rounder to have graced the game

Strange that he wants to play on in the ODI's.....but would be a glittering end to a great career if he was to help SA win the WC 2015

dfx-

Best cricketer certainly in my lifetime, bat ball and field. Slip catching, 200 catches I think, 10,000 runs and 250 odd Test wickets

Rjd2

Obviously impossible to replace, but should South Africa go for a pure batsman like De Kock, Elgar or Roussow or hope someone like Mc Claren or Morris can do a job?

Shame Duminy is regressing so badly as he could have been a feasible fifth choice bowler.

booth70

India 181/1 bad light stops play.....Vijay 91* and Pujara 58*....

Certainly not the type of scores I expected India's top order to make when they left India a few weeks ago and after the battering in the ODI's

Hopefully I haven't put the mockers on him but probably a career defining innings from Vijay.....he'll be happier with this knock against an attack of this quality rather than the 2 big hundreds he made against Australia at home earlier in the year

Crying shame that this a 2 test series only....it'll be all over in a few days

booth70

......and while 91,000 people turn up on Boxing day in Melbourne about 91 people turn up in Durban and this only a few days after the greatest drawn test match in history

Is test cricket going down the drain in SA like it is in India?