ODI cricket and general cricketing discussion [self - mod]

[bryant.coleman]

@Sithara007 I wonder if the South African selectors will take bold calls post this debacle, or will they continue to pick a team that has no good finisher and continue losing matches like this.

Also which player’s do you’ll feel should be included in their team, and keeping aside the politics if only merit counted then whom would you’ll consider ready to play in the playing 11.

There is no point in talking about their race based selection policy.. because it is just going to get worse. From 2022 onward, 7 out of the 11 players need to be non-white. I just hope that the black payers are able to effectively replace those white guys getting kicked out next year. Bowling should not be an issue. Already they have a bunch of good players, such as Rabada, Ngidi and Shamsi. But the batting department is just going to collapse. I couldn't find a single non-white batsman of international quality in South Africa. Hopefully they will be able to find someone within the next 3-4 months.

[Swordsoffreedom]

@Sithara007 I wonder if the South African selectors will take bold calls post this debacle, or will they continue to pick a team that has no good finisher and continue losing matches like this.

Also which player’s do you’ll feel should be included in their team, and keeping aside the politics if only merit counted then whom would you’ll consider ready to play in the playing 11.

There is no point in talking about their race based selection policy.. because it is just going to get worse. From 2022 onward, 7 out of the 11 players need to be non-white. I just hope that the black payers are able to effectively replace those white guys getting kicked out next year. Bowling should not be an issue. Already they have a bunch of good players, such as Rabada, Ngidi and Shamsi. But the batting department is just going to collapse. I couldn't find a single non-white batsman of international quality in South Africa. Hopefully they will be able to find someone within the next 3-4 months.

If we form a team considering white or non-white, the performance of the team will be weak. South Africa should give those who qualify for the national team a chance to play. You are right, the South African bowlers are in a good enough position now. But the performance of their batsmen is very poor. I can't find any hard hitter batsmen in their squad.

[BALIK]

I was shocked to see the performance of South Africa. They lost the second wicket on 166 runs. Yet they have lost this match. There is no good finisher batsman in their team. The way South Africa started their innings, they controlled the whole match. Yet they have been defeated.

Most of the South African players are inexperienced. They saved their wickets and played a bit slowly. Maybe they had the plan to score quickly in death overs. But they lost their set batsman during that time and couldn't chase the target. Sri Lankan team is similar to South Africa. Their squad is also filled with inexperienced players but it was a good win for them. Because they performed badly in last few series.

It was a great win for Sri Lanka. We have seen the dominance of South African batsmen in the entire match. As the first 4 batsmen of South Africa have performed, this match should have been easily won by South Africa. They have failed to perform well and have been defeated. They should be more focused on batting.

[ene1980]

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It was a great win for Sri Lanka. We have seen the dominance of South African batsmen in the entire match. As the first 4 batsmen of South Africa have performed, this match should have been easily won by South Africa. They have failed to perform well and have been defeated. They should be more focused on batting.

South Africa is not known to play spinners that well and still they were able to give a good fight. They have a new team and it is difficult to conquer the spin wickets and even when they had great players they usually struggled in spin wickets. Sri Lanka is back in the winning column against South Africa and i am more interested to see how they perform in T20.

[bryant.coleman]

It was a great win for Sri Lanka. We have seen the dominance of South African batsmen in the entire match. As the first 4 batsmen of South Africa have performed, this match should have been easily won by South Africa. They have failed to perform well and have been defeated. They should be more focused on batting.

With 4 overs to go, South Africa had around 90% chance of winning. But then the Sri Lankan bowlers did a magnificent job, and tightened the screws. The required run rate was climbing up, and that resulted in South African batsmen falling like a pack of cards. Anyway, it was not all negative for South Africa, and there were a lot of positives that they could take away from the first match. But win by Sri Lanka upset my calculation for the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup Super League. All of a sudden, they have now moved up to the 8th position. 

