Preview : South Africa's Tour of Australia

Australia vs South Africa. The last time we saw these 2 teams meet in a criminally short test series, we saw a scoreline of 21-9, we saw one of the finest counter-attacking innings in Test Cricket from Micael Clarke, we saw Hashim Amla at his graceful best and we saw the arrival of Patrick Cummins and Vernon Philander (Cummins working out Jacques Kallis and Philander’s exceptional control of the cricket ball are among the finest endorsements of Test Cricket).

Exactly a year after that series, South Africa will begin their first campaign as No.1 ranked test side in Brisbane. South Africa need to draw or win the series to retain the rankings, whereas Australia needs to win by any margin to reclaim their No.1 rankings, hence making them the 4th team to reach the throne in 2 years. All signs point to this being one helluva contest between two cricketing giants, one that just reached the pinnacle, and the other that fell down a few years back, but has done commendably well to climb its way back up, in spite of the numerous disappointments in between. A treat for the neutrals.

There are lots of key battles one needs to watch out for in this series, which will go a long way in deciding the contests. This should be a good time to have a look at those.

1) The battle of the pace attacks: South Africa has Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, Vernon Philander and the uncapped Rory Kleinveldt. Australia has Peter Siddle, Ben Hilfenhaus, Mitchell Starc, James Pattinson and Josh Hazlewood (Injuries to Cummins and Ryan Harris has made their decision easier). On paper, the saffers should run away with this contest. But on current form, the Aussie pace attack are among the best in the world and playing at home could be a plus for them as well. Though It can be argued that the SA pacers will have the easier task against the brittle Aussie batsmen, one It really isn't safe to bet against their Aussie counterparts.

2) Jacques Kallis vs Shane Watson: Both these players will double up as the fourth pacer and No.3/4 batsman for their respective teams. Both these players are in the form of their lives. And both these players need to perform to give their team a better chance of winning. Watson more so. We all know that Watson will never be as good a player as Kallis is, but will be the better player this series? Whoever it is, I dare say their team will sneak the trophy. With Watson out of the first test due to yet another injury, Kallis seems to be having the upper-hand already.

3) Australian Batsmen vs Their Form: The aussies have a brilliant bowling attack but their batsmen are a bit vulnerable.  And when we put these batsmen against the likes of Graeme Smith, Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis and AB DeVilliers, it’s a no contest. If this was a traditional WWE Survivor Series wrestling match between SA and Australia, SA will win the bout without a single of them being eliminated.

We have Warner and Cowan as openers, one who despite a decent record, is suspect to quality bowling, and the other who just can't seem to convert his starts. They are Australia's version of the Sehwag-.Akash Chopra alliance. The middle order consists of Watson (Quiney), Ponting, Clarke, Hussey and Wade. Looks good on paper, but only Watson and Clarke are safe bets. Quiney though in great first class form, will face a huge challenge against Steyn n Co, Ponting is in the twilight of his career, Hussey hasn't looked himself in recent tests and Wade doesn't yet look test match material. I predict a tough series for the Aussie batsmen against the SA bowling attack. The tail would need to wag almost every time to help them to a reasonable score.

4) AB DeVillers the Batsman vs AB DeVillers the Keeper: Following Mark Boucher’s freak injury and forced retirement, AB Devillers donned the gloves in the England Series, though they had Thami Tsolekile as the backup. This was done to maintain the balance and extend an already intimidating batting line-up  He did a reasonable job behind the stumps, but it seemed to have affected his batting. He was not at his fluent best during the English summer. He scored just 161 runs in the 3 tests, with no centuries or half centuries. A big failure for a player of his calibre  So, It will be interesting to see if DeVilliers can get that monkey of his back and get back to his belligerent best. If not, South Africa would need to find a young keeper who can bat, for their test side at the earliest. Quinton de Kock anyone?

Smith and Clarke, in happier days.

5) Graeme Smith vs Michael Clarke: The Captains. One leading his side since 2003, for 93 tests. The Other took over from Ponting in 2011, has lead his side for 15 tests. Smith is known to be a defensive captain, however since the arrival of Philander and Tahir, that seems to have changed. His bold declaration in the first test in England lays testimonial to that. Clarke has always been the aggressor. He makes bold, calculated moves, which in his short stint have clicked more often than not. His decision to declare the innings in the first test against West Indies, in spite of being in deficit comes to mind. Both are also crucial batsmen to their teams. Will be good to see who gets one up at the end of the series.

So, we surely do have a cracker of a series at our hands. I’ll like to put my hand up and predict a 2-0 series win for South Africa. It will be a close contest, but I believe the Aussie batsmen might just spoil the party for their team. Let’s see if there is a surprise or two in store for the viewers.  

Move over T20's, November is Test Match time !

After a T20 overdose over the past t2o months, which saw us sitting through 58 T20’s over 42 days, its finally some serious cricket time. Its Test Match time baby. There are plenty of test matches on the horizon. So many that, there wont be a single day from November 9^th to December 9^th when there will not be a test match played. I for one don’t mind this overdose.

