*Official* South Africa in New Zealand

[_Ed_]

I believe the reason for McMillan not playing is that his wife is due to give birth to their first child in the next few days.

 

[Kent]

That's good - no McMillan to tan our trundlers' hides in the domestic final this week then. Harris, Papps and maybe Cairns could still play though apparently, which might be enough for a Fleming-less Wellington to really fight for its clinching draw.

If it was good enough for the Aussies in SL, they should've joined SA in resting key players from in this dead rubber today and maybe play that final instead, which would be an ideal warm-up for a test series.

I have to go up past Hawke's Bay today anyway I've decided to go up early and maybe stop for the day. Seeing our established bats taking to Nel or Peterson could still be tempting, plus watching Harry for maybe the last time live.

 

[Langeveldt]

Nel or Peterson

The difference in ability is absolutely astronomical... And they should not be mentioned in the same breath...

 

[Kent]

C'mon Langeveldt - how long do we have to wait for him to perform down here! What does he actually do when he's on top of his game? Swing it, top 150k's, use a compass?

Nice call on Smith's girlfriend Minki van der Westhuizen by the way. She'll only be adding to Napier's attractions in that department. Generally girls can actually work on tans up there, so I better get on the road.

 

[Langeveldt]

C'mon Langeveldt - how long do we have to wait for him to perform down here! What does he actually do when he's on top of his game? Swing it, top 150k's, use a compass?

Nice call on Smith's girlfriend Minki van der Westhuizen by the way. She'll only be adding to Napier's attractions in that department. Generally girls can actually work on tans up there, so I better get on the road.

Well he made Brian Lara look like a fool a couple of times... He made the ball move around at 140-150kph and was SA's biggest find of the summer.. I will reserve judgement as to why he isnt impressing until i see the highlights on Sky...

Lucky you having Minki in Napier... Although I rate Trish Pollock slightly more... who is probably around too...

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

I'll back up Langeveldt somewhat here in that Nel did bowl superbly against the WI, but he only made Lara look totally out of sorts with the odd delivery.

 

[Tim]

South Africa in deep trouble already...15/3.

Kallis got a poor decision, much like Fleming's in game 5.

 

[Tim]

20/4...ridiculous cricket from S.A

Rudolph just gifted a catch straight to Marshall at point.

 

[Tim]

Mason & Tuffey have been superb though...probably the best opening sequence of bowling from a NZ pair in some time.

I'd probably prefer to see Mason in ahead of Mills on a more consistent basis because he bowls such a consistent line & length.

 

[Tim]

Man, I can't stand Ashwell Prince's technique...he's wofting his bat all over the place just before the ball gets to him.

 

[Tim]

Well this is just awesome line & length bowling...29/5 this time it's Boucher.

The crazy thing is that there's has hardly been any seam movement.

 

[Neil Pickup]

Look, South Africa, maybe after the fourth catch backward of square on the offside you would learn something?

Nope. Bye Bye Boucher...

 

[thierry henry]

Ok, I have a complaint, which is likely to be laughed off but I think is important. Why can't we finish teams off? SA were 29/5 today, and 40/6. They should have been all out for 70. Ditto Pakistan at Napier this season, and India on a whole host of occasions last season, but it never happened. Do I need to remind anyone of Australia (80odd for 6) in the VB series, or Australia (80 odd for 7?) in the World Cup? It seems like all the players start patting themselves on the back at 40/6 and go through the motions from there.

 

[thierry henry]

Surprise surprise. Nitin has come out and smoked us all over the park for his highest ever ODI score. It would be a lot funnier if it didn't happen so often.

 

[Isolator]

I predict a batting collapse.

 

[Token]

I like this
3.4 Ntini to Fleming, no run, forward, defends to the off
where in fact it should have been more like
3.4 Ntini to Fleming, no run, short ball Fleming tries to pull but makes no contact and the ball hits him on the body
Black Caps 38/0 after 5 overs...:O Chasing 380 or 180?

 

[thierry henry]

I don't care if we do win this one, our performance since having them 40/6 has been embarrassing. The two highest ever 10th wicket partnerships against us have come in consecutive matches at the same ground. And, after being 38/0 off 5, Stephen Fleming decided it would be nice to give a 7 over exhibition of how to deadbat every ball, and then get himself run-out. Is it asking to much for Fleming to get more than pretty 30s, if he's in such "great form"?

 

[Tim]

I had to go to Uni at 45/6 so I didn't see what happened but NZ seemed to have relaxed too much.

Fleming's dismissal was poor...even though he's batting well, sometimes he gets too lazy.

 

[Tim]

I don't really think its necessary to start going mental at the NZ team...afterall they are 4-1 up in the series & really should be 5-1 by this evening.

 

[thierry henry]

I'm not "going mental", because on the whole we are playing good cricket. However, it is frustrating to see us doing the same stupid things game after game for years and years. We play some cricket which is frankly bizarre. Over the last 3 seasons, when we have regularly knocked over opposition teams top orders quite cheaply, we have let the opposition teams back into the game over and over and over again. An unusual amount of opposition lower order batsman have career highs against us (Saqlain Mushtaq test century anyone? Andy Bichel 64?). Stephen Fleming continues to make no more than one good score per series, and we never seem to be able to play a full match at the peak of our powers (which is admittedly rare for any side). We are always having huge ups and downs, even in the course of one game. For instance, we managed 38 of 5 overs today, and quite suddenly, Papps and Fleming decided to block everything and score 13 off 7. This kind of thing happens far too often.