***Official*** Pakistan in South Africa

[haroon510]

wow asif beat ntini by some numbers in average in the series. they both had similer figures. i think the key for Sa's wining was ntini and some support from other fast bowlers like of pollock, nel and styn. for the most part of the series asif had no support at all from other fast bowlers but still manage to get a figure like this. amazing stuff.

asif
3 matches 19 wickets with best bowling figure of 5/76 and average of just 18.47.

Makhaya Ntini
3 Matches 19 wickets with best bowling figure of 6/59 and average of just 18.68.

 

[tooextracool]

Nel would miss out for Steyn. You forgot Kallis as a bowling option.

Yeah pretty much, Nel would play as 12th man IMO. However on a green pitch id be tempted to play Nel ahead of Harris.

 

[tooextracool]

Nel is a better bowler though. I'm baffled.

Have you watched Steyn bowl recently? For that matter have you watched Nel bowl recently? Nel on his day can be quite menacing but hes been extremely inconsistent of late. Steyn bowls outswingers at 90mph and is surprisngly quite accurate for someone of his pace. If he keeps it up he is quite likely to trouble most batsmen around the world.

 

[tooextracool]

His performances since Australia (away) would suggest otherwise. Nel loses the plot far too often and if he bowled at Cape Town, chances are with his current line and length I.e. here, there and everywhere, South Africa would have been under the cosh and the target would have been far greater than it was.

Say what you will about Dale Steyn but his out bowled Andre Nel for the past twelve months quite easily. It’s unfortunate that Dale has had a long standing injury problem but his performance in the last test match were admirable considering the lack of cricket he has had since September. And any guy who can swing the ball at 145kph is highly valuable and considering South Africa do not have a plethora of swing bowlers available to them, Steyn is an important part of their test development.

Hes also only 23 i believe, certainly the one to look to for the future. for our resident South Africans are there any other promising young fast bowlers in the land? Morkel doesnt count(not purely as a bowler at least)

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Have you watched Steyn bowl recently? For that matter have you watched Nel bowl recently? Nel on his day can be quite menacing but hes been extremely inconsistent of late. Steyn bowls outswingers at 90mph and is surprisngly quite accurate for someone of his pace. If he keeps it up he is quite likely to trouble most batsmen around the world.

No denying that Steyn has massive potential. I've thought so since his indifferent showing against England a couple of years back. But I'd still pick Nel ahead of him because Nel has done a decent job for longer. Yes, his most recent form is questionable, but Steyn too has the tendency to be devastating or horrible. I suppose the fact that Steyn at his best is more menacing than Nel is a good point though.

 

[shortpitched713]

This loss against South Africa has shown Pakistan a few things that they'll need to keep in mind until they play Test cricket again.

First of these is that Shahid "I peaked ten years ago" Nazir and Mohammad "I leak runs for fun" Sami are not Test class. Far from being innocuous, these guys were actually quite detrimental to our cause when it mattered most. I've said it for a while now, but Nazir really can't be in our plans if we're looking to the future. He was good enough against the West Indies, but when faced with a quality batting lineup he was unable to cope with a calculated assault. Sami's failure has just confirmed what many of us have known about him for a long time. Bowl in the same zip code as the off stump and we'll call you back man.

We also need our allrounders back. A couple allrounders in the middle order will surely help shore up our batting depth, especially with the woeful form of Kamran Akmal, and their bowling can be no worse than the dross served up by Sami and co. The strength of these players is their versatility, and lacking the quality specialist middle order/opening bat and fourth and fifth good/fit bowlers their ability to fill in the gaps will be most crucial in our future Test success.

 

[tooextracool]

No denying that Steyn has massive potential. I've thought so since his indifferent showing against England a couple of years back. But I'd still pick Nel ahead of him because Nel has done a decent job for longer. Yes, his most recent form is questionable, but Steyn too has the tendency to be devastating or horrible. I suppose the fact that Steyn at his best is more menacing than Nel is a good point though.

Steyn has actually been pretty consistent of late. Since his return hes been brilliant in almost every series. Even in SL he was the pick of all the SA bowlers. the only problem is his fitness. Nel on the other hand has done very little outside of the odd series here and there.

 

[tooextracool]

This loss against South Africa has shown Pakistan a few things that they'll need to keep in mind until they play Test cricket again.

First of these is that Shahid "I peaked ten years ago" Nazir and Mohammad "I leak runs for fun" Sami are not Test class. Far from being innocuous, these guys were actually quite detrimental to our cause when it mattered most. I've said it for a while now, but Nazir really can't be in our plans if we're looking to the future. He was good enough against the West Indies, but when faced with a quality batting lineup he was unable to cope with a calculated assault. Sami's failure has just confirmed what many of us have known about him for a long time. Bowl in the same zip code as the off stump and we'll call you back man.

