South Africa's tour to England will surely be the testing ground for a team that has performed brilliantly over the last 8 months. During the series between the Proteas and New Zealand, followed by the West Indies, the team didn't disappoint.
An excellent display of team work, talent and skill resulted in back to back series victories. Not forgetting about the double test and ODI series wins in Pakistan and Bangladesh.
The Proteas continued their good form in the drawn series with India. But during the interim, many South African superstars were displaying individual performances in the Indian Premier League.
But now is the time for the biggest test.. Later this month the team will fly to the UK, where they will face their greatest challenge yet. An English team who are currently playing New Zealand will have an upper hand as they will be in "test mode" unlike many South African who played 20/20 cricket in the IPL.
Nevertheless, Greame Simth and his men will have to go out there and provide a spectacle that will make them no.1 in the ICC's Test rankings. The likes of Jacques Kallis and Mark Boucher, who had a poor tournament in India, will have to shine whilst other players such as Smith, Ntini and Morkel will have to continue performing at the highest level.
There is no more Shaun Pollock, so most likely Zondeki or Nel will have to step up and partner the likes of Steyn and Ntini. The secret to the South African sqaud is the balance, and so long as Micky Arthur continues his excellent strategic managment i dont foresee any problems.
Personally, I believe South Africa has the stronger side. If Steyn is able to crash batting attacks the way he did earlier this year, the likes of Pietersen and company will struggle.
Although all the cars are stacked towards the Proteas, they will have to prove worthy of their ranking. They are still far from achieving that milestone, but after this series the next is an inbound series against Bangladesh. Immediately following is a challenge down under to Australia, and early next year another inbound series against the Aussies.
The chance of been no.1 doesn't seem that far away.
Lets hope and pray for the best, we're looking forward to see good performances from Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers and Ashwell Prince.
2 comments Last one added about 1 year ago — Leave a Comment
Jon Naylor about 1 year ago
South Africa will be a much tougher series for England than New Zealand - but I can see one weakness in their side.
Similar to Australia, SA don't have an internationally-proven spinner to mix things up in their ranks. As has been something of a perennial problem for the Proteas, the fast bowlers are in abundance but spinners somewhat less so.
There's no doubt that Steyn, Ntini and the Morkel brothers can cause unlimited problems when on form, but if plan A fails then there isn't too much in the way of alternative.
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Lasse Manson about 1 year ago
True, but does england have a topline spinner? Apart from Panesar, who is hardly a frontline spinner. No offence to anyone.
Have a look at Paul Harris' statistics. You'd be suprised.
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