Proteas vs West Indies: 2014/15

[ZCFOutkast]

as I said...

You did say Mickey, you were spot on.

But I think at certain points during the game you felt the WI were on course there.

Clearly Parnell stepped up today.

Gayle, Deonarine, Samuels & Russell threw their wickets away which is such a shame because this 360 was well within their reach considering the attack we had.

Samuels has been harsh on two players on this tour - Tahir&Abbott. He paid for his arrogance, and we have to give Abbott credit for backing himself to put the ball there instead os following Samuels further down leg. I know a lot of better bowlers who would've rather done that. But it's fair to say for all his good intentions&hardwork, he seems like the player who desperately needs extra pace to be a threat. Right now he's just too easy to hit.

The player who made the biggest difference in this match was Parnell. I'm surprised he didn't get the MoM award. Rilee batted well no doubt, but I feel it was Parnell's bowling which took everyone by surprise and was the standout performance.

 

[Noob-Noob]

Talking about last night's performance,
I think our best shot at WC glory will be
1.Amla
2.QDK
3.RR
4.AB
5.Miller
6.JP
7.Parnell
8.Philander
9.Steyn
10.Morkel
11.Tahir

Yes our tail is kind of long, But we have enough firepower in that bowling attack to take on anyone.

Rilee was pure class, his strokes where elegant and looked great. I have much more confidence in him than I do in Faf at number 3.

 

[ZCFOutkast]

Why is ZFC so quiet!

Was watching AFCON with a few mates. Plus when I "left" WI were looking very comfortabel and on course.

In Africa, Ivory Coast vs Cameroon is like Bra vs Arg or Ger vs Ita. Huge match. The other game |Mali vs Guinea lots have to be drawn.

As double headers it was impossible to pay attention to the cricket. Dead rubber and poor quality in comparison. The bowling&fielding on display from both sides was just horrendous. But I'm please some of the WI batsmen showed some quality even though they didn;t kick on.

 

[AirWolf]

Talking about last night's performance,
I think our best shot at WC glory will be
1.Amla
2.QDK
3.RR
4.AB
5.Miller
6.JP
7.Parnell
8.Philander
9.Steyn
10.Morkel
11.Tahir

Yes our tail is kind of long, But we have enough firepower in that bowling attack to take on anyone.

Rilee was pure class, his strokes where elegant and looked great. I have much more confidence in him than I do in Faf at number 3.

I'm really liking that team combination.

 

[ZCFOutkast]

Some outright opinions and predictions have really been cast in doubt.

You;re reading way too much into nothing. WI were looking good there and ouor bowling the opposite.

Let's thank a few WI brain fades and Parnell. Ysterday should've been a tight game in the end.

You be lying if you thought it wasn't looking dangerous for the Proteas at some point there.

 

[AirWolf]

Was watching AFCON with a few mates. Plus when I "left" WI were looking very comfortabel and on course.

In Africa, Ivory Coast vs Cameroon is like Bra vs Arg or Ger vs Ita. Huge match. The other game |Mali vs Guinea lots have to be drawn.

As double headers it was impossible to pay attention to the cricket. Dead rubber and poor quality in comparison. The bowling&fielding on display from both sides was just horrendous. But I'm please some of the WI batsmen showed some quality even though they didn;t kick on.

Ever tried a career in stand up comedy?

 

[Noob-Noob]

You did say Mickey, you were spot on.

But I think at certain points during the game you felt the WI were on course there.

Clearly Parnell stepped up today.

Gayle, Deonarine, Samuels & Russell threw their wickets away which is such a shame because this 360 was well within their reach considering the attack we had.

Samuels has been harsh on two players on this tour - Tahir&Abbott. He paid for his arrogance, and we have to give Abbott credit for backing himself to put the ball there instead os following Samuels further down leg. I know a lot of better bowlers who would've rather done that. But it's fair to say for all his good intentions&hardwork, he seems like the player who desperately needs extra pace to be a threat. Right now he's just too easy to hit.

The player who made the biggest difference in this match was Parnell. I'm surprised he didn't get the MoM award. Rilee batted well no doubt, but I feel it was Parnell's bowling which took everyone by surprise and was the standout performance.

