*Official* Sri Lanka in South Africa 2011/12

[Heboric]

Ok well assuming SL collapse to Steyn and Philander tommorow morning, here are my series marks out of ten:

SL

Pirana - 3 Failed totally and was correctly dropped
Thirimanne - 4 Also Failed but has eaten up slightly more time this test
Dilshan - 1 ****e batting, one fifty in the series and has lost the series by inserting SA in the third test, can GAGF
Sanga - 6 scored a century but too many failures tbh
Mahela - 4 Similar but no century. Should be under pressure for his place.
Sam - 8 Has proved his doubters wrong and shown real guts this series.
Matthews - 6 Bright sparks here and there but disappointing
Silva - 3 did nothing
Chandimal - 8 Definite plus for SL, looks a quality long term prospect
Perera - 1 Abysmal. Should not be playing test cricket.
Herath - 6 Is definitely a test quality spinner, has done about as much as could be expected from him.
Welegedara - 7 First SL seamer to take a five wicket haul since Malinga I think. Step in the right direction for SL.
Fernando - 5 Bowled a few good spells, and a few ****e ones.
Prasad - 4 Potential but hasn't acheived anything this test so can't give him anything more than 4.


SA
Smith - 1 Overrated, untalented, fat **** who can't bat anymore and needs to go. Bring in someone fresh ASAP.
Rudolph - 3 Failed as an opener, could make a comeback in the middle order though.
Virus - 9 Brilliant return. Should never have been dropped.
Amla - 6 has looked great almost every innings but hasn't gone on at all. Perhaps a bit unlucky.
Kallis - 7, for his amazing performance this test. Shame about the pair.
ABD - 8 Great series with the bat for him, sparkling knock this test.
Prince - 2 was terribad and deservedly dropped
Boucher - 1 Can't score runs, and now can't keep either. Same boat as Smith, is a dinosaur taking up a place merited by a younger man. Needs to GAGF.
Philander - 10 Peerless.
Steyn - 9 Not as good as Philander.
De Lange - 8 Not as good as Steyn.
Morkel - 6 Not as good as De Lange.
Tahir - 7 Epic celebrations. Much better than Harris.

So basically you have to average at least 55 as a opener or be considered rubbish.

So does that mean the English openers are rubbish as well?

 

[NasserFan207]

Yes.

 

[Briony]

I'm biased against Smith, have never liked him tbh. I agree Rudolph has been fortunate. Would have given RR a chance in the middle order personally.

But you wax lyrical over Clarke who's traditionally been ordinary under pressure and who has failed at #4. Agree Rudolph was lucky to be retained and the jury's out on him but at least he's opened. AB has certainly profited from moving down the order.

 

[NasserFan207]

I don't 'wax lyrical' over Clarke. Doesn't change the fact that his triple was a great innings. Get over it you moody ****

 

[Prince EWS]

Bahaha Mahela under pressure for his place

Well if they can drop Samaraweera when they did....

 

[Black_Warrior]

Yes.

 

[Black_Warrior]

wow there are hardly any South Africa fans on this forum...this thread hardly moves.

 

[Spikey]

busy boning chix

 

[Flem274*]

I will laugh if Sri Lanka pull a miracle draw out of the hat here.

 

[Xuhaib]

or SA chokes chasing 87 for the series win.

 

[Athlai]

I'll accuse them of black magic.

PEWS to go on about how it was Samaraweera who was the victim of black magic etc. etc. WAC

 

[Briony]

or SA chokes chasing 87 for the series win.

Especially after declaring in the first innings with only four down. Of course it's a long time between drinks in terms of winning a series at home. Their bowlers are making heavy weather of this.

 

[smash84]

Ok well assuming SL collapse to Steyn and Philander tommorow morning, here are my series marks out of ten:

SL

Pirana - 3 Failed totally and was correctly dropped
Thirimanne - 4 Also Failed but has eaten up slightly more time this test
Dilshan - 1 ****e batting, one fifty in the series and has lost the series by inserting SA in the third test, can GAGF
Sanga - 6 scored a century but too many failures tbh
Mahela - 4 Similar but no century. Should be under pressure for his place.
Sam - 8 Has proved his doubters wrong and shown real guts this series.
Matthews - 6 Bright sparks here and there but disappointing
Silva - 3 did nothing
Chandimal - 8 Definite plus for SL, looks a quality long term prospect
Perera - 1 Abysmal. Should not be playing test cricket.
Herath - 6 Is definitely a test quality spinner, has done about as much as could be expected from him.
Welegedara - 7 First SL seamer to take a five wicket haul since Malinga I think. Step in the right direction for SL.
Fernando - 5 Bowled a few good spells, and a few ****e ones.
Prasad - 4 Potential but hasn't acheived anything this test so can't give him anything more than 4.


