South Africa draws first test against India - thanks to South Africans' slow and safe strategy

While many thought that South Africa will finally win over the visiting Indians in the first test match on the tricky Wanderers pitch,  Johannesburg  the match ended in a draw.

The slow running in the end of the match was perhaps part of the South Africans' tactics. However, the home crowd did not like the slow paced game as loud boos echoed around the ground for every refused run. South Africa had 16 to get off the last three overs and had shut shop. The fans were asking why.

After the match, South Africa's captain supported Vernon Philander and Dale Steyn's decision to play it safe, in the face of criticism from the crowd and former players - but he was not convincing  Nor was Graeme Smith who tried to explain that the decision was made by the two batsmen at the crease and was not a team order. 

One critic has been quoted as saying:
"I couldn't believe SA shut up shop either, an appalling end to a test match. More of a flop than a thriller. Australia will be ruthless against SA if they play with this roll over mindset. India were patient and AB and Faf were very good but SA should have tried to win the game. 16 off 20 is hardly a tall order."

This was the third-closest draw in Tests in terms of runs remaining. There have been two instances of teams drawing a Test with just one run remaining, which are the closest of draws in Tests. England drew against Zimbabwe with one remaining in Bulawayo in 1996 and India against West Indies in Mumbai in 2011. India have been involved in four of the seven single-digit margin of draws in Test history. Click here for a list of the closest draws in Tests in terms of runs remaining.

The 136 overs that South Africa played in their fourth innings was the seventh-highest ever played in the fourth innings of a Test in South Africa and the highest South Africa have played at home since the 144 overs against New Zealand in Port Elizabeth in 1962. This was also the fourth-highest number of overs South Africa have played in the fourth innings to draw a Test.

References: Cricinfo 

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South Africa v India: 1st ODI | Watch Free Live Streaming - 5 December

After Pakistan's successful visit to South Africa where it beat South Africa 2-1 in the 3-matches series ODI and stunned the hosts, Indian team marches into New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg to play its first ODI against South Africa.

Looking back, South Africa and India have played only two ODIs against each other since March 2011. The first was at the World Cup that India went on to win. South Africa beat the hosts by three wickets in Nagpur, in a match that seemed to indicate they were capable of breaking their major tournament jinx. They staged the perfect chase, going after a target of 297 with ruthlessness.

India's first tour to South Africa was called the Friendship tour but this one has already gone some way to becoming the unfriendly one. With emotions running high over the shortened tour and a Wanderers crowd known for being boisterous, India can expect a hostile reception at the Bullring. The day before the match, there were only 6500 tickets remaining out of a total of over 30,000 and even with thundershowers forecast, the Johannesburg faithful are unlikely to stay away.

Squads:
South Africa: AB de Villiers*, HM Amla, Q de Kock†, JP Duminy, Imran Tahir, JH Kallis, R McLaren, DA Miller, M Morkel, WD Parnell, VD Philander, GC Smith, DW Steyn, LL Tsotsobe

India: MS Dhoni*†, R Ashwin, S Dhawan, RA Jadeja, V Kohli, B Kumar, A Mishra, Mohammed Shami, AM Rahane, SK Raina, AT Rayudu, I Sharma, MM Sharma, RG Sharma, UT Yadav, Yuvraj Singh

Umpires AT Holdstock and RK Illingworth

India have won 22 of the 31 ODIs they have played this year and have the highest win percentage of all teams who have participated in more than five matches - 73.33. So let us see how India fares this tour of South Africa, starting today.

The match is scheduled for December 5 at  New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg at 13:30 local time (11:30 GMT)

References: ESPN Cricinfo

If you are one of the fans located at different destination and miss the chance to visit the stadium to watch your favourite team, You can now watch the match live on your laptop or desktop computer, FREE, provided you have an internet connection, from the links given below:

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South Africa v Pakistan: 1st T20I at Johannesburg | Watch Free Live Streaming - 20 Nov

After a disastrous series of matches, specially the ODIs and T20Is, Pakistan commences its tour of South Africa for a 2-matches T20Is and 3-matches ODI series of South Africa.

The first of the two T20Is is scheduled for Wednesday today at New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg. 

The pitch at Wanderers has a reputation for bounce and carry, but has also provided some the best surfaces for the batsmen too.  It has a fairly even record in T20Is with the team batting first. Of the 20 matches played, nine teams electing to bat first won.

The South Africans will have no problem adjusting to their home fields as they quickly overcome the heat of Dubai and won almost all the matches against Pakistan. Having just beaten Pakistan 2-0 in the United Arab Emirates, South Africa have another chance to build toward a balanced side ahead of the World T20 in Bangladesh next year.