I would say both of them, they put in stellar performances.

Abbot definitely needs more pace, or I don't know, I just cant understand how one can do so well in FC and be so k@k at International. He did better yesterday, but no means looked like a match winner, think he has to play a few domestics to get his form back.

 

[ZCFOutkast]

Talking about last night's performance,
I think our best shot at WC glory will be
1.Amla
2.QDK
3.RR
4.AB
5.Miller
6.JP
7.Parnell
8.Philander
9.Steyn
10.Morkel
11.Tahir

Yes our tail is kind of long, But we have enough firepower in that bowling attack to take on anyone.

Rilee was pure class, his strokes where elegant and looked great. I have much more confidence in him than I do in Faf at number 3.

You want to drop Faf for Rilee and stick Parnell ahead of Farhaan? Really?

You forget what Faf did to a full strength AUS side in Zim, and you forget how Farhaan swam while Parnell sank in AUS. They bowled neaarly the sam eovers and Parnell was way more expensive. More runs for Farhaan.

 

[ZCFOutkast]

Ever tried a career in stand up comedy?

They were ahead at one wicket down and two wickets down with plenty fo good batting to came (Ramdin, Russell, Sammy etc).

Until that point, I'd seen nothing in our bowling to suggest it was a bigger threat to the WI than themselves.

 

[Noob-Noob]

You want to drop Faf for Rilee and stick Parnell ahead of Farhaan? Really?

You forget what Faf did to a full strength AUS side in Zim, and you forget how Farhaan swam while Parnell sank in AUS. They bowled neaarly the sam eovers and Parnell was way more expensive. More runs for Farhaan.

Yeah really.
In 67 ODI's Faf has managed to score 3 hundreds and 12 fifties. He has failed more than probably any other top order batsman. Yes he has done good on few occasions, And I rate him as an T20 and Test player. But he has failed to deliver on to many occasions in ODI's.
And if memory serves me correctly, Parnell made his first real impression against Aus, swinging the ball both ways, the guys form is obviously peaking at the moment, he is a much better and more dangerous bowler than Farhaan.

 

[ZCFOutkast]

...Mohammed Yousuf did the same and had a couple of seasons of immense run scoring.

No he was always a class act. Sachin&Kallis had purple patches late in their careers after looking ordinary for long periods. Same happened to "Yousuf Youhana". But for Pakistan politics, him, Younis & Misbah would've hurt a lot of international sides for a very long time but they never really got to play together for long. Not many sides' 3,4,5 can match them.

Only Amla, JK&AB have come close to that in recent years, except, they never really clicked in the same match often like Dravid, Sachin&VVS. Amla's purple patch coincided with JK&AB being quiet. When JK was doing ok the other two youngters couldn't keep up. And when AB shot up, Amla was quiet and eventually Kallis retired. That sort of underlines the value of Smith. Ugly, but often his starts set the Proteas off, with just one of those 3 combining to build a huge score. Then later Prince/JP/Faf took turns to save the game against the big boys.

Right now we mimick SL in that AB&Amla step up when we collapse, like Mahela&Sanga but there's no 3rd batsmen clearly holding his hand up. Maybe that's why they went for Amla at 4 (which I still disagree with). Matthews stood up for SL, but our other batsmen have been like Chandimal for them. They haven't really kicked on - JP, Faf etc.

I fear the day Steyn breaks down.

 

[ZCFOutkast]

Yeah really.
In 67 ODI's Faf has managed to score 3 hundreds and 12 fifties. He has failed more than probably any other top order batsman. Yes he has done good on few occasions, And I rate him as an T20 and Test player. But he has failed to deliver on to many occasions in ODI's.
And if memory serves me correctly, Parnell made his first real impression against Aus, swinging the ball both ways, the guys form is obviously peaking at the moment, he is a much better and more dangerous bowler than Farhaan.

We're all entitled to our opinions but I think we're getting ahead of ourselves a bit by saying RR&Parnell must replace Faf&Farhaan.

Thos two haven't delivered under pressure. In that 439+ game at the Wanderers the WI senior seamers let the team down. They did the same today. WI shouldn't have been chasing more than 300 yeasterday and that was mostly due to their bowling than our batting.

