Two Winters and One Summer of English Cricket and Continued Adventures

[Logie66]

Happy New Year

We saw the New Year in at the Victoria and Albert Waterfront, a ten minute walk from our hotel.  The whole tour group were entertained at Quay 4, a restaurant/bar where we were served food and drinks and entertained by a band.

Under a bright moon with a strong breeze we watched the Fireworks see in the New Year, lots of loud bangs before heading back to the hotel in the early hours of Friday.

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[Logie66]

New Years Day - Tour of Cape Town

After a bit of a late morning recovering from the night before we prepared ourselves for a trip around Cape Town and hopefully a visit up Table Mountain.  We were picked up by our guide "Super" just after 1pm, unfortunately he gave us some bad news, it was too windy and the cable car was closed, we would have to try another day.

We were then provided a tour of the city and given an insight into its history, some of it quite fascinating.  A lot of people in Cape Twon originate from Malaysia, they were the first slaves to be brought into the country. "Super" a Cape Coloured himself, told of the four races defined in South Africa, Coloured, Black, Indian and White.

We were then introduced to the six flags of South African rule, Dutch, English, Dutch, English, South African Union and finally modern day South Africa.

We saw a few kids walking around in multi-coloured track suits, these are the uniforms that they will be wearing at the festival on the 2nd.  The festival celebrates the abolishment of slavery and to celebrate the slaves wore coloured clothing for the first time and this is celebrated on the 2nd January each year at the Minstral Festival, the colours get more bright and garish every year.

It was an interesting tour and gave us a good insight into what has made Cape Town over the years.  Hopefully we will get to make the top of Table Mountain soon.

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[Logie66]

Cape Town Test Day 1

After a glorious day out fishing we awoke to an overcast and damp morning, just as the weather forecast had warned.  England have been beaten in Cape Town in previous series and the toss could be key.  We arrived at the ground, and what a view, Table Mountain in the background although covered in cloud.  Covers on and a delayed start.

The clouds slowly moved away and the stadium announcer informs everyone we have a delay to the start of the game.  Eventually the Captains are out to toss up, Strauss calls heads and it comes down in Englands favour, Strauss says we will have a bowl.

Lots of England supporters in the ground and the atmosphere is building, Jimmy Anderson opens up and Smith takes a single, Prince who struggled in Durban nearly goes first ball and then Jimmy gets a bit of lift and he edges behind to Prior who takes the catch, great start from England.  Onions shares the new ball and his first delivery is a wide one which Smith chases, edges to the slips, Swanny drops it !! Was a dolly ! Could be expensive that, Collingwood injury costs England as he would surely of taken that.

Amla and Smith steady the ship and Amla survives a referral after England seemed confident that he had edged behind, Onions then catches Amla in front and he"s gone.  Kallis strides forward to the wicket are we going to see Smith and Kallis pull it round like we did in Durban, Lunch 51-2, could have been better !

Immediately after lunch Smith feathers Anderson behind and Prior is screaming with delight, not as expensive as it could have been Swanny ! De Villiers and Kallis then start building a partnership, Kallis looking his imperious self as always.  They see the score past 100, and its looking good as the recovery is building, out of the blue Swann forces De Villiers into a mistake and he is caught by Strauss, Duminy gets his customary first ball and Swanny is on a hat-trick ! Boucher survives, impetus with England now, 127-5.

Kallis and Boucher dig in and work hard to keep South Africa in the game, Kallis reaches another 50 against England and is looking well set.  Boucher supports him well and survives some good bowling from Anderson who doesn"t have much luck, beating the edge on numerous occassions. Tea 183-5.

After tea Kallis and Boucher continue to work the bowlers and keep the scoreboard ticking over, England struggling to make the break through.  200 passed as the batsmen are getting on top, Boucher reaches 50 and the partnership is now worth 89.  Broad then catches Boucher in front of the stumps, umpire gives it, Boucher goes for the referral, on field decision we have a break through at last !!

Now this is strange Steyn is stepping out to the wicket, promoted in the order ? We all reckon Morkel was on the loo !  Last hour is negotiated with ease, Kallis registering yet another 100 ! Bad light draws in and we reach the end of the first day, honours even I would say.

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[Logie66]

Cape Town Test Day 2

We awake to a normal clear day and no threat of cloud and rain like the first morning, after breakfast we head back down to Newlands to enjoy the view whilst watching the cricket.

Resuming on 279-6 South Africa will be looking to push on and get a big score, England have other ideas and Onions gets Kallis second ball of the morning, another edge behind to Prior 280-7.  Anderson then joins in getting Steyn, Trott taking a cracking catch at third slip 280-8.  Swann then snaffles Morkel off Anderson 281-9, what a start to the day !! Anderson then wraps up the innings and completes a five wicket haul, 291 all out, we weren"t expecting that, I lose the sweep once more as I was confident that Kallis was going to large it today.

