South Africa v India, 3rd Test, Cape Town, 2-6 Jan, 2011

All this talking of chasing down the runs has got me thinking - what's the record for the most amount of runs chased down in an innings beginning on the fifth day of a test? No idea how to find that out.

Draw....

Henry Nolonga wrote:All this talking of chasing down the runs has got me thinking - what's the record for the most amount of runs chased down in an innings beginning on the fifth day of a test? No idea how to find that out.

Aust chased 404 on the last day of the Headingley test in 1948. However, a couple of things to note - they did have a guy called Bradman playing and another guy called Morris who was in a Bradman phase. England also obliged by bowling about 100 overs.

Dull.

A sad end to what had been a great test match. It's such a shame that most of the captains these days are gutless wimps who are scared to death of losing.

Hard to blame Smith here. But 340 was always going to be too hard for a team that would have settled for a draw at the start of the series.

I am bitterly disappointed. I thought this was going to be one of the best days of test cricket of the past decade. I am heading off to bed.

I'm blaming Dhoni. He has the best batting lineup in the world at his disposal. He could have at least entertained the idea of going for the runs at the start of the day.

This reminds me of Sydney 2004 for India. A golden chance to record a famous series win away from home against top opposition, but instead being too scared to have a go when it comes to the crunch.

So it looks like one bad day in Durban is going to cost us the series win. Just like the past 2 years.

Dhoni could have opened with Sehwag at the start and launched an attack. Put Dravid and Gambhir down the bottom as insurance.

With SRT and Laxman's form, anything was achievable.

Dhoni is an extremely overrated captain. Any sense of daring and adventure went out the window along with his hair when he had it cut three years ago.

What's happened to the Brearleys, Ian Chappells, and Steve Waughs. Captains who would have told their batsmen to go for this target straight away. This is just pathetic.

FFS at least have a go, just for a few overs. Attack the bowlers and see what happens. If you lose a few wickets, THEN shut up shop. If India finish 50 runs short with only two or three wickets down, then I hope they are savaged in the media.

There are two teams out there and only one of them is playing cricket.

Harris looked to be unlucky again with the lbw not given.

The other interesting thing is that we always hear of pitches deteriorating and becoming minefields on the fifth day but it rarely happens. Last night Wessels was rabbiting on about how yesterday was like a fifth day track but when I saw Steyn and Morkel batting quite comfortably it didn't look such a difficult track save for the odd misbehaving ball.

Tsotsobe deserved a wicket.

SA feeling the pinch of a quality spinner here. Dravid was lucky with that LBW and now that he is finally gone all I can say is that he took some time off [though how I wish he had rotated some strike with GG]. The good news is we have around 41 more overs to hang on for now. Sachin and Laxman need to bring in all their combined experience here to stand up behind GG. This has been good. Every ball that rose kicking dust behind looked like a thunderbolt. This has been a riveting session so far. I would have been happy if we had not lost Dravid before session break. Lets see how more engrossing it gets now.

Henry wrote:Hardly bold and daring cricket from the world's so-called number one team.

Dhoni is the least adventurous of our captains and for him safety is most important. Smith too went for safety and chose not to declare early and go for Indian wickets last evening after getting 300 ahead. Majority of run chases at this venue have ended in defeats for teams chasing victory. I don't blame India for playing for a draw here. You need more than one day to get around 350 batting last and why take fancy chances? There is no doubt this should have been a 5 test series though for a proper run to judge.

Ended up pulling an all nighter for the ashes so only just got round to watching this... I've already seen 2 dropped catches. Are SA choking big time?

Not the greatest match ever for AB. He's dropped two and he didn't fire with the bat.

When did the Saffies forget how to catch?

JGK wrote:When did the Saffies forget how to catch?

The malaise seemed to set in in the Middle East - they dropped quite a few in the Pakistan series.

Tendulkar didn't even hit that. cane off his thigh pads.

Robin Jackman just assumed it must have hit hit bat on its way to AB. That angle they showed it from wasn't enough to declare that.

taipan wrote:So it looks like one bad day in Durban is going to cost us the series win. Just like the past 2 years.

It's weird with the talent that SA have why they don't seem to do better at home (they don't seem to have such struggles away generally).

Can't remember all the recent tours but I make that draws to India and England and a loss to Australia.

So I suppose Australia could morally say A > I > E.

taipan wrote:So it looks like one bad day in Durban is going to cost us the series win. Just like the past 2 years.

Same goes for us. One bad day on the first day of the first test [on a rain watered pitch without a practice game under the belt. Though for that I blame BCCI for not getting a practice game out there for an opener in the itinerary].

taipan wrote:So it looks like one bad day in Durban is going to cost us the series win. Just like the past 2 years.

With only three tests and your recent record at Durban, why didn't they go for Durban, PE or one of the other venues?

You can scrub Durban off the itinerary.

Shame with all the build up what a damp squib this has been. Despite being one sided the Ashes test has had plenty of excitement.

Might be a bit biased there of course...

Thats tea.