273 Responses to Cricket: 2nd Test – South Africa v Sri Lanka, Durban – Live Game Article

• 

  181

  Ashley on 28 December 2011 at 4:06 pm

  players back on … who will put his hand up? steyn? morkel? kallis? the rookie? tahir?
• 

  182

  Ashley on 28 December 2011 at 4:10 pm

  sri lanka’s lead now 382
  we’re into the last session of the 3rd day … surely they can now look towards getting to a lead of 450+ and still have enough time to bowl sa out?
• 

  183

  grootblousmile on 28 December 2011 at 4:23 pm

  179 @ Ashley:
  Besig by die werk, of nie?

  Hier by ons gaan flokkol aan… ek was vandag na so paar Hardeware winkels, die 1ste ene het gladnie die washers en kraanrubbers gehad wat ek gesoek het nie, die volgende ene het net die washers gehad, 2 groot building suppliers was toe tot volgende week en die hardeware shoppie naby die Pick ‘n Pay was ook toe…

  More moet ek so 4 x 4m ekstra deck planke gaan koop en ‘n blondel latte…. hoop die freegin plek is oop!
• 

  184

  Ashley on 28 December 2011 at 4:25 pm

  sri lanka now lead by 400 runs, 5 wickets remaining!!
• 

  185

  grootblousmile on 28 December 2011 at 4:26 pm

  Sri Lankan lead already now 400…

  2 Days and a bit left.

  What do you do now? Just restrict runs as far as possible, make the Sri Lankans bat for as long as possible?
• 

  186

  Ashley on 28 December 2011 at 4:29 pm

  gbs @ 183
  kla jy of brek jy? 😀
• 

  187

  Just For Kicks on 28 December 2011 at 4:30 pm

  I don’t think I’ll make tomorrows cricket, this is a forgone conclusion and I have better things to do, so I will try to get the last of my Bradman anecdotes out before the end of play. This is a lovely one, that shows the human side, given in an interview with Channel 9 journo Ray Martin:

  RM. When did you first fall in love with Jessie Menzies?
  DB: Err, I think that would be the day she came to live with us when I was about 12 years of age. I remember the day very well because I had been sent down the street by my mother on a mission to buy some groceries, and I ran into the doctor’s car…on my bike, and had an
  accident. He had to take me home, I had my nose all cut and scratches all over my face. And when I got home she was there at the door, having just been delivered by her father, because she was going to
  stay with us for 12 months and go to school. And we went to school together every day for the rest of that year. That was when I fell in love with her, that very first day. I don’t think she fell in love
  with me until much later, because I was a terrible sight the day she saw me.
  RM: (laughs) Did you decide then you were going to marry her?
  DB: (smiles) No, no not quite then..but very shortly afterwards.
  RM: But she turned you down first up, in 1932..?
  DB: No, no, she didn’t turn me down then..just postponed it.
  RM: I see, but you wanted to marry her before you went on the 1930 tour?
  DB: No I only wanted to be engaged, I didn’t want to get married.
  RM: And she said no?
  DB: She said “Wait until you get back from England, and if you still feel the same way, talk to me again.”
  RM: And you did?
  DB: And I did, straight away..as soon as I got back.
  RM: Could you have done all this without Jessie?
  DB: No, no..no way in the world, no way in the world. She’s the most
  marvellous woman who ever existed
• 

  188

  Just For Kicks on 28 December 2011 at 4:32 pm

  185@ grootblousmile:With a lead of 400 on the board, you’re not going to restrict the runs to make them bat as long as possible, chasing this down now is just an impossible dream!
• 

  189

  Ashley on 28 December 2011 at 4:34 pm

  64.1
  Steyn to Chandimal, FOUR, cracked to point but a brilliant leaping save from de Villiers, who then fires at the stumps, misses, and concedes four overthrows. Oh dear.
• 

  190

  grootblousmile on 28 December 2011 at 4:34 pm

  186 @ Ashley:
  Hoe kan ek brek oor flippen winkels wat toe is????
• 

  191

  grootblousmile on 28 December 2011 at 4:37 pm

  188 @ Just For Kicks:
  You were right about batting practice on this wicket… the Sri Lankans are getting all the batting practice they need for the next 6 months!
• 

