Story South Africa - Road to World Cup 2009 *Good start for the Proteas*

[banjo6]

Batsmen
Smith
Pietersen
Bell
Kallis
Amla


WicketKeeper
Ambrose

Bowlers
Panesar
Steyn
Sidebottom
Morkel
Ntini

 

[Dr. Pepper]

Batsmen

Jacques Kallis
Hashim Amla
Kevin Pietersen
Ian Bell
Ashwell Prince

Bowlers

Stuart Broad
Dale Steyn
Morne Morkel
Monty
Ryan Sidebottom

Wicketkeeper

Mark Boucher

Edited according to line-up mate.

 

[Ayub 95]

Batsman

Andrew Strauss
Kevin Pietersen
AB De Villiers
Hasim Amla
Ian Bell

Bowlers
James Anderson
Morne Morkel
Ryan Sidebottom
Paul Harris
Dale Steyn

Wicketkeeper
Mark Boucher

 

[WORLD CHAMPIONS]

Batsmen
Paul Collingwood
Jaques Kallis
Kevin Pietersen
Ian Bell
Graeme Smith

Bowlers

Stuart Broad
Dale Steyn
Morne Morkel
Monty
Ryan Sidebottom

Wicketkeeper

Mark Boucher

 

[Karachi Xpress]

Nice start...Hope you continue this story a long way...

Batsmen
Graeme Smith
Hashim Amla
Kevin Pietersen
Ian Bell
Alastair Cook

Wicketkeeper
Mark Boucher

Bowlers
Makhaya Ntini
Jacques Kallis
Monty Panesar
James Anderson
Dale Steyn

 

[Abhas]

Batsmen :

Kevin Pietersen
Andrew Strauss
Graeme Smith
Jacques Kallis (Capt)
AB de Villiers

Wicket Keeper :
Mark Boucher

Bowlers:
James Anderson
Dale Steyn
Morne Morkel
Monty Panesar
Stuart Broad

 

[shantanu_rooney]

David Gower : Hello and Welcome to The SkySports Cricket Chat . We are live from the Lords in London for the start of the 1st Npower Test between England and South Africa . The whole world is waiting for the start of the this highly entertaining series and now the wait is finally over as we are just few moments away from the start of the 1st test match of the Npower Series . With me in the studio I have Michael Holding , Nasser Hussain and Shaun Pollock . Lets hear from our cricketing experts about their views and opinions about todays match . Well Michael welcome to the show what do you think about this Npower Test series and how competitive it will be?

Michael Holding : The whole world is waiting for the this series and i cant wait for it to get started as well. Both the teams are going with some new faces in their squad and there many young players also in the squads. Well England had a great test series victory at home against the Kiwis but in the ODIs Kiwis were better than the host . On the other hand the Proteas are yet to play a series in this season and while be raring to go against the home side . But it will be an entertaining series to watch for everyone .

Nasser Hussain : I agree with Michael , England were disappointingly in the ODIs but now they have a lot on stake about their reputation . They are in good test form and the news about Flintoff being ready for the next match could lift the spirit of the England players . If you see the England squad they are well balanced and have good experience in batting and bowling .

Shaun Pollock : I agree with Nasser England are very strong at home in test matches . But the South Africans are no less . South Africa too have a well balanced team . They have some young fast and fiery bowlers like Dale Styen and Morne Morkel who could destroy any batting . We have experience in form of Greame Smith , Jacques Kallis , Neil McKenzie and Makhaya Ntini who have played many matches . Ashwell Prince and Hashim Amla are becoming a vital role of the team in that middle order . I can just say this is gonna be the most entertaining series .

David Gower : Thank You gentlemen for your wonderful expert comments. Time to go to David Llyod for the weather forecast and then Ian Botham for the pitch report .

Weather Forecast​

David Llyod :Thanks David , Well as you guys can see behind me there is cloudy sunshine but the temperature is hot and its really humid . The next 5 days will see same kind of weather cloudy with some sunshine . There are some predictions of some rainfall later in the day but I doubt that . The temperature will vary from 30 C max to 18 C min . These are perfect conditions for a game of test cricket and lets just hope we see a complete match with some good cricket .

The Pitch Report

Ian Botham :Thanks David .Its a warm day and the conditions are perfect for the start of the Npower Test Series . This is a good pitch for the 1st Test of Npower Test Series .Batsmen will be happy after seeing this pitch which is very hard and dry , which will help the fast bowlers as they will get some swing with the new ball. But after 15-20 overs the ball will come nicely ion the bat and then there will be no problems for the batting team . The bowlers will have to keep the ball in the right areas if they want to get wickets or else the batsmen will get on top of the bowlers. There will be less swing for the first 2 days but as the game progresses the spinners will start causing trouble and day 5 will be dominated by spinners. The team winning the toss should bat first and post a big 1st Innings score. Back to you David.

