Get a drink, and get warmed up for Cape Town (PreMatch show)

[fineleg]

Pre Match News Reports thread. Good Luck for (possibly) Gary Kirsten's last Indian coaching appearance in TEST matches at his homeground in Cape Town

[fineleg]

CAPE TOWN: Graeme Smith and Gary Kirsten were curiously involved in a long conversation on Friday afternoon, right in the middle of the Newlands Stadium. Apparently, they were exchanging notes on the pitch which will host the all-important third Test between India and South Africa Sunday onwards. Kirsten is a Cape Towner and knows Newlands as the back of his hand. So, some insight about how the wicket may turn out would not have harm Smith's preparations in any way. That is if Kirsten was willing to share it all. India surely will have Kirsten's vast knowledge of the conditions here at their disposal as they try to wrest their first-ever series win in this country. Durban was one major step towards that. Now, the team's week-long stay in this captivating city has the potential to herald a golden era in Indian cricket. The players are well aware that this Test could turn out to be a major milestone in their careers. It is only fitting then that the magnificent Table Mountain will provide the backdrop to the Newlands as the two evenly-matched teams fight a battle royale. The Indians had their first look of the wicket and the ground on Friday and also had a practice session. The good news for Indian fans is that Gautam Gambhir, who had to pull out of the second Test due to a swelling on the left wrist, batted without any apparent discomfort in the nets. With Gambhir back in the squad, India should be able to play their choice eleven here. Pacers Ishant Sharma and Sreesanth had a bowl in the middle on the side track, just adjacent to the wicket which will test their skills in the coming days. 'Pitch will have something for everyone': Meanwhile, as the D-Day approaches, pitch curator Evan Clint was the man most in demand. He, however, was unflustered despite all the attention he was getting ahead of the Test. There must be pressure on him after India tied the series in Durban? "Yes, there is some pressure. But my job is to provide a good Test wicket. It's up to the players then to perform. I can't produce a wicket like Centurion or Durban (which hosted the first two Tests)," Clint told TOI as he watched the wicket from a distance. Newlands is traditionally batsman-friendly and has the highest average score, 338.2, for any major ground in South Africa. It is, however, result-oriented too with the home team enjoying a very favourable record here. "It's going to be a good Test wicket," Clint assured. "On the first day, it'll help seamers. On the second and third days, it should be good for batting. And on the last two days, the spinners will come into play," Clint said. Just the recipe for a perfect Test! India won't mind. But what about the grass cover on the pitch? Will he remove it or will it be another Durban? "It's a little bit of grass but we'll cut it tomorrow (Saturday). As it is, the strong sun bakes the pitch." While Clint stressed that he did not want the toss to play a decisive role like it did in Centurion, he added in a lighter vein, "Dhoni will win the toss here." Clint informed that Kirsten had come to see the pitch on Thursday itself, having arrived a day before the team. What all did he ask? "Well, he knows more about here than most people. He did most of the talking." Has the home team sent him a word about the kind of wicket it wants? "No. Whatever they had to say, they said in October. But I hope Smith likes what he sees." Clint also mentioned that he was going to see Corrie van Zyl, the South African coach, later in the evening. So, one has to keep fingers crossed about what ultimately will be served up. Read more: India bank on Gary's Newlands knowledge - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/cricket/series-tournaments/india-in-south-africa/top-stories/India-bank-on-Garys-Newlands-knowledge/articleshow/7198340.cms#ixzz19j9LcuLL

[fineleg]

The sight of the Table Mountain from the Newlands Cricket Ground reminds one of one memorable partnership and two fighting centuries by the Indians. Sachin Tendulkar and Mohammad Azharuddin lifted cricket to a different place during a Test here in 1997. Sachin Tendulkar, then only 23, gave a master class on batting with a fine 169 (26x4) and stitched together a sixth-wicket stand worth 222 with Azharuddin (115), who toyed with the South African attack before being run out. In the end, India lost the Test but the memories of the partnership could be fresh in the minds of the connoisseurs. Tendulkar was caught brilliantly by Adam Bacher at deep fine-leg. One would never know what would have been the result if Bacher had failed to pouch that one. India were here in early 2007 but failed to win the Test after taking a first innings lead. Like this time, they had come to this city with the series level at 1-1. It is difficult to say how the Test would pan out but VVS Laxman would want the Indian fans to believe that this side is much more experienced and aggressive. “Our past experience should help,” says India’s batting mainstay, who should be relishing the wicket. Curator Evan Flint says the pitch for the third Test should be batsman-friendly. Currently, the wicket looks slightly greenish but it could turn brown by the time the Test starts on Sunday. “I have had no instructions. The pitch should provide a balance between the bat and ball,” the curator said. On Friday afternoon, Gary Kirsten and Eric Simmons inspected the pitch and had a mid-ground conclave with Graeme Smith and Mark Boucher. The Indian players, who arrived here in the morning, chose not to have nets on Friday while the South Africans had a mild practice in the evening. Newlands is the home ground of three of the key South African players — Jacques Kallis, Dale Steyn besides skipper Smith. Locals say, traditionally, the Tests at the Newlands in the New Year are always special and with the series between two quality teams level, a lot could be expected of the contest. The organisers have said the first two days of the game have been sold out.

