Mini-session Analysis 2nd Test, SA Pak, Newlands, 2012/13

Here is the final mini-session analysis for the second test between South Africa and Pakistan at Newlands, Cape Town, South Africa

A mini-session is (normally) half a session, either between the start of the session and the drinks break or the drinks break and the end of the session. Occasionally a long session will have 3 mini-sessions where it will be broken up with 2 drinks breaks.

Mini-Session	Score	Winner
1-1a	Pakistan 21/2 off 13	South Africa
1-1b	Pakistan 39/2 off 14	South Africa
1-2a	Pakistan 21/0 off 14	draw
1-2b	Pakistan 52/0 off 16	Pakistan
1-3a	Pakistan 57/0 off 15	Pakistan
1-3b	Pakistan 63/1 off 18	Pakistan
2-1a	Pakistan 46/3 off 12.3	South Africa
2-1b	Pakistan 39/2 off 13.5	draw
2-2a	South Africa 33/0 off 11.3	South Africa
2-2b	South Africa 32/2 off 12.3	Pakistan
2-3a	South Africa 40/2 off 17	Pakistan
2-3b	South Africa 34/1 off 19	Pakistan
3-1a	South Africa 51/1 off 14	South Africa
3-1b	South Africa 58/1 off 14	South Africa
3-2a	South Africa 77/2 off 101	Pakistan
3-2b	South Africa 1/1 off 1.1	South Africa
	Pakistan 25/2 off 8
3-3a	Pakistan 30/1 off 17.1	South Africa
3-3b	Pakistan 45/0 off 18.5	Pakistan
4-1a	Pakistan 35/1 off 14	South Africa
4-1b	Pakistan 22/4 off 12	South Africa
4-2a	Pakistan 12/2 off 5.3	South Africa
4-2b	South Africa 66/2 off 17	Pakistan
4-3a	South Africa 46/1 off 11	South Africa
4-3b	South Africa 50/1 off 10	South Africa

Final update, click here
South Africa win the mini-session count 13 - 9

First drinks, Day 1: South Africa lead the mini-session count 1-0

Another match at Newlands, another good hour with the ball for South Africa. If anything the ball has moved more in this match than it did in the first hour against New Zealand. The difference here is that the ball has missed the outside edge. As the pitch settles down, it may be even more difficult to bat here. - Mykuhl

Lunch, Day 1: South Africa lead the mini-session count 2-0

Other than the one over from Morkel, Pakistan batted quite well in this hour. Younis Khan looked quite solid. It was still South Africa's hour, as it usually is at Newlands, but this may be a slightly better match than the recent ones at this fantastic stadium. - Mykuhl

Stumps, Day 1: Pakistan lead the mini-session count 3-2

A fantastic fight back from Pakistan. Younis and Asad put together an outstanding partnership. Both batsmen had a couple of scary moments early on, but once they saw off the new ball they prospered. The match is very evenly balanced at this point. - Mykuhl

First drinks, Day 2: The mini-session count is tied up, 3-3

A good hour for Vernon Philander, who picked up yet another Newlands 5-for. South Africa seem like they are not far from wrapping up the tail here, but this partnership has been a very valuable one for Pakistan. These 31 runs could be the difference between a losing total and a competitive one. - Mykuhl

Lunch, Day 2: The mini-session count is tied up, 3-3

South Africa will be happy to have wrapped up the tail reasonably cheaply, but the 64 run 8th wicket partnership was massive in the context of the innings. - Mykuhl

Middle drinks, Day 2: South Africa lead the mini-session count 4-3

A couple of interesting things here. First we got to see Mohammed Irfan bowl, and he did seem to create some pressure. The key moment, however was probably Younis Khan dropping Graeme Smith on 0. That's already cost 17 runs directly, but also meant that Pakistan has missed out on the momentum that an early wicket would have created. - Mykuhl

Tea, Day 2: The mini-session count is tied up, 4-4

Saeed Ajmal strikes again. Both openers back in the hutch. However, despite 7 overs being bowled by Ajmal, Pakistan have managed only 24 overs in these two hours. There have been two delays, but they really need to get through their overs quicker than that. - Mykuhl

Final drinks, Day 2: Pakistan lead the mini-session count 5-4

Another hour, another 2 wickets for Saeed Ajmal. The talking point here was the wicket of Kallis.

