Test 2024 Sri Lanka Tour of South Africa (2 Tests)

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Also how ****ing good is it having 3 test series on at the same time!

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Kusal Mendis gone now too, Sri Lanka are batting like lemmings.



That was a barb at PhatBoy who was talking him up as one of the great new age test batsmen.

He’s had one failure.

You’ll need more evidence than a player making 13 in one innings, who reached 1000 runs quicker than all but 3 others in test history that ‘the last of the great batsmen’ have disappeared

Dumb comment mate. Do better.
 
That Kamindu Mendis 13 was a pretty ****ing good 13 tbf. The back foot square drive he played to get off the mark was 🔥🔥🔥🔥. I saw enough to say he can make runs here. He is very very very good.
 
South Africa batting again, they could have enforced the follow on and won this today, their bowlers would still be pretty fresh.
On what basis could SA have enforced the follow on???
 

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sigh

test cricket struggling

This is the 13th time by my count SA has dismissed a team below 100 this century. They haven’t all been that spectacular or that haphazard and certainly there is a scarcity of players who can handle the rigours of half decent bowling in helpful conditions at the moment but this isn’t exactly isolated
 
All around the world, batsman have lost defensive techniques. We are seeing lesser and lesser players that can bat time eg Justin Langers, Rahul Dravids, Jacques Kallis.....players that can stall opponents momentum by batting time. A big part of that blame goes down to T20 cricket. In an ideal world a player that can even bat time and even at least to rotate strike for especially early on their innings are valuable (Marnus is a bad example where he blocks one end completely)

Batsman of today no longer value their wicket and their way of escaping the stalling momentum is to go for their shots, and scoring runs to re-rest momentum. Once you get into number 8s in most international batting line ups , the bowlers only know how to play shots, rather than defensive tehcniques.
 
All around the world, batsman have lost defensive techniques. We are seeing lesser and lesser players that can bat time eg Justin Langers, Rahul Dravids, Jacques Kallis.....players that can stall opponents momentum by batting time. A big part of that blame goes down to T20 cricket. In an ideal world a player that can even bat time and even at least to rotate strike for especially early on their innings are valuable (Marnus is a bad example where he blocks one end completely)

Batsman of today no longer value their wicket and their way of escaping the stalling momentum is to go for their shots, and scoring runs to re-rest momentum. Once you get into number 8s in most international batting line ups , the bowlers only know how to play shots, rather than defensive tehcniques.

There’s definitely truth in it but we see exceptions to it often enough to remind us that it doesn’t have to be, or stay that way.

A test concluded two days ago that was defined, ultimately, by a tailender seeing out two sessions to score 45 runs while his senior partner accumulated an unbeaten century that featured just four boundaries. Ironically it’s the West Indies who is the team most impacted by t20 who at times relies most heavily on players grafting; JDS, Kavem Hodge, Brathwaite, now Greaves - all of these players are not the types to out and try and take a side apart. Though they are prone to the odd brain melt.

NZ have a couple that are ok. Australia did but they seem to have forgotten how to bat lately.
Mathews and Chandimal are both batsmen with mid 40s averages and 50 strike rates so they you can safely say know how to pace and construct a test innings. They are also deep into their 30s, though, and are from a previous generation
 
Our top order is looking pretty good compared to some other top orders and Latham is looking like one of the best test openers.

Conway isn't looking as good as he used to but we have Will Young as back up, other teams would kill to have that sort of luxury.
 
Tony de Zorzi gone with a wild slog, he is another test opener who is a shadow of some of the great SA test openers of the past.

What they would give for a Gary Kirsten, Graeme Smith or even a Dean Elgar right now.
 

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Test 2024 Sri Lanka Tour of South Africa (2 Tests)

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