New Zealand vs South Africa 1st Match

[crabs]

Here are the squads...

South Africa: Graeme Smith (captain), Jacques Kallis (vice-captain), Nicky Boje, Mark Boucher (wicketkeeper), Boeta Dippenaar, Herschelle Gibbs, Andrew Hall, Justin Kemp, Charl Langeveldt, Andre Nel, Makhaya Ntini, Shaun Pollock, Ashwell Prince
New Zealand: Stephen Fleming (captain), Daniel Vettori (vice-captain), Andre Adams, Nathan Astle, Shane Bond, James Franklin, Hamish Marshall, James Marshall, Brendon McCullum (wicketkeeper), Craig McMillan, Kyle Mills, Jacob Oram, Jeetan Patel, Scott Styris, Lou Vincent

Should be a great game. NZ have never won a series in South Africa, and this is with out a doubt there best chance yet. Two very evenly matched teams and I feel this series could be very close indeed.

[crabs]

NZ wnd the toss and are batting. Makes me nervous....

[John]

NZ 84-3
Will SA come back from the 20/20?
Will Smith keep his temper?
Will he be too busy looking at the big screen?
Whose sexuality will he question on the NZ?
What other tittle tattle did Vaughan point out?

[John]

NZ on top 34-2
Kallis cleaned up for 0
Oram impresses me every time. I haven't seen him all that much but everytime he looks good.

[John]

Prince out 31
85-4
Not a bad knock. Gibbs batting as slow as you will see him. Will need Gibbs and Boucher to put in 100 together. Unlikely.

[John]

SA win. Great game ( I would say that).
Kemp played a top innings. Pollock did well.
NZ would feel with four early wickets and a couple of chances they should of won. Until Kemp's innings it looked NZ all the way.

[CD Stags]

Yeah it was a great game....... Kemp brought SA back into the game, hitting Astle for 22 in an over (2, 0, 4, 6, 6, 4)

The captaincy of Fleming i thought was excellent......... a poor effort by Patel to drop Pollock (? or Kemp?) on the boundary and let it go for 4 was a deciding factor

[Wanderer]

A match New Zealand could have won 10 overs before the end, had they held on their catches.

Anyway, I think it's going to be an interesting series. For the first time I actually believe NZ has the clout to beat SA on their home turf.

Can't wait...

[CD Stags]

"My team/s: Cricket - No particular team"

Why so? Don't you support SA?

I'd struggle to personally, after seeing that celebration after Gibbs took that catch off Nel's bowling..... tisk tisk.... they looked like soccer players.......... i used to like Gibbs too......... Nel has always been an idiot IMO.

Sure should be a well fought series

[Wanderer]

Oi CD Stags,

Just because I live and work here don't mean I support SA .....

For today, I'm supporting Sri Lanka! I just love cricket man..

BTW...I agree totally on the celebrations thing with the saffies...they did go a little OTT, didn't they....