Oh what a terrible weekend it was for the people of the Jacaranda city, a very sad day indeed. Both the Bulls and the Titans went down to the Sharks and Dolphins respectively. The boys from Durban gave the Titans a real cricket lesson.

Dolphins vs Titans

One way traffic is all that can describe this match, and it all came from Imran Tahir. In the Titans first inning of 242, Jacques Rudolph was the only Titans’ batsman to reach 50. It was the bowling performance of the season for Imran Tahir, as he wrecked the Titans inning by taking 7 wickets – it’s rumoured that Paul Harris was spotted crying as his chances of playing another Test match slip further and further away as Tahir must now be a shoe- in for the Proteas Test team.

The Dolphins took a slender first inning lead of 42 runs,Ahmed Amla(77) and Loots Bosman(62) the main contributors – Ethy Mbhalati again taking 5 wickets this season. As he did in the first innings, Imran Tahir slaughters the Titans batting line up taking another 5 wickets, ending the match with figures of 12 for 159 – Tahir is now the leading wicket taker in the SuperSport Series on 23, 7 wickets form the second place Vernon Philander.

The Dolphins needed just 72 runs to complete a emphatic victory over the Titans who have now lost two on the trot. The Titans have however managed to remain second on the log due to the other games playing to draws.

Warriors vs Lions

What happens on P.E. stays in P.E. and not a whole lot happened as the Warriors and Lions played to  a draw. The first two days was a wash out, it rained for the first day or so and then a wet pitch prevented them from playing. The teams did however try to produce a result by an innings forfeiture and two declarations.

The only real highlight that I could take from this game was Ashwell Prince’s 134* – Prince is well and truly back in form, he’s scored 415 runs from 6 innings, including 3 centuries at an average of 83 – I’ve given Prince a lot of stick over the years, but it seems his move back down the order has worked.

Knights vs Cobras

Justin Ontong’s Century (102) and Richard Levi’s 64 helped the Cobras post a respectable 330. Another 5 for was had by Dillion de Preez, there really has been some quality bowling played this season.

Chasing 330 the Knights managed to post on 234 runs as Boeta Dippenaar top scored with 76, helped along by Ryan Mclaren’s 63, yet again one bowler did all the damage, this time Vernon Philander taking 6 for 61.

With a 96 run lead the Cobras put 255 for 7 on the board  when they declared setting the Knights 351 runs for victory, and yet again a bowler took five wicket, spin bowler Thandi Tshabalala getting 5 for 92.

The match eventually played to a draw with the Knights on 243 for 7.

SuperSport Series: Round 2

The first round of the SuperSport Series was filled with Proteas’ players as it opened the South African domestic series. The second round was a far less star studded affair, but produced some individual brilliance. I haven’t followed the SuperSport Series this closely before, so wouldn’t know if these stats are normal, but it’s worth a mention the number of big scores that batsmen are hitting and bowlers who single handily tear teams apart – a good contest between bat and ball.

Cape Cobras vs Titans

The result of the weekend went to the Cape Cobras beating my Titans by 7 wickets. The game was played out as described above, big scores and destructive bowling. Jacques Rudolf (put this boy in the Proteas squad) scored 110 and found support in Behardien (72) who took the Titans to 313. Claude Henderson took 7 wickets for the Cobras in the innings.

Stiaan van Zyl then humbled the Titan’s bowlers as he hit a personal best of 172 at a strike rate of 83.90 – The Cobras amassing 508 runs.

At 195 runs behind the Titans had a massive mountain to climb, there was far less resistance from the Titans batsmen in the second innings. Behardien top scored with 44 as the Titans stumbled to 271 all out only 76 runs ahead. Again Henderson took affect, taking 3 wickets, ending the match with figures of 10 for 196.

The Cobras needed only 26 overs to chase down the 77 needed for victory. Fortunately the Titans previous thumping of the Warriors in round 1 ensured they remain top of the SuperSport Series log.

Dolphins vs Warriors

Last week when describing the Dolphins’ effort  against the Knights , I wrote: “Some have suggested that the Dolphins may turn a team or two over, but I’m not so sure” – this week I’m eating humble pie.

Another massive score, 169 by Imraan Khan with a solid contribution of 102 by Ahmed Amla took the Dolphins to 500/6 dec. They then skittled the Warriors out for 156, amongst some controversy over poor light.

The Dolphins enforced the follow on, the Warriors playing for the draw, succeeded, only due to Ashwell Prince’s 123. The Dolphins had the Warriors 9 down when play ended, just one wicket short of an innings victory. A notable contribution with the ball came from Imran Tahir who took 5 wickets in the second innings, and 4 in the first.

Kevin Pietersen must have been pissed as he only got to bat once in his “warm up to the Ashes”.

Lions vs Knights

The Knights posted 372 in their first innings, Ryan Bailey top scoring with 94. The Lions replied with 482 giving them a first innings lead of 110 with contributions from three batsmen, Stephan Cook (73), Neil McKenzie (94) and Vaughn van Jaarsveld (97).

