WI v SAf, 2nd Test, Basseterre, June 18-22, 2010

Fromage, please rikki.

http://www.daylife.com/photo/0brhfsf0EFblR

Captain, coach and partners watch the SWC in the Caribbean.

SA going for ninth straight win over the hapless Windiesl.

Flat track. What a surprise

Won't make any difference. Steyn and Morkel to unravel the Windies top order and Fat Jack to anchor a solid batting effort.

SA win toss and bat

So why is the sh!t Asia Cup JAMODI scorebox still up, FFS??

Blame the French.

Off to the pub

Looks like Smiffy made the most of a flat deck. Well done him.

Poor from Windies in the field and with the ball. Sooky passes 7,000 runs on this road.

I'm seriously starting to think that the Windies shouldn't bother anymore and just go their separate ways as nations.

In case anyone missed it, Kallis went past Waugh yesterday and is closing in on Border.

Congrats to Moobs.

Poor old Moobs . . for all the runs and wickets, he'll never be regarded as a Great . . . still good on him for doing his bit for Saffie cricket . . .

taipan wrote:In case anyone missed it, Kallis went past Waugh yesterday and is closing in on Border.

now that is what i call news...

FMD, just watching the commentary on this match and Jeff Dujon is on screen. The years haven't been kind.

4 of the top 5 batsmen (by average) against west indies in the last 12 years are south african

click for list

tac wrote:Poor old Moobs . . for all the runs and wickets, he'll never be regarded as a Great . . . still good on him for doing his bit for Saffie cricket . . .

Just as a matter of interest would people consider Steve Waugh whom Kallis passed as a great?

I imagine most (except me and horrie) would . . . .

BTW, sensational tits . . .

My query regarding Steve Waugh and greatness would be the fact that he eschewed batting high up in the order. The majority of his career was spent at #5 and 6. Like Kallis, he perhaps was more likely to play a match-saving, rather than dominating match-defining innings. It's interesting that many still won't regard Kallis as a great because they see him as not possessing the extra gears to take his game to the next level. Some point to his lack of a double ton. Yet 11,000+ runs and 260 odd wickets is hard to argue with. And he's largely batted at #3 and 4, sometimes in a team where the other batsmen were crumbling around him.

Actually, that's not right, Red. SRW was a youngster when he made his name at no. 6 in the Ashes 89. It was only 2 or 3 years later that he actively sought the no. 3 spot. He had mixed results, notably making a ton v WI at the SCG in 92/93 batting at no. 3. However, the Taylor/Slater/Boon top 3 was seen as a far better balanced option for the top 6 and Border and SRW fell into their familiar 5 and 6 roles. Once SRW took over captaincy, he had the best no. 3 in the world in his side so was hardly gonna drop Drunky down the order. SRW was much like Border - regularly sured up the middle order in a crisis.

tac wrote:I imagine most (except me and horrie) would

Sacrilegious qunt

I was a big fan of the young Waugh, but the red hanky/baggy green/mental disintergration/enforcing follow-ons and rooting your bowlers shite that wen tdown later turned me off . . .

You're entitled to your quntish opinion, taccy but SRW was a legend.

Sorry, mate, but AB, DKL, TGM, tgm and WC are the legends . . . not mr farkin red hanky . . .

I still think Skully that he eschewed the top order spots. And it was convenient for him to use his age later in his career as the reason for this. He simply didn't like batting there but that's where reputations are made. Hard to find a great batsmen that didn't spend a large chunk of his career there. It's why the likes of Walters were always destined to be on the next rung; his technical weaknesses were well documented.

Jacques Kallis is a great cricketer. You can't deny it. Why does Kallis receive criticism for supposed slow batting when the likes of Dravid, S.Waugh, and Gavaskar are/were just as slow if not slower making their runs?

Add his skills with the ball and every team in the world bar none would have wanted him in their side over the last 10 years.