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When I got out of bed this morning, I promptly turned on my TV to get the result of the test match between Sri lanka and SA. Pereira was batting , 95 no and Fernando had just joined him. Sri needed 79 to win , SA needed 1 wicket. Oliver and Maharaj were bowling. The SA team's body language was that victory was a foregone conclusion. In the next hour and a half or so, I witnessed one of the greatest cool as a cucumber innings I have ever seen. Pereira was super magnificent. Fernando was calm and at times even exhibited some of the Courtney Walsh type leave alones. Steyn and Rabada took the new ball but to no avail. This was test cricket at it's very best. As Sri lanka got closer to SA's score, I couldn't help but to notice the contortions on Otis Gibson's, our former erstwhile coach's face. At times bearing a strong resemblance to I King Stitt.

Well batted Pereira. This innings will rank with or might well be regarded as greater than Lara's. Once again to paraphrase Steve Waugh remark to herschell Gibbs"You just dropped the world cup." Poor SA hasn't matured in this regard

In reply to DonD

Great test match.

Pereira's innings is right up there with Lara's

Test cricket will not die

In reply to DonD

Incredible run chase.

Many parallels with Lara's innings.

Test cricket is well and truly alive.

I hope that Pereira's innings will not suffer a similar fate to India vs Oz tied test effort at Chennai in 1986 ie virtually forgotten. Pereira's innings should be spoken of, written about and become a mythical folklore in the same way Lara's has become. Lara is lara. It is highly unlikely that Pereira will achieve anything close to lara's stature. But this innings deserves to be cherished and forever be praised.

This is SL time, and Kusal played an inning of a lifetime. Shot selection, strike rotation, and South Africa gambling on the new ball.

Let’s not take away from his performance today. It is Kusal’s day.

I just checked the scores and I was astonished, shocked beyond belief, that Sri Lanka had won.

When I went to bed they had lost their seventh wicket and I said to myself, why I am putting myself through this, time to go to bed.

I would have loved to see that finish. That’s what great Test cricket is all about.

Imagine, Sri Lanka, whose cricket has been a horror show of late, administratively and on the field, with two horrible tours behind them in New Zealand and Australia, go to South Africa and record one of the great Test cricket victories.

And in doing so, not to take anything away from Pereira’s heroics, they have likely found their next Herath or Muralitharan in Lasith Embuldeniya, the young 22 yr. old, slow left-arm orthodox.

In reply to DonD

He done it away from home. Yes it was a better innings.

His farming of the tail enders was one for the ages!

In reply to JoeGrine

Kusal Perera not out 153 (200

Tailenders played their part....but Perera played like a man possessed....he was so calm....after the match his said he was very tired

Lasith Embuldeniya c Markram b Olivier 4 (12
Kasun Rajitha lbw b Maharaj 1(10
Vishwa Fernando not out 6 (27

In reply to DonD

In reply to DonD

Well written, even giving the very real picture of Otis, pissed.

I broke my rule of typing in bed!

As I was watching I kept on thinking if I have ever seen anything like this. Heard? Lara's innings that I heard of and saw the clop came to find fleetingly.
It was like getting the best treat in a lifetime, barring any visual,oral, physical, sensory pleasures ever experienced that would usually make you happy and singing for days.
This was live, the real thing, not fake porn!!

I missed it. Coming 20 years after Lara's heroics,it must have been incredible..

I have never been able to recapture the intensity with which I watched those 2 Lara knocks 20 years ago..

In reply to Larr Pullo

A little EMPHASIS using different expressions to connote the same meaning or feeling is useful at times. I hope you saw the innings. I am sure Willow will be repeating it.

In reply to DonD

In reply to jacksprat

WHAT YOU THINK? Hop it from the top to the very last drop!!

In reply to DonD

In reply to Khaga

The way he calmly but majestically dispatched the ball to the boundary, especially couple sixes!
The late cut boundary to finish it off with finesse!Timing was perfect.

Mental attitude counted a lot.
As most of us were thinking it was just another loser game for Lanka, he was purposefully pursuing the goal, keeping his #11 alive at the same time.

In reply to DonD

cricket at its best mate. nothing beat the excitement of test cricket.

