And for a change it is a series!
Three games, the first here today (12.30 gmt), followed by games in …
Durban on Wednesday (16.00gmt)
… and up in Pretoria on Friday (16.00 gmt)
The T20 world cup starts next week (March 16) in Bangladesh, so the importance of this series is not to be underestimated. Form players have to be found, combinations (bowling & batting) established, team tactics planned and executed but more on that closer to the time.
This week is all about what is described as “The Fierce Rivalry”
For those enthralled by the recent Proteas / Aussie test series the Proteas side will look distinctly familiar. Of the selected 16 man squad 9 players represented South Africa in the recent 3 tests.
However, familiar faces are few and far between in the Aussie camp, of the 16 names I see on the squad published for this week I only recognise 3 from the test squad! Horses for courses I suppose?
I mentioned on the Newlands test post that I wasn’t sure if I would be going to watch this one, guess what?
I’ve been given 2 tickets! 🙂
Nice tickets too! From about the same place that I watched the fourth day of the St George’s test 🙂
Only problem is, it’s RAINING 😦
It rained overnight and it’s forecast to rain throughout the day. It’s light intermittent showery stuff, I’ll have to reassess my position closer to the time.
Boadicea's Chariot 
Looks pretty much like our new standard T20 squad. George Bailey makes a great captain.
Shame it’s on too late for me to watch. 😥
This unfortunately is the forecast for this afternoon, the game is scheduled to start at 2:30 our time.
What a pity, the game was abandoned without a ball being bowled 😦
We won, we won (Eng v. Wales)! 🙂
Now you know how it feels to be English. 😦
Môre Jay 🙂
Why oh why don’t the powers that be set aside a reserve day?
The next match is up in Durban, a short 90 minute flight away!
Here’s a pic of St George’s Park yesterday (the day after the ‘abandoned’ match.)
The 2nd T20 ~ Durban
Unfortunately this is the weather forecast for Durban, later today. The start is scheduled for 6pm 😦
😦
Well then, we had a game (of sorts) a T7
That’s right, a T SEVEN !
The rain lifted in time for play to begin at 8.30pm. Seven overs a side were decided by the officials and seven overs a side wee played.
The Proteas were rubbish, getting their batting order completely wrong and stumbling to a below par score of 80, thanks only to some tremendous hitting towards the end by young Quentin De Kock and Captain Faf, they then proceeded to bowl rubbish, I know it’s difficult and perhaps a bit intimidating bowling to David Warner (good player) but wides, full tosses and line and length just wont do it.
The Aussies weren’t much better! After a rollicking start (that man Warner again), they proceeded to toss wickets away at will and looked in serious jeopardy of losing, 2 shocking final overs by our closing bowlers, young debutante Hendricks and Eastern Province’s very own (wayward) Parnell saw the Aussies through with one ball to spare.
It was entertaining stuff alright but frustrating to see the error ridden performances so close to the world cup.
Pretoria tomorrow, where it’s been raining the last two weeks, there is a chance of the weather clearing for tomorrow’s match, we’ll see.
It was due to start far too late for me, so I went to bed at a respectable hour.
Boadicea and I usually get up quite early these days, so it was somewhere around 6:00 am when I turned to Cricinfo and found to my surprise that the game was still in play. So I (text) watched the last 10 balls and was gobsmacked, but delighted, to see us win.
Many thanks for the bumper ‘wide’, though I think we’d have managed it anyway.
By the way, although the 2 runs from it counted, that last ball bowled came under the ‘no ball’ heading, so there were actually two balls to spare at the end. 😀
Howzit Bearsy
It was tense entering those final 2 overs, sure it’s a bit of a lottery but entertaining as I said. I’m pleased that you caught the tail end of it.
And, yes, you’re quite correct, 2 balls it was!
… 🙂 …
The 3rd T20 ~ Pretoria
They say that the weather is going to be fine and that we should be able to get 40 overs in tonight, good.
Well, well – that was a great result to wake up to! 😀
Nice to see Mitchell Starc back in action; Boadicea and I like both his skill and his demeanour.
What a shambolic performance by the Proteas.
The Aussie margin of victory was so large that if that had been the scores in our domestic T20 competition the Aussie’s would have recorded a win with a bonus point! ( A margin so rare that only 3 bonus points were accrued in 30 games this past season.)
With performances like these last 2 I fear for the Proteas in Dhaka and Chittagong.
Hats off to the Aussies, a series win, a job well done.
Check out my blog review on the T20 series. http://sportescort.wordpress.com/2014/03/15/australia-trample-struggling-proteas/
Naeh! Give us your views here! 🙂