***Official*** South Africa in New Zealand 2012

[Mike5181]

Oram's wearing glasses! He must be intelligent and insightful.

I'd take him over McMillan in commentary any day!

 

[wellAlbidarned]

I'd take him over McMillan in commentary any day!

Haven't heard much of him as a commentator/analyst, yet to judge. Won't take much to beat Doull and co though.

 

[Briony]

Oram's wearing glasses! He must be intelligent and insightful.

Oram thinks that bowling was the right move. Given that the pitch is a batting pitch, if the sun is out tomorrow, it could be a huge advantage to the kiwis if they get to bat in more favourable conditions. de Villiers, Amla and Kallis are easily SA's best batsmen so they will be hoping that they don't see the new ball.

Looks very chilly for early autumn.

 

[Briony]

Steyn isn't really a "bounce" bowler so that's a poor call imo.

Morkel is though. de Lange is but obviously they've preferred Tahir who may not get anything out of this pitch given that the cooler conditions will help bind it. From memory Vettori hasn't really starred against SA either so it could be a seamers' match.

 

[Mike5181]

Martin looks gentle so far.

 

[Immenso]

If, conditions are good for bowling today. SA only need to survive a few hours today and then cash in tomorrow under blue skys. NZ would need to cash in early or else the (possible) advantage is wasted.

If, conditions are not good for bowling today.Then no big deal either way. Pitch is brown. I'm just glad it isn't a forgone conclusion what the captains should do if they won the toss. Those sorts of pitches bore me.

SA should be glad they included Tahir rather than a 4th quick, as they will be bowling last (unless they win by an innings ..... )

 

[Mike5181]

No swing.

 

[wellAlbidarned]

Martin's bowling downwind, so there's no way he's going to get any swing. Seriously, how hard is that to figure out for the commentators?

 

[Mike5181]

No bowling speeds?

 

[wellAlbidarned]

Shocking for a match of this level.

 

[DingDong]

no swing guys

 

[Jacknife]

Man it looks cold out there, can't see that they'll be much swing, surely they'd know that from bowling on the practice pitches.

 

[wellAlbidarned]

Don't really understand why there wouldn't be swing in the cold. Judging from the super-slomos, I reckon their seam position is just a little too angled, but I'm not sure how much bearing that has.

 

[BeeGee]

Van Wyk is short.

Richardson's a 'tard.

 

[wellAlbidarned]

Smith vs left armer

round 1

 

[BeeGee]

Hmmm... why did taylor take Southee off after only 2 overs? Southee was bowling well.

 

[Jarquis]

Backing Smith for a big ton.

 

[Jacknife]

Very placid stuff the ball's hardly left the straight, a bit surprising, you'd think they'd be a little bit of something for the bowlers, I wonder how much difference the wind is having

 

[Jono]

Massive advantage to the kiwis winning this toss. You wonder if the match has been decided already as it sometimes is if one team receives a massive advantage with the prevailing conditions. NZ with four seamers looks to have a powerful line-up, especially with Tahir instead of de Lange weakening the SA bowling attack.

NZ must be super strong favourites. Smith will go early against Martin as he usually does against left-handers so it will up to the rest of the line-up to provide some steel.

They will be looking for Steyn and co. to bail them out if they get rolled for a low total.

Both teams have long tails.

*insert photo of Gambhir here*

 

[straw man]

No swing.

Yeah Boult desperately looking for some swing that is not there