Trailing by 110 the Knights only managed a further 204/9 before the game closed as a draw – Paul Harris taking 5 wickets in the second innings.

A century scored on debut is a special achievement, doing it in India is even more impressive. Alviro Petersen become only the third South African to score a century on debut after Andrew Hudson (163 against West Indies at Bridgetown in April 1992) and Jacques Rudolph (222 not out against Bangladesh at Chittagong in April 2003).

Petersen came into the test team due to the injury to Mark Boucher. Ashwell Price dropped down the order to cover for Boucher, and Petersen opened the batting in place of Prince. Petersen’s century is a significant one, it ensured that this first class South African record of 1376 runs in the 2008-09 season in 15 matches, including six centuries was recognised, and it showed he has what it takes to step up to the pressure of Test cricket.

To put Petersen’s century as an opening batsman in perspective, consider this; In just this one innings Petersen has scored more runs than Prince has scored in his last nine inning (98). Prince has an average of 10.89 over those nine innings, and has not scored a half century in Test cricket in 11 months.

Ashwell Prince is more than likely playing in his last Test match, Mark Boucher will return to reclaim his position behind the wickets, I can’t see Prince boarding the plane to the Kingston, Jamaica when the Proteas take on the West Indies in a three match Test series.

The South African batsmen have shown what they can do when they decide to come out and play cricket. In the South African innings of 651 there were three centurions in one innings, Ashwell Prince 150, Jacques Kallis 102 and AB de Villiers 163.

Ashwell Prince was promoted to opening batsman; He came out to bat in the last hour of the first day and played like a man on a serious mission scoring 37 runs from 36 balls in the last hour of playon day one. Returning to the crease on day two Prince scored his 11th test century from 152 balls. Ashwell Prince was eventually out having scored 150 off 249 balls with 19 fours and two sixes.

Stand-in captain Jacques Kallis scored his 31st test century, Kallis had to put up with some fearsome bowling from the Australian pace attack at the start of his innings.

AB de Villiers, having scored a century in the first Castel Test Match repeated his heroics in Cape Town top scoring in the South African innings with an impressive 163. De Villiers, began day three on 39, he got stuck into the Australian bowling attack as he earned his ninth test century, and his third against Australia, off 149 balls with ten fours and one six.

De Villiers then needed just 32 balls as he raced to 150 off 181 balls with 11 fours and seven sixes before he was eventually caught by Andrew McDonald off the bowling of Katich.

Not to be forgotten was the half century scored by Albie Morkel on debut from 59 balls, shared a fantastic seventh-wicket partnership of 124 off 120 balls with De Villiers before Morkel got out.

This brutal batting attack left one seriously wounded Australian bowler Bryce McGain. McGain is a leg spinner who made his debut in this Castle test match. McGain got hammered by all the South African batsmen ending his first bowling effort in test cricket with the following bowling figures:

18 overs, 149 runs, 0 wickets at an average of 8.27 per over

South Africa is in a dominant position at the close of play on the first day of the third and final Castle Test match at Sahara Park Newlands, Cape Town. Ricky Ponting won toss and elected to bat first, perhaps not the best decision. A poor start in the field saw South Africa drop two catches, while the Australians moved on to 58/0. Imraan Kahn dropped a sitter and JP Duminy dropped Hughes off Paul Harris. Harris stepped up and took the wicket of Hughes two balls later to open the wicket taking.

One run later and Ricky Ponting was walking back to the Pavilion with a duck next to his name. The highest scorer for Australia was Katich who was out for 55 off 160 balls.

Jacques Kallis captained the team well and had the Australians all out for 209, an hour before the end of the day. Enter Imraan Kahn and Ashwell Prince, the expectation to score was high after scoring a big century and a double century respectively. Prince led the partnership scoring freely to take play to a close with South Africa on 57/0. Prince had scored 37 runs from 36 balls in a powerful batting display.

South Africa are 157 runs behind, if Prince picks up where he left off the Australians are going to be in trouble by lunch on day two.

All the rumors of unhappiness in the team have been put to rest by an inspiring batting performance, now we need to keep or heads and add 300 runs on day two to setup a powerful first innings lead.

Bowling performances from South Africa:

Steyn: 16 overs, 56 runs, 4 wickets
Ntini: 17 overs, 38 runs, 2 wickets
Kallis: 10 overs, 31 runs, 0 wickets
A Morkel: 12 overs, 44 runs, 1 wicket
Harris: 17 overs, 34 runs, 3 wickets

Imraan Khan scored his fifth century of the season today, ensuring that he wasn’t out done by Ashwell Prince’s 254 for the Warriors. Khan’s century came from 175 balls, he ended the day on 135 not out. Both players were named in the squad to take on Australia in the third and final test match at Newlands. It seems that some players only need a sniff at a chance of playing for the Proteas to up their game.