The parallels are numerous
: both against great not just very good attacks, the similarly of their individual scores. Kusal may not have the flair of lara but then again nobody does. Fact is he got the job done with 9 and 10 and I think the last batsman came in 70 something runs adrift

In reply to DonD

Two great innings for sure

In reply to DonD


Great innings from Kusal, came out of nowhere. Lot comparable to Lara's in terms of achievement. But the biggest difference I feel is on how Lara had to battle against other elements through out that series and came out as a champion. Lara had a background, by then, and must have been the most studied batsman by any opposition at that time. The Aussies were not complacent, they had some of the best strategists the world had ever seen. The amount of pressure he dealt with and still was able to pull that magic, made it more special to me.

Fantastic test innings. I already watched the replay twice.

The only thing I missed was the crowd roaring in the stands as it was on SA soil - making it even harder.

Top 5 ever, I will say.

That sixes of Steyn were priceless.

In reply to checkm8

Away from home and against a stronger bowling attack in their backyard,playing in a much weaker team!

For me, lara's innings will always rate higher. Probably the best innings of all time. The finesse, strokeplay, skill and poise that he batted, indeed for his entire career, has hardly been achieved by anyone.

This innings was great, considering the context and the match situation. Lara's was greater, and will remain there.

In reply to Larr Pullo

DonD is top class with his literary device - reading his old-time stories is educational, certainly for me!

former, erstwhile - a double take, I guess for the uninitiated!

Jacksprat, Sudden, and Courtsey are also at the top of the writing class!

In reply to Khaga

Goss it's debatable whether the atrack was stronger. Dale Steyn is clearly on the downward. When Aus touched down here, Glenn McGrath was the third best fast bowler in the world, trailing donald and pollute by one and two points respectively. Australia had the number one attack in the world then and as Tendulkar said in his book
, everyone wanted to play the ultra agressI've style of cricket they were playing in 1999.Rabada has not enjoyed a good series and even his Pakistan series was below par. Only man standout was olivier.
Secondly the context. Lara had just come back from a WICB induced whitewash on a tour that should have been cancelled. They had been beaten 5-0 and they had lost the first test by 312 runs. Keith Mitchell went to Suriname, a country that does not even play cricket, at a Caricom speech, had personally laid the defeat at the feat of the skipper. Kusal was not the skipper and in fact the skipper had been dropped. He really had no pressure on him, certainly not the kind of pressure lara had in march 1999. I know kusal didn't get booed unto the fielders which happened twice before lara played those majestic innings in sabina and Kensington. Thirdly, that innings had plenty top edges and the purity of the strokemaking of lara's innings simply wasn't there, and that too on a deteriorating Kensington oval pitch. Only once has a side chased three hundred or more on Kensington oval in tge last 25-30 years, and that one time is when when lara made the 153 no

Oh rass. Allyuh can really gotay something so that even if one wants to read and enjoy it, it becomes all to painful to hear the same sentiments relayed again and again.

Who care whose is better? How does it change what Kusal did? And the banality of comparing attacks, tracks, perceptions, accomplishments...et al. Does it make any difference?

In reply to Jumpstart

It's funny you skunts argue all over the forking place. On the one hand, you want to argue that quota SA attack is the best in a long time..But, you also want to hype up the attacks against which your batsmen scored. Chris Old is world class for you guys, because Viv scored against him..
Isn't Rabada the world #1? Every black fast bowler that's selected by Ottis Gibson, is hailed as the next Marshall by the quota fans here..Lungi, some other Mungi..

Shane Warne was a big fat ass with finger injuries and got his fat ass dropped after that test..MacGill was a Bishoo of that era..The Aussie attack was at half strength and imbalanced in that test..

In reply to Khaga

One person was injure. ...Warne. mcgrath and Gillespie were at the top of their respectI've games. Dude and the it's the black quicks who humiliated India twice last year
, ngidi in his first test twice on a pitch that was tailor made for India much to Du Plessis' chagrin. And what rubbish yuh talk in. Macgill has 12 five wicket halls in 44 tests at a fantastic spin bowler's average of 29.09, which is better than Anil Kumble's average. I said that Rabada has not been as penetrate as he usually is. Even in the first innings his two wickets came in at the lower middle order and the tail. And no one cann deny that Dale Steyn's career is winding down.....he has the capability to last longer but he,as far as I have observed, is nor willing to sacrifice pace at the feet of longevity like Marshall and Holding did

In reply to Jumpstart

How exactly was the pitch in the first Test tailor made for India?

In reply to Devin

I said the second test. The first test was played in cape town. Ngidi played in the second test which was HIS first test.

