November : From T20's to Tests

South Africa and Australia are all set to resume their rivalry in November.

After a T20 overdose over the past two months, which saw us sitting through 58 T20’s over 42 days, its finally some serious cricket time. Its Test Match time, baby. There are plenty of Test matches on the horizon. So many that, there wont be a single day from November 9th to December 9th when there will not be a Test match played. I for one, don’t mind this overdose.

So, we have 4 Test series lined up for us this November. It starts off with Australia v South Africa on November 9th, which will be a tussle for the No.1 spot. It will be interesting to see if the newly crowned Test champions do better than their predecessors against a gritty Aussie unit at home. Will the young Aussie quicks make their mark against the might of Kallis, Amla, Smith and DeVilliers. Can the Aussie batsmen handle the South African pace attack? And, also will this series mark the end of Ponting?

Next up is Bangladesh v West Indies, starting from November 13th. Not necessarily a contest many people will be looking forward to. The T20 champs will be in the house for the first time since their triumph in Sri Lanka. Can they come off their “gangnaming” and switch to Test cricket mode? Whereas Bangladesh, can they finally convert potential to Victory? Seriously, no more minnow talk please.

And then, is the 2nd big series. India v England. A battle of two “Lions at home, Lambs overseas” teams. A battle of two former No. 1 teams. And also, a revenge series. Indians will not be pleased with anything less than 4-0, England will be pleased with even a 1-1. KP “Reintegrated” back into the English team, Yuvi with his comeback to the Indian team, and of course, could this be Sachin’s retirement series? All these questions might put you into a “spin”, so tune in on 15th November to find out the answers.

And finally, its Sri Lanka v New Zealand, starting from 17th of November. The losing T20 WC semi finalists will be looking for some kind of redemption. New Zealand will be looking to win a Test series, against a team not named Zimbabwe or Bangladesh, for the first time since 2005. This is the only series for which the result looks a foregone conclusion, sorry New Zealand.

So, November looks all set for some really good cricketing action, with quite possibly two legends hanging their boots, or at least getting close to it (My Prediction). It is time for the purists to enjoy their cricket.