He was given out caught, and Kallis reviewed it, knowing that he didn't hit the ball. The replay showed that he didn't hit it, but that it was probably hitting leg stump. However it was umpires call for the lbw, and given that the umpire had not given the batsman out lbw, the umpires call was actually potentially not out for lbw.

The tricky thing here is that caught takes priority over lbw, so if the ball hits the pad plumb lbw, and then takes the bat and gets caught, the batsman is out caught, not lbw. The umpire doesn't have to rule on lbw if he feels the ball is caught.

What should have happened is once Bowden knew it was not out caught, he should have related that to Davis and asked if he felt it was lbw before looking at that. The rules do actually allow for that situation, but they were not totally applied correctly here. Kallis will feel aggrieved that he used up a review correctly, but was given out and lost the review for his team too. - Mykuhl

Stumps, Day 2: Pakistan lead the mini-session count 6-4

Another wicket for Ajmal, and now Hafeez is into the action too, bowling with his less favoured older ball. It will be interesting to see who Misbah goes to with the new ball (if South Africa make it that far). With the pitch taking turn, the option of Hafeez into the wind, and rotating the quicks in short spells from the other end is possibly an attractive option. Dean Elgar now has a chance to make his case for his spot in the team. He really needs to score big here to make the selectors decision between him and Duminy (once JP's fit) difficult. - Mykuhl

First drinks, Day 3: Pakistan lead the mini-session count 6-5

The role that luck plays is an interesting thing in cricket. AB de Villiers was dropped, then Dean Elgar got caught. As a result AB "did his job" by surviving the first hour, while Elgar "had another failure." - Mykuhl

Stumps, Day 3: The mini-session count is tied up, 8-8

This game is turning into a stunning match. The mini-sessions are tied up, but Pakistan are probably in the lead, given that South Africa will have to play against Ajmal on a wearing pitch. However 2 quick wickets in the morning will change that completely. The Younis Khan wicket was a very big one for South Africa, but this partnership has restored the balance for Pakistan. - Mykuhl

First drinks, Day 4: South Africa lead the mini-session count 9-8

While South Africa won that hour, they didn't win it by much. Pakistan still have the advantage of Ajmal ready to bowl on the final day. The Misbah dismissal was a big one, as South Africa really need Peterson to fire, given that Morne Morkel is out. - Mykuhl

Lunch, Day 4: South Africa lead the mini-session count 10-8

If the first hour was close, the last hour was anything but. In the space of 13 balls the whole match changed dramatically. South Africa picked up 4 wickets and Pakistan were left hoping that Saeed Ajmal and Tanvir Ahmed can repeat their heroics from the first innings.

Pakistan probably need another 30 runs to make the run chase difficult, but they will also be aware that almost all the South African batsmen got starts, despite none of them going on to post a score. That is a pattern that's unlikely to happen twice in one test. - Mykuhl

End of Match, Day 4: South Africa Win the match by 4 wickets and the mini-session count 13-9

If Pakistan had managed another 30 runs, this match could have had a fantastic conclusion. The 3 over spell where South Africa picked up 4/5 was the turning point in the match.

It always felt like a spell like that was approaching, and it was always likey to include Philander. He has now taken 30 wickets in 4 matches at Newlands. If he can pick up 13 wickets in his next match, he will equal one of the oldest records in cricket, George Lohmann's record for being the fastest to take 100 wickets (15 matches). - Mykuhl

Questions for New Zealand in Port Elizabeth

A view of Port Elizabeth from Summerstrand beach

Heading into the second test the Black Caps need to take a leaf out of Graeme Smith’s book.

In the press conference after the first match, he was asked about the mental toughness of the South African team. He commented that they had come though the hard times, and built up resilience. It was through the hard times that learned how to take advantage of opportunities when they arose.

