**Official** South Africa in Bangladesh

[James90]

He must buy those awards honestly. How he can get MOTM for 5/55 when Shahadat took 9/97 is astounding. Furthermore he's a batsman and failed miserably in that discipline.

 

[NUFAN]

Love it. I'll bookmark that link for the next time some Afridi-loving imbecile tries to tell me Kallis isn't a match-winner.

It's a very impressive achievement for Kallis and he is probably the most important cricketer in the world, but when he wins the award for being the second or third best player in the match it helps out Kallis a bit.

Steyn got 7/75 for the match, with 6 of the wickets top order batsmen.

Not saying Kallis wins man of the match often like this.

 

[TT Boy]

Bangladeshi coach, Jamie Siddons fearing the worse in Chittagong - "I don't see us beating South Africa unless some sort of miracle occurs."

Also Siddons on Dale Steyn…

"I think Dale Steyn is already the best opening bowler in the world. He ripped us apart in the second innings with 150 km/h outswingers or inswingers to the left-handers.”

“When your batsmen are out of confidence and having to play against Dale Steyn, Morne Mørkel or Makhaya Ntini, that is a tough assignment. The pressure they transmitted is too much for our batsmen at the moment. Their bowlers were just too good for our batsmen.”
“We don't have a 150 km/h outswing bowler for the batsmen to practise against. They go from playing for their clubs in the National League to trying to take on the best fast bowler in the world.”

http://www.supersport.co.za/cricket/article.aspx?headline=`Steyn%20is%20world`s%20best%20fast%20bowler`&id=245694

 

[Top_Cat]

Siddo showing his fear of express bowlers a little too openly there. Was pinged by Merv Hughes in the early 90's when he first started playing for SA and was never the same player. Before that point, he was rated the best player in Australia to have not played any Test cricket but after that, his play against pace bowling meant that he was never going to get a go in the Test side.

Watch him back away to Rackemann here at around 48 seconds;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v/dVjKtMHgOI0

And, worse, here at about 6:50

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v/XPg_pEZ-HoI

Was an awesome player of spin and Mark Waugh's equal as a fielder.

 

[Jono]

I'm slightly angry that Kallis got MoTM.

Kallis fails in both innings making 17 and 5 and takes 5/30 with 4 of the wickets being tail enders, while Hossain makes 0* and 1* (almost as good as Kallis scores) and 6/27 and 3/70.

So basically Shahadat Hossain was robbed.

Yeah agreed here.

And TT Boy, just the other day Sanga was given MOTM in a match where India beat Sri Lanka.

And who is the person that thought Kallis would break the record for runs in a 2 match series on this tour?

Still love him though. When he gets those outswingers going they're kickass.

 

[pup11]

Bangladeshi coach, Jamie Siddons fearing the worse in Chittagong - "I don't see us beating South Africa unless some sort of miracle occurs."

Also Siddons on Dale Steyn…

"I think Dale Steyn is already the best opening bowler in the world. He ripped us apart in the second innings with 150 km/h outswingers or inswingers to the left-handers.”

“When your batsmen are out of confidence and having to play against Dale Steyn, Morne Mørkel or Makhaya Ntini, that is a tough assignment. The pressure they transmitted is too much for our batsmen at the moment. Their bowlers were just too good for our batsmen.”
“We don't have a 150 km/h outswing bowler for the batsmen to practise against. They go from playing for their clubs in the National League to trying to take on the best fast bowler in the world.”

http://www.supersport.co.za/cricket/article.aspx?headline=`Steyn%20is%20world`s%20best%20fast%20bowler`&id=245694

WTF? Is Siddons out of his mind, his team is understandably not the best in the world but to say we are dead and buried in the next game and how scared we are of Steyn is simply dire, yeah all of the things he is mentioning are practical and in probability would come true, but to publicly accept such things doesn't show great character on his part, if he so scared why doesn't he just go ahead and his team to forfeit the game, it would save everyone some time!

 

[Protean]

Looks like Graeme Smith will not be playing in the ODI series, and as vice-captain Prince isn't in the ODI squad, it will be interesting to see who captains the side. Supersport suggests it is likely to be Neil McKenzie or Hashim Amla, seems unlikely that Amla would captain though as he has never played an ODI

Mark Boucher will also rest before the Indian series, with AB taking over the wicketkeeping.

http://www.supersport.co.za/cricket/article.aspx?headline=McKenzie new Proteas captain?&id=245788

 

[Prince EWS]

seems unlikely that Amla would captain though as he has never played an ODI

Well, with Smith and Boucher resting, there will be an opening or two in the batting lineup, so it's possible I guess. McKenzie isn't in the ODI side either though so it's a strange pair to throw up.

 

[Protean]

Well, with Smith and Boucher resting, there will be an opening or two in the batting lineup, so it's possible I guess. McKenzie isn't in the ODI side either though so it's a strange pair of figures to throw up.

