South Africa v Sri Lanka 1st Test

South Africa v Sri Lanka 1st Test at Centurion

Start of play (08.30 GMT) Weather: overcast

SA have not won a home Test series since 2008, which was against Bangladesh. And SL have not won a Test Match since Muralitharan retired, so both of these teams will be desperate to change that.

My prediction will be 2-0 to SA. Not because of the type of wicket, (SL showed in England that they could bat well on green pitches) but because the SL bowling is not that strong.

SA won the toss and will bowl.

Teams:

SA: G.Smith(c), J.Rudolph, H.Amla, J.Kallis, A.Prince, AB de Villiers, M.Boucher(w), D.Steyn, V.Philander, M.Morkel, I.Tahir.

SL: T. Dilshan(c), T.Paranavitana, K.Sangakkara, M.Jayawardene, T.Samaraweera, A.Mathews(w), J.Silva, H.Herath, N.Perera, U.Welegedara, C.Fernando.

From reports the pitch is very green, the groundsman expected a little more sunshine and thus the pitch surprised not only him but even the South Africans.

Expect a lot of movement from the seemers.

Dilshan gone to a poor shot, Steyn gets to 250 Test wickets in just 49 Tests.

Dilshan 6 cPhilander bSteyn

SL 11-1.

Sangakkara gone 3rd ball, very bad start for SL.

Sangakkara 0 cKallis bPhilander

SL 12-2.

Not the start they wanted, and Paranavitana doesn't like this short stuff from Morkel.

Aye, not looking too good against the short pitched stuff, took one hell of a whack on his helmet, get Steyn back on.

skyeman wrote: A.Mathews(w)

This is a mistake right????

Kallis is bowling a touch too early for my liking. Steyn has to be back on the attack. Not that Kallis is bowling badly at all!.

Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote:

skyeman wrote: A.Mathews(w)

This is a mistake right????

Aye, Mr Silva is the glove man.

Sunny out there now, should help SL, who are starting to look more comfortable.

Jayawardene hanging in. They need him to bat for a long time.

Nothing to do with cricket But over the years of watching International cricket, the amount of hot women that attend, always seems to be higher in SA. Must be a sun thing

steyn's only bowled 4 overs.......and they have brought tahir into the attack on a green pitch

The fifty up for SA and a partnership starting to repair some of the damage.

SL 50-2.

skyeman wrote:Nothing to do with cricket But over the years of watching International cricket, the amount of hot women that attend, always seems to be higher in SA. Must be a sun thing

That is a fact, some stunners! Need to get myself out to a Test in SA..

agree fists lol.

cricketfan90 wrote:steyn's only bowled 4 overs.......and they have brought tahir into the attack on a green pitch

Does seem a bit odd, especially with the Lankans very good players of spin.

philader bowls paranivtana 66-3

SA's morning now, Philander looking good again.

Paranavitana 32 bPhilander

SL 66-3

Back in trouble after a brief rescue mission. Parana didn't look good.

skyeman wrote:Nothing to do with cricket But over the years of watching International cricket, the amount of hot women that attend, always seems to be higher in SA. Must be a sun thing

I think, with the generally poor crowds, they see it as a good opportunity to get noticed on tv.

Somerset have signed Philander for the first part of the CC season... Championship here we come!

I'm not happy with that, Jdizzle - why give him practice here before the Test series! Idiots, Somerset.

I am not sure it helps that much to be honest Fists. Phil Hughes was awesome for Middlesex before the Ashes series that year, and look what happened to him there.

And South African pitches are very similar to English ones anyway. If it was a Indian or Sri Lankan spinner coming across and getting used to the pitches it may be different, but I think Philander will have played on enough pitches like he will find in England in South Africa to be suited without the extra game time.

samaweera has a fantastic test record, however out of his 65 tests he has only played 16 abroad...he has to prove he can hack it all over the world.

Has anyone seen Philander's first class record?! 265 wickets at an average of 19.72.

What took SA so long to pick him?!

JDizzle wrote:I am not sure it helps that much to be honest Fists. Phil Hughes was awesome for Middlesex before the Ashes series that year, and look what happened to him there.

And South African pitches are very similar to English ones anyway. If it was a Indian or Sri Lankan spinner coming across and getting used to the pitches it may be different, but I think Philander will have played on enough pitches like he will find in England in South Africa to be suited without the extra game time.

I get what you're saying, but there is more swing here and giving him an opportunity to learn to control that and tailor it to his needs isn't the wisest move, in my book. At this level (which between England and South Africa is the very highest level) you need every advantage you can get.

jayardene and samaweera gone!!!!!!!!!!!

