Good to hear, although when he was opening he said he would have preferred to bat in the middle order. Maybe he's finally realised where most of his success has come from.
Gary Kirsten always said that opening in the sub-continent was easier than opening anywhere else, getting himself in against the 'quicks' on the low, slow pitches before the spinners came on. But with Gibbs being a slightly more attacking player than Kirsten was this might work against him.
Also strange that with the success SA had with their opening partnership in recent times that they've sought to tinker with it so much. Kirsten/Gibbs, Smith/Gibbs and Smith/De Villiers were all great partnerships. So why so many changes of late?
Personally, I think the Smith/Gibbs partnership is likely to be more productive than Smith/De Villiers in the long run. Especially in ODIs. If SA had another good spinner to go with Nicky Boje, I believe they'd be difficult to beat on the subcontinent (tests).
_____________________________________________ Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.
Yes. His injury was a double blow in that regard. As he was also the captain as well I'm tempted to call it a triple blow, but I am intrigued to see Prince as captain.
According to the press, this is the team that is expected to play in the 1st Test tomorrow:
Gibbs Pre-Op Amla Rudolph Prince De Villiers Boucher Hall Boje Nel Ntini
I think it would be a mistake to omit Steyn though. His pacey swing bowling could be just what we need in humid conditions, although it looks as though the selectors are falling for that old trap of trying to cram as much batting into the side as possible.
Originally posted by Dave Pastry: I think it would be a mistake to omit Steyn though. His pacey swing bowling could be just what we need in humid conditions, although it looks as though the selectors are falling for that old trap of trying to cram as much batting into the side as possible.
Would be a crying shame if he did. He seems the 'real deal' to me and could do with the experience abroad...
O'Tshabalala apparently had an horrendous journey to Sri Lanka. He was in Aus playing for SA 'A' in the Emerging Players tournament and then had to fly back to Jo'burg, from where he was supposed to fly to Sri Lanka. Except that while he made it to Jo'burg, his ticket didn't and he missed his flight, so he had to get another flight that went via Dubai and Doha, and then his luggage got delayed.
Why didn't he just fly straight from Aus to Sri Lanka?
Why didn't he just fly straight from Aus to Sri Lanka?
Cos he's a stoopid Yarpie?
_____________________________________________ Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.
im sure other teams will be happy to see gibbs open in tests right now.
he looked a lame duck in the recent series vs australia and the massive amount of times he's been clean bowled recently in tests show that something is wrong with his game.
