*Official* South Africa Tour of Sri Lanka 2018

[Borges]

No wonder the BCCI have given Afghanistan so much support.

They are true visionaries; in yester years, they had given vociferous support to - actually championed - the cases of Sri Lanka and Bangladesh too.
Shortsighted people thought that these were moves designed to garner votes in the ICC.

 

[Shady Slim]

tbh have u really played international cricket if u haven't been to sri lanka and been beaten by a sincerely worse team because herath came and flipped off father time yet again

 

[StephenZA]

Could SA use Elgar/Markram more as a 2nd spin option? Maharaj is so good that I don't know if it's imperative to play another front-line spinner (instead of a batsman). SA are such a fragile batting unit at the moment

Its a consideration; but the problem is that the extra batsmen are not quality enough particularly against spin to make that decision easy. Shamsi bowled well first innings, Maharaj was off his game, bowled much better second innings. The big disappointment for me was not that we lost in difficult conditions its that we played so poorly in the second innings... pitch was nowhere near that bad.

In a way it is very similar to the Durban test against Aus, we played poorly that Test but Markram came out 2nd innings and showed some backbone which led to better performances in the rest of the series... here we have no time to get into the groove, combined with the fact that SA just were poor with the bat, we will have no confidence this next test.

I honestly think this is the best team we could have put on the field; maybe Klaasens in for QDK on form.

 

[Migara]

SAF don't need to change much. May be another seamer or a batsman for Shamsi. Elgar has to do fifth bowlers work. SL will do the same, they might drop Sandakan for Lahiru Kumara and let DdS / Dhanushka Gunathilaka bowl as the fifth bowler. If Mathews was fit enough would have been a piece of cake.

 

[YorksLanka]

SAF don't need to change much. May be another seamer or a batsman for Shamsi. Elgar has to do fifth bowlers work. SL will do the same, they might drop Sandakan for Lahiru Kumara and let DdS / Dhanushka Gunathilaka bowl as the fifth bowler. If Mathews was fit enough would have been a piece of cake.

agree. for me kumara has to come in as I don't think SSC will offer as much assistance to the spinners as Galle..

 

[Bolo]

Yes. That's when maximum support for bowlers. This is of course, in the event of typical SSC slow, low featherbed.

Interesting. Seems strange for it not to offer more to the spinners as the game goes on. Sounds like a real featherbed.

 

[marc71178]

SAF don't need to change much. May be another seamer or a batsman for Shamsi. Elgar has to do fifth bowlers work. SL will do the same, they might drop Sandakan for Lahiru Kumara and let DdS / Dhanushka Gunathilaka bowl as the fifth bowler. If Mathews was fit enough would have been a piece of cake.

Angelo Mathews the bowler is a myth. So overhyped.

 

[morgieb]

Angelo Mathews the bowler is a myth. So overhyped.

He only needs to be to bowl about 5-10 overs a day for it to work in Sri Lanka.

 

[Heboric]

Shamsi going home

https://www.sport24.co.za/Cricket/Proteas/blow-for-proteas-as-shamsi-returns-to-sa-20180716

Looks like a family issue

 

[StephenZA]

Shamsi going home

https://www.sport24.co.za/Cricket/Proteas/blow-for-proteas-as-shamsi-returns-to-sa-20180716

Looks like a family issue

Sad to hear, hope everything turns out alright...

 

[Stefan9]

Sad for him.

Probably good for von berg.

 

[Maximas]

Angelo Mathews the bowler is a myth. So overhyped.

He's handy at best, can build a bit of pressure from one end but rarely took wickets. Was actually quite useful in ODIs a few years back

 

[Mr Miyagi]

He's handy at best, can build a bit of pressure from one end but rarely took wickets. Was actually quite useful in ODIs a few years back

As a test bowler he is rubbish unless the pitch is nibbling around. He is often overbowled when a quicker seamer would be a better choice (like when he opens the bowling for a full spell and the ball isn't nibbling around).

As an ODI and t20 bowler, he is more than useful, he is more than handy, he is underbowled. He steals away overs up the top and in the middle and is very economical.

 

[trundler]

Whatever happened to Kulasekra?

 

[TheJediBrah]

He was never really that good. Was briefly successful in ODIs though right after they brought in the 2 new balls (controlled the swinging ball beautifully). Had some decent batting form a few years back as well.

Just couldn't really consistently perform.

 

[Daemon]

I recall him having a really good ODI series in Australia around 2013. There was some hope being built around him and Prasad(?) iirc at the time.

 

[TheJediBrah]

I recall him having a really good ODI series in Australia around 2013. There was some hope being built around him and Prasad(?) iirc at the time.

Yeah that was 2011/12, Ponting's last series. Tri series with India. (might have come back in 2013 as well though)

He had a few spells in the 2011/12 series that were unplayable, was swinging the ball around corners, one game at Brisbane had Aus like 7/50

 

[YorksLanka]

he has never been the same since he did his hammy..shame as he gave balance to the team as a the fifth bowler..

 

[randycricfreak]

SA's best chance is to give Klassen a go.

Maybe instead of playing Von Berg play Klassen. That way they've got 3 pacers and a spinner which is a decent combo at SSC.

SSC won't turn like Galle and is usually the best for batting in the country.

Q.De Kock looks so out of form. But knowing how talented he is, or at least norm among the critics he won't be dropped for sometime in the Test team.

SL on the other hand should look to bat long hours. Bats were pretty mediocre apart from Dimuth.

I would love to see SL winning the series 2-0, though imo this will be a closely contested one.

As far as SA are concerned this is a good learning curve for their batsmen.

 

[Maximas]

Yeah that was 2011/12, Ponting's last series. Tri series with India. (might have come back in 2013 as well though)

He had a few spells in the 2011/12 series that were unplayable, was swinging the ball around corners, one game at Brisbane had Aus like 7/50

You're actually thinking of January 2013, but he was also strong in the 2011/12 tour with the Indian tri-series. He took 5/22 when Australia was bowled out for 70 odd and also helped them win a couple of matches, he was bowling the hugest inswingers I've ever seen.

Truth is that he was only really relevant at test level at home where he could get a bit of swing and nip with the new ball, and if the ball wasn't swinging he was not a threat, and this state of affairs pretty much ended his ODI career also.

If he was good enough to bat 7 he might have extended his career somewhat, but he lacked consistency, certainly had the #talent though