Yes Parnell was unplayable. He's been like that a times, think that Test vs AUS before he was injured. Once in a while he dows that, he's he future leader of our attack but MM+Steyn+Philander+Tahir is enough. JP just needs someone else to help him complete the 10th bowler's duties. If Parnell's bowling is suddenly more important than Farhaan's battin then we're looking desperate.

 

[MickeyD]

Hello folks

Let's draw the curtains on this WI tour thread with some conclusions on what we learnt and then close this thread and move on to either the Proteas or CWC threads.

Else we all post past each other on different threads or repeat our opinions all over the place.

 

[ZCFOutkast]

Hello folks

Let's draw the curtains on this WI tour thread with some conclusions on what we learnt and then close this thread and move on to either the Proteas or CWC threads.

Else we all post past each other on different threads or repeat our opinions all over the place.

Except you didn't say if at no point during yesterday's game you thought there was a challenge building?

 

[ZCFOutkast]

I'm getting little bit worried here. Faf was up against decent bowling upfront by the youngsters yesterday after QdK went cheaply. He did a job but the pressure told in the end (had he survived a bit longer he too would've cashed in). When RR came one those openers went off the attack Brathwaite tried to keep up the opener's decent effort, then the seniors came on and everything crumbled.

We've seen RR struggle opening. He would've struggled like Faf had he faced that early spell of bowling too but he fortunately came later when the bowling was indisciplined. Because of that we'll now drop Faf for RR. What happens if QdK falls in the first over or two again? That's not making sense to me Lament. Not at all.

 

[JackWhite]

Its great that Wayne and Riley did well yesterday. It shows they are capable of playing a major role when given the opportunity and sets us up well for the WC knowing we can call upon them.

 

[MickeyD]

Except you didn't say if at no point during yesterday's game you thought there was a challenge building?

After Gayle was out I lost interest. Looks like there was a bit of fight until around the 25th over and then WI folded.

Windies have a leadership problem. Holder is not the answer. There are too many strong individuals in their squad and he's not strong enough. They need an iron fist.

SA... Problem areas:
1. Backup bowlers
2. The 5th bowler's 10 overs
3. The number 7 spot
4. Fielding - not up to our usual standard
5. Arrogance - some players need attitude adjustment.
6. The huge support staff

 

[SaiyanZ]

The problem with Faf is that he doesn't seem to have a middle gear. He either blocks with a 30 strike rate or into a rampage and either gets out or does well, eg. in T20. He had a good patch a while back but now it seems that he's back to his old inconsistent ways in ODI's.

 

[Noob-Noob]

I'm getting little bit worried here. Faf was up against decent bowling upfront by the youngsters yesterday after QdK went cheaply. He did a job but the pressure told in the end (had he survived a bit longer he too would've cashed in). When RR came one those openers went off the attack Brathwaite tried to keep up the opener's decent effort, then the seniors came on and everything crumbled.

We've seen RR struggle opening. He would've struggled like Faf had he faced that early spell of bowling too but he fortunately came later when the bowling was indisciplined. Because of that we'll now drop Faf for RR. What happens if QdK falls in the first over or two again? That's not making sense to me Lament. Not at all.

We will not agree on this. Faf is simply not as good as RR, period.
Test and T20, sure. but 90% of the times Faf fails at ODI's, his stats speaks for it self. He has a pathetic ODI record for 67 matches. How can our number 3 batsman average 33?, (lets not forget he averaged below 30 his first +-55 ODI's). That's simply not good enough.
Maybe he will surprise in the world cup, I hope he does. I just strongly doubt he will.

 

[Stefanmuller]

We will not agree on this. Faf is simply not as good as RR, period.
Test and T20, sure. but 90% of the times Faf fails at ODI's, his stats speaks for it self. He has a pathetic ODI record for 67 matches. How can our number 3 batsman average 33?, (lets not forget he averaged below 30 his first +-55 ODI's). That's simply not good enough.
Maybe he will surprise in the world cup, I hope he does. I just strongly doubt he will.

I also see Faf maybe not being selected in the ODI team in the near future, unless he starts performing. He has to go to the WC though for his experience.

Rilee needs to be a team regular and directly competes with Faf so the pressure is on.