It remains to be seen whether Pakistan is able to recover from the debacle after debacle they suffered at Dubai and make amends. But they have injuries which will keep Irfan, Shoaib Malik and Razzaq away - while Wahab has been dropped.

Squads:
Pakistan: Misbah-ul-Haq*, Mohammad Hafeez*, Abdur Rehman, Ahmed Shehzad, Anwar Ali, Asad Shafiq, Bilawal Bhatti, Junaid Khan, Nasir Jamshed, Saeed Ajmal, Shahid Afridi, Sohaib Maqsood, Sohail Tanvir, Umar Akmal†, Umar Amin

South Africa: F du Plessis*, HM Amla, H Davids, Q de Kock†, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, Imran Tahir, R McLaren, DA Miller, M Morkel, WD Parnell, AM Phangiso, DW Steyn, LL Tsotsobe, D Wiese

Umpires JD Cloete and S George

The match is scheduled for November 20 at  Johannesburg at 18:00 local time (16:00 GMT)

If you are one of the fans located at different destination and miss the chance to visit the stadium to watch your favourite team, You can now watch the match live on your laptop or desktop computer, FREE, provided you have an internet connection, from the links given below:

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Shahid Afridi's superb 88 off 48 balls failed to win 3rd ODI for Pakistan

Unlike previous limited over matches, where Pakistani bowlers usually outsmart the batsmen and take wickets in succession, the 3rd ODI at Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg Sunday today was a different ballgame altogether.

Record third wicket partnership of 238 between Amla (122) and Villiers (128) set a huge target for Pakistan 

Today, Pakistan's bowlers seemed helpless against the South African stalwarts and failed to dislodge Hashim Amla and Villiers who scored centuries before going back to the pavilion. The duo's superb centuries and Plessis 45 scored an unbeatable 343 in 50 overs. Pakistan's Wahaab Riaz proved too costly for Pakistan for his 2/93, followed by Saeed Ajmal's 1/63.

Coming to bat, opener Nasir Jamshed once again failed to stay on the crease and was sent packing for just 10 runs. Although Hafeez stood to the ground for 57, others kept going back for small additions to the total. However, it was Shahid Afridi who put life into the match by his high hitting 88 off 48 balls. But he alone could not address the damage already done.

Shahid Afridi's high hitting 88 off 48 balls could not win 3rd ODI for Pakistan

Surprisingly Wahaab Riaz, who cost too much as a bowler, added valuable 45 runs. But the effort by Afridi and Wahaab could not win the match for Pakistan and Pakistan lost by 34 runs with 1.5 overs remaining. Tsotsobe bagged 3/74 while McLaren took 3/56.

Hashim Amla and Villiers shared the players of the match awards for their superb match winning centuries. Beside the thrilling match, the hallmark of today's match was the pink dress worn by the South African team to show their solidarity for the cause of fighting against the breast cancer.

South Africa now leads the 5-ODI series by 2-1.

4th ODI will be played between South Africa and  Pakistan at Durban on 21 March 2013.

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South Africa wins first test against Pakistan by 211 runs

The visiting Pakistan team that was crippled for 49 in the first innings, did try to stick to their feet on the crease in their second innings, but Steyn was to hot to be handled by Pakistani batsmen. Steyn who took 6 for 8 in the first innings, collected five more wickets in the second innings for 52. In all he bagged 11 wickets for six in the first match to bring victory to South Africa by 211 runs.

Steyn took 11 wickets for 60 in the first test match against Pakistan at Johannesburg

South African wicket keeper Villiers was equally assertive who took five catches in the second innings in addition to six in the first, totaling 11 catches, just like 11 wickets of Steyn. Villiers equaled the previous world record held by Jack Russel for England against South Africa on the same Wanderers ground in 1995-96.

Pakistan which had a stockpile of spinners, found it hard to dismantle the South African batsmen as the wicket needed fast bowlers like Steyn to dislodge the batsmen. This was also acknowledged by Pakistan captain Misbah, who said that they needed a deal with the South African fast bowlers.

Pakistan plays its second test match against South Africa from 14-18 February at Cape Town.

Read more about it at: 

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Howzat!! South Africa cripples Pakistan for 49 in their first innings

When Pakistan sent back the entire South African team for 'mere'253 runs on the Day-1 of the first test match at Johannesburg's Wanderers stadium, many hailed Pakistan's bowlers superb performance, specially Hafeez who bagged four wickets for just 16 runs including one maiden over.

