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South Africa in India 2009-10
South African players in favour of new schedule
Nagraj Gollapudi
December 12, 2009
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The South African players have come out in support of the new schedule for their Indian tour next year which proposes two Tests and three ODIs instead of the originally planned five-ODI series. Following Cricket South Africa chief executive Gerald Majola's admission on Friday that it was possible to accommodate the BCCI's request, the South African Players Association [SACA] said the players were open and happy to play more Tests instead of ODIs on the tour scheduled for February-March 2010.
"We as players are actually in favour of that," Tony Irish, SACA's CEO , told Cricinfo. "We would prefer to go there [India] and play two Tests and three one-dayers rather than playing five-ODI series." Irish also said SACA had been aware of the BCCI's request because the players' body was closely involved in the planning and finalising of tour schedules.
Explaining the reasons behind the players favouring the new proposal, Irish said the most important factor was that the teams would get to play more Test cricket, which would be a boost for the longer form of the game. "Firstly we played so little Test cricket this year [2009] so we are keen to play [more] Test matches. Then we also want to play because India are No. 1 and we are No. 2. It is also good for Test cricket as this shows support for the longer version."
Players have been up in arms against the existing Future Tours Programme due to the the dearth of Tests in the calendar. This year India played just six Tests and are scheduled to play seven in 2010 (not including the proposed two matches against South Africa). That figure could be trimmed to five as the two Tests against Zimbabwe are yet to be finalised. South Africa are scheduled to play five more Tests in 2010 compared to the six in 2009. "We believe that it is vital to play as much Test cricket as possible because the players believe it is the pinnacle of cricket," Irish said.
Irish admitted that the last-minute request from the Indian board was not "ideal" but felt it was necessary to "compromise" for the betterment of Test cricket. "It is not ideal but scheduling in cricket is not ideal because of the way everyone is packing more and more cricket in. But there has to be a set of compromises and we are making some now in order to play Test cricket."
Asked if there were any concerns the players had Irish said they did not want to miss out on playing the Pro20, South Africa's domestic Twenty20 competition, and hence were keen that both boards try and work out the right dates to enable the players to get back in time to play the tournament. "One of the downsides is that our national players might miss the semi-finals and the finals of the Pro20 domestic competition," said Irish. "If that can be accommodated that will be good."
The first round of Standard Bank Pro20 semi-finals are due to start on February 24, with the second round beginning on March 3 and the final on March 12, so the CSA is trying to push back those dates by at least a week to accommodate the BCCI request. "There are a couple of issues about getting the dates right: we would need to arrive earlier than what was proposed by India," said Irish. "We would also need to get our ODI specialists early because there is a very small gap between the end of the proposed Test series and the ODIs."
Nagraj Gollapudi is an assistant editor at Cricinfo
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(@redneck) ....against Australia, England, New Zealand and Sri Lanka. India haven't lost a test yet during 2009. The last time India have lost on home-soil, was against South Africa in Ahmedabad during 3-5 April 2008. South Africa lost against Australia in Durban (Home-soil) 6 - 10 March 2009. This year Australia has lost against South Africa and England. The last loose they had on Home-soil were against South Africa in Melbourne 26 - 30 Dec 2008.' England lost a Test on Home-soil in Leeds against Australia during 7 -9 Aug 2009. Sehwag almost scored 3 doubles this year only. I take my hat off to India's coach, staff and players. You deserve to be no.1 Do you understand now, redneck?
Posted by SuperSharky on (December 14 2009, 17:21 PM GMT)@redneck how can't you see that India deserves to be no.1 in Test cricket ???? Listen to Tony Greig's latest show, why India deserves to be no.1 The last time India toured South Africa, they've won the Johannesburg Wanderers Test with 123 runs. The last time India toured Australia they've lost in Melbourne due to Andrew Symmonds massive score, while Symmond was clearly out in his 30'ties, but not given. (just to state how close it was) In Sydney, Michael Clarke bowled Harbhajan Singh, R.P. Singh and I.Sharma in the last 30 min of the 5th day during the last 5 - + overs. Kumble had to watch on the other side. One of those caught decisions (if ball touched the bat) were dodgy and 0ne LBW were dodgy.(just to state how close it was) In Perth India beaten Australia by 72 runs. They've draw the last Test in Adelaide. India's last Test that they have lost were in Colombo against Sri Lanka during 8 - 11 Aug 2008. They have played 12 unbeaten Test (after the last test they have lost) against..