  192

  Ashley on 28 December 2011 at 4:41 pm

  i’m not near a tv at the moment, so i dont know what the weather is like … whats the odds that sri lanka might get to that magical 450 lead before close of play? (lead 411 now)
• 

  193

  Ashley on 28 December 2011 at 4:44 pm

  gbs @ 190
  😀 ek maak maa net seker, met julle bloubul ondersteuners weet mens nooit!!
• 

  194

  Ashley on 28 December 2011 at 4:46 pm

  66.5
  Steyn to Chandimal, OUT, got him now. Much better from Steyn. A teasing line outside the off stump, Chandimal didn’t really go anywhere with the feet and got a touch squared up. It was a thin edge and Boucher took it tumbling down to his right.
  Steyn wins that little tussle if it even existed and celebrates with a loud cry. I would suggest Mr Chandimal points to the scoreboard.
• 

  195

  Just For Kicks on 28 December 2011 at 4:49 pm

  Lost signal for a few minutes there, and in that time, 2 wickets – Breedenet, do it again!
• 

  196

  Just For Kicks on 28 December 2011 at 4:51 pm

  191@ grootblousmile:Yup, right prediction, wrong team – story of my life!
• 

  197

  grootblousmile on 28 December 2011 at 4:54 pm

  The lead of 421 is already a steep ask…

  Even if we get the last 3 quickly, all it will mean is that the Verlepte Blomme might have to start batting before close of play… and then still stand for 2 more days just to get a draw.
• 

  198

  grootblousmile on 28 December 2011 at 4:56 pm

  Nearly a chop-on by Herath, off the bowling of Tahir
• 

  199

  Just For Kicks on 28 December 2011 at 4:56 pm

  When the Don scored 334 runs in a 1930 Test at Leeds, and a London newspaper finally trumpeted just two grateful words on posters around the city: “HE’S OUT!”
• 

  200

  grootblousmile on 28 December 2011 at 5:00 pm

  Umpires checking the light quite a bit now… don’t think we’ll get much more play today
• 

  201

  grootblousmile on 28 December 2011 at 5:01 pm

  Bad light stops play….
• 

  202

  Just For Kicks on 28 December 2011 at 5:04 pm

  Well I would suggest that that is it for the day, light won’t get better in Sopkoppieville. Apart from the 2 quick wickets, not much else to write home about SL finish on 256/7, 426 runs ahead. The game is Sri Lanka’s to lose, I am afraid.
• 

  203

  Just For Kicks on 28 December 2011 at 5:07 pm

  My last offering from the mighty ‘Don’ is one which has been verified by the venerable Merv Hughes, who was there at the time, and concerns Bradman when in his eighties. It goes like this:

  The scene is set at a Test match between Australia and the West Indies at Adelaide Oval back in February 1989. These were the days when the Windies were the greatest power the cricketing world had ever seen, the days when they used to select 11 fast bowlers in the team and a 12th man who was a fast bowler just to be on the safe side.

  And it was into just such a furnace that the young bowler Mervyn Hughes walked – with bat in hand. Figuring fortune favoured the brave, Hughes wielded the willow like an axeman his axe, and somehow – after snicking fortutiously, connecting full-bloodedly, and missing entirely – he finished the day’s play at 72 not out.

  The tradition in Test cricket is that the batting side take a few beers into the fielding side’s dressing-room afterwards, but not on this evening. Instead, Merv took an ice-box full of bottles, so keen was he to give the men of the Windies the full blow-by-blow account of every run he’d made. So it was that half an hour later, Jones – who himself had contributed 216 – and Hughes and several other Australian players were in the Windies dressing-room, when a sudden hush fell upon the gathering.

  They looked to the door and there was Sir Donald Bradman himself, being ushered into the room by several South Australian cricket officials. The Don had expressed a desire to meet this mighty team, and now here he was.

  For the next 15 minutes or so, the great man was introduced to the visiting players, with each West Indian standing up well before Sir Donald got to their position on the bench. Then, when their time came, they warmly shook his hand and had a few words.

