England tour of South Africa 09/10

[King Pietersen]

50 up for Bell, off just 65 balls as well. Been basically chanceless (wouldn't really count the one to Amla off Duminy as a real chance) and he's looked good at the crease. Best I've seen him look at the crease for England in a long time, looked really scratchy in the Ashes and in the 1st Test of this series. Time to kick on and make a big one now Belly!

 

[Ollie_H]

He's certainly not short of support, Swanny in great form, Broad never looks too bad with the bat an as shown Jimmy and Onions can stay there for a while. If he does get a century though, it's just another one he has got after someone else has already got one in the innings.

 

[Sureshot]

That's not a bad trait to have though, though yes, he does need to make some when he saves the innings.

 

[King Pietersen]

Yeah, I don't see why it's that much of an issue. A Test hundred is a Test hundred, they're still runs he's scored, irrespective of whether someone's scored some before him. It can be quite difficult batting at 6 to make a hundred and have the time to do so without one of the other batsmen doing the same. If he continues scoring runs like he has this afternoon I have no problem with him in the side.

 

[Paki007]

I am very happy that bell scored a fifty i love watchin him play.

Niniti is not bowling well his pace has gone down no movement of seam i would suggest to play wayne parnell in the next test

 

[MUFC1987]

I don't think anyone has ever doubted that Bell is a decent player, it's just that he only gets runs when other players do as well. Which suggests he can only do it on good pitches, or it's a mental thing, which is more of a worry. He's batted well today, showed some good aggression which is what we need to push onto a decent lead. Hopefully Bell and Prior can get us through the first hour tomorrow, with Broad and Swann adding some slogging to get a decent lead of 150 or so.

 

[stefan]

Pitch seems to have done the same as what happens often at kingsmead, really flatten out. See this as a draw unless we play really poorly.

Happy with the way morne bowled. Steyn will get their, today's bowling will have done him good. He didn't bowl badly just lacking match fitness. Also good to see Kallis really bending his back in that last spell.

Harris struggled with the wind and england put him under pressure from the start.

Nothing really to say about ntini. I have said all there is to say about him.

Will be interesting to see how bold struass is tomorrow.

 

[Paki007]

England Bowlers Now should do something really special to turn this match into a result becuase its not easy to dismisse sa early But i have faith in english bowlers You can do it boys go and do it for england

 

[wolf]

We should set ourselves to declare at lunch tomorrow no matter what.

 

[barmyarmy]

Interesting match this. I did wonder if dropping De Wet was a good idea. A half-fit Steyn and a mis-firing Ntini compared to a guy in form and in the wickets?
Thought all the English batters played well but both the attack and the pitch are pretty benign. Expecting a draw again tbh.

 

[mdoggie]

This pitch has really flattened out. Steyn taking swaan to the cleaners is testiment to that. I don't really see anything other than a draw at this rate though if someone like anderson pulls a blinder we could be in trouble. Well done to Cook, it wasn't the most fluent innings I have ever seen but it's a hundred. Nice bowling by Morkel on a day where the ball did nothing.

England to go after the South African bowlers to try and get a huge lead. Though if teh pattern continues, it should be a run feast tomorrow.

 

[stefan]

Interesting match this. I did wonder if dropping De Wet was a good idea. A half-fit Steyn and a mis-firing Ntini compared to a guy in form and in the wickets?
Thought all the English batters played well but both the attack and the pitch are pretty benign. Expecting a draw again tbh.

Would you not play the world number one ranked bowler?? Steyn is fit, he just isn't match fit. The only way he is going to get match fit is by playing.

Ntini is the issue but as I said that's complicated by non cricketing issues. De Wet should have played, hopefully they put politics aside for the next test.

 

[barmyarmy]

Oh, I'd definitely have played Steyn (despite his poor record against England). The problem, as you say, is dropping Ntini. Either way they've ended up with a better attack on paper but a worse one in reality.

 

[pcfan123]

So much for the "lightening fast and bouncy Durban wicket"

yawn yawn yawn Bell makes a 50 when the pressure is off AGAIN.

 

[stefan]

Oh, I'd definitely have played Steyn (despite his poor record against England). The problem, as you say, is dropping Ntini. Either way they've ended up with a better attack on paper but a worse one in reality.

Record against england is slightly deceiving. 4 of the games he played against them was when he made his debut when he wasn't ready for international cricket. He did produce some good deliveries that series but was quite expensive hence why he averaged 60. Then in england he broke his hand so never really got a chance to have a full go, had a good game at leeds thought.