Their win in Perth was, in some ways, made possible because of the hard times in Brisbane and Adelaide. But it was also possible because the players had built up a large reserve of experience of finding a way to hold on through the hard times.

In the first test New Zealand were put through some tough times but were found wanting. They were asked questions that they had no answers to.

The first question was asked by Vernon Philander, who bowled a sensational spell. Some of the deliveries that the batsmen got from him were almost unplayable. However they were unplayable largely because the batsmen were neither forward nor back and as a result allowed him to bowl to them. This might have been understandable if they had learned to play their cricket in somewhere like India, where playing on a green wicket is foreign, but these players have almost all grown up in New Zealand, where playing on a pre-Christmas wicket is something that most batsmen have to do every year.

The second question was caused by the bounce. When James Franklin managed to hit Alviro Petersen on the hand with one that got up it was clear that this was a particularly bouncy pitch. It was even more evident when Steyn and Morkel were putting the ball up at rib height for the New Zealand tail-enders. Most of the New Zealand batsmen didn’t get the opportunity to answer that question in the first innings, but in the second innings it was asked again, and they were generally found wanting again. While they managed to not get out to too many short balls they struggled to score and generally survived more by good fortune than good management.

The third question was how they would reply to being put under so much pressure from the scoreboard. When Doug Bracewell picked up Graeme Smith in the second over, it looked like they were going to respond well, but after lunch they looked like a defeated team. While that was understandable in one respect, the South Africans still needed to bat on the pitch, and gifting them easy runs through poor fielding and loose bowling was not the correct response. There was sufficient life in the pitch that good bowling and fielding would have caused problems for the South African batsmen.

The fourth question was would they learn from the first innings. The answer to that was somewhat equivocal. The batsmen used the crease well against Philander. Guptill tried to turn the strike over by hitting the ball squarer, playing the right shot to the right ball, but just executing incorrectly. However most of the batsmen struggled to score off the back foot. Wattling, Flynn and Franklin all showed admirable patience, but failed to take advantage of a number of scoring opportunities, and so allowed the bowlers to implement plans.

The second test is at St Georges Park a ground that has traditionally been a lot slower and does a lot less off the seam than Newlands but it also traditionally swings more. So now some new questions await the New Zealand team. How do they recover from the psychological disaster of Newlands? How will the bowlers respond to a slower pitch with very little likely to be on offer? Will the batsman do as badly against swing as they did against seam movement?

There are also more specific questions:

• Can Guptill find a way to rotate the strike?
• Will McCullum bat as responsibly on a pitch that’s slower?
• Will Williamson, Flynn and/or Franklin find a way to score as well as occupying the crease?
• Will Brownlie adapt to a slower pitch, where he can’t use the pace of the ball as easily?
• Will Wattling recover his form that he has previously shown on slow tracks?
• Will Bracewell find a way to get out the better batsmen without getting much assistance from the pitch?
• If he plays, will Patel find a way to take wickets as well as containing the batsmen?
• If Bruce Martin plays instead, will he be able to cut out the one bad ball an over that he tends to bowl?
• Will Trent Boult be able to bowl in his first spell as well as he bowled in his third spell at Newlands, and will he be able to dislodge the tail-enders as well as the quality batsmen?
• If Chris Martin plays, will he be able to find the length again that has given him so much success against left-handers in the past?
• If Neil Wagner plays, does he have the weapons to dislodge quality batsmen who are not frightened by his pace?
• If Mitchell McClenaghan plays can he bowl with pace and accuracy for more than 3 or 4 overs?

The New Zealand team certainly went through tough times in Newlands. They now need to show that they have learned from that, and can answer the new questions that this match will ask. Until the Black Caps get on the pitch it’s hard to know what answers they have, and if those answers are going to be sufficient.

Mini-session Analysis 1st Test, South Africa vs New Zealand, Capetown 2012/13

Here is the final mini-session analysis for the first test between South Africa and New Zealand at Newlands, Cape Town, South Africa

A mini-session is (normally) half a session, either between the start of the session and the drinks break or the drinks break and the end of the session. Occasionally a long session will have 3 mini-sessions where it will be broken up with 2 drinks breaks.