David Gower :Ian Botham with the pitch report saying that batsmen will be benefited from this pitch and spinners to cause trouble as the game progresses . Let's see if its Harris or Panesar. Michael Artheton is there on the pitch with the two captains for the toss and it will be an interesting one.

Toss

Michael Artheton : Thank You David......Well as you can see the crowd coming in large number to see the first of the 4 Npower Test Matches between England and South Africa . I have the two captains Michael Vaughan and Graeme Smith . Michael will toss the coin .

Graeme Smith : Heads

Michael Artheton : It is tails , Michael what will you do ?

Michael Vaughan : We will bat first. The pitch is good for batting and bowlers will get help only for the first few overs and then the ball will come on the bat nicely and hopefully we can get a good score on this wicket.

Michael Artheton : And what about your team?

Michael Vaughan : We have the same team as we had the last match . Cook and Strauss will open the batting . Then it will be me , Kevin , Ian , Paul and Tim . Then Stuart , James , Ryan and Monty .

Michael Artheton :And what score are you looking for?

Michael Vaughan : Well the pitch is good for batting we will try to reach over 500-550 and then we will look to bat only once as it is difficult to bowl out the team batting fourth .

Michael Artheton : Well good luck for the match Michael.

Michael Vaughan : Thank you .

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Michael Artheton : Well Graeme lost the toss disappointed with that ?

Graeme Smith :Yeah the pitch is good for batting and now we will have to get early wickets as the ball is new and will swing and then it will be difficult to get wickets as the pitch will be batting friendly .

Michael Arheton : What about your side ?

Graeme Smith : Well we have the same side that has been successful in the last matches no changes .

Michael Artheton :Well good luck for the match Graeme .

Graeme Smith : Thank You.

David Gower : Well the news from the center is that England have won the toss and elected to bat first.Lets take a look at the teams.

The Teams​

England : 1)Alistair Cook 2)Andrew Strauss 3)Michael Vaughan(c) 4)Kevin Pietersen 5)Ian Bell 6)Paul Collingwwod 7)Tim Ambrose(wk) 8)Stuart Broad 9)James Anderson 10)Ryan Siddebottom 11)Monty Panesar

South Africa : 1)Graeme Smith(c) 2)Neil McKenzie 3)Hashim Amla 4)Jacques Kallis 5)Ashwell Prince 6)AB de Villiers 7)Mark Boucher(wk) 8)Morne Morkel 9)Dale Styen 10)Paul Harris 11)Makhaya Ntini

 

[Jaztheman]

All the players I chose are playing.

Looking forward to this match and a brilliant opening update to the match. Loving this story so far, Shantanu.

 

[treva]

Batsmen
Alastair Cook
Kevin Pietersen
Neil McKenzie
Ashwell Prince
AB de Villiers

Bowlers
Makhaya Ntini
Ryan Sidebottom
Dale Steyn
Morne Morkel
Stuart Broad

Keeper

Mark Boucher

 

[Ollie_H]

Batsmen
Graeme Smith
Ian Bell
Kevin Pietersen
Paul Collingwood
Hasim Amla

Bowlers
Dale Steyn
James Anderson
Morne Morkel
Monty Panesar
Ryan Sidebottom

Keeper
Tim Ambrose

 

[Pakistani Army]

A fantastic pre-match show there. Loved the detail and great works with the graphics. Good decision by Vaughan to bat.

Looking forward to the start of play.

 

[shefellover93]

Gret presentation and I can't wait for the first test

C'mon England!!

KUTGW!!!!:happy

 

[gutterman]

liking the weather forecast and good choice by vaughan to bat

kutgw

 

[shantanu_rooney]

All the players I chose are playing.

Looking forward to this match and a brilliant opening update to the match. Loving this story so far, Shantanu.

A fantastic pre-match show there. Loved the detail and great works with the graphics. Good decision by Vaughan to bat.

Looking forward to the start of play.

Gret presentation and I can't wait for the first test

C'mon England!!

KUTGW!!!!:happy

liking the weather forecast and good choice by vaughan to bat

kutgw

Thanks for comments and supports guys I will do the update tomorrow :happy

 

[Abhas]

Cool Looking forward to the update