Preview to the 2009 Currie Cup Final Bulls vs Cheetahs

This is certainly going to be unforgiving hard physical rugby being played at Loftus with no prisoners taken by either of the two competing teams.

The Bulls will probably have the upper hand in both the lineout’s and rumbling the ball up with a good kicker to convert and capitalizing on any errors form the Cheetahs. The Bulls will have to be patient in their buildup and going through the phases. Regardless of the score there should not be a letup during the last twenty minutes of the match. It was during this time that the Cheetahs have normally caught up with their opponents in the past seven matches.

The Cheetahs will probably have the upper hand in the scrums and has shown in the past few weeks of the Currie Cup that they have a formidable pack upsetting the springbok front row in the semi finals. Then there is also Brussouw that will probably get some turnovers or win penalties with his phenomenal speed and quick recovery, putting pressure on the opponents. Then there is Potgieter that can also slot some testing kicks.

It will certainly be a tight game. Good luck to both teams but we would like to see a winner and not a draw.

The lack of some of the Springbok players for the Sharks has not gone unnoticed

The lack of some of the Springbok players for the Sharks has not gone unnoticed. Players like the beast and John Smith have looked lacked lustred in their performance. It was noticeable that both of the players have struggled in the scrums and might have been the reason that they have not performed in the match. The calling of the word Beeeeeast was lacking in the game which has gone to show that there was seldom a rollicking run by the beast that normally end up with a gain in field position. John Smith was just as quite in the game and this have shown up to be one of the reasons that they lost out to the Cheetahs. Players in the Shark team that was playing well includes Bismarck Du Plessis, Kankowski, Pienaar which seemed to be the form players for the Sharks. The loss to the Cheetahs was a definite surprise for me but the Cheetahs always seems to get stronger to the end of the season when the weather normally gets warmer and the chance for running rugby is a better prospect.

Looking back at the week’s Semi-final match between the Sharks and the Cheetahs.

Looking back at the week’s Semi-final match between the Sharks and the Cheetahs it has been clear that the Sharks have been maybe overconfident in their match approach. The Cheetahs has always been a team that finishes strongly in the last 20 minutes of the game and has proved to be the case in the match. The non performance of some of the staunch Springbok players in the Sharks outfit is also a course for concern in the year end tour to England. The front rows for the Sharks have been totally dominated in the scrums by their Cheetah counterparts. I personally think that Os du Rant has done wonders to the cohesion in the front row for the cheetahs and they will still improve into the future. Maybe they can become a force to be contended with in the future and maybe also in the super14 competition. It will be interesting for me to see how the Bulls front row is going to stand up to front row of the Cheetahs in the final. I personally think that the Freestate has got the best front row in the Curry Cup competition.

Formula1 refuelling 2010 – Should Diesel be allowed to compete in next years championship or will there be only a few finishers.

I am thinking back to Formula1 era where there were no refuelling allowed, it must be said that was when the turbo versions of the formula1 cars was allowed. I seem to remember a race where there were only 3 or 4 cars that managed to finish the race due to all the other participants running out of fuel. Should Diesel cars be allowed in next year’s competition? At least there fuel consumption is a lot better than the normal formula1 cars and will be lighter in weight and can go further with the same amount of fuel . This should be a good contest between the fuel and diesel with both having some advantages and disadvantages for both and where diesel has improved rapidly during the last few years

The ICC cricket final - What a prospect.

Congratulations to New Zealand cricket for beating Pakistan convincingly in the ICC champions trophy match at the Wanderers. New Zealand played exceptionally well and beat Pakistan against my expectations to setup a final at Centurion against Australia. This is going to be a magnificent day for both teams trying to win the ICC competition for a second time. I think New Zealand has an even chance of winning this competition but Australia will start as favourites in the match. As explained in a earlier post I think that Centurion has one of the most consistent pitches during both the innings. Australia does not have a huge advantage over New Zealand as New Zealand always seem to have some impact in New Zealand, Australia matches and Australia only had two players batting on the pitch that is going to be uses for the final where it was only Watson and Ponting getting the bulk of the runs in their semi final match against England. So if there players can be dismissed cheaply it will be game on. The strengths for New Zealand other then the opening bowlers will be the spin of Vitori in the middle over’s that always seem to get some purchase from the wicket and also a wicket or two during this spell. I think he is a better bowler than Haurits in the middle over’s that will narrow the margin of victory for Australia or swing the game New Zealand’s way. So this game is not a one horse race and I am looking forward to see what the final result will be. Good luck to both teams you deserved to be in the final.

Australia vs England in ICC champions trophy match (Prediction update)

So England has come up about 25 runs short because of some pretty tame dismissals and not batting out the overs. England has done got the runs on the board and Australia has to chase it now and the rest is history. The weather is quite fair with some cloud around so here is my prediction – Australia will find it quite challenging in the beginning of the innings due to the bowling conditions, but if they can preserve their wickets in the first ten to twelve over s they will be set to progress to the finals. My gut feel is that Australia will progress to the next round and win the match by four or five wickets with about 4 over’s in hand.

Australia vs England in ICC champions trophy match (Prediction)

So it is time to look into the crystal ball and yet another game between England and Australia but this time at Centurion in Pretoria. Centurion has one of the best batting pitches definitely in South Africa with true bounce and not deteriorating throughout the day. I think this pitch is probably the best one day “day game” pitches in the world but does benefit the team batting first in a “day night” game mainly to two factors. During the day the pitch is so flat and does not deteriorate a whole lot, but at night there is just a bit of nip around but does not moisten the ball sufficiently to detract from bowling and the second factor will play into the team bowling second will be that the ball will discolour quicker due to the moisture on the ball that makes it difficult to pick up from the pitch.
England posses a devastating team in suited swinging conditions for bowling, but I don’t think Centurion will have wet enough conditions and Australia has a hard working attack that will pick up wickets on a regular basis.
My Prediction Scenario one -- England wins the toss and elects to bat. England will score 287 to 293 for the loss of seven wickets. Australia should win with 4 wickets in the second last over.
My Prediction Scenario two – Australia wins the toss and elects to bat. Australia will score 310 to 320 with the loss of six wickets. England will fail to get the needed runs to win and lose by about 25 to 17 runs if there is no movement of the ball at night but will win by 45 it there is assistance.