Mini-Session	Score	Winner
1-1a	New Zealand 28/6 off 10.5	South Africa
1-1b	New Zealand 17/4 off 8.3	South Africa
	South Africa 3/1 off 2
1-2a	South Africa 74/0 off 14	South Africa
1-2b	South Africa 42/1 off 13	draw
1-3a	South Africa 79/0 off 18	South Africa
1-3b	South Africa 54/1 off 17	draw
2-1a	South Africa 44/2 off 14	New Zealand
2-1b	South Africa 39/1 off 13	draw
2-2a	South Africa 12/2 off 4.5	South Africa
	New Zealand 17/1 off 9.3
2-2b	New Zealand 16/1 off 9.3	South Africa
2-3a	New Zealand 96/1 off 16	New Zealand
2-3b	New Zealand 40/1 off 17	draw
3-1a	New Zealand 32/0 off 15	New Zealand
3-1b	New Zealand 31/1 off 15	South Africa
3-2a	New Zealand 20/2 off 13	South Africa
3-2b	New Zealand 22/3 off 7.1	South Africa

Latest update, click here
South Africa win the match by an innings and 27 and the mini-session count 9 - 3

First drinks, Day 1: South Africa lead the mini-session count 1-0

Vernon Philander is a one man wrecking machine on a pitch like this. Some of those deliveries moved so sharply that the batsman had no chance, but others moved just enough that the batsman didn't play and miss. New Zealand will be pleased that they have made it past 26.

Lunch, Day 1: South Africa lead the mini-session count 2-0

This time it was Dale Steyn's turn. The ball he got Bracewell with really deserved the wicket of a better batsman. There has been some bad shots, but mostly some very good bowling.

Middle drinks, Day 1: South Africa lead the mini-session count 3-0

One of the problems with inswing bowlers is that they can be expensive if they stray in their line. New Zealand have shown that quite clearly. They were always going to miss Tim Southee, but this should have been a good pitch for Bracewell. Instead South Africa have totally dominated this mini-session, just like the other two.

Tea, Day 1: South Africa lead the mini-session count 3-0

Finally New Zealand managed to hold their own in an hour. James Franklin is coming off a longer run up, and is looking almost like the bowler he was when he first broke into international cricket. Amla played a peach of an innings. Sometimes a player looks like he is batting on a different pitch to everyone else. That was Sangakkara in the Boxing Day test and it was Hashim Amla today. He really is a phenomenal player.

Final drinks, Day 1: South Africa lead the mini-session count 4-0

Another dominant hour by South Africa. It is hard to remember any day in a test match that has been as one sided as this. Perhaps the third day of the New Zealand-Zimbabwe match in Napier last year. Either way there is a big difference between the two teams on today's evidence. The only bright spot for New Zealand has been the bowling of James Franklin. While Franklin is not looking like a world beater, he is bowling much better than he has in a test for a long time.

Stumps, Day 1: South Africa lead the mini-session count 4-0

Alviro Petersen brought up a well deserved hundred. A fine knock on a difficult pitch. This should go down as one of his best ones in his career. That was probably the best hour of cricket of the test. Good bowling, batting and fielding, finally. For the majority of the rest of the day there was only one side playing good cricket.

First drinks, Day 2: South Africa lead the mini-session count 4-1

New Zealand finally won an hour. They probably need to win about 5 more in a row to get even close to being level. How South Africa handle the new ball will be the point of interest in the next hour. If Boult can find some swing with the dispersing cloud cover then New Zealand could wrap up the tail quite quickly.

Lunch, Day 2: South Africa lead the mini-session count 4-1

An even hour, but it could have been New Zealand's. They decided to not refer a lbw decision, which turned out to be plumb. AB de Villiers has looked fantastic with the bat, and Trent Boult has started to find some movement. An interesting decision from McCullum was to bring on Jeetan Patel with a fairly new ball. He managed to create some pressure, almost picking up a wicket in his first over. It may have just been a pre-break change to try and disrupt the batsmen's concentration, so it will be interesting to see if McCullum persists with it.

