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****Official****Pakistan in South Africa

kykweer.proteas

International Debutant
:blink::blink::blink:

After Azhar Ali he has seemed the most dependable batsman in the side (I know that doesn't mean much :p but still)
I'm not saying he is a bad batsman overall, but he is just looking bad in this match, pushing at the ball, not using his feet, its like we have a chance every ball.
 
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ankitj

Hall of Fame Member
Morkel looks pretty innocuous compared to his other partners. What happened to Merchant de Lange? Can get a chance ahead of Morkel.
 

Гурин

School Boy/Girl Captain
Morkel looks pretty innocuous compared to his other partners. What happened to Merchant de Lange? Can get a chance ahead of Morkel.
Morkel could fall in the category of players doing not great, but also not bad enough to be dropped. Just like batsmen averaging 40 in great teams are rarely dropped (and we'll never know if Stuart Law or Badrinath would have been better than them), same could be said for a bowler averaging around 30 in this SA side.

It goes without saying that half the teams around the world would give an eye to have him, but he may be really blocking someboy better behind him (as it was with Philander) even if, from what I've seen with Kleinveldt, apart from De Lange (who was recently injured, stress fracture, missed a few months) there's nobody pushing strongly for the third seamer place.

When he'll be back, he'll have to wait for the inevitable Philander injury to get his chance.
 

protea_fan

Cricket Spectator
Morkel has never been one to take a bunch of wickets, his role is more of a chaotic one, they use him to unseat batsmen and keep them from settling.

You have steyn bowling out swingers from one side, philander bowling off stump from the other, then morkel coming in with uneven bounce and kallis with a heavy ball. The wicket taking focus is mainly on philander and steyn who bowl accurately, Morkel is mainly there to cause havoc and keep batsmen from settling. and he is great at doing that. Ofcourse morkel does get wickets, but the focus is not on him to continuely do that, as long as he is bouncing balls everywhere and keeping the batsmen unsettled SA will be happy. Morkel and Kallis are a BIG reason why this bowling combination is so lethal. As a batsmen its hard enough facing steyn and philander and when they finish their spells morkel gets sent in and you have bouncers flying everywhere and ducking at every third ball. As a batsmen you constantly under fire and dont get to relax and settle yourself. Kallis is well known for breaking partnerships. so all in all you have the almost perfect attack and you have a descent spinner to use while bowlers rest or pitch is dead.

Right now Pitch is dead, ball is not swinging... perfect batting conditions, altho i doubt Pakistan will even get near the required total.
 
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popepouri

State Vice-Captain
He is playing for 8 years now.
Amla = 8 years
Smith = 12 years
Kallis = 17 years

Some decent openers at the time too like McKenzie and Peterson.

Edit: Thinking about it again, if this statistic is to indicate that he's a freeloader, it's just ****ing stupid, especially for someone who averages 50.

1) AB opened the innings for 20 test matches.
2) He had a poor run of form up to 2008.
3) The top order clicked in 2008 which would have limited the amount of situations that this would have occured.
4) Most importantly, it doesn't take into account the match situation. He comes in no. 5 which at times is requested to accelerate the innings. For today's match, Smith could have declared much earlier which would have contributed to miserable statistic.
 
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protea_fan

Cricket Spectator
Look at recent performances, that should answer all your questions.

He got 169 against australia, 107 against the cobras, 67 against newzealand, 51 against new zealand, and 103 against pakistan. these figures are all recent Nov 2012 to Jan 2013.

Against the last 4 teams he has played he got 3 tons and 2 half tons. that within a 2 month period ( now compare to bells recent performances ). not bad at all for a number 5 batsman, no other teams number 5 has the same recent stats. and he plays wicket keeper as well.

One of his greatest strengths is to bat both fast or knuckle down and play the anchor role. he can score at more than a run a ball or sit all day and put away only the bad balls. in a test its a rare quality as most players play only one or the other. its not everyday that anyone can simply switch roles when commanded to do so and do it as good.
 
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smash84

The Tiger King
so Pak end the day at 183/4.

So will Pak make 300?

Secondly, will Pak roll over by lunch tomorrow.

I hope at least tomorrow's day is completely washed out
 

Agent Nationaux

International Coach
I thought that Shafiq and Misboobs batted really well today. The new ball tomorrow will be extremely tough but if they can get through that then I think we have a chance to get near the total.
 

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