England fail to tackle Johnson pace

             Johnson cleaned the english batting order with an annihilating spell of 7/40, leaving England all out for 172. Australia are way ahead with a lead of 530 runs. After the mammoth 570 by the Visiting side failed to counter. The first wicket fell in the third over of Johnson when he rattled the stumps of Captain Cook. Despite some fight from Carberry and Ian Bell, England failed to put a defendable total. Anderson replied well by taking two Australian wickets in his first spell, but displayed class and temprament to score 83 runs with 9 fours and a six.

          England have to battle for next 5 session, if they want to draw this test, but that may be too much to ask from a stressed dressing room

May God Save The Queen!

Behold! The most ancient cricketing rivalry went to its second session today. We can expect a lot of action and drama on and off the field. Who thought that a series based on an ancient mythology will become the most cunning dual in the world. Well, the subcontinent nations say these words for an Indo-pak clash but the facts say otherwise. The Ashes has its own pressure on both the teams. Besides, the Indo-pak games are often referred as 'friendship tour' whereas the Ashes was, is, and always will be a rivalry competition between two union jacks.

Talking about current game, well, not so encouraging for England. They have lost the first encounter and seemed to learn nothing from that. The only plus point for them is expected return of Tim Bresnan, which also won't help very much either, as they need to improve their batting lineup rather than altering the bowling. Chris Tremlett, James Anderson are in good form. Graeme Swann is a game changer as he was once on top in bowling and can trap the Aussies who don't have any experienced spinner right now. Nathan Lyon is effective but lacks variations. The batting order is not so compromising but they have sleeping giant like Kevin Peterson who posses great experience to play spin and of course Alister Cook, a test specialist.

On the other hand, the Kangaroos are in a high spirits after grabbing their first victory in last ten tests. After the humiliating 'brownwash' from India, Aussies literally reborn from the Ashes like a Phoenix. They look perfectly balanced having a correct mixture of bat and ball. Between the wickets, they have batsmen like Shane Watson, George Bailey and David Warner. Whereas Mitchell Johnson and company are doing a fantastic job with the new ball. The only weak point in their chain is lack of spinner. After Shane Warne and Brad Hogg, Australians always miss the quality spinners. This is the only area where England can outsmart. Nevertheless we can expect a war between two white teams. So guys! Cheer up your favourite team this November. Enjoy.

Preview: First ODI, Ind vs SA 5th Dec 2013

         

This has been a busy end to 2013 for both the teams. A little more glamorous for India. They defeated Australia in an ODI series by 3-2, then whitewashing test series with West Indies, and again winning their sixth straight ODI series.

           It will be the first Indian foreign test tour after the retirement of the master class trio of Sachin, Dravid and Laxman. Young Indians have responded to this challenge well by the in-form Rohit, Dhawan and Kohli. They have scored runs whenever the team needed. Now it is about adapting to the conditions. Understanding the pace and bounce of African pitches. ODI series will surely be preparing Indians for test challenge, but they need to make sure that they don’t lose their reputation as the world No1 ODI team.

          Result of first ODI will surely give strong advantage to winning side and will release the pressure of playing against some of the best cricketers around the world.

Key players:

Virat Kohli should be the stabilising factor for team India, he has scored a lot of runs in cricket in a short period, but now he need to anchor the team and make partnerships to counter the much feared South African pace attack.

Dale Steyn has been expressive about his desires to play India since last month, he says he has created plans against each Indian batsmen but it will depend on his execution. He can be serious threat to the inexperienced Top order.

Quotes:

I have had a look at the wicket and there's a lot of grass on it. It hasn't seen a lot of sun yet. But it should play the same over the course of 100 overs. Whether we bat first or second, or bowl first or second, I am not too fussed about that: AB de Villiers.

What we have seen in ODIs here is that the pitches provide something for the fast bowlers but at the same time, if you are a batsman who likes the ball coming on to the bat, this is the place to play. Johannesburg can be a high-scoring venue: MS Dhoni.

 

(Match starts at 5:30 pm at Wandererd South Africa)

Return of Swing Magician

At last selection committee of India got some sense of selection in their bags to bring Zaheer Khan back in the test squad for SA tour. Probably they understood that preparation for WC 2015 can't be done only with 'unripened fruits'. After observing various flaws in pace bowling against Aussies and against West Indies in ODIs, the Indian spearhead is also appointed as a mentor in limited over format.

Zaheer Khan, a.k.a. Zak, is one of the most successful speedster in Indian cricket. The left arm seamer is a role model not only for young bowlers like Jaidev Unadkat, Umesh Yadav but also for those who have anchored their places in international level like James Anderson. In the era of cricket where batsmen are pretty much dominant on the field, bowlers are treated like punching bags. The new rules and regulations are making the matter so worse, that for the young talent, as former Sri Lankan skipper Arjuna Ranatunga quoted, it will be very morale shattering for those who prefer shiny ball over shiny bat. In this battle of injustice, Zaheer is successfully holding flag of pacers for over 10 years. He can be categorized as an orthodox test bowler, which are left even less than tigers! Being at the age of 35, he is just an ocean of experience where everyone is welcome to learn.

The only drawback which frequently affected his place in squad is his fitness. Having a clean bowling action, he surprisingly keep on suffering from various injuries. Very recently, he got injured right in first test against England. That series resulted in an unfortunate whitewash for India which also snatched test crown from us. Let's hope this won't happen against South Africa and wish them best of luck.