Two Great Tests to start of the New Year

The battle between #1 & #2 reaches its climax with the Newlands Test starting Jan 2 -- probably the most beautiful cricket ground in the world.  South Africa's plan of creating pitches that helped pacers backfired -- on average pitches the gap between the world-class Protea attack and the ahem.. less than world class Indian attack would be large.  Make the pitch bouncy, throw in a dash of spicy conditions, and suddenly the Indian bowlers also become really menacing -- to some extent, the helpful conditions may have contributed to the inordinate number of play and misses by the Indians.  How knows -- it is purely hypothetical, but India may be a fit Zaheer and a won toss at Centurion away from a 1-0 scoreboard.  Anyway, Newlands should be more balanced -- hopefully not a batting beauty, though rain may make batting on D1 difficult.  Whoever wins may insert, try to blast out the opposition, and consolidate, though if India go in with two seamers and Ojha replacing Sreesanth, they may bat upon winning the toss.  Anyway, set your clocks for 3:30am EST for must watch TV!

Meanwhile Down Under, Australia face an uncertain future.  The great -- and I don't toss that appellation around loosely -- Ricky Ponting may have played his last Test; though for my money, I'd want him as a player but not skipper. It is not impossible that freed of the cares of captaincy, he will rediscover his passion for the game, and become the super bat he was once more.  From an Indian perspective, Ganguly did it, and he wasn't that good to begin with.  Anyway, despite all that is written about how dominating England has been, this series (if we are going to be hypothetical) is probably a Cook wicket at the first Test away from 2-2 and an edge-of-the-seat scoreline.  I think Australia will surprise England, in much the way England surprised Australia at the MCG -- though the old hand Flower may be able to keep his boys on even keel.  This being the SCG, spin will play a role, and I'll have a Swann over a Beer please.

Either way, it will be compelling watching.

Bharat