[TheGreatPython]

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It was a great win for Sri Lanka. We have seen the dominance of South African batsmen in the entire match. As the first 4 batsmen of South Africa have performed, this match should have been easily won by South Africa. They have failed to perform well and have been defeated. They should be more focused on batting.

South Africa is not known to play spinners that well and still they were able to give a good fight. They have a new team and it is difficult to conquer the spin wickets and even when they had great players they usually struggled in spin wickets. Sri Lanka is back in the winning column against South Africa and i am more interested to see how they perform in T20.

It's the same story on turning pitches for most touring teams. I haven't watched many of these T20 and ODIs recently but I always check scores and I saw Bangladesh recently won against NZ at home and even dominated Australia on turning pitches.

People calling these spinning tracks as rank turners also need to realize that fast bowling isn't superior to spin. If Asian teams struggle against pace then not sure why touring teams grade spinning pitches as bad or poor.

I would love to see more cricket played at some neutral venues that don't assist any particular bowling. Maybe West Indian pitches (where CPL happens) are good examples of such pitches.

[Sithara007]

It's the same story on turning pitches for most touring teams. I haven't watched many of these T20 and ODIs recently but I always check scores and I saw Bangladesh recently won against NZ at home and even dominated Australia on turning pitches.

People calling these spinning tracks as rank turners also need to realize that fast bowling isn't superior to spin. If Asian teams struggle against pace then not sure why touring teams grade spinning pitches as bad or poor.

I would love to see more cricket played at some neutral venues that don't assist any particular bowling. Maybe West Indian pitches (where CPL happens) are good examples of such pitches.

It's not like anyone consider fast bowling as superior to spin. New ICC rules and the T20 format has almost killed off fast bowling. Nowadays we don't see a lot many legendary fast bowlers emerging, similar to the case a couple of decades back. It is rare to see pace-friendly surfaces even in SENA nations nowadays. Even the pitches in Perth and Kingsmead have become more batting friendly now. I am OK with spin-friendly tracks. But they should not go to the extent of making batting in these surfaces an impossible job.

[Swordsoffreedom]

Over 20, South Africa score 100/1. the current ran rate is 5.00. There are very few good batsmen in the South African squad. They will continue to run on the scoreboard as long as the present batsmen are at the crease. South Africa's middle-order is not strong. They cannot be relied upon. Now Malan and Hendricks are at the crease, they have already formed a 57-run partnership. They need to make their partnership longer.

[BALIK]

Over 20, South Africa score 100/1. the current ran rate is 5.00. There are very few good batsmen in the South African squad. They will continue to run on the scoreboard as long as the present batsmen are at the crease. South Africa's middle-order is not strong. They cannot be relied upon. Now Malan and Hendricks are at the crease, they have already formed a 57-run partnership. They need to make their partnership longer.

South Africa was able to deliver a target of 284 runs. Not a bad collection. Sri Lanka lost their precious 3 wickets for just 19 runs. But with the help of Dasun Shanaka and Asalanka, Sri Lanka now lost 4 wickets for 114 runs. The outcome of the match is yet to be predicted. The match is being delayed due to rain at the moment.

[7788bitcoin]

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South Africa was able to deliver a target of 284 runs. Not a bad collection. Sri Lanka lost their precious 3 wickets for just 19 runs. But with the help of Dasun Shanaka and Asalanka, Sri Lanka now lost 4 wickets for 114 runs. The outcome of the match is yet to be predicted. The match is being delayed due to rain at the moment.

So South Africa was able to put 284 runs on the board and Sri Lanka started really bad and now they are trying to build partnership and rain has delayed the match. So expect the match to be reduced and hopefully we will see a revised target and if that happens the match gets interesting. I am not sure how the middle order will perform for Sri Lanka but they need to score quick if the overs are revised.