[fineleg]

Tribune India South Africa and India head to Newlands on Sunday for the deciding Test of the three-match series. "Our bowling, our batting and our fielding have to be at their best if we hope to win the next Test," Sports24 quoted Dhoni, as saying. "We don't have much experience on these types of wickets so it's a big challenge for the side. We know it doesn't always go our way and we last won a Test in South Africa in 2006 so everyone wants to perform really well," he said. Dhoni said it was a concern of theirs after their defeat at Centurion whether India had the capacity to take 20 wickets to win a match. "Whenever we lose a Test match, it has a big impact on the side psychologically. It was a bit of a worry for us to get 20 wickets but our bowlers did really well in Durban. Most of our bowlers are swing bowlers and not naturally talented on flat wickets so it makes it difficult for us to bounce the batsmen out," he said. "The one thing I'm really consistent at is losing the toss. :haha: Sometimes it can be really tough. It's always good to win the toss so you give your bowlers a chance if there's something in the wicket," laughed Dhoni, who has lost the last 13 out of 14 tosses.

[fineleg]

First Test fiascos January 01, 2011, 0:01 IST http://www.business-standard.com India tends to treat the first Test as a warm-up, which costs us dearly. England arrived in Australia four weeks before the first Test of the current Ashes series. It played three first-class matches to acclimatise. Still, there was the first innings blip in the first Test at the Gabba, which the team managed to pull out of with aplomb. By the time of the second Test at Adelaide, England was ready for the innings-win. It got thrashed in the next at Perth but bounced back in Melbourne with another innings-win. The important thing is that England’s management gave the team enough room to regroup and recover. Unlike India’s. India began the South Africa tour with the usual: No warm-up match and a massive defeat in the first Test. That was in sync with the tours to Sri Lanka in 2008, when we lost the first Test by an innings and 239 runs, and in 2010, when again the first Test was lost, and the tour to Australia in 2007. The glorious exceptions have been the last tour to New Zealand, where we won the first but drew the next two on pitches like those back home, and the previous tour to South Africa in 2006-07, when we won the first, but slipped to shoddy defeats in the next two. Data from Cricinfo shows that on the 16 overseas tours since 2000, leaving out those to Zimbabwe and Bangladesh, India lost the first Test on eight. That is 50 per cent of the first Tests lost. The team’s performance improves considerably from the second Test onwards. Of the 35 such Tests played, we lost only 12 (34 per cent), while drawing 13 and winning as many as 10. There was a period between 2003 and 2006, which is also India’s golden period in overseas tours (a drawn series in Australia, a victory in Pakistan), when we did not lose the first Test on eight tours, but the story before and after has been distressing. The batting averages tell their own story. Rahul Dravid’s average in the first Tests of tours is 10 below his overall. V V S Laxman averages 37.86 in the first Tests and 56.30 in the second (see how he turned around the second in South Africa). Before this tour to South Africa, India had last played a Test out of the subcontinent in March 2009. The team was unlikely to lose its number one ranking despite losing this series, but the legitimacy of that ranking was being questioned by many. It had won only one Test on all previous tours to South Africa and lost every series there. Yet, coach Gary Kirsten had to beg and plead for some extra preparation time there. That little time was utilised with video analysis, computer analysis, net sessions and the like — none of it was spent playing a real match, which has no substitute. That makes one wonder if the BCCI thinks it is all right to treat the first Test as the warm-up game. It means no time is spent playing matches which do not earn any money for the board. It may not be good for the team, but it works for the accountant.