South Africa vs Pakistan - second test

It's a shame this Test series is not being broadcast in England. I would much rather watch this than the pointless ODI series between India and Australia.


I see Smith scored another double century and de Villiers is in the runs, no surprises there but I was surprised to see South Africa lost the first Test. It looks like the series will be leveled, is it a 3-Test series?

Nope , thats it !

On to 5 ODIs and 2 T20s ...

Pakistan have risen to No. 4, thanks to their victory in Abu Dhabi,

but were unable to protect fortress UAE :

losing in their adopted home for the first time since moving here in 2010.  :-[

                                               

[quote author=Mail link=topic=84386.msg527121#msg527121 date=1382727389]
Gina,
Could not say but the Psychology of it may have made the difference.

Tahir demolished Bangladesh for 99. This allowed the SA openers to ease in an get them in form.....confidence.

It could have been looking at 2-0 had Tahir been selected for the first test. Even the best leg spinners do have bad days.

Day 3 Saffers looking to push ahead and that they did and in so doing lost wickets. Pressure of 418 lead is daunting for the Bangladeshis.

Tahir has made the difference in this test.

When you have two guys scoring 400 runs you really do not complain about the rest as everyone is then trying to score quickly.
[/quote]

I suppose that makes sense, although at the end of day three I heard that Graeme Smith was unsure how much longer to bat on.

Tahir definitely made a difference and I hope that they persist with him now. It was interesting to see Duminy's bowling contribution, as well as the fact that Dean Elgar broke the only threatening partnership that Pakistan put together.

Kylester,


Sorry mate and thanks for the correction. Pakistan not Bangladesh.

I wonder how much of this victory is marred with the cheating scandal.


Punishment should have been sterner.

By the way, SA has made a habit of this or what? They just do this in away tests, they could have well won the series, and yet they are done with a draw. Either way, good on them, I guess #1 status is well deserved overall. I hope Tahir can sustain his form (I still have my share of doubts, and lots of it), then SA can stay there for long.

[quote author=Kyle link=topic=84386.msg527345#msg527345 date=1382843188]
By the way, SA has made a habit of this or what? [/quote]

The blame probably lies more with the admin than with the players. Most members of the team had played very little competitive cricket for months. More warm-up games would have been a help.

I still don't like having only two tests in a series though. The team that loses the first test should still have an opportunity to come back strong and win the series.