So, we have 4 test series lined up for us this November. It starts off with Australia vs South Africa on November 9^th which will be a tussle for the No.1 spot. Will be interesting to see if the newly crowned Test champions do better than their predecessors against a gritty Aussie unit at home. Will the young Aussie quicks make their mark against the might of Kallis, Amla, Smith and DeVilliers. Can the Aussie batsmen handle the Saffer pace Attack. And, also Will this series be the end for Ponting? 

Next up is Bangladesh vs West Indies, starting from November 13^th. Not necessarily a contest many people will be looking forward to. The T20 champs will be in the house for the first time since their victory. Can they come off their gangnaming and switch to Test Cricket Mode? Whereas Bangladesh, Can they finally convert potential to Victory? Seriously, No more minnow talk please.

And then, is the 2^nd big series. India vs England. A battle of two “Lions at home, Lambs overseas” teams. A battle of two former No. 1 teams. And also, a revenge series. Indians will not be pleased with anything less than 4-0, England will be pleased with even a 1-1. KP “Reintegrated” back into the English team, Yuvi might make a comeback to the Indian team and of course, Could this be Sachin’s retirement series? All these questions might put you into a “spin”, so tune in on 15^th November to find out the answers.

And finally, Its Sri Lanka vs New Zealand, starting from 17^th of November. The losing T20 WC finalists will be looking for some kind of redemption. New Zealand will be looking to win a test series against a team not named Zimbabwe or Bangladesh, for the first time since 2005. This is the only series for which the result looks a foregone conclusion, Sorry New Zealand.

So, November looks all set for some really good cricketing action, with quite possibly two legends hanging their boots (My Prediction). Next up, I’ll be giving my preview on The SA-Aus and Ind-Eng series. Ciao till then J

Happy Birthday Kallis

Jacques Kallis is 37 years and 1 day old today. He is most certainly in the twilight of his career, with perhaps two and a half more years left in his tank. But, as he himself proclaimed, he is probably in the form of his life and opposition must be afraid, very afraid. Being among my favourite players, I thought this would be a good time to have a look back at the value he has added to the South African team over the years, and of course, will continue adding in the coming few years.

Kallis, As a Batsman:

Cricketing experts often talk about how a batsman has to be “In the Zone”. If anyone wants to know what that exactly means, just watch a Jacques Kallis innings. Concentration personified. Among the contemporaries, only Rahul Dravid and Shivnarine Chanderpaul can lay claim to being as good as him in this aspect. His expressionless face while batting, especially in tests, almost gives you the impression that he is bored of blunting down the bowling attacks that are thrown at him. But, that is just him being In the Zone. 24000 runs and 60 centuries at the international level, a testimony to his concentration prowess. For the kind of batsman Kallis is, it is pretty hard to digest that he has scored just two doubles in tests, first of which came only in 2010. I predict a few more in the coming years though.

Kallis, As a Bowler :

Running in at 37 years of age, bowling consistently at around 140 kmph is in itself worth massive respect. Kallis, known for his deceptively quick bouncers has been South Africa’s 3rd/ 4th seamer right from 1996. For a team which has given us bowlers like Allan Donald, Brian McMillan, Shaun Pollock, Makhaya Ntini, Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and the current phenomenon, Vernon Philander, it is a tremendous achievement to be able to hang out with them, in addition to shouldering the bulk of batting responsibilities. He has 550 international wickets to his name, which clearly suggests he is good enough to be even the 2nd/3rd seamer for most international sides in cricket. Maybe, even the lead seamer.

Kallis, As an All-Rounder:

Time to give a close look at stats. Kallis has 12500 runs in Test cricket. Pretty close to Sachin, Ponting and Dravid , and more than Lara, Jayawardena, Allan Border and Steve Waugh.

Kallis has 270 test wickets. Hanging out with likes of Steyn, Anderson, Zaheer Khan among contemporaries and Alec Bedser, Derek Underwood, Joel Garner among the legends.

He has 187 catches in test cricket, hanging out with players like Dravid, Ponting, Jayawardena, Mark Waugh etc, among the best slippers.

That would mean, you put a Ponting, Zaheer Khan and Jayawardena together, you get Jacques Kallis. That’s the colossal value a player like Kallis adds to the South African team.

If numbers were the sole measure of greatness in Cricket, Jacques Kallis is untouchable. He is undoubtedly the greatest cricketer to have set foot on planet earth. Though, that might be a bit exaggerated, Kallis is quite easily the best all-rounder of this generation, and also one of the legends of the game.

Yess !! I am the best !!

Best Allrounder ever? There is a raging debate on whether he is as good as Sir Garfield Sobers. Different people have different opinions on this. Personally, by the time Kallis hangs his boots, he might just sneak ahead of Sobers in the race to the title. He is just that damn good.