England tour of South Africa 09/10

[TumTum]

Is this the most subdued thread or what?

 

[stefan]

Good so far from smith and kallis. Were in a bit of trouble but still the right decision to bat first. Brilliant decision by strauss to bowl trot ahead of onions.

 

[angryangy]

Well that fell apart in a short period.

 

[stefan]

Was looking so good till kallis got out and ab sold graeme short. AB owes the team a ton tomorrow. Still I reckon 300-350 will be competitve. First hour is crucial tomorrow.

I think Steyn and co will enjoy bowling on there if it stays the same.

 

[Valaskjalf]

Yeah I was walking around Portsmouth this morning at the Waterfront and there was a screen up showing the game with us on 140/2...got home 30 minutes later and completely bamboozled. Not sure what happened with AB and Smith, didnt see much but for some reason on the side replay Smith started running again after telling AB to go back....bizarre stuff.

Hopefully we can get up to 300 but with the ball swining so much early on we cant afford to lose another quick 2 like we did yesterday. The guys have to hang tight, hopefully Boucher can stick around and muscle a 50/60 like last time.

Hope for the best! Seriously exicted on seeing Dale back though, hes hopefully going to swing the ball around corners...

 

[pcfan123]

If the ball swing the way it did on Day 1, then 250 will be enough for Dale Steyn to bowl at

 

[nikhil_99]

Out of 175, 150 runs were contributed by Smith and kaliis (both 75), rest failed badly...

 

[pcfan123]

Yes we have eyes as well

 

[mdoggie]

Hopefullt this is a low scoring game, otherwise there is little chance of a result. The weather doesn't look great, and when it doesn't rain the light fails.

 

[Owzat]

Guessed the saffers would win the toss, guessed they would bat. Good early wickets but then England didn't make most of it. Fortunately we managed to tip the game back into our advantage with three late wickets and the game is very much on.

I often say the morning session will be crucial, this one could be even more than most. If we can make early inroads then we could bowl them out for maybe 250-300 and then we must be in box seat. You don't score 150 partnerships on wickets where you should be bowled out for 250 or less, whether England will be on the mark enough to facilitate such a scenario is doubtful. South Africa will want, possibly need, to be batting after lunch. Some may scoff at the suggestion they might not make it, but after De Villiers (44.12) and Boucher (30.41) it is Morkel (13.55), Harris (11.39), Ntini (9.75) and Steyn (11.91)

*career averages in brackets

 

[Kiko_97]

Get in theerrrrreee Broady!!!! DeVilliers for 50! Out for under 300 now bat after lunch!!

 

[pcfan123]

Hopefully they wrap up SA just a tad under 300. Steyn will prove to be a handful today.

Hmarka added 0 Minutes and 47 Seconds later...

lol Harris does not look like he will be around for long.

 

[Owzat]

I thought we'd let it slip, to a degree you could say we did with both De Villiers and Boucher putting together handy runs. We need to bowl well at the tail, that will be the crux, we've not always been the best at wrapping up innings and too often concede 80-100 runs for the last 3-4 wickets. If someone decides to hit a few lusty blows then England may well panic, dispense with attacking fields and let them dictate terms - Morkel may be their man and Swann his bunny

 

[Kiko_97]

8 down. Come on boys! They prompted a dodgy status on facebook

 

[Owzat]

281/8 at lunch, not as good as it could have been but still you'd think England have a decent shout. They need to finish the tail off quickly and get a 1st innings lead, they won't want to be chasing much batting last and the rate this game is developing a draw doesn't look that likely without more weather intervention