SA
Smith - 1 Overrated, untalented, fat **** who can't bat anymore and needs to go. Bring in someone fresh ASAP.
Rudolph - 3 Failed as an opener, could make a comeback in the middle order though.
Virus - 9 Brilliant return. Should never have been dropped.
Amla - 6 has looked great almost every innings but hasn't gone on at all. Perhaps a bit unlucky.
Kallis - 7, for his amazing performance this test. Shame about the pair.
ABD - 8 Great series with the bat for him, sparkling knock this test.
Prince - 2 was terribad and deservedly dropped
Boucher - 1 Can't score runs, and now can't keep either. Same boat as Smith, is a dinosaur taking up a place merited by a younger man. Needs to GAGF.
Philander - 10 Peerless.
Steyn - 9 Not as good as Philander.
De Lange - 8 Not as good as Steyn.
Morkel - 6 Not as good as De Lange.
Tahir - 7 Epic celebrations. Much better than Harris.

Great post but the last line is just dire.

Tahir looks like a tool (or a fool) running around celebrating like that when he mostly bags tailenders

fwiw I do hope that Tahir succeeds at the int'l level after all the hard yards that he puts in. It is just that his celebrations are a little OTT

 

[KungFu_Kallis]

or SA chokes chasing 87 for the series win.

That crossed my mind too actually. I'm more worried about a bowler (i.e. Philander) breaking down because of SA bowling 200 overs in a row thanks to the follow on. Nice one biff....

 

[Himannv]

Well if they can drop Samaraweera when they did....

There are a fair number of people who don't rate Samaraweera as highly as they should (plenty on this forum as well). Mahela on the other hand is the best batsman in the country and has been for a long time. Its much harder to drop players like him and Sanga. Who do you bring in if you take out your best player?

 

[Prince EWS]

There are a fair number of people who don't rate Samaraweera as highly as they should (plenty on this forum as well). Mahela on the other hand is the best batsman in the country and has been for a long time. Its much harder to drop players like him and Sanga. Who do you bring in if you take out your best player?

Well you could leave Chandimal in when Prasanna came back...

I wouldn't drop Jayawardene right now either, but it'd make heaps more sense to do so than dropping Samaraweera did.

 

[KungFu_Kallis]

Great post but the last line is just dire.

Tahir looks like a tool (or a fool) running around celebrating like that when he mostly bags tailenders

fwiw I do hope that Tahir succeeds at the int'l level after all the hard yards that he puts in. It is just that his celebrations are a little OTT

It may be OTT but it's pure entertainment value (unless you're an opposing team supporter then you would want to shoot the dude)

As for his place in the team, I think all he needs is Smith to get a clue about using him.

1. Bring him on to bowl at the first not the last opportunity e.g. after 15 overs. Think of how Warne was handled - no he's not Warne but even Warne had to start somewhere and was expensive in the beginning.

2. Don't have 3-4 fielders in the deep as soon as he comes on, how the hell is he going to build pressure on a batsman with easy singles like that. he is going to bowl the odd 4 ball, that's the price of more wickets, live with it.

3. Can they really go back to paul harris/botha or some other more defensive spinner now? How do they move forward from there? NZ is a great chance to build his confidence and get some scalps under the belt in not-altogether-different conditions from England, where I believe his true value will be seen. He will definitely be the wild card and potentially the difference between the 2 teams assuming SA don't do their clown act with the bat

 

[Jarquis]

Oh Vern, u so fine

 

[KungFu_Kallis]

P.s. Tahir not selected for the 1 day side??? that's just dire selection. He's been WAY more successful at ODI's thus far, and even his List A stats are better than his first class. Am I the only one going wtf ffs to that one?

 

[KungFu_Kallis]

Angela Mathews review