England tour of South Africa 09/10

[Ollie_H]

Onions looked fine against the Yorkers though and looked horrible against the short stuff so I think Morkel was good, just could have got it a bit more on target.

 

[Mercules]

Brilliant by Colly & Bell. No need to get out and give me a pissing heart attack though :

 

[Garson007]

Donald is a visionary: South Africa fretting over bowlers, says Donald | Cricket News | South Africa v England 2009/10 | Cricinfo.com

 

[stefan]

Again the session between lunch and tea cost us. Should be 2-1 up instead we will be lucky to draw the series.

Well done to colly and bell but still think we should have gotten the job done.

 

[SaiSrini]

Whats with England and these thrilling draws? They had one against India when we toured there, one in the Ashes, two against SA. They were also involved in that thrilling Chennai test which India eventually won. England are reviving test cricket pretty well.

Well done England. Now we know which is the best side when it comes to saving test matches. Same actors, same script, same result!:laugh I dont want to be in the SA camp right now. Gutted to have come so close in two games and both slipped out by just a wicket. Instead of being 2-1, now they have to win the next one to avoid a series defeat

 

[BackwardPoint]

 

[MUFC1987]

South Africa need to find a bowling attack that can actually take 20 wickets in a match. That being said, I'd expect a, shall we call it 'interesting' pitch for the last Test.

 

[stefan]

South Africa need to find a bowling attack that can actually take 20 wickets in a match. That being said, I'd expect a, shall we call it 'interesting' pitch for the last Test.

De Wet hurt his back in this test so I expect either parnel or tsotsobe to get a chance at wanderers. Parnel isn't really ready for test cricket but we don't really have much to lose.

 

[BackwardPoint]

Cant help but feel the 2nd innings from AB, JP and Boucher were what did us in. We had enough to win when Smith got out

 

[stefan]

Cant help but feel the 2nd innings from AB, JP and Boucher were what did us in. We had enough to win when Smith got out

Don't agree. What did us was not getting wickets early on with either the first or the second new ball. We had more than enough time.

 

[Maxkarter]

The more I listen and read his articles the more sense he makes, Donald that is. Similarly with Kepler Wessels. Alot of people fault Smith's captaincy and I think it is slightly unjust, you just have to look around the domestic scene to find someone who can play the leadership role he does along with tactical sense and the like and no one stands out yet. What I do feel about him though is that he tends to do 90% of things right or okay but when he makes a bad choice it tends to be pretty disasterous.

The real monkey for me has been Arthur, yes he brought us series win in Australia but after that we've capitulated and have become complacent and look flat generally. If anyone need to lose thier position within the South African set-up it's him, not Smith. Another issue with the camp is the useless talking up of the games before hand, if the team could actually do what they said all the time then fine. But no, they blurt out something like 'We'll target Swann' he'll then makes the batsmen look stupid and we end up with egg on our faces.

All credit to England for drawing the game, Bell and Collingwood did most of the work in the middle session, where you felt that if a wicket fell at any point during that session there would be chance to exploit it and win the game. Losing de Wet probably hurt the team today, but then you just have to look at how England have bowled at times with just 4 bowlers. So from my perspective that can't be the be all and end all excuse for being unable to penetrate today.

So, who's with me for betting on an England series win?

 

[MUFC1987]

It was far too defensive when you need to win, because we had no real choice other than to defend. There was no way we were going to chase 450 in 4 and a bit sessions or whatever it was. I think you'd have had a much better chance setting us 400 in 5 sessions, because at least then the batsman are looking to be aggressive in order to win the series.

 

[aus_maestro]

LMAO and they've let it happen twice

It was far too defensive when you need to win, because we had no real choice other than to defend. There was no way we were going to chase 450 in 4 and a bit sessions or whatever it was. I think you'd have had a much better chance setting us 400 in 5 sessions, because at least then the batsman are looking to be aggressive in order to win the series.

Yeah, Smith needs some balls. Gonna have to start watching england tests more, they're becoming a fun side to watch.

 

[irottev]

Well done England. Another thriller. You Bell haters can shush now. You could argue he shoulda gone on for a hundred I guess haha.

 

[aussie1st]

Wish our batsmen would take note of how the English continue to save matches even if it is with only 1 wicket. If we were chasing that total it would have been win or lose, the draw would be next to no chance.