Well smith is usually berated for not saying this exact boring tripe (OF COURSE they played better -they won. As highly paid professionals OF COURSE you beeter learn some lessons)...so he's done himself a favour. just not with me!


start with getting donald on the guerney for his contributions to sreenath - a well-deserved MOM (did smith get that one in too? )

What do you think about the bat-waving act of Sreesanth

__________________
Karthik Venkatesan

Good that Sree was MOM, and hopefully he wont be fined for the Nel and Amla incidents...!

__________________
"Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, prepare to die."
- Klingon Proverb, Star Trek

Firstly, congratulations to India. Totally outplaying SA in every department. One cannot praise the Indians enough, as nobody even gave them a chance.

Now it time to lay into SA:
I am totally disgusted at the lack of application shown by the SA players. Have they no brains? I mean watching Sreesanth bowling a full length and being rewarded with wickets, you would think that the SA bowlers would realize that 6 bouncers an over were not going to do the trick here. I feel that SA cricket is on its way down. I think that the following changes need to be made and immediately:

1) Kick Smith out of the country, never mind the team. Biggest mouth on the field, absolutely no follow through. Before every series, he claims that SA will win. He claimed that India would be facing "apocalyse now" before the match started and now he once again has made a fool of himself. He has no leadership skills, his tactics are pathetic and he cant shut his big mouth. Brave cricket my **s. Smith never gives opposition credit and he is not respected by most of the other international cricketers. I use to support him in the beginning but lately, Smith and his "mate" Nel have made me sick. I do not even enjoy watching SA play any more, I find teh local competition more exciting.

2) Force Gibbs to retire. Yes, you are not dreaming, I am saying that it is time for Gibbs to call it a day. I have seen his average drop from 49.5 over teh past 2 years. I am beginning to fear that people dont even see him as a good batsman any more and will forget that he even was a good and exciting batsmen. Besides, I feel that he can still contribute for the local team.

3) Rudolph to open the batting. I have never really been a fan of Rudolph but I will be the first to admit that he does have the qualites to become a good test player. He is hard working and very determined. He has the fighting qulaties that Gibbs lacks. Perhaps he should be given an extended run in the side but Please, Please do not bring Dippenaar back.

4) Amla down the order. Hashim Amla is far too inexperienced to be batting at number 3. With Gibbs and Smith opening, Amla is very likely to be facing the 2nd ball of the match. Amla is a talent and an extended run perhaps at number 5 could do him good.

5) AB de Villiers could open the batting with Rudolph. de Villiers must not stand keeper at this time. We need Boucher at 7 for now even though AB is a better keeper and batsmen.

6) Bring in an experienced performer from domestic cricket, ie Mckenzie or Ackerman or even Benkenstein or van Jaarsveld to add some experience to the middle order. Kallis must bat 3 as he is our best player(You do not see Ponting and Dravid bat at 4). Experience is vital, we have seen what Hussey has broiught to the Australian team.

7) Prince has justified his place. There is the possibility of bringing an exciting young player into the team such as Duminy, Vaugn van Jaarsveld or Du Plessis if Amla continues to struggle. Another option would be to play Kemp (IMO very underated as a batsmen. People just think of him as a slogger when in fact he is a proper batsman) Kemp can play the Gilchrist type role for SA.

8) on the bowling front, Nel should be kicked out of the side. His constant antics have become quite stale now and he is in fact irritating. Just like Smith, all talk. At the rate he is going, he may just become more annoying than Warne (maybe I am exagerating here). Even though he is doing reasonably well, he has lost his pace and is not contributing to the variation of the SA seamers. I am a Langeveldt fan and I feel that Langeveldt would add some variation to the attack. Langes has never really been given an extended run in the team because Smith prefers Nel and Steyn. I have nothing against Steyn, I actually enjoy watching him bowl. He has a big role to play for SA in the future. Pollock at first change is ok and SA need to play a spinner.

Also, I do not rate Mickey Arthur. He is also largely to blame and his record as coach is rather apalling especially in tests. Jenning was far better but I feel that Vince Barnes should have got the job.

These are my views and this is the squad that I would recommend.

J. Rudolph
AB de Villiers
J Kallis
HD Ackerman/ Benkenstein
A. Prince
J. Kemp/ Duminy
H Amla
M. Boucher
D. Steyn
C. Langeveldt
J. Botha/ Tshabalala
M Ntini
S. Pollock

What do you guys think

I really enjoyed it. It seems that Nel like to dish it out but cant take it back. About time he gets a taste of his own medicine. I like the look of Sreesanth but he must not get carried away like Nel does. Agression is good in small doses. I hope that he does not get fined. We see Warne doing much worse thing and not even get a talking to.

I hope he does not. Nel does it all the time...and never an eyelid is batted over it.

Sree is young and exiting to watch. Didn't he climb into Tendulkar in a domestic game too?

Besides, with all those "funny" little things he does...kissing the ball...his hands...talking to himself... He's a character.

Didn't he climb into Tendulkar in a domestic game too?

Yes he did in a domestic champions trophy game...on the very first ball... and the outcome was that tendulkar hit him for 2 sixes and 3 fours in the next 5 balls

Also, when tendulkar toured cochin and sree was a budding young cricketer back then.Sree wanted to meet sachin and was stopped by security.He was a kid back then. Sachin was his idol. He convinced the security guy that sachin had been sponsoring his education and he begged the security guy to let him thank sachin.

One would always fnd dravid and sachin trying to pacify sree when he overdoes on sledging

Indeed a character

That was a classic.

__________________
" You don't want the truth,you can't handle the truth."

1)Kick Smith out of the country, never mind the team. :Agreed. He does a talk disproportionate to what he acheived / what he can

2) Force Gibbs to retire. : Disagree. Set the stats aside. Stats only indicate the statistical probability of the occurence of an event.Gibbs is the only true stroke-maker SA has produced ever since 1990. Rest of all are bits and pieces players who can chip in a valuable 30s. SA cant afford to drop Gibbs. No wonder why cronje shielded Gibbs in match fixing scandal

3) Rudolph to open the batting : Very correct. He can open the batting

4) Amla down the order : Question : Does SA domestic cricket do not have better players than Amla ?

5) AB de Villiers could open the batting with Rudolph: Should be fine

6) Bring in an experienced performer: AUS domestic system works for AUS only. Rest of the teams may not face success on all occasions when tried to emulate them

7) Bring on Kemp.There is nothing like one player suits ODIs and another does not. Aggression and Patience is needed in both forms of the game

8) Though i dislike Nel's dramatics, honestly he has been bowling well. He needs a chance.

Nel, Smith out of the team? No way! They are loud mouths but they deserve their places in the team. Do you think Langeveldt would make a good test-bowler, me not sure...Always wondered why didnt Kallis get the captaincy after Pollock...why isnt he seen as captaincy material...

__________________
"Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, prepare to die."
- Klingon Proverb, Star Trek