da apostaganha： Stats preview to the first Test between South Africa and West Indies in Port Elizabeth
da bet7： S Rajesh25-Dec-2007
Despite their poor record in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, considering their performances against West Indies, start as favourites © AFP
South Africa have won their last four series, while West Indies have lost six in a row. If past record and current form is anything to go by, South Africa should dominate the three-Test series which starts on Boxing Day. In 19 Tests between the two teams, South Africa have won 12, while their home record against West Indies is even more daunting – eight wins in nine games.
Overall 19 12 2 5 In South Africa 9 8 0 1 As the table below shows, all the South African batsmen have enjoyed plenty of success against West Indies. Jacques Kallis leads the way with an average of 77, but his numbers are even more impressive at home: in nine matches against West Indies he averages a staggering 108.81, with five centuries. In his last six home innings against them he has racked up four hundreds and a half-century, with a lowest score of 44. Graeme Smith and Herschelle Gibbs are struggling for form, but both have relished the West Indian attack in the past.
Jacques Kallis 18 1856 77.33 7/ 9 Graeme Smith 8 923 76.91 5/ 1 Ashwell Prince 3 199 66.33 1/ 0 AB de Villiers 4 460 65.71 2/ 1 Herschelle Gibbs 17 1376 50.96 3/ 6 Mark Boucher 18 598 27.18 2/ 1 Among the West Indian batsmen, their two left-handers, Chris Gayle and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, easily overshadow the rest. Gayle’s average is the highest, and the fact that he coped well with the South African pitches in the past, averaging 61 from three Tests, makes it crucial that he recovers from his hamstring injury in time for the first Test. Daren Ganga, his opening partner, has struggled against South Africa: in 15 innings against them – 14 of them overseas – Ganga averages a measly 13, and has gone past 30 once.
Chris Gayle 11 1021 48.61 3/ 2 Shivnarine Chanderpaul 14 1072 42.88 3/ 4 Dwayne Bravo 3 177 35.40 1/ 0 Marlon Samuels 4 206 25.75 0/ 2 Daren Ganga 8 197 13.13 0/ 1 The four South African bowlers from the current squad who have played West Indies in the past all have impressive records against them, with Andre Nel leading the way.
Andre Nel 7 39 20.61 43.0 2/ 1 Shaun Pollock 15 65 23.41 59.1 4/ 0 Makhaya Ntini 12 53 25.52 47.1 5/ 1 Jacques Kallis 18 44 29.43 68.9 2/ 0The West Indian bowlers have all found it extremely tough to take wickets against South Africa, though the numbers may not accurately reflect the skills of Daren Powell and Fidel Edwards, since both have improved considerably in the last year.
Pedro Collins 2 6 31.33 75.0 0/ 0 Chris Gayle 11 8 41.75 101.1 0/ 0 Daren Powell 4 9 52.77 98.0 0/ 0 Dwayne Bravo 3 4 79.75 156.0 0/ 0 Fidel Edwards 5 8 95.00 125.6 0/ 0 Rawl Lewis 2 1 225.00 441.0 0/ 0South Africa have generally done well at home, but Port Elizabeth has been a relatively tough venue for them: in 22 Tests, they have won only eight and lost ten. Since their re-admission to international cricket in 1992, they have done better here, with four wins in ten matches. The table below gives their venue-wise record at home since 1992 – in terms of win-loss ratio, Port Elizabeth and Johannesburg remain the lowest.
Centurion 13 10 1 10.00 Cape Town 18 12 3 4.00 Durban 15 7 2 3.50 Johannesburg 19 8 6 1.33 Port Elizabeth 10 4 3 1.33 The weather conditions suggest the captain winning the toss will prefer to field first, which is the route most captains have taken at this ground. In the ten Tests since 1992, the team winning the toss has fielded seven times, and of the seven games which have ended decisively, five have gone the way of the team bowling first.