1st Test: South Africa v India at Johannesburg Dec 18-22, 2013

[TheParraboy]

Was Morkel able to bat?

If not then essentially they were 8 down with only superstar Tahir to come

No excuse really as they could have taken singles at will , Philander even declined to run a single , to protect steyn, lol

 

[vvvrulz]

Was Morkel able to bat?

If not then essentially they were 8 down with only superstar Tahir to come

No excuse really as they could have taken singles at will , Philander even declined to run a single , to protect steyn, lol

He was padded up and was not in great shape.
But he was going to bat.

All they had to do was take singles and turn 16 from 19 to about 8-10 from six.
Then just swing away in the last over, it would take a miracle to lose 3 wickets in one over from there.

 

[Helmet Man]

Cricinfo says "Faf and AB star in greatest draw". All i remember is how gutless SA are. And Smith not taking part of deciding if they should go for it? Very poor captaincy imo. They should have sent a drinks guy to the batsmen in the middle to tell them what to do if the captain really wanted to win. So it is pretty obvious that Graeme Smith is just hiding his face. Unbelievable.

If Peter Siddle or Johnson was in the same situation of needing 16 runs of the last 19 balls then they would have went for it because they aren't cowards. Heck even if they needed 16 runs off 5 balls they would still have went for it. Even smaller teams like Bangladesh, Zim and Ireland would have went for the win.

 

[JW]

This mentality really does highlight why they have rarely won anything of note in their history.

 

[Buzzard Breath]

Magnificent chase by South Africa almost re wrote the records books. I bet visiting teams now will only declare with 500+ runs on the board. Faf du plessis does it again. Maybe England could learn a page from his batting on how to save a match.
Ab devilliers batted well too.

 

[vvvrulz]

Magnificent chase by South Africa almost re wrote the records books.

Looks like you're enjoying the positive side, the comments around the web its generally about 50/50.

I'm in the other camp and thought that it was an extremely disappointing anti-climax.
I don't have an issue with dramatic draws at all, but SA had the game for the taking and *chose* not to.

It was a great build-up, fantastic, but all totally ruined.

 

[Helmet Man]

It just goes to show that they don't have that winning mentality.

 

[BunniesMan]

Idiots missing the forest for the trees as usual. Yes with 3 overs left they were in a position to win and should have gone for it. But they had to chase 458. They got 450 of them. They batted for 136 overs. Looking at the big picture the fact that this ended in anything but a loss for them is a miracle.

 

[jargan83]

Absolute cop out by South Africa

The game was there for the taking and it would have been a famous victory instead a draw in those circumstances

 

[vvvrulz]

Idiots missing the forest for the trees as usual. Yes with 3 overs left they were in a position to win and should have gone for it. But they had to chase 458. They got 450 of them. They batted for 136 overs. Looking at the big picture the fact that this ended in anything but a loss for them is a miracle.

:roll: I'll bite.

Nobody is questioning the fact that it was a huge achievement to bat out the day and get the draw. Everyone here is all praise for the innings played by AB and Faf.

We're all sticking a knife into the fact that they had the game in the bag and made a conscious decision to throw it away to take the low risk draw. South Africa were obviously too scared of losing those last three wickets and coughing up a 0-1 deficit at home. It was about 80/20 in their favour to win the game and on those odds they still refused to take the gamble. It was weak and pathetic and ruined a very very good game.

You're completely missing the point as usual.

 

[Buzzard Breath]

Looks like you're enjoying the positive side, the comments around the web its generally about 50/50.

I'm in the other camp and thought that it was an extremely disappointing anti-climax.
I don't have an issue with dramatic draws at all, but SA had the game for the taking and *chose* not to.

It was a great build-up, fantastic, but all totally ruined.

I enjoyed hearing about the chase, until later on when I learnt about the blocking for the last 3 overs. That was disappointing, to come that far and not take the easy singles.

 

[Iafeta]

It just goes to show that they don't have that winning mentality.

Yeah for sure. I mean, what's their ranking again? This mob wins as easy as shelling peas. Good one mate a serious WTF post.

 

[BunniesMan]

:roll: I'll bite.

Nobody is questioning the fact that it was a huge achievement to bat out the day and get the draw. Everyone here is all praise for the innings played by AB and Faf.

We're all sticking a knife into the fact that they had the game in the bag and made a conscious decision to throw it away to take the low risk draw. South Africa were obviously too scared of losing those last three wickets and coughing up a 0-1 deficit at home. It was about 80/20 in their favour to win the game and on those odds they still refused to take the gamble. It was weak and pathetic and ruined a very very good game.

You're completely missing the point as usual.

We seem to be agreeing on the facts (impressive to not lose given the size of the target, sad not to go for it in those last 3 overs) but disagree on which fact the focus should be on.

Yes they should have done more in the last 3 overs but I think the major story out of this should be that they didn't f**k up the first 133 overs of the innings.

 

[Timbo]

Derp.

 

[Horrie Is God]

The fear of another monumental choke saw them go back into their shells..

 

[Tonearm Terrorwrist]

Idiots missing the forest for the trees as usual. Yes with 3 overs left they were in a position to win and should have gone for it. But they had to chase 458. They got 450 of them. They batted for 136 overs. Looking at the big picture the fact that this ended in anything but a loss for them is a miracle.

You need to be quiet, you have absolutely zero idea about cricket.

 

[vvvrulz]

We seem to be agreeing on the facts (impressive to not lose given the size of the target, sad not to go for it in those last 3 overs) but disagree on which fact the focus should be on.

Yes they should have done more in the last 3 overs but I think the major story out of this should be that they didn't f**k up the first 133 overs of the innings.

Sorry but that's a nothing argument, while its a good achievement to have got through the day the ultimate result is what really counts. They blew the chance to go up 1-0 and nothing changes that fact regardless of how well they played to get there.

Its like saying "Yeah that Klusener/Donald run-out was tough, but gee they played some really good cricket before that".

Nothing glorious about playing 90% of a great game and choking away the rest.

 

[Iafeta]

Sorry but that's a nothing argument, while its a good achievement to have got through the day the ultimate result is what really counts. They blew the chance to go up 1-0 and nothing changes that fact regardless of how well they played to get there.

Its like saying "Yeah that Klusener/Donald run-out was tough, but gee they played some really good cricket before that".

Nothing glorious about playing 90% of a great game and choking away the rest.

They were behind for 90% of the test match. It was a colossal effort to get anywhere near it. It's Adelaide all over again. A test they had no right to survive A test no one else would have. They'll roll India and win the series comprehensively.

 

[vvvrulz]

They were behind for 90% of the test match. It was a colossal effort to get anywhere near it. It's Adelaide all over again. A test they had no right to survive A test no one else would have. They'll roll India and win the series comprehensively.

I was meaning 90% of the fourth innings not the entire match.

And of course full credit to them for batting out more than a day and even threatening to chase down the world record. It was a phenomenal effort.

But that is not my point at all, they had the game in the bag and they deliberately chose to throw that away at the much smaller risk of losing the match with three overs to go. It was a disgraceful call regardless of everything that had happened before.

 

[Mr Angry]

They can draw the entire series as far as I am concerned.

No winners.