England come out to bat and get off to a bad start, Strauss trys to drive Morkel and gets an edge, he is furious with himself. A recovery is started and we reach 36, then disaster, Trott plays on and then Pietersen punches the ball straight back to Steyn who holds on, only South Africans out today so far ! Colly and Cook see England through to lunch, 64-3.

Not long after lunch Morkel catches Colly in front and he"s gone, four wickets down very early and England are under pressure, can Bell deliver. Cook and Bell dig in and play very sensibly, Cook leaving a lot and Bell very patient, Bell eventually off the mark with a text book cover drive for four.

Hundred up and Cook passes 50, he looks in good nick after his hundred in Durban. The remainder of the session is heavy going as England work hard and don"t play at what they don"t need too, 133-4 at Tea, and 60 runs in 25 overs, not pretty to watch.  You have to say three of the batsmen out to poor shots, could have been in a much better position than we are.

Disaster at the restart, Cook paddles one to Prince, poor shot and all that hard work has been wasted, he had got himself in and just got himself out. Prior joins Bell and the number of shots to balls bowled should increase now. A lot of overs to bowl in this session, I expect we will be here till 6pm, light will not be a problem tonight.

Rub rate increases and Bell and Prior are looking good, Bell has a confidence about him that has been missing, the 100 in Durban has obviously helped. Then a short wide one and he slaps it straight to a fielder, another batsmen gets himself out rather than being got out, too many loose shots today for England !

Broad joins Prior and once we are digging in, a good recovery each time, but all the hard work is being undone.  The score creeps past 200 and another partnership is building.  This one reaches 50 and then Broad departs, Steyn beats his defence and removes the bails, at least the bowlers had to work for that wicket.  Swann joins Prior who passes fifty and they see us through to close of play, 241-7, still honours even.

Forecast for tomorrow is hot, hot, hot, going to be in the 40"s !! A little bit warmer than home.  We are enjoying some hospitality tomorrow, hopefully a view to die for up in the gods behind the bowlers arm.

For the third time we attempt to get up the mountain, closed again and have to abort once more !!

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[Logie66]

Phew, It"s a Scorcher !!

Hospitality suite today, complimentary food and bar, will be enjoyed as it is going to be very hot today, health warnings being posted by the local authorities.

We enjoy a couple of G&T"s for starters early doors, very refreshing in this heat.  We then sit down and watch South Africa do to England what we did to them the previous morning, a few more runs are scored though as we finish 18 runs short of South Africa, Prior last man out and a good effort from him to get us there.

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South Africa come out to bat, Prince under pressure as he has not performed in the last two tests, he starts a lot more positive than usual, but is then given out caught down the legside, he immediately refers this !

With the hospitality box we get to see the replay and it"s a shocking decision, his bat was at least a foot away from that ! Decision rightly reversed.  Soon after Swann catches Prince in front and is given LBW, confidently Prince refers the decision only for the replay to show he was plum in front. Amla joins Smith and they start to make hay, England struggling in the heat !! It"s going to be a long day.  We are even flagging in the heat and with South Africa well on top we decide to make our fourth attempt at getting up the mountain, no more cricket for today.

[Logie66]

Table Mountain at Last

With Smith and Amla cruising in the heat and the England boys sufferring in the field, we take the opportunity to get away at tea and jump in a taxi to Table Mountain.  We are rewarded when we arrive, Mountain is open and no queues !! We buy our tickets and hop on the cable car straight away.

Cable car is quick and the revovling floor is quite bizarre, journey worthwhile as the views are stunning, a highlight of the tour.

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[Logie66]

A view from Table Mountain

The "Analyst gives his views on top of Table Mountain.

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[Logie66]

Cape Town Test Day 4

The weather reverts back to the norm, temperatures bearable and no where near the 40 degrees of yesterday.  Hard slog for England yesterday and South Africa are expected to push on and score quickly before declaring, we all expect England to have to bat for four sessions.

Smith and Kallis look to score quickly but England bowl well to a defensive field, South Africa struggle to get a momentum on the fourth morning. With more extravagant shots being played the chance of wickets will also be higher.  Smith eventually perishes as he skies one to Collingwood in the deep, a superb knock and the Skipper has set the base for a likely Proteas victory in this test.

England manage to keep the batsmen under control and wickets continue to fall at regular intervals, taking away any momentum that the batsmen were getting. All in all it"s a positive return following the heat from yesterday.  A lot of talk about ball tampering but in all honesty it seems to be a lot of fuss about nothing, no official complaint posted just lots of talk, seems like a ploy to unsettle the England boys in all honesty. South Africa eventually declare on 447-7 a lead of 465.

