*Official* Sri Lanka Tour of South Africa 2019

[TT Boy]

de Kock can’t get too excited here. Field is spread, not sure why, easy singles are available and Philander can hold a bat. Wicket is also looking fairly sedate with the old ball.

 

[trundler]

Bavuma was actually looking very good.... sad ending to a good little knock.

Story of his life.

 

[StephenZA]

Extremely tough and with a changing side.

Ford (Ireland & previously SA and Sri Lanka twice), Pybus (Windies), Arthur (Pakistan), a South African considered for the New Zealand job before the other guy go it.

* Also Shane Burger just got the Scotland gig. Been involved with SA A side after doing so well with KZN Inland.

Who would we go to next ? Maketa (think being assistant to Otis is a positive for him) , Prince, Boucher, Nkwe? Grant Morgan gets big raps at Dolphins but I've gone off him. Toyana, Adams and Klusener have fallen from their heights. Eric Simons just seems to do the T20 Gigs these days.

Rivash Gobind at the Warriors has done very well since taking over from Maketa.....

I have no idea who would come in next? Gibson was a bit of out of nowhere appointment for me. I can see Maketa getting the gig purely because of continuity and maybe he and Faf have gotten to know each other? Be interesting to see what happens after the WC.

 

[SeamUp]

Bavuma was actually looking very good.... sad ending to a good little knock.

In a spot of bother. The last thing you need is to get out the unluckiest way you can in cricket after Faf's dismissal.

 

[TT Boy]

Story of his life.

It’s a real issue for Bavuma as he has batted very well for a while now, played some significant innings but hasn’t got the big runs, so as soon as he does struggle, the knives will be out and you look at the sub 35 average and say that’s not good enough.

 

[SeamUp]

Sri Lanka have always had a pretty handy new ball attack tbh, can think of many times in overseas tours where we would get early breakthroughs, particularly in England and New Zealand, but would struggle to run through the side after that.

Haven't been watching but I had a feeling watching the Aus tour that Lakmal was incredibly important to the attack, and him being there providing control and some movement is what allows guys like Vishwa Fernando to flourish, keen to see how the spinner goes too, read the scorecard and saw Karunaratne bowling and thought they had gone for Chamika again, sad to say but I was actually glad that Dimuth was bowling.

Nice surprise this anyway, anyone able to explain what happened with Amla and DRS?

Amla struck in front with a slight in-swinger from Fernando. Given not out. Dimuth took approx 13 seconds to call for DRS and you just feel in real time there has been far slower responses by fielding side and Aleem said they had taken too long. Obviously only get 15 seconds according to the rules. It was out if it was reviewed.

 

[Maximas]

Looks good to the RH batsman this guy, lovely bit of drift, gets one to grip occasionally, gives it some air, keen to see what he can do back home

 

[Maximas]

**** that's a big breakthrough, Vern never got a chance to get going with Quinton getting all the strike, might keep this under 250 now

 

[TT Boy]

**** that's a big breakthrough, Vern never got a chance to get going with Quinton getting all the strike, might keep this under 250 now

South Africa would take that in a heartbeat and going by Sri Lanka's recent struggles, that's a big total.

 

[trundler]

And that's why Vern is a great #8 but not a good enough #7. Solid defence but not enough gears.

 

[SeamUp]

Kesh still has to bop the opposition spinner for 6...

One of the great test joys around.

 

[StephenZA]

Hopefully QDK and our bowlers dig us out of this hole.... and we end this 5 bowlers idea. Either we play Mulder or we don't stop stuffing around.

 

[Maximas]

Looks good to the RH batsman this guy, lovely bit of drift, gets one to grip occasionally, gives it some air, keen to see what he can do back home

Eh, looks like he gives a boundary ball an over though

 

[trundler]

5 bowlers is an amusing novelty for the rare occasion but it's a dumb plan in the long run.

 

[TT Boy]

Kesh still has to bop the opposition spinner for 6...

One of the great test joys around.

Probably in the top three players of spin in the South African setup. That alone tells you how ordinary the rest are.

 

[Dendarii]

and we end this 5 bowlers idea. Either we play Mulder or we don't stop stuffing around.

Agreed. Playing Mulder is the only way that we can get four seamers and a spinner in the side. I completely understand how tempting it is to play all four of the Steyn/Phliander/Rabada/Olivier, but it's just not worth weakening the batting to get all of them into the side.

 

[TT Boy]

5 bowlers is an amusing novelty for the rare occasion but it's a dumb plan in the long run.

Especially when all four pace bowlers average sub 25 with the ball, and we are in South Africa. It’s completely unnecessary.

 

[Dendarii]

Kesh still has to bop the opposition spinner for 6...

You can be almost certain that Steyn will have a go too...

 

[Maximas]

really need a deep point in unless Embuldeniya is trying to slide one through, Kesh only playing one shot here and getting full value

 

[Dan]

Looks good to the RH batsman this guy, lovely bit of drift, gets one to grip occasionally, gives it some air, keen to see what he can do back home

He looks the perfect SL domestic bowler, but I'm unconvinced by what I've seen in the 9 balls of him I watched.