***Official*** New Zealand tour of Zimbabwe and South Africa 2016

[BeeGee]

Guptil? WTF?

 

[Prince EWS]

The worst thing to come out of the Zimbabwe tour was Guptill 'earning' himself a run as the sixth bowler. Kane is so much better.

 

[Marius]

No indication of anything like that in the national setup yet... lots of (political) talk but so far everybody pretty much picked on merit.

I agree, was being facetious.

But funny things do happen in our cricket from time to time.

 

[StephenZA]

Excellent session from NZ... well weathered in the end by Faf and Bavuma. Hopefully SA can take advantage of 3rd session and score some runs.

 

[91Jmay]

Yeah NZ controlled that session beautifully after the key wickets. SA need one of these two to ton up, but credit to them for being there and building a partnership. Good test match bubbling along nicely.

Santer's first few overs look really hard to watch but after he settled down he landed them nicely.

 

[Marius]

Nobody quite knows what the pressures really are at national level. My opinion is that if they can they must play 6 with 2 black players... but if there is a good reason not to, then they will be allowed 5 players of colour. I think the targets will be looked at across T20, ODI and Test level in totality... which would make it much easier.

Ostensibly CSA has been banned from bidding for international events because they missed the goal of having 60% of the players in the side be from previously-disadvantaged backgrounds, you need seven of the XI to be PDIs to meet the 60% target.

 

[StephenZA]

Ostensibly CSA has been banned from bidding for international events because they missed the goal of having 60% of the players in the side be from previously-disadvantaged backgrounds, you need seven of the XI to be PDIs to meet the 60% target.

Yes... but nobody knows exactly how that target is actually calculated? Is it based on the last team, the test team or overall across the formats. If so then the ODI where we played 8 players of colour on merit creates good opportunity... This is why I think they will look at a total objective rather than match to match. It is also why I can see players of colour getting the nod in dead rubbers... but this is only my opinion because no official explanation has been given just rumours.

 

[Marius]

Yes... but nobody knows exactly how that target is actually calculated? Is it based on the last team, the test team or overall across the formats. If so then the ODI where we played 8 players of colour on merit creates good opportunity... This is why I think they will look at a total objective rather than match to match. It is also why I can see players of colour getting the nod in dead rubbers... but this is only my opinion because no official explanation has been given just rumours.

Exactly, nobody knows. Just shows you that this racial bean counting is garbage anyway.

And with regard to the rumoured unofficial quota about having to have two black Africans in the XI, we are going to be in the pooh, when Rabada breaks down. There's nobody who is Test quality at the moment. Ramela, could maybe plug a gap for a few Tests but he's not a solution. There are some young guys coming up, like Phehlukwayo, but nobody is ready for Test cricket.

 

[Starfighter]

That's a way to start off.

 

[Starfighter]

'You'll never question Neil Wagner's heart'. Is Wags the new Peter Siddle?

Edit: 'You'll give him the ball and he'll run in all day'.

 

[BeeGee]

Faf is an lbw candidate with the ball coming in to him.

 

[BeeGee]

'You'll never question Neil Wagner's heart'. Is Wags the new Peter Siddle?

He does tend to run in all day.

 

[Starfighter]

I wonder when commentators will learn that being short isn't a disadvantage as far as batting against short-pitched bowling is concerned.

 

[91Jmay]

Amazing catch. Superb from Williamson. Faf scores an extremely slow start and gets out yet again. Absolutely average player.

 

[BeeGee]

That's a blinder.

 

[Starfighter]

Kane! Great catch.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Terrific catch. I think QdK's got this, though.

 

[Starfighter]

23 off 84. Sure the bowling was good in the middle session, but that's far too slow.

 

[Meridio]

KW is so good in the gully. Actually made that catch look routine, was an absolute blinder though.

 

[91Jmay]

23 off 84. Sure the bowling was good in the middle session, but that's far too slow.

Patted back so many half volleys, and even full bungers off spinners.