I guess, they probably want McKenzie to get as much international practice as possible before India though, and maybe they were planning for him to play in the ODI squad against WI too before he got injured? Anyway at least he has quite a few under his belt, so think it would be better for him to do it than Amla. Don't know what the other options would be.

 

[TT Boy]

SuperSport is now reporting that Graeme Smith will stay and that the players likely to be returning home are Kallis, Boucher and Ntini (alongside non-ODI players Amla and Prince).

Incidentally, according to IOL this maybe the last tour for a few of the South African players, after it has emerged that the government minister Butana Komphela wants certain members of the squad to be instantly dismissed (namely Smith and Prince, who strangely is also a South African selector whilst the team is on tour), after they 'tentatively' threatened strike action earlier this month.

Komphela was the same man who said last year that the Springbok side may have their passports confiscated if the side did not meet transformation guidelines, so maybe one should take this soundbite with a pinch of salt, considering what happened there but interesting story nevertheless.

http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=6&click_id=17&art_id=vn20080227035938434C694970

 

[Protean]

Yeah saw that on the news last night. Man that guy is a jackass. He said people who are angry with Norman Arendse, and who are looking for him to be replaced, are "racists". This whole situation is so depressing and crazy.

Edit: "We are committed to having a free and fair South Africa without fear -- we don`t want to create a Kenya or a Zimbabwe here -- but there is a section of the community that pushes us to the limit and tries to make us regret what Nelson Mandela has done for this country, and we don`t want to regret that," said Komphela.

That quote is really quite scary.

 

[TT Boy]

Yeah it’s bollocks, last time I checked Gerald Majola and the guys who run Gauteng and the various other cricketing union are ‘black’ and they are the very men who want to get rid of Arendse. The matter of race and the composition of the side seem to be a mere smokescreen, for the real heart of the matter is to settle old scores and obtain more political clout.
I mean Arendse really couldn’t give two ****s about transformation, for his idea of that is sticking a guy who went to Bishops in the side.

Also, I would not pay much attention to Butana Komphela ‘soundbites’, only three years ago he accused Archbishop Desmond Tutu of ‘treason’.

 

[andruid]

-- we don`t want to create a Kenya or a Zimbabwe here --

I resent that

Someone should really seal his mouth with tape

Back to the cricket so whats the verdict for the second test. Any bets Bangladesh will not be blown away completely?

 

[cricman]

I resent that

Someone should really seal his mouth with tape

Back to the cricket so whats the verdict for the second test. Any bets Bangladesh will not be blown away completely?

I think Bangladesh will avoid Innings defeat and if they Bat first they'll cross the 300 run barrier.

 

[Protean]

Amla and Harris to possibly play in their maiden ODI's, having been included in the squad, we could see Harris and Botha together in a game, be interesting.Philander returns to the squad, along with Alviro Peterson, who last played in 2006. I know Peterson's two games were against Zimbabwe, but he did decently, does anyone know why he hasn't played since? Hope he does well.

Anyway the squad now includes six players of colour, hopefully this will keep Arendse off their backs.

Squad
Graeme Smith (capt), Herschelle Gibbs, AB de Villiers (wk), JP Duminy, Alviro Petersen, Hashim Amla, Albie Morkel, Vernon Philander, Paul Harris, Johan Botha, Morne Morkel, Dale Steyn, Charl Langeveld, Andre Nel

 

[cricman]

Bashar is dropped whoooooo!

Ashraful and Rahim to bat up in the order, can't waste Rahim @ 8 even tho he is struggling and you won't get the maximum potential from Ashraful @ 5 (you usally never do thats a different story). Chittagong is Batsmen paradise for the 1st 3 days. I hope Bangladesh wins the toss else we might see a 650/4d type innings from South Africa.

 

[Magrat Garlick]

Bashar is dropped whoooooo!

Unceremonious, but deserved. And Rajin in too, good.

 

[Woodster]

Having not passed 50 in his last 19 innings it was only a matter of time before the dreaded axe fell upon him.

 

[NUFAN]

Bashar has had a decent career for the Bangas.

Not the worst captain/batsmen there's been. He'd be slightly ahead of Ken Rutherford I feel.

 

[TT Boy]

Couple of personal records the South Africans should achieve in this test...
Firstly, Graeme Smith will lead South Africa for the 54th time in tests, the most by a South African.
Secondly, Dale Steyn needs only three more wickets for 100 test wickets and if he achieves it during the test he will be the quickest man to a 100 test wickets since Waqar Younis did it way back in the early 90s. Waqar similarly to Steyn also had a rather 'mundane' start to his test career, so it will be a remarkable achievement for Steyn.
And finally, Makhaya Ntini needs only one more wicket to surpass Allan Donald’s record for test wickets and become South Africa’s second leading wicket taker of all-time.