England tour of South Africa 09/10

[mdoggie]

Yeah , i would say both test and ODI victories over aussies last year was more like aussies going through a bad form rather than SA playing well!

England have for some reason had the edge over us recently, we can beat most teams comfortably but England is our Bogey team.

 

[stefan]

England have for some reason had the edge over us recently, we can beat most teams comfortably but England is our Bogey team.

In the odi's definitly. Last test series we did win in england. Going to be a good series. I just hope our batsmen apply themselves properly.

 

[Valaskjalf]

Yeah Im not sure why we're so inconsistent.....absolute turn-around all over again and I wont be surprised if we trash England on friday (if there will be play, weather looks terrible).

Our bowling is shocking and I think a lot has to do with Steyn not really being the leader of the pack as he should be. But i must say this is the first time since I started watching cricket in 1992 that England has a seriously good middle order. You go down that list and think "how the hell are we gonna get down to no 8-11?", which is something we used to pride ourselves on batting so deep down. Currently without Kallis our batters seem a little thin toward the lower-order - dont like Kallis but I think we need him.

Maclaren has to go....he looks crap with bat and ball but Im not sure about Albie, we need a number 7 desperately

 

[King Pietersen]

Loving our Performance side playing the current game against Gauteng. Looks a really solid 12 bar Amjad Khan. I see alot of these guys playing for England in the future. The side's:

Stephen Moore
Alastair Cook
Ian Bell
Michael Carberry
Steven Davies
James Taylor
Adil Rashid
Liam Plunkett
Ryan Sidebottom
Mark Davies
Amjad Khan
Steven Finn

Davies took 4/56 with Plunkett taking 5/47 to bowl Gauteng out for 328. Interesting to see those 2 outbowl Sidebottom and Khan, 2 guys that played on England's last away tour to the West Indies. At the moment I'd much rather see Davies join Plunkett in the Test squad in place of Sidebottom; Sidey just doesn't seem to be getting wickets.

No-one's failed with the bat yet either. Moore was out for 68, with Cook out for 76. Bell and Carberry at the crease atm, with Bell 51* and Carberry 22*. Really nice start for the Performance Squad, proving we've got a real decent group of up and coming cricketers, especially batsmen. Some serious talent in this 12 man team.

Just thought I'd throw my ideal Test XI for the First Test as well:

Strauss
Cook
Trott
Pietersen
Collingwood
Bell
Prior +
Broad
Swann
Anderson
Onions

Botham would argue it's a 'negative' selection with 4 bowlers and no all-rounder, but I don't see how batting Broad at 7 or picking either Bresnan or Wright helps with taking 20 wickets tbh. All it does is negatively impact the batting without really adding too much to the bowling attack. I'd be more than happy seeing Bell walk out at 6 with Prior at 7 and the 4 best bowlers. Could even consider picking Plunkett ahead of Swann if we get a real belting fast bowlers wicket. That XI looks alot stronger than one with Broad at 7, we all saw what happened last time England went in with Broad at 7 in a Test, at Headingley in the Ashes....

 

[stefan]

SA squad for the first test has been announced:

Proteas' Test squad:

Graeme Smith (Cape Cobras, captain), Hashim Amla (Dolphins), Mark Boucher (Warriors), AB de Villiers (Titans), Friedel de Wet (Highveld Lions), JP Duminy (Cape Cobras), Paul Harris (Titans), Jacques Kallis (Warriors), Ryan McLaren (Eagles), Morne Morkel (Titans), Makhaya Ntini (Warriors), Wayne Parnell (Warriors), Alviro Petersen (Highveld Lions), Ashwell Prince (Warriors), Dale Steyn (Titans)

Don't think petersen,de wet, parnel or mcclaren will play. Only surprise in the squad is de wet ahead of tsotsobe.

Expect this side unless there are unforseen injuries. Kallis will play as a batsmen only in the first test but is expected to bowl in the second test. Personally I would play parnel ahead of ntini but they won't do that.

1.Prince
2.Smith
3.Amla
4.Kallis
5.AB
6.JP
7.Boucher
8.Harris
9.M.Morkel
10.Steyn
11.Ntini

 

[Garson007]

They should just drop McLaren and bring in Kallis in his place. We don't need a lower order explosive batsman other than our lower order itself.

