25th Match - New Zealand v South Africa

[thundaboult]

Also, this was Kane's first world cup 100! Took 3 tournaments but what a way to open the account. A big one against a game team in a high pressure scenario. Congratulations to him

 

[StephenZA]

I think when it's 31 needed off 30 or 26 from 24 you really want a big over, to allow for a low-scoring over or to lose a wicket later. But... they also were facing Miller, Rabada and Ngidi at that stage while knowing Phehlukwayo had to bowl one more over. So it got tighter than we'd like but ultimately, it worked.

That would have been impressive.... been needing an extra bowler.

I thought the closeness of that total which was clearly below par IMO indicated that SA did very well to keep it close, but based on the mini match I'm watching they're a complete mess in the field. Dear me.

South Africa have been garbage all world cup. NZ has excellent ground fielding skills, but have made a bit of a habit of dropping some dollies in recent seasons.

SA have been fielding poorly for a lot longer than this WC. Lost some great slippers and our in-fielding is not what it once was, doesn't help to have an ageing team. Sad considering when we re-entered the international cricketing arena it was our fielding and discipline more than anything else that made us competitive.

 

[straw man]

Special mention to Lockie, its so heartening to see the quickest guy stand up like this. Bond must be proud. I had a feeling he would have a good tournament and he is. The fast bowling junkie in me would love to one day see Kuggelejin, Lockie and Milne in the same New zealand attack. And to be honest, it will probably will happen if our selectors do the wise thing and decide to rest the likes of boult. Santner or Henry in some random odi series against sri lanka or whatever.

Ferguson has been fantastic. Aside from getting the last over of SA's innings last night slightly wrong he's been threatening all WC and surprisingly economical too. I'm also giving him the 'takes wickets at the other end' prize based on nothing but a guess that it somehow helps De Grandhomme and Santner.

That would have been impressive.... been needing an extra bowler.

I may be onto something here.
But yeah, meant Morris obv.

 

[The Hutt Rec]

That missed runout chance from Miller was awful. This kind of **** happens so often in general where players make the throw look much more difficult to handle than it actually was. Any half decent fielder should've taken that cleanly and run KW out by a yard.

Just have to focus and watch the ball all the way into your hands, you’ll pretty much never miss. Amazing the amount of fielders that will flail their arms down and look to the sky in that situation.

 

[Bahnz]

There was a post match session in the studio with Styris and Pietersen seems like there had been a bit of needle going on between them. When Styris said he felt this was a far from perfect display by NZ and thought they should have been less nervy in rhe chase, KP sort of latched on to this and went on quite a bit about how NZ aren't really in the same ballpark as Eng/India/Aus: which may be true, except his thesis was essentially "you've got Rohit, Buttler, Finch, Kohli, Maxwell etc striking at 120,and here you have Kane striking at 76, is KW capable of striking at 120?" which was missing the point completely.

It's not a totally unfair point to make though. You look back at Kane's batting since the last world cup, and while it's been good, his strike rate has generally been stuck in the low 80's. He's a great player to build an innings around, but the fact that he can't really be relied on to take a game by the scruff of the neck when we're chasing 300+ is a definite limitation. Even Taylor has the same problem (albeit to a lesser extent). We really need Guptill to find top gear as he's the one batsman we have who can really murder opposition bowling lineups when on song. Without him, the team is kinda reliant on the bowlers to defend scores in the 280 and under range, which might b e a big ask if the weather dries out in the last couple weeks of the tournament.

 

[MrPrez]

Surprised we haven't seen the C word come out more frequently regarding yesterday's performance.

Sure, we weren't in the driver's seat, but we made so many unforced errors in the crucial moments of the game - it was like we didn't want to win.

 

[StephenZA]

Surprised we haven't seen the C word come out more frequently regarding yesterday's performance.

Sure, we weren't in the driver's seat, but we made so many unforced errors in the crucial moments of the game - it was like we didn't want to win.

Choking requires unexpected errors, not standard this is normal errors.....

 

[Heboric]

Surprised we haven't seen the C word come out more frequently regarding yesterday's performance.

Sure, we weren't in the driver's seat, but we made so many unforced errors in the crucial moments of the game - it was like we didn't want to win.

Dont worry there has been

 

[Neil Young]

That missed runout chance from Miller was awful. This kind of **** happens so often in general where players make the throw look much more difficult to handle than it actually was. Any half decent fielder should've taken that cleanly and run KW out by a yard.

Yeah, it looked bad, but apparently the throw deviated off the wicket. Hit foot marks.

