4th Test: India v South Africa at Delhi

so!  the beard is going to to block for the next 5 hours to save a test match ::confused:: ::confused:: ::confused::

not likely. he better get ready for an ordinary life on the team.  who is to be the next Saffy captain ::confused::

its time to revolutionize Saffy cricket or a west indian tale will unfold as their story.  a downturn looms.  they better use it right..as opportunity to set up their cricket on a broader more inclusive basis.  time to kick Haroon Lorgat to the curb...to move on to younger more nationalistic oriented administration.

race-based elitist ethnocentrism will no longer cut it for the Saffies.  they will have to get to a broader talent feed or their cricket will die.  just like west indies

That is a brilliant display of Crease Occupation and situational cricket

Straight out of the Playbook 

         

Ironic for Amla, it's the Israeli playbook.

South Africa's resolute resistance and block-a-thon continued throughout the morning session - scoring just 22 runs in 35 overs though they did lose the wicket of Amla, departing for 25 from an epic 244 balls.

Jadeja bowled 12 overs without yielding a run all morning and now has figures of 1/10 from his 35 overs. You gotta give credit to South Africa for having a gameplan and sticking to it. It's not pretty, but they are a third of the way through the day and still have 7 wickets remaining.

As is seemingly almost always the case in cricket, one wicket leads to two and suddenly South Africa are now 5 down with still 40 minutes left before tea. AB is still at the crease but is looking to be in some pain after taking a few nasty blows. South Africa really can't afford to lose another wicket before tea. The match is deliciously poised right now.

South Africa make it to tea with 5 wickets down, setting up a tremendously tense final session of play.

AB has faced 296 deliveries for his 43. I was curious to see what is the fewest runs scored by a batsman facing a minimum of 300 deliveries. That record belongs to Trevor Bailey, who once scored 68 runs from 427 deliveries at a strike rate of 15.92. AB's current strike rate is 14.52 - the polar opposite to Virender Sehwag's 319 from 304 balls against South Africa in India back in 2008.

I was please to see our team finally put up some fight. It's just a shame that in recent times our lower order don't seem to be able to contribute much with the bat. It was inevitable that once AB and Dane Vilas were separated, there would be a big collapse.

Gina G,

A fight? Seriously? That was like Chanderpaul in headlights....quite appalling in my view.

Amla fails then SA fails....

abysmal.com/gina

Firdose Moonda wrote an interesting column today outlining the obstacles South Africa face when it comes to team selection and ensuring that there are at least four players of colour of which one is black African. This was a timely article as it ties in nicely with our recent conversation about who will open the batting for South Africa in the upcoming series against England.

www.espncricinfo.com/india-v-south-afric...nt/story/949931.html