  This all proceeded splendidly until Sir Donald got to the last man on the bench, Patrick Patterson – the fastest bowler in the world at that time. So the story goes, not only did Patterson not stand, he simply squinted quizzically up at the octogenarian. Finally, after some 30 seconds of awkward silence, Patterson stood up, all two metres of pure whip-cord steel of him, and looked down at the diminutive Don.

  “You, Don Bradman!?!” he snorted. “You, Don Bradman?!?! I kill you,
  mun! I bowl at you, I kill you! I split you in two!”

  In reply, Sir Donald, with his hands on his hips, gazed squarely back at Patterson and calmly retorted: “You couldn’t even get Merv Hughes out. You’d have no chance against me, mate!”

  As an addendum, he also looked at Merv and said of his 72 not out, “Cricket’s a funny game.”
• 

  204

  Just For Kicks on 28 December 2011 at 5:12 pm

  GBS, I will try to log in when I can tomorrow, and if no ones around I will update the scores, but I will be out for most of it – taking the kids to Cool Runnings in Debenville
• 

  205

  grootblousmile on 28 December 2011 at 5:15 pm

  204 @ Just For Kicks:
  No problem!
• 

  206

  Just For Kicks on 28 December 2011 at 5:20 pm

  Cheers lads, thanks for the company, and catch up over the next couple of days.
• 

  207

  superBul on 28 December 2011 at 7:48 pm

  The odds are obviously stacked against the Proteas but the ball is firmly in the batsmens’ court to undo the damage of the first innings. There will have to be at least two centuries from the top six as there were from Smith and AB de Villiers in the successful runs chase at Perth.

  The biggest positive is undoubtedly Smith’s unparalleled record in the history of the game in chasing down difficult fourth innings totals. He has been involved in five of South Africa’s top seven and the other two happened well before his time in 1906 and 1950! But he was involved at Kingsmead against Australia (2002, his second Test match), against New Zealand at Wellington (2004), England at Edgbaston (2008), Australia at Perth (2008) and Australia at Sahara Park Newlands (2011). In four of those five fourth innings he made centuries.

  The Proteas will need more of the same again!

  With this it is also my view, Hope that Biff silences a few. Hell now i know how it feels to be a Wales, Scotland … supporter when they play against SA,NZ and Australia. You just hope for a good showing and dream of a surprise. But expecting to win, nay.
• 

  208

  superBul on 28 December 2011 at 8:38 pm

  Gary Kirsten, the head coach, said one of the key things for them is simply to believe. “The one thing we do know is that it’s an opportunity for someone to do something special and be a hero for their country,” said Kirsten. “At the end of the day, we’ve got to dig ourselves out of this hole.”

  The hole was created by a poor first-innings effort with the bat, which showed a distinct lack of application by some of the side’s most senior players, such as AB de Villiers and Ashwell Prince.
• 

  209

  superBul on 28 December 2011 at 8:40 pm

  South Africa’s lack of a containing bowler has been lurking as a problem since they dropped Paul Harris for Pakistan-born legspinner Imran Tahir. It did not stand up as a real concern when they were shooting sides out, like Australia for 47 in November and Sri Lanka for 180 and 150 in the last Test. In those instances, the attack was under no real pressure to stop the run flow, as they were today in Durban. When they were, Vernon Philander, who brought what Graeme Smith has called a “degree of control”, had stepped in.

  With the prolific wicket-taker, Philander, out of the side because of a knee injury, South Africa have no-one to stem the tide. Jacques Kallis was unable to, Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and Tahir were too focused on taking wickets, and Marchant de Lange was trying to repeat his heroics of the first innings while finding his feet. Too many short balls were wasted, too many boundaries were allowed to be scored and Sri Lanka were given enough rope to run away.
• 

  210

  superBul on 28 December 2011 at 8:42 pm

  Although deterioration of the surface is expected, Kirsten has to think positively because South Africa have to find some inspiration and he may be the man to provide it. Twelve years ago, he did something special at this ground. Kirsten made a then-South African record score of 275 to save the third Test against England. The Proteas need an effort which mirrors that one to win this match. “It’s a great opportunity for someone to be a hero. These are the reasons why we play the game,” he said. “I am still quite excited by what can come out of this Test match.”