 

[Neil Young]

It's not a totally unfair point to make though. You look back at Kane's batting since the last world cup, and while it's been good, his strike rate has generally been stuck in the low 80's. He's a great player to build an innings around, but the fact that he can't really be relied on to take a game by the scruff of the neck when we're chasing 300+ is a definite limitation. Even Taylor has the same problem (albeit to a lesser extent). We really need Guptill to find top gear as he's the one batsman we have who can really murder opposition bowling lineups when on song. Without him, the team is kinda reliant on the bowlers to defend scores in the 280 and under range, which might b e a big ask if the weather dries out in the last couple weeks of the tournament.

I actually think Kane has it in his locker to strike at 120 if need be. But maybe he can't do it without risks, in the way say Kohl can, so refrains more often that not. But including Maxwell in the conversation is stupid. Munro can strike at 120 for 10 balls a la Maxwell. Why not include him? Pietersen.

 

[Neil Young]

Choking requires unexpected errors, not standard this is normal errors.....

Do you think the Kolpak lark is taking its toll? I wanted SA in the mix.

 

[stephen]

The thing you have to realise about Pieterson is that he's an absolute wanker.

 

[StephenZA]

Do you think the Kolpak lark is taking its toll? I wanted SA in the mix.

I don't think it has helped but I think their is underlying issues at FC beyond that; partly quotas, partly poor administration and coaching. But ultimately every team goes through its ups and downs hopefully the some of quality players coming through go on to be another generation of greats. They are there.

 

[Bahseph]

Can't choke when you are being outplayed. I don't think there's been a game where SA have been in a position of complete dominance. It's just been poor with some occasional fight. Rassie has earned my respect though. Been watching him domestically for years and I always thought he was limited, but he just knows how to play to his strengths.

Congratulations to New Zealand. KW is a joy to watch. Even though we lost I enjoyed the contest. Just need to get Munro out of the top order and hope CGD can bowl the bulk of that fifth bowler quota and there's some hope of a second final.

 

[Neil Young]

I don't think it has helped but I think their is underlying issues at FC beyond that; partly quotas, partly poor administration and coaching. But ultimately every team goes through its ups and downs hopefully the some of quality players coming through go on to be another generation of greats. They are there.

That's good to hear. I like SA cricket. And I also thought Faf was so gracious when he spoke yesterday. He's a great spokesman for you guys.

 

[Heboric]

That's good to hear. I like SA cricket. And I also thought Faf was so gracious when he spoke yesterday. He's a great spokesman for you guys.

Yeah I am a big fan of Faf, it will be sad to see him go. Just think South Africa could have lost him as well

 

[StephenZA]

That's good to hear. I like SA cricket. And I also thought Faf was so gracious when he spoke yesterday. He's a great spokesman for you guys.

Faf has been a good captain at a difficult time. It is sad to see this poor WC performance become part of his small legacy, deserved better.

 

[Burner]

There was a post match session in the studio with Styris and Pietersen seems like there had been a bit of needle going on between them. When Styris said he felt this was a far from perfect display by NZ and thought they should have been less nervy in rhe chase, KP sort of latched on to this and went on quite a bit about how NZ aren't really in the same ballpark as Eng/India/Aus: which may be true, except his thesis was essentially "you've got Rohit, Buttler, Finch, Kohli, Maxwell etc striking at 120,and here you have Kane striking at 76, is KW capable of striking at 120?" which was missing the point completely.

Kane played the right innings for that situation and wicket, we saw enough times it wasn't a walk-in-and-score-from-ball-one kind of deck (though CdG's innings was a freak exception). You needed one guy to stay in and guts it out. While I don't think it was a perfect innings (he struggled to pick the gaps on many occasions and ate up a lot of unnecessary dots), strike rate was the least of anyone's concerns really.

The SR issue is a bit relevant though. My issue is that the game should never have got that close with the position NZ was in. In the end, the final over was bowled by Phehlukwayo and credit to Kane if he believed in himself to capitalise on that but you have to acknowledge that in those final 2 overs the game could have easily gone sideways for NZ.

 

[Flem274*]

kanes sr is usually fine without being outstanding, but the reason he has been our 3rd best odi batsman this cycle is because he's the king of 70 (75). taylor and guptill make teams pay when they get in and score a big one.

seeing kane get through his random dips and score the match winning ton is promising.

 

[Mike5181]

I know he's not in the best ODI form but it is weird how much Kane's SR has dropped off a cliff in the last year or two. He used to be a mid to late 80s player.