South Africa vow not to rest after big win
By AFP, 24 Jul 2012
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Captain Graeme Smith and coach Gary Kirsten pledged they would not take England lightly in the remaining two Tests, after South Africa swept to a comprehensive innings and 12 run victory at the Oval on Monday.
England were dismissed twice on a pitch which gave minimal help to the bowlers, while the Proteas lost only two wickets in piling up a massive 2-637 in their only innings, with man-of-the-match Hashim Amla hitting a South African record 311 not out.
It was an especially surprising margin because England were on top on the first day when they scored 3-267.
Dale Steyn was South Africa’s hero on Monday, taking three wickets in 16 deliveries with the second new ball as England were bowled out for 240 on the final day. The fast bowler finished with five for 56 to justify his ranking as the world’s leading Test bowler.
The win took South Africa a big step towards earning the No.1 ranking in Test cricket which they will achieve if they defeat current No.1 England in the series.
Before flying back to Cape Town to witness the birth of his first child, Smith said: “It’s an extremely proud moment for all of us in our team.”
But he added: “We are going to Headingley and the conditions will be very different and we understand it will be a very different Test match.”
Kirsten hailed a “great performance” by his team.
“We think that we can go out and play cricket like that on a regular basis, rather than that being a one-off Test match.
“I’m not saying we’ll be 650 for two again but we feel that we can put in really good performances on a daily basis.”
Kirsten said, though, that the team’s job was only a third complete.
“We’ve got a great respect for the England cricket team. We know they will try and bounce back. We’re not going to take anything for granted.”
England captain Andrew Strauss gave credit to South Africa.
“We were outplayed in the last four days of the game. We set the game up well on the first day. South Africa used the conditions to their advantage on day two and they never let us back into the game.”
But Strauss pledged that England would bounce back.
“There are a number of areas where we are frustrated … there are regrets but we will learn the lessons and come back strong next week.”
One of Strauss’ regrets was that England were unable to come out of the game with a draw. He said losing four wickets on the fourth afternoon was a disappointment.
“I suppose South Africa had a bit of a psychological advantage with us having been in the field for a period of time. We did not react well enough to that and that leaves a sour taste in the mouth.”
Ian Bell led determined resistance by England on the final day, who lost only one wicket in almost three hours on Monday before Matt Prior was dismissed by leg-spinner Imran Tahir shortly before the second new ball was due.
The new ball was taken immediately after the afternoon drinks break, opening the door for Steyn’s onslaught.
© AFP 2013
July 24th 2012 @ 12:07pm
tonysalerno said | July 24th 2012 @ 12:07pm | Report comment
They can’t afford to rest after a big win over the Poms. SA have received a psychological boost in their quest to become cricket’s top ranked nation. They should attempt to win the series 3-0 to send a message to the three lions. However it will be very hard to keep England at bay on their home turf; so a series victory will do them the world of good and if they were able to keep England to nil in the series it would be a very satisfying series for Smith and his men.
July 24th 2012 @ 5:39pm
biltongbek said | July 24th 2012 @ 5:39pm | Report comment
I am not bothered about the ranking, I am more concerned with our focus to keep winning, if there is one crticism of SA cricket it is that they take their eye off the prize too often.
We have had a number of tests series where we would win the first onyl to perform dimally in the next.
July 24th 2012 @ 5:48pm
Jason said | July 24th 2012 @ 5:48pm | Report comment
I have to admit, that has always been a weird thing about South African cricket. They really should have spanked Australia the last couple of times they played but haven’t.
Do you have any explanation for it bek?
July 24th 2012 @ 6:47pm
biltongbek said | July 24th 2012 @ 6:47pm | Report comment
haha, no mate I don’t. It has been a conundrum for a long time.
July 25th 2012 @ 1:54am
Johnno said | July 25th 2012 @ 1:54am | Report comment
Is this the best south african team ever better than say 1993-4 team, or 2008-9. I remember around 2001-2 everyone said the proteas team was better than Australia but they got spanked in 2001-2 series and it put an end to that debate. Privatley the south african cricket players of the 1990′s and early 200′s 2000-2005 didn’t admit it publicly until after the series, but they had a fear of the aussy team of warney and mcgrath, and steve waugh, and had an infirmity complex and fear of shane warne. Basically they believed shane warne, glen mcgrath and adam gilchrist and steve waugh were more talented cricketers than them.
-When really they should of taken the fight to shane warne and dominate warne and hit him all around the ground 4′s and 6′s, but they failed and surrendered to shane warne and conceded defat to shane warne when they really should of tried to dominate to him like kevin peterson attacked warne a south african player who did not back down to warne instead he backed himself and tried to dominate him . Darrly cullinan especially surrendered to warne when he should of been trying to hit warne for 6 and not being phased by his flipper, and just pick it with ease like water of a duck’s back as any confident batsman would. eg bradman, lara, viv richards, vvs laxman, arivinda de silva , arjuna ranatunga, . Ravi shastri, lara and shastri both got double hundreds of warne with relative ease.
July 25th 2012 @ 9:55am
Ian Whitchurch said | July 25th 2012 @ 9:55am | Report comment
Johnno,
Maybe in your universe they are the best South African teams ever.
And as to your advice about playing Warne, it seems to come down to “Play spin really, really, really well, and then it’s easy”.
July 26th 2012 @ 2:29pm
dasilva said | July 26th 2012 @ 2:29pm | Report comment
I will say that Cullinan was probably mental though rather than an inability to play spin really well.
