http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757: A SWOT analysis of the batting order - Part 1
After the successful completion of the primary round of ICC Cricket World Cup 2011, the knock-outs are at a peak with all eight teams struggling for survival and promotion to the semi-finals. New Zealand and South Africa are set to clash in the third quarter-final
today at the Shere Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur. Both the sides are well-prepared and h**l-bent to surpass each other in a bid to steal a place in the next round.
As per predictions and previews, the batsmen of both the sides are supposed to perform marvelously in tomorrow’s game, thanks to the dry and flat pitch of Dhaka. Both the teams have some world class batsmen, who possess glittering records and capabilities
to trigger any victory. Below is a SWOT analysis of the batting departments of the two teams.
New Zealand’s batting side includes http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Taylor-c92915.
Guptill and McCullum form the opening pair for New Zealand. They have a good mutual understanding and a natural temperament to forge long partnerships and strong innings. Being a right-hander, Guptill is a master of short-arm pull strokes, as he plays aggressively
but sensibly. His 86 against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Dale-c52110 Steyn’s destructive bowling may frustrate him early, but
if he survives, he is likely to build a long innings.
McCullum is a wicket-keeper batsman with a tremendous amount of experience in hand that helps him while playing before the stumps. He has an inherent skill and urge to play marvelous strokes both at off and on sides of the wicket comfortably. His weak point
is over-confidence and over-aggressiveness, as he resorts to playing risky shots and is often caught or clean bowled. McCullum’s 101 against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Canada-c748 and 86 against Zimbabwe are sufficient to anticipate that he will play well against the Proteas, but the pacers
will cause him some trouble.
Ryder and Taylor are two key Kiwi batsmen of the middle-order. Being responsible and talented players, both have the ability to build up the innings in the middle-overs. Taylor is leading the team and is http://www.senore.com/Cricket/A-Young-c41367 talent with marvelous game sense and technique.
He enjoys playing leg side shots. Taylor’s weak point is that he relies more on chances than his capabilities and this often harms him, but after scoring 131 off 124 balls against Pakistan, he proved many wrong. His weakness might be the spinner Robin Pieterson,
as he may get tempted into playing a risky shot and making a simple mistake.
Ryder is a left-hand striking batsman with an average of 35.28 in One Day Internationals. Though he has not played some of the important innings of this tournament for one reason or the other, but against the Proteas, he will be used as a reliable trump
card in the middle-overs. Ryder will surely show up his inherent batting skills to help his side pile up a big score and earn a stunning victory to move up to the semi-finals. Ryder has the skill and confidence to comfortably play the pace bowlers provided
he does not repeat the mistake of playing aerial shots without guessing the fielding positions.
To be continued in Part 2
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