Are the West Indies back?

I was watching the recently concluded series between Australia and the West Indies and I apart from the one sided first test it was thrilling stuff. The way Chris Gayle played in the second test was fantastic, but it was the 3rd test that really had me watching the series with great interest.

Everyone knows what a great team the West Indies once were, particularly in the 80’s, but there were signs in this test, just like in the 2nd test, that the West Indies may be starting an upward curve, after years of mediocrity. From the century of young Adrian Barath in the 1st test, to the hard earned century by Gayle in the 2nd and the emergence of fast bowler Kemar Roach, the Caribbean’s have shown that they are building a team capable of doing well again. Take Barath for example, whilst batting in the nets as an 11 year old, he was touted by none other than Brian Lara, as being a star for the future. Scoring that century on debut showed that Lara was certainly right. Then the there is the way Chris Gayle has lead the side. He has lead the team from the front, first scoring an almost match winning century against his normal aggressive instincts and then secondly hitting the 5th fastest test century in test history. He has the team believing in themselves again, shown by how they came close to winning the 2nd test and also by how they fought back after the Aussies scored 520/7 dec. in the first innings. They went on to bowl the Australians out for just 150 in the 2nd innings and came within 35 runs of levelling the series.

So although they may have lost the series 2-0, but it could have been so much different had they won that second test, or had Chanderpaul, Barath and Fidel Edwards been available. The talent is certainly there, with the experience of Gayle, Chanderpaul, Bravo and Sarwan, and quality youngsters like Roach, Barath, Dowlin, Deonarine, Nash it is certainly looking brighter for West Indies cricket and that can only be good for cricket!

How the teams compare ahead of series

So seeing that the much anticipated test series between South Africa and England is almost upon us, I think its an ideal time to write about how I rate the two teams in comparison to each other. England have come off a massive Ashes series victory this year while SA were as close as last month ranked as the number 1 team in test cricket. It promises to be a close affair but who has the edge? Here’s how the two lineups compare.

Openers : Graeme Smith and Ashwell Prince are fairly new when it comes to opening batsmen combinations. Despite the wealth of experience I think England have the edge here as Strauss and Cook are solid openers capable of giving England good starts. Strauss also did well the last time he was here on tour so expect England to be lead well by their skipper.

No. 3: Hashim Amla vs Ian Bell. This one I feel Amla will win. The elegant right hander has been consistent in recent seasons while Bell will have lots of pressure on him. I think Amla will also be looking to do well after making his debut against the English last time around when he was still the raw talent. He’ll be looking to show them the mature batsmen he is today.

No 4: Jacques Kallis vs Kevin Pietersen. The two premier batsmen will be looking to have a big series for their respective teams. With both having come back from injury though, this one may be hard to call. Pietersen to edge it for me though, as he tends to have that extra motivation against the Proteas.

No. 5: AB De Villiers vs Jonathan Trott. AB has been in good form this past year while Trott seems to have adjusted well to international level. De Villiers will be playing on his home ground in the first test and one gets the feeling a big score there might set him up for a good series. Trott may well be targeted by the Protea pacemen so I’ll give De Villers the edge.

No.6: JP Duminy vs Paul Collingwood. The young star against the experienced campaigner. This should be interesting. Many have doubted Duminy’s ability against the bouncer, but I say it won’t be as effective as it was in the ODI’s. He’ll flourish, as form is temporary and class is permanent. JP certainly oozes class, so despite Collingwood doing well against SA recently, I feel JP will win this battle.

No.7: Mark Boucher vs Matt Prior. I think the pressure on Boucher will prove to be too much. Critics have been calling for him to be axed from the squad, and I think Boucher will not contribute as much as his counter part would, particularly with the bat. Prior can be dangerous when in for a long time and I can picture some valuable contributions from the wicket keeper come this series.

No. 8: Morne Morkel vs Stuart Broad. Two young players looking to have a big impact on this series. Morkel might just edge the bowling but I fear Broad’s batting in the lower order might make him a valuable player for the tourists. Two players for the future no doubt but the performance of them in this series might be what swings the series in the countries favour.

No. 9: Paul Harris vs Graeme Swann. The two spinners will have great responsibility on their shoulders. Harris can tend to get in the face of his opponents while Swann is capable of wrapping up the opposition tail pretty quickly. The last time round though England seemed to underestimate Haris. Will they make the same mistake twice? I feel they might just, so Harris to win this duel for me.

No. 10: Dale Steyn vs James Anderson. The two men primed with being their team’s top bowler. Steyn is capable of blowing over any batting order but I feel its Anderson’s form which will give him the edge. They both will be even more dangerous if it swings but trust them to be the leading wicket takers in the series either way.

No. 11: Makhaya Ntini vs Ryan Sidebottom. Two players who have peaked in my opinion, will struggle to set the series on light. Ntini though still has some pace at his age, so with this being his last series possibly I’d give him the edge as he’d be eager to keep his place. Sidebottom on the other hand lacks pace and may be fighting for his place come the 2nd and 3rd tests.