Middle drinks, Day 2: South Africa lead the mini-session count 5-1

It seems like a very good declaration from Smith. There is still some life in the pitch, and clouds overhead. Some of the balls are really doing crazy things, particularly when Philander is bowling. I actually think Kallis is going to be the most dangerous bowler today, if he gets the ball.

Tea, Day 2: South Africa lead the mini-session count 6-1

This was an absorbing hour of play. Test match cricket at it's best for the purists. It was a battle of wills and wits. The South African bowlers were bowling in good areas, and the New Zealand batsmen were making an effort to not play anything they didn't need to.

The decisive moment of the hour was Kallis getting Williamson to play away from his body with some clever bowling. He first bowled a ball to encourage Williamson into playing a shot. A short ball just outside off stump. Williamson played it through the covers for 2. Next ball Kallis bowled one a little wider and a little quicker, and Williamson fell for the trap. He's a good young player, and he learns well, but he was out-foxed by the veteran there.

New Zealand are putting up a good fight, but South Africa are marching assuredly towards victory.

Final drinks, Day 2: South Africa lead the mini-session count 6-2

A fantastic partnership between McCullum and Brownlie well and truly gave this hour to New Zealand. They put on 89 off 81 balls in a fantastic counter-attack. Brownlie's innings is reminiscent of the way he played in Brisbane a year ago. He probably doesn't really want to get a reputation as being good when the team is getting thrashed.

Stumps, Day 2: South Africa lead the mini-session count 6-2

What a great day of cricket. Unfortunately it was totally ruined by yesterday's mismatch. New Zealand will be hoping to wake up to clear skies tomorrow. The game is really just about how South Africa win it, and how well the New Zealanders recover. At the moment they are sending a signal that the next test is going to be worth watching.

First drinks, Day 3: South Africa lead the mini-session count 6-3

New Zealand made it through an hour without losing a wicket. However there is a point where game is really just going through the motions until the new ball arrives. Kallis might still be a handful in this last hour if they give him the ball.

Lunch, Day 3: South Africa lead the mini-session count 7-3

That would have been New Zealand's hour, until Brownlie hit the new ball down Robin Peterson's throat. It was a terrific innings from Brownlie, who came out and really counter attacked yesterday afternoon, before consolidating in the evening. He brought up his maiden ton with a 6, and actually went from 92 to 104 with 2 sixes in 5 balls. This match is still South Africa's (it would require something incredible for there to be any result other than a South African win) but New Zealand have competed well in days 2 and 3.

Middle drinks, Day 3: South Africa lead the mini-session count 8-3

South Africa are starting to turn the screws. Philander has found the seam of the ball, and is starting to nip it around. It sounds very simple, bowl the ball at a reasonable pace, put it in the right area on the pitch and hit the seam, but nobody other than Philander does it so consistently.

End of match, Day 3: South Africa take the mini-session count 9-3

A brave effort from New Zealand, but they were never going to be able to make up for the first day. The final act of the match probably summed up New Zealand's test, with Chris Martin being run out needlessly. It appears that he can't even bat from the non-strikers end.

There are some positives to take from the match for New Zealand, but not many. Brownlie, McCullum and Watling were the stand out players with the bat, and Boult and Martin with the ball.

The man of the match was Vernon Philander, and he really sewed it up in the first hour. He could have gone to sleep under the stands for the rest of the match, and he probably would have still deserved it. Steyn continued his love of playing against New Zealand, picking up his 50th wicket against the one opponent.

New Zealand are normally better in the second match of a series. They will need to be a lot better in Port Elizabeth to avoid humiliation again.

Preview - SA SL 3rd Test Cape Town

Only South Africa would drop a bowler after he took a 7 wicket bag on debut. And not get criticized for it. South Africa have dropped de Lange for a fit-again Philander. And who wouldn't.

The combination of the aggressive Morkel, the relentless Steyn and the slipery Philander looks like their best one, and, (potentially) the best in world cricket.

Sri Lanka are a team that are very hard to pin down. They looked like world-beaters, then went on and lost a number of tests, and looked like the Ellerslie 2nd XI would give them a good run for their money. Then they came back and beat South Africa.