So four and a half sessions for England to survive, it"s going to be a tall order but the wicket does seem to have got easier.  Strauss and Cook come out to bat and endure some hairy moments early on, Strauss surviving with a referral.  Eventually they get on top of the bowling and it starts to look easy, Cook reaches his fifty and the hundred partnership is posted, immediately Cook gets a top edge to de Wet"s short delivery and Boucher pouches the catch. Strauss than plays a nothing shot to Harris and bat pads it to short leg, disaster in the last few overs.

Trott is joined by Pietersen and once again he fails, lots of comments from the fans being made about lack of interest and not being a team player, has he just sufferred from expectation and the barracking of the home crowd.  Nightwatchman Anderson joins Trott and they survive to stumps, after a positive start England are on the ropes at 132-3.

Going to be a struggle tomorrow and a likely victory for the Proteas.

[Logie66]

Can England save the day

Considering the state of the game and the likely win for South Africa, the crowd on day five is still similar to the previous days at Newlands, perhaps the extra number of South Africans expecting to see a victory has boosted the numbers.

Nightwatchman Anderson does a superb job in the morning, taking up 45 minutes and 10 overs of play before falling to a great catch by Prince off another garbage ball from Harris, Collingwood joins Trott who gets a great delivery from Steyn, cutting back and finding the gap between his bat and pad to send his off stump cartwheeling out of the ground, 160-5, still a fair while to lunch and it"s not looking good for England.

So Collingwood and Bell will need to be the saviours, not many batsmen left after this pair and they are also all positive players, not a good mix when you are trying to defend and play out the remainder of the day.  Colly had been quoted in the morning that if he bats, it will be dull and boring, hopefully it will be as that is what we require.

At this part of the day, Steyn then bowls the best spell we have seen all tour, the ball swinging, moving and bouncing passed the outside edge, Collingwood surviving the majority of these deliveries, I can imagine that Steyn was asking Colly whether he needed a bell in the ball !

The cricket can only be described as attritional, not pretty to watch but a great contest between bowler and batsmen, the time and overs start creeping by and the afternoon session is survived with no wicket falling, 230-5.  The South African supporters have got a lot quieter as the day has progressed, are they losing faith in their team.

Colly and Bell see us through to the drinks break in the final session, 15 overs to negotiate to take a draw that looked like being a loss from day 3, in some respects it didn"t look like it would last 5 days at the end of day 2. First over after drinks is seen out and then Duminy gets an edge from Colly and Kallis takes the catch, what an innings, 40 runs, 188 balls, 112 partnership from 57 overs, have they taken the game away from the Proteas ?

Prior doesn"t last long, he pushes hard at one and its picked up an inch from the ground by DeVilliers, 10 overs left, just 60 balls to survuve and three wickets needed by South Africa.  The batsmen are now being crowded by the fielders, so much pressure out there.  Broad survives a referral early on and he is fending off the deliveries well, no runs being scored at the moment but they are immaterial. With four overs to go Broad pops one up in the air, appeal, given out, Broad refers to no avail.  20 balls left !

18 balls to go and Morkel is brought back, is it a mistake taking the spinners off, no potential for close catches has Smith missed an opportunity here ? First ball Morkel gets extra bounce, Bell edges, noooooooooo ! 78 runs and 213 balls seen out by Bell, probably his best innings for England, hats off to him.  Onions survives the remainder of the over, somehow.

Penultimate over and Steyn to send it down, Swann not really put under any pressure and it"s negotiated with ease, this Test is now down to six balls, Morkel versus Onions, can England hang on for the draw !

First ball - poked at and missed.

Second ball - fended down and safe.

Third ball - yorker, dug out well.

Fourth ball - another yorker, again dug out.

Fifth Ball - Short, and South Africa are up appealling, refered, desperation as that"s not out.

Last Ball - No need to play at that, ENGLAND have Won a Draw !!!!!!!!

Who said Test Cricket was boring, awesome day, awesome atmosphere and awesome result !!!

[Logie66]

Video of final day drama to follow if we get back to UK, bbbbbbrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

[Swinebag]

Greeny is a legend.

Top reports, good to see you the correct side of the camera, Don

[duke3016]

Great read - great views from the mountain - Sky will be snapping up you pair  

[duke3016]

"England"s hopes of winning the series in South Africa tumbled after they were bowled out for 180 on the opening day of the final Test in Johannesburg."

ooops

[Logie66]

I think we need the rain gods to assist us in the series win !!

[Logie66]

Time for a resurrection and continued adventures.

I know have 10 weeks until I journey to Sri Lanka to follow England once more to watch the two match test series. Arriving on March 24th and returning on April 9th.  In between there will hopefully be some good cricket, some interesting tourist activity and regular blog updates.

Already obtained my Visa, sneakily organised 90 days ahead of the trip, two days before they introduced a $50 charge for issuing them, some spending money in the pocket already.