Our best ODI team, imho:
1. Smith
2. Amla
3. Kallis
4. AB (Could come in ahead of Kallis, if enough overs have been played)
5. JP
6. Petersen
7. Boucher
8. Parnell
9. Van der Merwe
10. M. Morkel
11. Steyn

Garson007 added 5 Minutes and 48 Seconds later...

With Petersen included I have no idea what the Test team will look like (we have far too many star players) but if they drop Prince once again I'm going to mail the CSA mailbox to oblivion.

 

[mdoggie]

They should just drop McLaren and bring in Kallis in his place. We don't need a lower order explosive batsman other than our lower order itself.

Kallis is injured, that is why he is not playing.

How the hell did de wet make it, their are plenty of bowlers who deserve to player rather than him. He is certainly not international quality while tstsobe on the other hand has proven to be a good international bowler.

 

[Garson007]

Kallis is injured, that is why he is not playing.

I know he's injured. I meant the team in general. That team will be ultra strong in batting and the bowling better than what it was. We really have no place for lower order all-rounders - rather send them to NZ.

 

[Ayub 95]

De wet =. Players like CJ de Villiers, Tsotobe(sp), Parnell even Albie Morkel deserves another chance. The selections are slowly going down the England route with weird and crazy decisions.

 

[JD10]

I don't like the idea Broad @ 7.
For the first test:
1.Strauss
2.Cook
3.Trott
4. Pietersen
5. Collingwood
6.Prior
7.Wright
8.Broad
9.Swann
10.Andersen
11.Onions

 

[Highlander999]

Just thought I'd throw my ideal Test XI for the First Test as well:

Strauss
Cook
Trott
Pietersen
Collingwood
Bell
Prior +
Broad
Swann
Anderson
Onions

Botham would argue it's a 'negative' selection with 4 bowlers and no all-rounder, but I don't see how batting Broad at 7 or picking either Bresnan or Wright helps with taking 20 wickets tbh. All it does is negatively impact the batting without really adding too much to the bowling attack. I'd be more than happy seeing Bell walk out at 6 with Prior at 7 and the 4 best bowlers. Could even consider picking Plunkett ahead of Swann if we get a real belting fast bowlers wicket. That XI looks alot stronger than one with Broad at 7, we all saw what happened last time England went in with Broad at 7 in a Test, at Headingley in the Ashes....

Think I would be pretty happy to see that XI and at the end of the day, whilst we only have 4 bowlers, if we really begin to toil, Colly, KP and Trott can throw in some overs between them. I would like to see Plunkett play though, but I don't think he should come in to replace Onions just yet, though if Onions doesn't fire I would hope Plunkett would be straight in there. Maybe in a year or two, we might need to start thinking about playing Wright as well as Broad especially if they continue to develop, but not just at the moment.

 

[StinkyBoHoon]

I'm beginning to think england have a chance in the test series if SA's squad has de wet and mclaren in it.

 

[pcfan123]

Doubt those two will get a match though.

1.Prince
2.Smith
3.Amla
4.Kallis
5.AB
6.JP
7.Boucher
8.Harris
9.M.Morkel
10.Steyn
11.Ntini

Looks very threatening , that is a solid team and England will really have to fight hard to stand a chance. With Kallis not bowling though, we might be able to target some part timers

 

[Valaskjalf]

Doubt those two will get a match though.

1.Prince
2.Smith
3.Amla
4.Kallis
5.AB
6.JP
7.Boucher
8.Harris
9.M.Morkel
10.Steyn
11.Ntini

Looks very threatening , that is a solid team and England will really have to fight hard to stand a chance. With Kallis not bowling though, we might be able to target some part timers

I dunno man, on paper I thought we would cream the English in the ODI's and look what happened...this is actually a pretty scary England team. Fair enough, with Kallis back we look better but some of the guys just arent performing up to scratch and seriously need to hit form in the tests if we want to win the series.

 

[Sureshot]

With that bowling, if Steyn isn't firing, our batsman should be having a full English breakfast on them. Ntini is past it and struggled to perform for ages, Harris is just a bit "meh", and Morne Morkel seems to have gone off the boil.

If we get rid of our silly little consistencies, there's no reason why we can't take this series.