91-5

samaweera isnt going MORKEL BOWLS A NO BALL

91-4 though samaweera and matthews at the crease.

cricketfan90 wrote:samaweera isnt going MORKEL BOWLS A NO BALL

91-4 though samaweera and matthews at the crease.

Situation is so desperate that Mathews has rolled out his reserve t

Fists of Fury wrote:

JDizzle wrote:I am not sure it helps that much to be honest Fists. Phil Hughes was awesome for Middlesex before the Ashes series that year, and look what happened to him there.

And South African pitches are very similar to English ones anyway. If it was a Indian or Sri Lankan spinner coming across and getting used to the pitches it may be different, but I think Philander will have played on enough pitches like he will find in England in South Africa to be suited without the extra game time.

I get what you're saying, but there is more swing here and giving him an opportunity to learn to control that and tailor it to his needs isn't the wisest move, in my book. At this level (which between England and South Africa is the very highest level) you need every advantage you can get.

Of course, in an ideal world he wouldn't come and play across here before a Test series with England, but as an England and Somerset fan my loyalties are torn on this one. But I think seeing as he has come from South Arica which has similar pitches/conditions to England anyway and the act he has already played over here or Middlesex I don't think it will have that much impact on his performances. He's not a young kid either, he is 26 now so has a bit of experience behind him and I would have expected him to cope over here with or without a spell with Somerset (which would be cut short by IPL commitments). Like you say not ideal, but in the grand scheme of things I don't expect it to make that much difference. Of course if he as a stormer in England the media will have a field day with it.

So will I, JD

Sri Lanka struggling now and running a real risk of a very low total if this two can't put a big partnership together.

Mathews looking to be very positive SL 133-4

An appalling over rate so far. Far too often we lose overs later in the day because of the slow rate. More needed to be done about it.

A quick 50 partnership from Samaraweera and Mathews. 45 coming off the last 5 overs.

SL 142-4.

Philander back into the attack.....along with tahir. Tahir will probably have a long spell if he gets it right, just to give the quicks a breather.

PHILANDER GETS SAMAWEERA WELL DONE UDRS!

Not a bad start to Philander's Test career, eh. Be very interesting to see how he gets on against a better side like England. If he can keep this up, the pace trio of Steyn Philander Morkel may be a formidable one. Saying that, ours ain't bad, either.

silva's gone too philander on a hatrick

IMMIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After being 153-4, and starting a recovery, SL lose 3 quick wickets and are back in trouble at 161-7.

UDRS earning its money today, been used umpteen times already!

Mathews gone for 38, caught in the slips to a poor shot. Philander bags another five-for.

SL 175-8

From 156-4 to 180 all out. Steyn picks up the last two in two balls.

SL is not the same team without Murli and Malinga the pie chucker.

pie chucker?

i thought you were talking about Malinga not yuvraj

Id call him a cake slinger. Maybe together with Murali some who dont understand the laws of cricket would call them the chucker brothers.

Anyway the fact is that they havent replaced one of the greatest ever spinners or arguably the most difficult to play fast bowler of the modern era. No great shock there I guess, ask Australia.

Gosh, batsmen don't like hanging around these days. Some fairly average displays by the SL bats today. What's the point of a quick 180 when they could have got a slow 280? Does everyone think they're playing one-day cricket now ?
Some of these guys could do with a Trott in their team to calm things down. It only seems to take a bit of swing and slightly difficult conditions to persuade batters that there is no point in battling it out and they should just slog. Just as there are some cheap runs around on the flat-tracks you sometimes get, now there are some cheap wickets to be had. I mean, is Philander THAT good ?

Philander is a good bowler with nice shape and consistency...BUT...he is not a world beater. That was appalling batting from Sri Lanka, completely bottleless, and they gifted Philly and Steyn the wickets.

Australia and Sri Lanka have now gifted South Africa matches with such mindless collapses. Grit it out, for goodness sake!

Fists of Fury wrote:Philander is a good bowler with nice shape and consistency...BUT...he is not a world beater. That was appalling batting from Sri Lanka, completely bottleless, and they gifted Philly and Steyn the wickets.

Australia and Sri Lanka have now gifted South Africa matches with such mindless collapses. Grit it out, for goodness sake!

fists, you cant say he isnt a world beater, until he bowls against the very best teams in good batting conditions. The true test of a bowler is can they get wickets on extremely flat pitches, so i dont think u can say he isnt a world beater until he bowls agianst the best teams in flat pitches.