*Official* South Africa in West Indies 2021

[StephenZA]

SA imploding to recent type.

 

[TT Boy]

Mayers could get a 10fer here.

 

[honestbharani]

Wowww

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

What a freaking game this test cricket is!

The greatest feelings evoked.

 

[Bijed]

Good day for bowlers called Kyle, apparently

 

[TT Boy]

Great catch.

 

[TT Boy]

Brathwaite not had the best series. Unnecessarily bowled himself and Chase 1st innings and now only two slips for Rabada and where is Mayers?

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

At least two days to make ~300

come on

 

[Beamer]

Well I'm very pleased with our bowling attack. The difference between the two sides is not the quality of bowling which is roughly the same, but the fact that De Kock and Elgar played key knocks.

Can we find it within us to do the same? I doubt it but at least we can dream for one evening which is not what I expected when play started this morning!

 

[GotSpin]

There's a chance at least now

 

[nzfan]

Keeping an eye on this series. Turning out to be a good test match this. Don't know what the pitch is doing but with the recent experiences of chasing west Indies a reasonable shot here

 

[Beamer]

Keeping an eye on this series. Turning out to be a good test match this. Don't know what the pitch is doing but with the recent experiences of chasing west Indies a reasonable shot here

Excellent cricket pitch with bounce and movement for pacers. Both sides with quality pace bowling and questionable batting. I'd argue Proteas batting is slightly better than ours and that will be the difference.

 

[Beamer]

On a separate topic, I'm just about done with Shannon. He keeps playing when barely 50% fit and it feels like he is robbing someone like a Nial Smith, Chemar Holder, Anderson Phillip or Keon Harding of a chance.

Enough is enough, he needs some time off and to get himself fit. The most natural fit for his enforcer role is Nial Smith, but we're not short of talent.

 

[Flem274*]

if gabriel is half fit then surely you bring in chemar holder. he looks a serious talent.

 

[GoodAreasShane]

Chemar is injured iirc

He is most certainly an absolute gun though

 

[StephenZA]

As much as its nice to be talking about how to improve the Sa and WI bowling attacks... we really should be talking the giant elephant in the room of how poor the batting is. Outside QDK no batsmen has really shown top quality this series.

 

[Beamer]

As much as its nice to be talking about how to improve the Sa and WI bowling attacks... we really should be talking the giant elephant in the room of how poor the batting is. Outside QDK no batsmen has really shown top quality this series.

Not an unfamiliar problem for us since losing Shiv, Sarwan and Gayle alas. As an occasional watcher of SA cricket it seems like a relatively recent phenomenon for you though.

I just don't see anyone in this generation of West Indian batsmen who can be truly Test class outside of Hety and Pooran who for differing reasons are not playing enough red ball cricket and our selectors don't have the brains to innovate. For the foreseeable future we will rely on high quality pace bowling and individual innings to win us tests.

 

[Beamer]

if gabriel is half fit then surely you bring in chemar holder. he looks a serious talent.

It depends on the role. Chemar is awesome but I don't see him as a Shannon like enforcer, more a very skillful seamer who bowls the occasional hostile spell.

Shannon plays a very specific role in bowling hostile spells when the chips are down and providing the pace to push batsmen back. I'd say the most like for like replacements are either Nial Smith, a fit Oshane Thomas (unlikely!) or a Keon Harding.

Or we could just decide that pure pace isn't that important and have an attack of highly skilled seamers like Roach, Jason, Mayers, Chemar and Seales. At least we have options with the bowling.

 

[Starfighter]

So what's the chances of WI folding like deck of cards? I like seeing Mayers picking up wickets with his mediums, the Dukes ball certainly gives him a lot to work with.

 

[Beamer]

So what's the chances of WI folding like deck of cards? I like seeing Mayers picking up wickets with his mediums, the Dukes ball certainly gives him a lot to work with.

The only hope I have is that we are randomly awesome at 4th innings chases. But all the on field evidence thus far indicates we will be out for under 200 by tea.