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Perera did this in South Africa, Lara did it at home in the Caribbean.

What type of attack is McGrath, Gillespie, Warne and MacGill? 2 pacers and 2 spinners? Playing only four specialist bowlers without even a genuine all-rounder is usually a recipe for disaster.

They should've played 4 pacers and a spinner. Or three pacers and two spinners.

After the first 10-12 overs are bowled, then what? You're giving the ball to two leg-spinning long hop and full toss specialists.

His bowling average in India was 43 odd, and in the West Indies it was just a shade under 40. Imagine that, and West Indians stink against spin.

Warne could only bamboozle the white teams. India used to pepper his @ss. Shiv even put him to the sword in his own backyard.

In reply to Devin

At home to a Caribbean that was almost an away crowd. I never recalled lara being booed to the toss
, getting threats before the test because he replaced Walsh, getting booed twice in the next test in an away series not even in the nadir of his career in SA where many of the fans there wondered why the team even came

Who would have been the fourth pacer......Lee? Lara would have cut his tail too and he didn't even debut in tests as yet. He debuted later in the aissue home summer in 99. Kaspowicz bowled to lara on a cracked up perth pitch and still got his skin hide from an out of form lara. McDermott had retired. This was the best available team and only warne had a shoulder injury.

In reply to Jumpstart

It was tailor made for India yet neither team managed to score 350 and India only played one spinner? Someone should've informed India that the pitch was tailor made for them.

In reply to Devin

Maybe they should have, they might have played seamers instead of a hit the deck bowlers. Seamers have always been successful in sub continental type wickets which is why mcgrath wrecked India in 2004 and why ngidI cleaned them up in port elizabeth

In reply to Jumpstart

Hoss! That Aussie attack wasn't stronger than the current SA attack, in its home conditions..I thoroughly enjoyed Lara's masterpieces..but,I am not going to put Kushal's efforts down...Now,you guys ejaculate after one innings wonders and don't bother about longevity..you should appreciate Kushal..

In reply to Khaga

I have not put perera 's efforts down.....is allyuh who camparing. I am just saying that the circumstances were quite different and the attack lara made those runs against is according to Gideon Haigh, as good as any they have ever put in the field and they were the undisputed no1 side at the time.

In reply to Jumpstart

MacGill bowled rubbish in that series..Look how you were putting Rabada down,largely to downplay Kushal's effort!

In reply to Khaga

Actually macgill was the fourth highest wicket taker in that series behind mcgrath who finished first, Walsh and ambrose. I did not put down rabad, I said he's not as penetrative as he usually is and even in the Pakistan series, Olivier was the main destroyer

In reply to Jumpstart

Speaks volumes for the rubbish Aussies bowled with 2 leggies until the final test..

In reply to Khaga

12 wickets at 29 doesn't seem to be rubbish to me for a spinner including a five for(bishoo would beg for those returns now). And the vast majority of the runs he got scored off of him came off lara's bat
And if yuh say dat Gillespie bowled crap, he took 11 wickets at 21
McGrath took 30 wickets at 16

In reply to Jumpstart

In reply to TheTrail

Hell no. Lara's first two tests vs Lee yielded two centuries a 60 sumthin aND a90 odd. Even on the 2006 Australia tour, Lee dismissed lara twice to atrocious decisions from billy bowden and rudi koetzen. The umpiring was so bad against lara that the WICB sent an official letter of complaint

In reply to Jumpstart

Oh well! I guess you can see in the future like Miss Cleo.

In reply to TheTrail

Not at all. I judging from the record. As fast as Lee was and as many batsmen as he's injured, lara most of the time came out on top. He only got a sniff in because umpires helped him

In reply to Jumpstart

Jackass. The 153 was scored in Barbados, not Jamaica.

In reply to Devin

Where did I say it was scored in Sabina park? I know I said part of the context was that he was booed and threatened in Jamaica and booed twice in Barbados. Hoss this discussion like it really getting u heated bro. Didn't realize you were allergic to stats. I'll try not to use them

In reply to Jumpstart

Lara should've focused his efforts on averaging more than 42 in Australia. In fact, he only managed to average above 50 in the West Indies, Sri Lanka, and Zimbabwe.

In reply to Devin


Yuh like a piranha eh....biting and circling
I think u should pose that question to darryl harper, Billy bowden and rudi koetzen brudda

In reply to runout

In reply to Jumpstart