England tour of South Africa 09/10

[King Pietersen]

It's a pretty laughable scorecard from England. Especially the 3 run outs. How Matt Prior is still playing ODi cricket is beyond me. He's not made any runs in the tour games, and he's played 1 ODi innings of any worth all year, and that was against a poor Windies team. Can't wait till Feb when we get Kieswetter qualified.

Impressed by Saj Mahmood so far on this tour. Been taking consistent wickets and has to be worth a go, certainly should be picked ahead of Bresnan.

 

[Fatal Shot]

DeVilliers can open, Im pretty sure he started off as an opener

No no no no no! He's perfectly suited to the middle order, and why change something when it's working wonders? Keep Prince in as opener. I;m not to keen on Imran Khan. He was pretty stylish and all, but I don't see him doing much in the International arena. They could open with Amla and move Prince to the middle order as well, but Amla has been prolific at the number three spot, so I would prefer him to stay there.

 

[King Pietersen]

89 all out. Going to need a heck of an effort from Mahmood, Bresnan, Swann, Rashid, Wright and Collingwood to give England a chance. No chance of defending that score.

 

[McLOVIN]

^ my your quite generous towards England

was i too generous there

 

[Fatal Shot]

Damn, what a great bowling effort. Good to see Morne doing well. The guy has so much potential. Why is Donald wasting time mentoring Sreesanth, when you have someone like Morne in the wings of your own country! I hope Russow does well today. Pretty good player. We need a opener in ODI Cricket, and he seems like a good fit. One to keep an eye on.

 

[King Pietersen]

4/1 off 2.2. I'm guessing it's not a good pitch. Swann's opened the bowling and just got Kuhn out. Swann and Bresnan opening the bowling is hilariously poor.

 

[Jetty]

It's a pretty laughable scorecard from England. Especially the 3 run outs. How Matt Prior is still playing ODi cricket is beyond me. He's not made any runs in the tour games, and he's played 1 ODi innings of any worth all year, and that was against a poor Windies team. Can't wait till Feb when we get Kieswetter qualified.

Impressed by Saj Mahmood so far on this tour. Been taking consistent wickets and has to be worth a go, certainly should be picked ahead of Bresnan.

I agree with you on Prior. I think we would be better off with Foster who can finish an innings down the order. Kieswetter in the CL didn't look that great and his keeping is as bad as Davies although they are both still young.

Mahmood has done well so far. I think he will cement his place in the ODI squad.

 

[mdoggie]

Here is the South African side

1 Graeme Smith (capt), 2 Loots Bosman, 3 AB de Villiers, 4 JP Duminy, 5 Albie Morkel, 6 Mark Boucher (wk), 7 Ryan McLaren, 8 Roelof van der Merwe, 9 Johan Botha, 10 Dale Steyn, 11 Charl Langeveldt.

Its a pretty good side. Good to see Bosman getting another chance, T20 is made for him. I guess they are resting Kallis. Interesting bowling line up. I wonder whether Langervelt will be lining up for the ODI's ahead of Parnell and Tstsobe.

 

[King Pietersen]

We were actually going to go with Alastair Cook opening the batting in T20i cricket =/ What is wrong with these selectors? He plays a couple of decent innings in domestic cricket and gets put straight into the team, even though he's proven countless times that he's not good enough to score quickly in International cricket. Now that he's ill it's looking like Strauss will step up and play, even with Trott in the squad, who has been opening for Warwickshire and doing brilliantly for season after season, becoming the first man in history to make 500 runs in a season only a few months ago. Man our selections piss me off. I see us getting hammered in the T20's.

 

[braguvaran]

england look a pathetic side actually!
Can RSA drubb and whitewash eng in the LOIS?:happy

 

[Ayub 95]

england look a pathetic side actually!
Can RSA drubb and whitewash eng in the LOIS?:happy

We may look pathetic but I still believe we can beat SA. Esp if Strauss gets run and Broad bowling well. I feel SA are depending WAY too much on AB de Villiers and Duminy to get them to a decent total. Get those two out cheaply, I feel its game on. Cook opening :doh should be Trott and Wright imo.

 

[Skater]

From Bumble's Twitter: "weather still ok here . SA team bus outside with police escort...Nas. driving us !"

So it seems the weather is ok.

 

[Ayub 95]

From Bumble's Twitter: "weather still ok here . SA team bus outside with police escort...Nas. driving us !"

So it seems the weather is ok.

No chance of rain today. On the news last night, Jo'burg is around 29 degrees sun out. Will the players handle the heat literally.

 

[King Pietersen]

We may look pathetic but I still believe we can beat SA. Esp if Strauss gets run and Broad bowling well. I feel SA are depending WAY too much on AB de Villiers and Duminy to get them to a decent total. Get those two out cheaply, I feel its game on. Cook opening :doh should be Trott and Wright imo.

I agree that we've got a chance, especially in the longer forms of the game, but I don't think we'll put up much of a fight in this ODi series. Sure we beat the Saffa's in the CT but that was luck more than skill. We're reliant on a very dodgy middle order, although that is boosted by the inclusions of Trott and Pietersen. We're looking a heck of alot stronger than we did against Australia anyway.

As for T20 openers, I'd be happy with Trott and Denly. I'd prefer Ravi Bopara and Ian Bell to Alastair Cook tbh. How Ian Bell hasn't got a place in this ODi squad ahead of Cook I don't know. Had an excellent season, and has a more than fine ODi record in comparison to alot of England players. An ODi average of over 35 is surely good enough? Then you've got his 542 runs at 77.42 with 2 hundreds in OD cricket for Warwickshire last season. I suppose they weren't scored on Sky though, and that's evidentally what counts. Bell performed well for England opening in T20's as well, anyone else remember his knock against NZ? One of the most impressive Ian Bell innings' I've ever seen. Was just skipping down the track to the pace bowlers and driving them over cover for 4, was an awesome performance. 2 decent knocks from Cook in Pro40 cricket on TV and he's straight into the England team. Eugh.

 

[Ayub 95]

2 decent knocks from Cook in Pro40 cricket on TV and he's straight into the England team. Eugh.

The selectors only look at players in OD cricket who perform on Sky which can be a blessing in many ways, as it shows you can score under pressure. Bell i think is a better OD player than he is FC imo, he can play the way he wants to play attacking the spinners in the middle overs. If anyone remembers he was a fantastic opener against India in 2007. He dictated the pace and got us to a great start even though Prior would leave early.