1st Test: South Africa vs West Indies at Port Elizabeth
There's also the "other" Boxing Day test that starts today, the one between South Africa and the West Indies. West Indies haven't had the best start to the tour. They lost to the Makhaya Ntini Invitational XI by 5 runs, thrashed South Africa in the Twenty20 match by five wickets but were then well beaten inside three days by the South Africa "A" side. A mixed tour so far and they'll be hopeful of a competitive performance here as they will go into the game as underdogs.
Both teams performance will come down to each side's batting efforts. Both the Windies and the Proteas have one batsman in form, those being Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Jacques Kallis. The rest though have been ordinary although Hashim Amla and Ashwell Prince have played some good knocks for the South Africans. Chanderpaul however hasn't had much support and too many times this year has found himself playing a lone hand. If that happens again, then the Windies will be up against it once more. Daren Ganga, Chris Gayle (if he plays), Devon Smith and young Brenton Parchment must provide some support to Chanderpaul if the Windies want to remain competitive.
The bowling attacks look pretty potent however. The Twenty20 game showed what Jerome Taylor, Daren Powell and Fidel Edwards can do if they are on their game. South Africa has Dale Steyn, the young speedster who destryoyed New Zealand on their short tour here in November, taking a stggering 20 wickets in only two tests. As well as Steyn, South Africa also possesses Makhaya Ntini who is as fiery as any other bowler, the hot headed Andre Nel as well as Paul Harris and Kallis who can pop up with a few wickets if needed. There's also Shaun Pollock who is one of the most economical bowlers going around.
Expect a good match here with the bowling departments to go head to head. The batters who whether the storm will go a long way to leading their side to victory.
South Africa XII: *GC Smith, AG Prince, HM Amla, +MV Boucher, AB de Villiers, HH Gibbs, PL Harris, JH Kallis, A Nel, M Ntini, SM Pollock, DW Steyn
West Indies XV: *CH Gayle, DJ Bravo, S Chanderpaul, PT Collins, FH Edwards, D Ganga, RN Lewis, RS Morton, BA Parchment, DBL Powell, +D Ramdin, DJG Sammy, MN Samuels, DS Smith, JE Taylor
Umpires: Aleem Dar and Russell Tifflin
3rd Umpire: Rudi Koertzen
Weather:
(All Temperatures in Degrees Celcius)
Wednesday: Showers, 22
Thursday: Sunny, 25
Friday: Sunny, 25
Saturday: Sunny, 26
Sunday: Sunny, 26
Game starts at 5:30pm AWDT (10:30am local time, 8:30am GMT).
There's also the "other" Boxing Day test that starts today, the one between South Africa and the West Indies. West Indies haven't had the best start to the tour. They lost to the Makhaya Ntini Invitational XI by 5 runs, thrashed South Africa in the Twenty20 match by five wickets but were then well beaten inside three days by the South Africa "A" side. A mixed tour so far and they'll be hopeful of a competitive performance here as they will go into the game as underdogs.
Both teams performance will come down to each side's batting efforts. Both the Windies and the Proteas have one batsman in form, those being Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Jacques Kallis. The rest though have been ordinary although Hashim Amla and Ashwell Prince have played some good knocks for the South Africans. Chanderpaul however hasn't had much support and too many times this year has found himself playing a lone hand. If that happens again, then the Windies will be up against it once more. Daren Ganga, Chris Gayle (if he plays), Devon Smith and young Brenton Parchment must provide some support to Chanderpaul if the Windies want to remain competitive.
The bowling attacks look pretty potent however. The Twenty20 game showed what Jerome Taylor, Daren Powell and Fidel Edwards can do if they are on their game. South Africa has Dale Steyn, the young speedster who destryoyed New Zealand on their short tour here in November, taking a stggering 20 wickets in only two tests. As well as Steyn, South Africa also possesses Makhaya Ntini who is as fiery as any other bowler, the hot headed Andre Nel as well as Paul Harris and Kallis who can pop up with a few wickets if needed. There's also Shaun Pollock who is one of the most economical bowlers going around.
Expect a good match here with the bowling departments to go head to head. The batters who whether the storm will go a long way to leading their side to victory.
South Africa XII: *GC Smith, AG Prince, HM Amla, +MV Boucher, AB de Villiers, HH Gibbs, PL Harris, JH Kallis, A Nel, M Ntini, SM Pollock, DW Steyn
West Indies XV: *CH Gayle, DJ Bravo, S Chanderpaul, PT Collins, FH Edwards, D Ganga, RN Lewis, RS Morton, BA Parchment, DBL Powell, +D Ramdin, DJG Sammy, MN Samuels, DS Smith, JE Taylor
Umpires: Aleem Dar and Russell Tifflin
3rd Umpire: Rudi Koertzen
Weather:
(All Temperatures in Degrees Celcius)
Wednesday: Showers, 22
Thursday: Sunny, 25
Friday: Sunny, 25
Saturday: Sunny, 26
Sunday: Sunny, 26
Game starts at 5:30pm AWDT (10:30am local time, 8:30am GMT).
