*Official* India in South Africa

[vcs]

The point is SA already have two scary bowlers. They just need two decent bowlers and they are easily the best bowling attack in world cricket. The good news for other teams is they are obviously struggling at the moment with that.

Yeah, that was more the point I was trying to make. Though TBF I'm not sure Morkel has proven himself enough outside of SA. Steyn is a definite ATG in the making though.

 

[smash84]

Beat me to it again, I was just about to say that. Aside from the all-time great sides (West Indies, Australia), every side in history has had some weakness or the other.

lol.....true.....i can't think of other attacks with 4 great bowlers.

 

[smash84]

Yeah, that was more the point I was trying to make. Though TBF I'm not sure Morkel has proven himself enough outside of SA. Steyn is a definite ATG in the making though.

definitely ATG. Might even put him above Waqar.

 

[Dissector]

Anyway how many chances is Raina going to get? He averaged 7 against New Zealand for crying out loud. Do they want him to average 0.7 in this series before they drop him. I don't think Pujara would have scored heavily but playing in these conditions would have been such a great experience for him.

 

[vcs]

lol.....true.....i can't think of other attacks with 4 great bowlers.

Pakistan and SA attacks in the 90's were very good.. very few weak links there.

 

[smash84]

Pakistan and SA attacks in the 90's were very good.. very few weak links there.

yeah but they didn't have 4 great bowlers together at one time. Waqar was declining very quickly by 99 when shoaib was coming in. And mushie was getting bad when saqi was coming in.

 

[vcs]

Yeah.. but you only need your third seamer to "do a job" when your frontline bowlers are that destructive.. think Kasprowicz/Stuart Clark.

 

[Prince EWS]

Yeah.. but you only need your third seamer to "do a job" when your frontline bowlers are that destructive.. think Kasprowicz/Stuart Clark.

Stuart Clark did a lot more than do a job. He was world class.

 

[smash84]

Yeah.. but you only need your third seamer to "do a job" when your frontline bowlers are that destructive.. think Kasprowicz/Stuart Clark.

true

 

[smash84]

Stuart Clark did a lot more than do a job. He was world class.

even kasprowicz was pretty good.

 

[social]

Yeah, that was more the point I was trying to make. Though TBF I'm not sure Morkel has proven himself enough outside of SA. Steyn is a definite ATG in the making though.

IMO, Morkel is the scariest bowler in world cricket and it's only a matter of time before he consistently gets the returns he deserves and assumes the no.1 mantle

I saw him play in the UAE vs Pakistan on a very flat deck and he didnt get a wicket but you could tell that all the batsmen wanted to get away from him

 

[Prince EWS]

how many teams have 4 scary bowlers vcs???? India would be very scary as well if they had 4 good bowlers.

He wasn't saying they needed four scary bowlers though. The point is that, as good as Steyn and Morkel are, their other bowlers aren't even Test standard. Even if they found bowlers the quality of Ojha and Sreesanth it'd improve their team markedly. If you ranked the specialist bowlers from the two teams in the series (ie. no Kallis) then South Africa would have two of the top three and then probably not see another bowler in the top ten. India aren't known for their bowling but I think Zaheer, Sreesanth, Harbhajan, Ojha, Sharma and Mishra are better than South Africa's change bowlers. I'm sure they'd gladly take Kartik or Chawla if they had the option too. Kallis is good but given his vital batting role he can't be expected to bowl the overs of a genuine first change and Lopsy, Harris, Botha, McLaren, Parnell etc aren't really up to it IMO.

 

[vcs]

Stuart Clark did a lot more than do a job. He was world class.

True, I remember how good he was in that tour of S. Africa where Australia won 3-0 and Ashes 06-07 where he was Australia's best bowler IMO. Why did he fall off the radar so suddenly?

EDIT : He's only 35 as well, could still be doing a job for them.

 

[social]

Are there any SA quicks on Kolpaks?

 

[Prince EWS]

True, I remember how good he was in that tour of S. Africa where Australia won 3-0 and Ashes 06-07 where he was Australia's best bowler IMO. Why did he fall off the radar so suddenly?

He had a few injuries and came back bowling fractionally slower. Still a good bowler but not quite what he was. He was scapegoated for the 2009 Ashes loss - I think they feared a repeat of the Gillespie situation more than anything. Captains NSW these days.

 

[social]

True, I remember how good he was in that tour of S. Africa where Australia won 3-0 and Ashes 06-07 where he was Australia's best bowler IMO. Why did he fall off the radar so suddenly?

Got injured, OZ won in SA which led to youth policy, didnt perform in his last test, sayonara

 

[Prince EWS]

Are there any SA quicks on Kolpaks?

Yeah - Johan Van Der Wath, Andrew Hall, Charl Willoughby, Andre Nel... don't think there are any young ones though.

 

[vcs]

Ridiculous really... he had the wood over Pietersen IIRC who was in pretty good nick as well. Australia could sure use him right now to guide some of the younger members of their attack even if he can't play every game.

What's a Kolpak BTW?

 

[NasserFan207]

The saffers who play county cricket somehow without qualifying as an overseas player. Usually they claim an English Great Uncle or something like that I believe.

And Tsotsobe isn't that bad, I still mantain that. Obviously he's nothing special but he can develop into a solid swing bowler given the chance.

 

[popepouri]

A bit harsh for Lopsy. He had an immense series in Pakistan. I'd give him one or two more tests to prove himself if he can't get his rhythm right in the 2nd innings. They have no valid replacements outside of Parnell who have potential.