But they did not know what was coming for Pakistan.

Although Pakistan started their first innings on the first day and were 6 for no loss, the Day-2 was not only costlier, it was the deadliest of all previous days of Pakistan cricket history.

On Day-2, Pakistan had lost three wickets that of Hafeez, Jamshed and Younis for 12. Then it looked Pakistan had stabilized till the score reached 36 when Azhar went back to pavilion. And then there was no ending as the entire team was sent packing back to pavilion for just 49 runs - Pakistan's lowest ever total of an innings.

DW Steyn bagged six wickets for just 8 runs with SIX maiden overs of the total 8.1 overs he bowled.

Pakistan's earlier lowest score was 59 against Australia in 2002-2003 at Sharjah - Australia won by an innings and 198 runs.

Pakistan now assumes a position between Australia's 47 runs (scored in the second innings against South Africa at Newlands 2011-2012) and Zimbabwe's 51 (scored in their first innings against New Zealand in 2011-2012).

It may be added here for information that South Africa ranks second in the lowest score of 30 after 26 of New Zealand.

The match can be viewed live from the links given here.

Reference: Howstat 

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South Africa vs Pakistan: Day-2 First Test Match Johannesburg

The visiting Pakistan cricket team under Misbah ul Hassan entered the Wanderers Friday morning for their first test match against the hosts South Africa, Friday 1 February yesterday.

Winning the toss, the hosts elected to bat. At 46 AN Peterson fell prey to Junaid Khan caught by Hafeez. Smith too followed the suit and went back without adding anything to South Africa's total of 46 having scored 24 bowled by Umer Gul.

Amla and Kallis who had added 79, also fell prey to Umer Gul and Younis Khan. Kallis was lucky to have his 50.

South Africa were all packed up for pavilion for mere 253.

Muhammad Hafeez was the most successful bowler from Pakistan who bagged four wickets for mere 16 runs with one maiden over. Hafeez' prey included Villers (31), Elgar (27), Philander (1) and Morkel (0).

Umer Gul and Junaid took two wickets each. Saeed Ajmal could not take advantage of the wicket as there was precious little turn on offer.

On Day-2 Saturday today, Pakistan resume their second day of play with Hafeez (6) and Nasir Jamshed (0) Saturday today at 08:30 GMT

The links for live streaming viewing of the match are given here.

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Pakistan in South Africa: First Test Match - Watch Live Free Streaming | 1-5 February - Johannesburg

Pakistan cricket team formally begins their South African tour with effect from 1st February till 5th at Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg. Pakistan is visiting South Africa after 2007-08 when they lost 1-2 to the hosts.

Pakistan will play a three test matches series, two T20Is and five ODIs during their stay in the South Africa. Beside having played with the South African Invitation XI at East London from 25-28 January, Pakistan will come play another match with the South African Invitation XI at Kimberley.

South African have had a real good winning series against New Zealand and had consolidated their no.1 ranking.

Pakistan has not played any test match for the last six months and may find them at an odd when playing their first test at Johannesburg starting Friday tomorrow.

Pakistan's openers Jamshed, Asad Shafiq and Azhar are having their first exposure to the South African grounds and are likely to take time to get adjusted to the new environment.

As for South African captain Smith, the match Friday is going to be his 100th Test as captain (99 for his country and one for the World XI).

The opposing squads for the Test Match at Johannesburg are as under:
Pakistan: (probable) 1 Mohammed Hafeez, 2 Nasir Jamshed, 3 Azhar Ali, 4 Younis Khan, 5 Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), 6 Asad Shafiq, 7 Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), 8 Umar Gul, 9 Saeed Ajmal, 10 Junaid Khan, 11 Mohammed Irfan/Tanvir Ahmed

South Africa: (probable) 1 Graeme Smith (capt), 2 Alviro Petersen, 3 Hashim Amla, 4 Jacques Kallis, 5 AB de Villiers (wk), 6 Faf du Plessis, 7 Dean Elgar, 8 Vernon Philander, 9 Robin Peterson, 10 Dale Steyn, 11 Morne Morkel

The last time South Africa played a Test at the Wanderers in November 2011, they lost to Australia. Let us watch and see how does the hosts fare this time at the Wanderers Stadium.

The Test match is scheduled from 1-5 February, starting daily at 10:30 local time (08:30 GMT) and 13:30 Pakistan Standard Time at the Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg.

If you are one of the fans located at different destination and miss the chance to visit the stadium to watch your favorite team, You can now watch the match live on your laptop or desktop computer, FREE, provided you have an internet connection, from the links given below:

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