Posted by crickesh on (December 14 2009, 08:07 AM GMT)For those who think we should have more than two tests, well we should be happy with what we got!! For those who uses their own formula to decide that India should not be number one. Grow up ... accept it that Katich is not mat Hayden, Johnson is no Mcgrath and Hauritz is not even a shoe soil of warne. To respect the gaints you should accept that current team is not good enough ;-) Cheers!
Posted by SatyajitM on (December 14 2009, 07:39 AM GMT)@redneck, the points system doesn't work on a series basis rather on a match basis. Which is fair as you get credit for what you do. So, even if a team loses 3-2 they are not going to lose all the points and winner going to take all the points. The other important thing is the strength (ranking) of the opposite team. Hypothetically speaking if there is 5 test match series between Ind and Ban (not going to happen!) and India wins 3-2, India will actually lose points and Ban gain. That's justified as India is much higher ranked team. Though, you show more series wins for Aus, they have either lost badly (2-0 against Ind) or lost to a relatively lowly ranked team (Eng). On the other hand India won a series againt SL 2-0 who were ranked 2 at that time. I hope this clarifies your doubt. The system is there for a long time and also not developed by an Indian (David Kendix).
Posted by SatyajitM on (December 14 2009, 07:20 AM GMT)Xolile, mate you cann't call Quazar and raghavmadan harsh after talking about "India's dodgy No1 ranking" :-) Interestingly people are finding fault in the system now though it was established about a decade back. As Quazar pointed out the Feb- March tour was already part of FTP and both SA and Indian boards initially agreed to have ODI series. While the original plan was bad lets applaud both the boards being nimble feeted and accomodating a short test series. Agreed, a three or more test series is always preferable; but something is better than nothing. It's also heartening to see SA players showing more interest in test cricket, I feel same applies to Indian players. Also, we need not worry about India in SA series as India will be travelling to SA in an years time.
Posted by abhyu23 on (December 14 2009, 02:40 AM GMT)@Xolile, one thing everyone will be convinced about if India win 2-0 is that SA are not the number one team in the world at present. Whether India is number one will be seen in South Africa later in 2010.
Posted by redneck on (December 13 2009, 23:06 PM GMT)@SuperSharky how can you say india are no. 1 and nobody disagrees? they have 4 test series they currently dont hold. S.Af in india, S.Af in S.Af, aus in aus, & sri lanka in sri lanka. where by compairson australia only have 3 series they dont currently hold S.Af in aus, india in india and england in england. i dont see how a team can be number one when they havent defeated the supposed number 2 side at all. and the supposed number 3 side has had more success in terms of series wins than both the number 1 & 2 teams? this just shows the rankings are flawed! bring on a test championship!!!
Posted by NEUTRAL_FAN on (December 13 2009, 19:23 PM GMT)Hopefully there will be 2 result oriented pitches prepared... AT LEAST PROPER TURNING PITCHES! The Sri Lanka vs IND series just concluded was more like an ODI played for 5 days instead of a test series. To be honest most wickets fell to ill advised shots or the pressure of being too many runs behind. There was hardly any sharp turn, bounce, pace or movement for the bowlers to bowl any challenging deliveries. A contest between the 2 topped rankings need to be played on better tracks. Let's hope the ICC has enough guts to enforce this.
Posted by Xolile on (December 13 2009, 18:32 PM GMT)@Quazar, raghavmadan - Your harsh comments suggest you misunderstand. I want India to go to SA so that they can prove they are No1. Imagine India was to tour SA and win a four-match series 3-1. Then there will be absolutely no doubt that they are No1. But what does the BCCI do instead? They arrange a meaningless two-match series in India. Even if India ends up winning 2-0 no one will be convinced. It's meaningless. It's too short and in the wrong country. It's a missed opportunity. This Indian team may be great but we will never know.
Posted by AdityaGRoy on (December 13 2009, 16:51 PM GMT)dude... this is wat i call real cricket.... its really amazing to knw tht CSA and SACA has agreed to play 2 tests in India.....cheers to the game!!