That’s ended up 5 all. It shows that this series has the making to be a quality series showing the beauty that is test cricket when played amongst two competitive teams. Will England surprise SA as they did in the ODI’s? Or will SA bounce back and claim back the top spot in test cricket. I wish I knew the answers but I’ll sure be watching to see how things unfold.

Draw of mixed emotions

So after all that wait, we now know who each of the 32 teams will be playing against in the first round of the Fifa World Cup. What I’ll do is run the groups and give my opinion on each group as I go along.

Starting with group A it brought hosts South Africa with the tough task of having to get through a group with France, Mexico and Uruguay. Its certainly not the group I wished for! France have done well in recent world cups and have quality players despite under performing in the qualifiers while Mexico have qualified for something like 14 world cups so their pedigree is there for all to see. Uruguay also have some quality players in Diego Forlan for example so its going to be hard for SA to get out of this group. Having said that the opening game against Mexico will prove to be crucial and I feel should SA get something out of that game we could very well get through to the next round. My favourites are France and Mexico for the group.

Group B sees Argentina grouped with South Korea, Nigeria and Greece. Argentina should be favourites but I see Nigeria being a dark horse to win this group. South Korea will be organised and so to will Greece but I think the Argentinians and Nigerians should have too much quality for them.

England were in my opinion the most fortunate of all the seeded teams as they were grouped with USA, Algeria and Slovenia. They should win all 3 group games and I see the USA beating the other two teams so England first and USA second should be how this group finishes.

One of Africa’s best teams found themselves in Group D with Germany, Serbia and Australia. That team being Ghana and this is a group that can go anyway. I think Germany will get through as group winners and I’ll assume that Ghana will just about have enough to out do the remaining two teams. Tough group though.

Group E is another difficult group to call with the likes of the Netherlands, Japan, Cameroon and Denmark. Holland performed well in the qualifiers and have the quality to go far in the tournament so I’ll mark them as the group winners and I think Denmark are a very good team, for many are overlooking, but not me though. I think they’ll beat the other two for second place although I’ll be hoping Cameroon do well. I’ve managed to get tickets for the Netherlands and Cameroon match so that should be interesting.

Italy also got a favourable draw as they were grouped with New Zealand, Paraguay and Slovakia. This group is fairly easy to predict as Italy should win the group with Paraguay in second. Like England the Azzuri won’t have any complaints with this group.

Now for what is the group of death. Group G puts the giants of Brazil against Portugal and the Ivory Coast. North Korea complete the group but it is the three fancied teams mentioned before them who will make this group so interesting. Brazil should win this group, but its anybody’s guess who will join them. The match between Portugal and Ivory Coast will be like a virtual knock out match and for me that should be the match of the first round. There will however be some interesting group matches coming from this group though.

Spain were the last of the seeded teams to be drawn, but they too won’t be complaining. First spot should be assured to the European champions but it is the fight for second place between Chile, Honduras and Switzerland that should be a good scrap. Personally I see Chile surprising a few and finishing second.

I must say I enjoyed the draw as far as its presentation was concerned so well done to the LOC for that. With just over 6 months to the world cup, its going to be another anxious wait until that mouth watering clash between the South Africa and Mexico. It’s a good thing there's lots of sport to keep us busy!

Lots of Excitement Ahead of Draw

The excitement and anticipation ahead of the world cup draw is certainly taking over our country. Being a South African, I must say there is a real buzz around the place and we all can't wait for the world cup draw.

As for the draw, I'm relieved to find that South Africa are amongst the seeded teams, which is good although teams like France and Portugal are still floating around and I sure wouldn't want to get one of them. I fully agree with the way Fifa have seeded the teams, for the seeded teams, bar SA, are certainly top teams and capable of winning the world cup. Pot two looks "easy" but I wouldn't be too thrilled with South Korea, USA or Mexico in my group. Pot three may also be tough as the African teams will be tough to beat, but luckliy SA avoid one of them in the first round at least. Pot Four is the pot I'm most scared of, as the European teams are usually well orgainsed and tend to do well in big tournaments. Teams like Greece, France, Portugal and Denmnark spring to mind.

The 32 teams are as follows:
Pot 1 (seeds): South Africa, Brazil, Spain, Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Argentina, England

Pot 2 (Asia, Oceania and North/Central America): Japan, South Korea, North Korea, Australia, New Zealand, United States, Mexico, Honduras

Pot 3 (Africa and South America): Ivory Coast, Ghana, Cameroon, Nigeria, Algeria, Paraguay, Chile, Uruguay

Pot 4 (Europe): France, Portugal, Slovenia, Switzerland, Greece, Serbia, Denmark, Slovakia

All in all I cannot wait for the draw, and I'm sure that most football fans will be just as excited as me, as the day goes on. Will be looking forward to blogging about the aftermath of the draw. For now here are some photo's ahead of the draw.