We also need our allrounders back. A couple allrounders in the middle order will surely help shore up our batting depth, especially with the woeful form of Kamran Akmal, and their bowling can be no worse than the dross served up by Sami and co. The strength of these players is their versatility, and lacking the quality specialist middle order/opening bat and fourth and fifth good/fit bowlers their ability to fill in the gaps will be most crucial in our future Test success.

honestly i say this a lot, but why isnt Asim Kamal given as many chances as someone like Imran Farhat or Faisal Iqbal. He clearly is a superior player and there is no question about his dedication to the team. i agree with you on shahid nazir though, he doesnt have the requisite pace to succeed in intl cricket or the variety for that matter. an attack of Akhtar, Asif, Gul, Kaneria with Shabbir at 12th could be about as potent as any other in the world IMO.

 

[shortpitched713]

honestly i say this a lot, but why isnt Asim Kamal given as many chances as someone like Imran Farhat or Faisal Iqbal. He clearly is a superior player and there is no question about his dedication to the team. i agree with you on shahid nazir though, he doesnt have the requisite pace to succeed in intl cricket or the variety for that matter. an attack of Akhtar, Asif, Gul, Kaneria with Shabbir at 12th could be about as potent as any other in the world IMO.

Question of the series in mine and many other people's opinion.

 

[Pup Clarke]

Asim Kamal 12 Test matches Average:37.73 0 Centuries and 8 Half Centuries
Faisal Iqbal 18 Test matches Average:25.76 1 Century and 5 Half Centuries


8 Fifty's in 12 Test Matches and he can't get into the side.Seems a strange one to say the least.

 

[FRAZ]

honestly i say this a lot, but why isnt Asim Kamal given as many chances as someone like Imran Farhat or Faisal Iqbal. .

tooextracool ,you are politically correct and on fire for the past two days !

 

[FRAZ]

8 Fifty's in 12 Test Matches and he can't get into the side.Seems a strange one to say the least.

For what I see is that he is a far better player than these stats and for me he is a little better in technique than Neil Mckenzie . What he lacks is a bit more upper body strength !

 

[Pup Clarke]

Why are you talking about Neil McKenzie when I'm talking about Asim Kamal?

 

[TT Boy]

One-day squad- Graeme Smith (capt), Jacques Kallis, Loots Bosman, Mark Boucher, AB de Villiers, Herschelle Gibbs, Andrew Hall, Justin Kemp, Charl Langeveldt, Andrè Nel, Makhaya Ntini, Robin Peterson, Shaun Pollock, Ashwell Prince, Roger Telemachus.

Twenty20 squad- Graeme Smith (capt), Shaun Pollock, Loots Bosman, Gulam Bodi, AB de Villiers, Justin Kemp, Albie Morkel, Robin Peterson, Roger Telemachus, Alfonso Thomas, Johan van der Wath, Morne van Wyk.

Decent outfits though I’m surprised Loots is still in the ODI reckoning, a given in the 20/20 format but surely if you looking for quota selections, Alviro Petersen and JP Duminy would be the more wiser of selections. Also can’t see why Roger Telemachus is ahead of Alfonso Thomas, his the sort of guy who could really damage a Pakistani top order whilst old Roger has struggled royally so far this season (averages over 250 with the ball in SuperSport).

 

[PhoenixFire]

lol @ Robbie P

 

[TT Boy]

lol @ Robbie P

Anyone better? Also Pakistan have made worse spin bowlers look good over the years (Michael Yardy, Jamie Dalrymple...).

 

[Pup Clarke]

Robin Peterson 15 wickets@58.8
This is the best spinner SA have?

Anyone Better?.What about Paul Harris who looks like a half decent spinner and is certainly better than Robbie P

 

[aussie]

Bosman isn't international quality, one bad series in the CT doesn't make Dippenaar a bad player definately a crazy selection & Telemachus over Van der wath is marginal as well, i would have gone for Johan since i believe he can really be a top ODI player on his day.

I would have been tempted to pick Harris in the ODI squad over Peterson. Whats up with Botha by the way?

But this idea of picking players because of race & thus sacrificing top players is just crazy, ICC should look into that seriously IMO.

 

[Pup Clarke]

Think Botha was called for throwing so probably will have to remodel his action.Agree with you about Harris and what is Telemachus doing there.Would much prefer Dippenaer over Bosman.

 

[gunner]

all the pakistani batsmen have to do in 20/20 is see off pollock and then run amokum pacers who bowl length balls and a line up of

imran nazir,
shoaib malik,
afridi,
razzaq,
rana would just eat them up