South Africa v India, 2nd Test, Centurion, 13-17 January, 2018

Who's the next quick in line to come in for Stain?

Will Jadeja return for this Test? Perhaps for Nohit?

Is Faf on the phone to the Centurion curator asking for Juice?

Questions, questions, questions.

skully wrote:Who's the next quick in line to come in for Stain?

Will Jadeja return for this Test? Perhaps for Nohit?

Is Faf on the phone to the Centurion curator asking for Juice?

Questions, questions, questions.

Maybe Morris or Phek for Steyn, though they may opt for another batsman and play Bavuma.

Surely Rahane for Nohit.

Jadeja may well come in too as he should be recovered from untimely illness.

India said that Newlands was their best chance of winning a test so they clearly see Centurion and Joburg as more challenging.

Edit - The Proteas have called up Duanne Olivier and Lungi Ngidi to their Test squad following an injury to Dale Steyn at Newlands. This perhaps signals that they will stick to the four quicks formula.

Red wrote:Edit - The Proteas have called up Duanne Olivier and Lungi Ngidi to their Test squad following an injury to Dale Steyn at Newlands. This perhaps signals that they will stick to the four quicks formula.

Sounds like an exotic Asian dish.

skully wrote:

Red wrote:Edit - The Proteas have called up Duanne Olivier and Lungi Ngidi to their Test squad following an injury to Dale Steyn at Newlands. This perhaps signals that they will stick to the four quicks formula.

Sounds like an exotic Asian dish.

It will be Morris.

According to the curator - Our aim is to prepare a pitch that has something in it for the bowlers in the morning before getting a little more batsman friendly. Due to the heat, the pitch will also wear away a bit on the fourth and fifth day,” Bloy said, before adding: “But it will a quick surface with bounce and a little sideways movement.”

Proteas evidently thinking of dispensing with Maharaj for the match.

Will be interesting to see what India does.

Personally I would be surprised if there is no spinner. Particularly as the curator is warning of wear on days 4 & 5

Faf is saying that the pitch doesn't look as green as he would like, but the curator mentioned that the weather has been dry in the lead-up.

Kolhi suggests that it looks lively enough.

India selection is wide open with everyone in the squad still a chance to play according to management.

SA likely to play Morris to replace Steyn, but Faf likes the look of Lungisani Ngidi. Ngidi and has commented that he wants a good squad of quicks for the rest of the summer. Olivier appears to have fallen behind Ngidi in the pecking order.

Ngidi plays and South Africa bat.

Dhawan thankfully gawn. Bhuvaneshwar dropped for some weird reason. Baffling selections these people make.

Didn't think Ngidi was quite ready, but let's see how he goes

taipan wrote:Didn't think Ngidi was quite ready, but let's see how he goes

Maybe Faf thinks if the squad of fast bowling reserves is tested by the long campaign it's better to trial Ngidi against India then throw him to the wolves against oz. Morris appeared perhaps to be a safer bet, offering an all-round presence, but he has been a bit inconsistent in the test arena to this juncture.

The Indian squad is as follows:
Lokesh Rahul, Murali Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (captain), Rohit Sharma, Parthiv Patel (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah.

Changes aplenty. Nohit survives though.

Great to see the mighty Instant Mascara back in the Bannie team.

Some reasonable talent on display

Bhuvi dropped. This a flat pitch or what?

50 up

Good session for SA.

Markram falls in the nineties again. Maybe he wasn't helped by Amla not rotating the strike enough.

ABDV chops on Instant Charmer after seemingly becoming a bit bogged down. Quite a lazy, nothing shot really.

SA wouldn't want to be too casual here as they have a long tail.

Amla brings up a half ton and the SA double ton.

Parthiv Patel back again, too. Saha dropped or injured?

lardbucket wrote:Parthiv Patel back again, too. Saha dropped or injured?

Dropped

3 wickets in 3 overs- that escalated quickly.

Comedy of errors.

2 totally silly and against the run of play, I may add.

That Philander run out is the silliest of silly bugger run outs I have seen in a long time, maybe ever.

furriner wrote:That Philander run out is the silliest of silly bugger run outs I have seen in a long time, maybe ever.

And it has a lot of competition.

Good fightback from India.  When I retired for the night, SA had seemingly become a bit becalmed at the crease.

Then all hell broke loose.

Markram expressed disappointment that the pitch is slower than usual and has brought Ashwin into play. Interesting that both sides considered leaving their spinner out.

On another note, Kohli's antics post-opposition dismissals can be really irritating.

Kohli is a pure bred qunt. Always has been.