[Swordsoffreedom]

Over 20, South Africa score 100/1. the current ran rate is 5.00. There are very few good batsmen in the South African squad. They will continue to run on the scoreboard as long as the present batsmen are at the crease. South Africa's middle-order is not strong. They cannot be relied upon. Now Malan and Hendricks are at the crease, they have already formed a 57-run partnership. They need to make their partnership longer.

South Africa was able to deliver a target of 284 runs. Not a bad collection. Sri Lanka lost their precious 3 wickets for just 19 runs. But with the help of Dasun Shanaka and Asalanka, Sri Lanka now lost 4 wickets for 114 runs. The outcome of the match is yet to be predicted. The match is being delayed due to rain at the moment.

Sri Lanka needs 140 runs from 90 balls to win. Although now the two batsmen at the crease have batted well enough. But I don't think they have the ability to score 140 off 90 balls. Because so far I have not been satisfied with their batting style. They are not experienced players. Now Sri Lanka needs a hard hitter, who can help win the match.

[CryptoBuds]

Over 20, South Africa score 100/1. the current ran rate is 5.00. There are very few good batsmen in the South African squad. They will continue to run on the scoreboard as long as the present batsmen are at the crease. South Africa's middle-order is not strong. They cannot be relied upon. Now Malan and Hendricks are at the crease, they have already formed a 57-run partnership. They need to make their partnership longer.

South Africa was able to deliver a target of 284 runs. Not a bad collection. Sri Lanka lost their precious 3 wickets for just 19 runs. But with the help of Dasun Shanaka and Asalanka, Sri Lanka now lost 4 wickets for 114 runs. The outcome of the match is yet to be predicted. The match is being delayed due to rain at the moment.

Sri Lanka needs 140 runs from 90 balls to win. Although now the two batsmen at the crease have batted well enough. But I don't think they have the ability to score 140 off 90 balls. Because so far I have not been satisfied with their batting style. They are not experienced players. Now Sri Lanka needs a hard hitter, who can help win the match.

There are no experienced players in the Srilankan team, and there is no continuity of their performance. They scored 300 runs in the first match. They lost all their wickets by only 197 runs in today's match. The first 4 batsmen have failed to perform well. And even the last players could not help the team in any way.

[eaLiTy]

Good to see South Africa bounce back in the second ODI and won the match even though they revised the target there is no way Sri Lanka is going to win with the initial target let alone chasing the score at a huge run rate and hence they crumbled under pressure. The them of the tournament is anyone batting first has the advantage and batting second is a difficult task because the team chasing lost the first two matches.

[ene1980]

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There are no experienced players in the Srilankan team, and there is no continuity of their performance. They scored 300 runs in the first match. They lost all their wickets by only 197 runs in today's match. The first 4 batsmen have failed to perform well. And even the last players could not help the team in any way.

The same inexperienced team won the first match and as eaLity said above the pitch might be difficult to bat in the second innings. Sri Lanka won the first match and South Africa was close but they were not able to maintain the run rate and end up loosing and in the second one Sri Lanka crumbled under pressure and lost wickets at regular intervals.

[Sithara007]

Good to see South Africa bounce back in the second ODI and won the match even though they revised the target there is no way Sri Lanka is going to win with the initial target let alone chasing the score at a huge run rate and hence they crumbled under pressure. The them of the tournament is anyone batting first has the advantage and batting second is a difficult task because the team chasing lost the first two matches.

I didn't much chance for Sri Lanka in this series, but they managed to win the first match. Also, they won the last match in the ODI series against India previously. So that makes the points table for ICC Men's Cricket World Cup Super League very interesting. Sri Lanka has so far played 14 matches and they have 32 points (3 wins, 10 losses). As per my calculations they need around 60-70 points to finish up in the top-8. That would mean getting another 3-4 wins in the remaining 10 matches (each team plays a total of 24 ODI matches in the Super League).

