A number of other projects have kept me away from my own blog lately. I promised at the end of the Sydney Test Australia v South Africa in January that I would continue the BoG points tally for my outstanding play of the Aus-RSA reciprocal Test series (for the hugely unprized The Kepler-Wessels) with the South African leg of the tour.
Two Tests have come and gone: Australian cricket is allegedly on the ascendancy again; Phillip Hughes has gone from a fourth-ball duck to becoming The New Don Bradman/Doug Walters/Phillip Hughes; Marcus North has gained his long overdue Test berth; Bryce McGain finds new ways of missing the boat, including missing the plane; and Brett Lee thinks bowling four overs per game every two or three nights is the perfect means of returning to the Test team in time for the Ashes. Meanwhile, Ashwell Prince becomes South Africa's first coloured Test captai... er, no that was a slip of the tongue, we meant to say Jacques Kallis is leading South Africa in the Third Test.
My points for the Wanderers Test, won by Australia by 162 runs, were:
Day One: Dale Steyn 3, Ricky Ponting 2, Michael Clarke 1.
Day Two: Marcus North 3, Mitchell Johnson 2, Brad Haddin 1.
Day Three: Mitchell Johnson 3, AB de Villiers 2, Peter Siddle 1.
Day Four: Jacques Kallis 3, Phillip Hughes 2, Makhaya Ntini 1.
Day Five: Mitchell Johnson 3, Peter Siddle 2, Ben Hilfenhaus 1.
The Kingsmead Test (or the Sahara Test if you prefer) was won by Australia by 175 runs, which suggests that they will win the Newlands Test (or the Sahara Test if you prefer) by 188 runs. Without getting ahead of ourselves, here are my Second Test BoG points for The Kepler-Wessels:
Day One: Phillip Hughes 3, Simon Katich 2, Michael Hussey 1.
Day Two: Jean-Paul Duminy 3, Makhaya Ntini 2, Andrew McDonald 1.
Day Three: Phillip Hughes 3, Ricky Ponting 2, Peter Siddle 1.
Day Four: Jacques Kallis 3, AB de Villiers 2, Hashim Amla 1.
Day Five: Brad Haddin 3, Simon Katich 2, Peter Siddle 1.
With one Test to play, its a packed field at the top of the leaderboard in the race for the inaugural The Kepler-Wessels:
14 pts: Mitchell Johnson, Dale Steyn;
13 pts: Peter Siddle;
12 pts: Ricky Ponting;
11 pts: Simon Katich;
9 pts: Michael Clarke, AB de Villiers;
8 pts: Jean-Paul Duminy, Phillip Hughes, Jacques Kallis;
7 pts: Graeme Smith;
6 pts: Brad Haddin;
5 pts: Paul Harris, Makhaya Ntini;
4 pts: Hashim Amla, Mark Boucher;
3 pts: Marcus North;
2 pts: Michael Hussey;
1 pt: Ben Hilfenhaus, Jason Krejza, Andrew McDonald, Neil McKenzie, Morne Morkel.
O nada aponta: Doug Bollinger, Nathan Hauritz, Matthew Hayden, Brett Lee, Andrew Symonds (Australia).