However they really won the game in one hour of brilliance from Welegedara and Herath. The rest of the game was really quite even.

Reasons Sri Lanka might be confident:

Sangakkara has found some form. - I believe Sangakkara has been the best batsman in the world over the past 2 or 3 years, but he had had a run of outs that even Chris Martin would be disappointed in. That was until his outstanding 108 in the second innings at Kingsmead. If he starts scoring well - then Sri Lanka are a different team. In the matches where he hits a 50 Sri Lanka win 2.33 times more than they lose. In the matches where he doesn't they lose more than they win, with a w/l ratio of 0.75

Newlands offers something for the spinners. - With Herath in good form, being at Newlands could be the best thing for Sri Lanka. At Newlands roughly 7 wickets per match fall to spin, as opposed to about 5 per match in the rest of South Africa. This will get Herath smiling.

Reasons South Africa might be confident

The game is at Newlands. - Only Australia has beaten South Africa at Newlands since the reintroduction. It has been a fortress for them. There are only 5 grounds in the world where the home team has a better record in the last 20 years than South Africa do at Newlands.

Philander is back. - In test cricket so far he's bowled about 85 overs and taken 24 wickets. That's one every 3 and a bit overs. To put that in context it's more than twice as frequent as Waqar Younis. It's even ahead of George Lohmann.

Kallis is due. He has had a poor season both with the bat and the ball, averaging 14 with the bat and 232 with the ball. It is his worst ever season with the ball and 2nd worst with the bat. But he is such a classy player that this can not continue. He must find some runs soon, and perhaps this is the time.

Betting tips

1. South Africa to win. - $1.44 seems easy money.
2. Samaraweera to top score in 1st innings. - $5.50 He's likely to do it about 1 in 4 at the moment, so $5.50 is good money.


(Picture courtesy Vaughan Leiberum)

Fortresses

I just watched a very brief ODI between New Zealand. It was the third of 3 ODI matches that were played over 2 days in the Southern Hemisphere.

First Australia eventually beat England by a quite large margin, then the rain robbed South Africa of another opportunity to choke against India, and then finally New Zealand snapped their 11 match losing streak in ODI's with a performance that defied most superlatives.

But despite these games going slightly against recent form, all three of them continue a long-term trend. These three matches were all played at fortresses.

By a fortress I mean a ground where the home team has won more than twice as many as they lose, and have a RPO scored of more that 0.5 more than RPO conceded. The lucky coincidence is that these three games were played at the grounds that are at the top of the list for RPO difference.

Here is the list of the 6 fortresses: (qualification 15 matches)

Team	Stadium	W/L	RPO for	RPO against	RPO difference
New Zealand	Caketin, Wellington	2.40	5.16	4.37	0.79
South Africa	Newlands, Cape Town	6.25	4.96	4.18	0.78
Australia	Bellerive Oval, Hobart	3.66	5.05	4.33	0.72
West Indies	Arnos Vale, St Vincent	5.66	4.41	3.82	0.59
South Africa	Springbok Park, Bloemfontein	2.00	5.10	4.54	0.56
South Africa	Buffalo Park, East London	2.75	4.86	4.32	0.54

There is one interesting result in there, Arnos Vale in St Vincent (pictured above). The results there are certainly helped by 3 matches against Zimbabwe and 2 matches against Bangladesh, but even removing these matches, they still have a W/L ratio of 4 and a RPO difference of 0.4. The other extraordinary thing about this is that all but one of the matches are after 1992. (That's after the retirement of Marshall, Garner, Holding, Richards etc.)

The next 3 games are at Centurion, Adelaide and Queenstown, all of which only just miss out on this list, so it wouldn't be a surprise to see a repeat of the last two days results.

There is only one ground in the world that is a fortress for the away teams, Bangabandhu Stadium in Dhaka. Bangladesh have won only 3 of 32 matches there, and have conceded 1.2 runs per over more than they have scored. However, with the improvement in the Bangladesh team, and the extra teams that have been given ODI status, look for that statistic to change.