It’s great to see South Africa has depth, we’ll be expecting big things from these to players that seem to be in fine form.

Unfortunately there hasn’t been much to write about when it comes to bowling in Super Sport series, the only noticeable performance came from Yusuf Abdullah, taking 5 wickets from 63 runs in 19 overs for the Dolphins.

Ashwell Prince marched on and even managed to change up a gear as his magnificent innings of 254, taking the Chevrolet Warriors to 473 for five at lunch on the second day of their SuperSport Series match against the Nashua Titans at SuperSport Park in Centurion on Friday.

Prince, who began the day on 171 not out, was once again lord of all he surveyed, unruffled and clearly enjoying himself as he unveiled some marvelous strokes once he had reached his maiden first-class double century.

Prince gave voice to his frustrating treatment at the hands of the national selectors this week by hammering 28 fours and eight sixes off just 340 deliveries.

The flip side of his innings, however, is that if opening the batting prompts such a phenomenal response from the left-hander, maybe it should have been his position all along.

Prince reached his double century after eight hours at the crease off 301 balls, prompting a flurry of runs as he scored his next 49 off just 39 balls, with four fours and three sixes.

A ragged Titans bowling attack did manage to claim at least one wicket in the session, however, Albie Morkel snatching the prized scalp of Mark Boucher for 63.

Boucher was caught in the slips by Jacques Rudolph to end a fifth-wicket stand of 127.

But Johan Botha then joined Prince and was soon into his stride as he reached 29 not out with four boundaries.

With Prince, who has shattered Arno Jacobs’ record of 218 not out for the highest score for the Warriors, clearly taking a liking to the conditions and the bowlers, the visitors are set to pile on the runs after lunch in a push for a declaration.

Source: SuperSport

Ashwell Prince struck an unbeaten 171 to help the Chevrolet Warriors to 338 for four at stumps on the first day of their SuperSport Series match against the Nashua Titans at SuperSport Park in Centurion on Thursday.

The left-handed Prince, who opened the batting in preparation for his new role as opening batsman for the South African national side, faced 253 balls while striking 18 fours and five sixes as he notched up his 23rd first class century

Prince batted for 402 minutes and shared in four half-century partnerships after the Warriors had won the toss and elected to bat.

Jon-Jon Smuts and Prince put on 82-runs for the first wicket before the Titans’ skipper, medium-pacer Pierre Joubert, finally made the breakthrough for the home side when he had Smuts caught behind by keeper Heino Kuhn for 46 off 57 balls with seven fours.

Thirteen runs later Kuhn claimed his second catch, this time off the bowling of fast bowler Morne Morkel, to send Arno Jacobs (7) back to the pavilion to leave the Warriors on 95 for two.

Prince then found a willing partner in Zander de Bruyn (38) and the pair put on 93 runs off 171 balls for the third wicket before De Bruyn was bowled by left-arm spinner Paul Harris with the Warriors on 188 for three.

Prince and Davey Jacobs (20) combined to put on a 64-run fourth wicket partnership before Jacobs became Harris’ second victim with the warriors on an already daunting looking 252 for four.

Proteas’ wicketkeeper Mark Boucher was next to the crease and there was to be no let up for the Titans’ bowlers as he and Prince put on an unbroken fifth wicket stand of 86 off 130 balls with Boucher ending the day unbeaten on 43 off 72 balls with eight fours.

All the Titans bowler’s suffered at the hands of the Warriors’ onslaught with Harris the most successful as he returned figures of two for 80 off 21 overs.

Teams:

Nashua Titans – Heino Kuhn, Gulam Bodi, Jacques Rudolph, AB de Villiers, Farhaan Behardien, Albie Morkel, Pierre Joubert (capt), Tumelo Bodibe, Ethy Mbhalati, Paul Harris, Morne Morkel

Chevrolet Warriors – Ashwell Prince, Jon-Jon Smuts, Zander de Bruyn, Arno Jacobs, Davy Jacobs (capt), Mark Boucher, Robin Peterson, Johan Botha, Wayne Parnell, Rusty Theron, Makhaya Ntini

source: SuperSport

Neil Mckenzie and Morne Morkel have been dropped for the third Castle Test in Cape Town. Ashwell Prince returns to the side as captain to replace the injured Graeme Smith, Prince will play as opener, alongside the Dolphins batsman Imraan Khan, who’ll make his Test debut.

Albie Morkel has been retained in the squad, while the uncapped fast bowler Wayne Parnell has also been included.

The inclusion of Prince as captain is not much of a surprise after he missed all the Tests in Australia due to injury and failed to win back his place due to the strong form of JP Duminy. I have to ask why Cricket South Africa is so conservative? Prince is 32 years old this year, he’s don’t have long to play, why not invest in a young player for the future?

South Africa squad: Ashwell Prince (capt), Imraan Khan, Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, Mark Boucher (wk), Paul Harris, Albie Morkel, Dale Steyn, Makhaya Ntini, Wayne Parnell.