He had a reputation of being a pretty good player of spin bowling and had no problems scoring runs against Murali on a dustbowl of a pitch (I think his century in sri lanka against murali was rated as one of his best innings).
So he can play against quality spin on turning pitches. he just couldn’t play against Warne for whatever reason.
July 26th 2012 @ 3:51pm
biltongbek said | July 26th 2012 @ 3:51pm | Report comment
Johhno, not the best in my opinion.
We haven’t had a decent opening partner for Graeme Smith for a long time, also Jaques Rudolph in my opinion is a weak link in our batting line up, and still we don’t have a true strike bowler in the arsenal.
Smith, Amla, Kallis, De Villiers are all formidable batsmen and their averages are either very close to 50 or in Kallis’ case 57. So those four batsmen are the best “top four” we have ever had.
Remember in the past we used to have at least two all rounders with Kallis, Pollock and Klusener vying for places. So our “tail” was very short, we used tobat till nine. with Pollock often batting at nine at an average a shade under 30 which actually belied his ability.
These days we only really bat to 7.
July 28th 2012 @ 12:52am
Johnno said | July 28th 2012 @ 12:52am | Report comment
Shaun Polloack Biltonbek was a classy batsman he reminded me of Mitch Johnson, and stuart broad, and brendon julian. All 4 men had the ability to be better batsman if they became full time batters but had to bowl as well. Pollock had a lovely natural technique a classy batsman.
July 28th 2012 @ 12:34pm
Phillip said | July 28th 2012 @ 12:34pm | Report comment
The team of 71/72 was outstanding. Probably would have gone on to be one of the greatest teams in crickert history but SA were thrown out and we will never know. They had trounced Australia twice plus England and greater things were surely to come. Mention is made of why SA seems to throw away advantage and show mental fragility. I believe it it is all in their minds. The great team I spoke of was formed under a Captain called Van Der Merwe who was not really a top class player but he was a top class Captain because it was he who installed the attitude in those players that they were as good if not better than their opposition. Bacher took over from him and he was also a Captain who instilled confidence and aggression.( Oddly enough another Captain who was not really test class as a player.)
July 25th 2012 @ 10:23am
Pope Paul VII said | July 25th 2012 @ 10:23am | Report comment
All guns firing for SA. Well nearly, if the lower middle order could get a bat.
Meanwhile Engerland need to drop Bresnan for Finn. Broad was ordinary by all accounts but they’ll give him another go. Bad luck for Onions. Does anyone know if Tremlett is still injured?
Swanny got walloped. Monty probably deserves a twirl but probably wont get one.
I’d give Bopa another run too just for fun.
July 26th 2012 @ 8:54am
Disco said | July 26th 2012 @ 8:54am | Report comment
I’d be tempted to give Broad a spell myself, though in saying that he bowls better when his place is under question. Finn’s certainly in the frame, but a lot of people seem to forget he struggled in his last Test against the West Indies when Onions out-bowled him. Tremlett’s back but hasn’t player enough yet to be considered.
I imagine England will do better at Headingley and their bowlers perform well more often than not, but it’s largely the batting that needs attention – more application required.
July 26th 2012 @ 7:31am
mickh said | July 26th 2012 @ 7:31am | Report comment
SA certainly deserve to reach the number 1 spot after all these years of being so close.
lets hope they can do it. Will they reach number 1 if they win this series?
July 26th 2012 @ 3:17pm
Bayman said | July 26th 2012 @ 3:17pm | Report comment
Personally, I’m hoping SA take England to the cleaners 3-0. That way at least a little bit of wind gets taken from England’s sails before they get their hands on us. The last thing we need now is for England to come back and win 2-1 and, as biltongbek says above, the Saffers have made something of a habit of great starts before falling over.
The wierd thing is, given we won the next Test in SA last year, that we should have creamed them in the first but for the small matter of collapsing for 47 when so far in front they could hardly see us.
So, funny team South Africa, they win when they shouldn’t and they lose when they shouldn’t – and usually all in the same series.
Still, come on boys – 3-0 just for me.
PS Mind you, we’ll have our own hands full next summer so we’ll have to be very careful that we don’t actually provide that bit of wind that England needs.
July 26th 2012 @ 3:56pm
biltongbek said | July 26th 2012 @ 3:56pm | Report comment
Bayman I did an article on another forum quite some time ago about South Africa’s consistency regards too playing test cricket, but the conundrum as to why they don’t put teams away.
I found the following interesting facts.
SA have lost their last 5 tests in Durban, badly.
In the past 3 years SA had long breaks of no international cricket. Before the english series in SA, we had a break of 11 months, and then the next year had a break of 10 months.
That’s why in my view we go into test series under prepared with our batsmen and bowlers getting little time in the middle.
Now I am no expert, but from what I have seen, time in the middle is the only way to keep form and the refelxes sharp.
July 27th 2012 @ 12:50pm
Rhys said | July 27th 2012 @ 12:50pm | Report comment
I have a feeling South Africa will prove to be far more ruthless in closing out series under the guidance of Gary Kirsten. If he could put the mongrel into Indian cricket, Kirsten will surely be able to repeat the effort with his beloved Proteas.
July 26th 2012 @ 8:30pm
Rowdy said | July 26th 2012 @ 8:30pm | Report comment
Oddly enough, I don’t think it’s the England bowling that’s the problem so much as the batting, as we saw against Pakistan in the Winter. We really should have got 450-500 in the first innnings; just a lack of application let them down.
I’d rather see Tremlett at Headingly than Bres but we won’t.