[Swordsoffreedom]

Good to see South Africa bounce back in the second ODI and won the match even though they revised the target there is no way Sri Lanka is going to win with the initial target let alone chasing the score at a huge run rate and hence they crumbled under pressure. The them of the tournament is anyone batting first has the advantage and batting second is a difficult task because the team chasing lost the first two matches.

The batting lineup of both Sri Lanka and South Africa is weak. Weak because their batsmen are less experienced and there is no continuity of their performance. So the team that gets a chance to bat first will get some extra chances. Because, if the bowlers can bowl with some control, they will easily win. Yet the South African team seems to be stronger than my Sri Lanka. Because they have some good bowlers like Rabada.

[bryant.coleman]

The batting lineup of both Sri Lanka and South Africa is weak. Weak because their batsmen are less experienced and there is no continuity of their performance. So the team that gets a chance to bat first will get some extra chances. Because, if the bowlers can bowl with some control, they will easily win. Yet the South African team seems to be stronger than my Sri Lanka. Because they have some good bowlers like Rabada.

South Africa has some of the best batsmen in top order (Janneman Malan, Aiden Markram, Rassie van der Dussen, Heinrich Klaasen.etc). Their lower order is very weak though. In order to strengthen their middle order, they need to kick out useless guys such as Andile Phehlukwayo and promote Wiaan Mulder and George Linde higher up the order. The same can't be said about Sri Lanka. Apart from a few individual performances every now and then, the Lankan batsmen doesn't seems to be in good form.

[Swordsoffreedom]

The batting lineup of both Sri Lanka and South Africa is weak. Weak because their batsmen are less experienced and there is no continuity of their performance. So the team that gets a chance to bat first will get some extra chances. Because, if the bowlers can bowl with some control, they will easily win. Yet the South African team seems to be stronger than my Sri Lanka. Because they have some good bowlers like Rabada.

South Africa has some of the best batsmen in top order (Janneman Malan, Aiden Markram, Rassie van der Dussen, Heinrich Klaasen.etc). Their lower order is very weak though. In order to strengthen their middle order, they need to kick out useless guys such as Andile Phehlukwayo and promote Wiaan Mulder and George Linde higher up the order. The same can't be said about Sri Lanka. Apart from a few individual performances every now and then, the Lankan batsmen doesn't seems to be in good form.

I agree with you somewhat. South Africa's top order is a bit stronger. But since their lower order is very weak, the top order batsmen play very carefully, resulting in their strike rate being less than 100 most of the time. Which makes it very difficult to make a large collection. Overall, if we consider this, the batting lineup should be called weak. And it is not possible to predict which batsman in the Sri Lankan squad will become destructive.

[Vishnu.Reang]

I agree with you somewhat. South Africa's top order is a bit stronger. But since their lower order is very weak, the top order batsmen play very carefully, resulting in their strike rate being less than 100 most of the time. Which makes it very difficult to make a large collection. Overall, if we consider this, the batting lineup should be called weak. And it is not possible to predict which batsman in the Sri Lankan squad will become destructive.

Sri Lankan curators have prepared spin-friendly tracks to help the local spinners and I don't expect either of the teams to score in excess of 300. In both the matches, South Africa made 280 plus. They lost the first match and won the second one. For the Sri Lankans, this presets a dilemma. If they make the pitch too much spin-friendly, then Tabraiz Shamsi and Keshav Maharaj will destroy their batsmen. If they make them too flat, then Janneman Malan and Aiden Markram will destroy their spinners.

[dezoel]

It's such a hard time to watch these teams like Sri Lanka and South Africa suffocate for quality players when they had greats like Sanga, Mahela, Jayasuriya for Sri Lanka and Kallis, Pollock, Smith for Africa. This all happened to these countries because of the lack of a proper domestic structure to produce players.

Teams like Bangladesh are doing well recently because they have good leagues at the domestic level and similarly India, England and Australia they all have good leagues which keep producing quality players tested against word-class bowling.