It's choking because you won in Australia which wasn't expected. You then lost to them when you should have beaten them at home, and now again, when you should be absolutely steam-rolling us, you're struggling. It's almost like as soon as you become favourites, you freeze or something, hence the 'chokers' tag.
England tour of South Africa 09/10
- Thread starter Mike23
- Start date
King Pietersen
ICC Board Member
- Joined
- Nov 15, 2006
- Location
- Manchester
Eughhh. Van Der Merwe bowled absolute trash last time I saw him, couldn't find his line or length and just bowled pies. Not got a good FC record in the last couple of years either. Averaged 40 last season and has 2 wickets @ 52.50 this year. Botha on the other hand has 15 wickets at 31.26, very respectable figures for a spinner in SA. Then there's Robin Peterson who's taken 19 @ 29.73; but the real stand out is Imran Tahir, who's taken a very impressive 44 wickets at 22.15. Just a shame he's been withdrawn from the squad, for SA anyway.
P
pcfan123
Guest
Someone needs to tell Graeme Smith that you dont need to set targets of over 400 odd every time to win matches.
He should look to Ponting for an example of how to play for a win. The 1st innings declaration in the Boxing day Test by Ponting was brilliance, I could never see Smith taking such a risk and thats why his side are the kings of drawing matches they should have won
He should look to Ponting for an example of how to play for a win. The 1st innings declaration in the Boxing day Test by Ponting was brilliance, I could never see Smith taking such a risk and thats why his side are the kings of drawing matches they should have won
stefan
International Coach
Because harris out bowls him in the domestic 4 day competition. Also botha has been struggling in the odi's since they banned his doosra.
Valaskjalf
Club Captain
Against Australia I think we got cocky to be honest....thought we beat them once we can beat them at home - not that easy.
Regarding the current series..honestly though...what more could we have done to win the first and third tests? Apart from declare earlier and have a longer bowl at Onions? Absolutely nothing....Oh apart from the "lets give the over the hill Ntini the final over out of sentiment" which probably muddled up our chances more than many think.
Valaskjalf added 3 Minutes and 38 Seconds later...
I think you are right...we've never been very good at judging how many runs are safe versus time left to bowl England out. That more than anything cost us the 2 games...not choking, a couple of overs more here and there.
I think 450 was always more than they needed. 350 would have been enough.
On the Harris vs Duminy debate Harris actually has quite respectable figures this series and has taken second most wickets behind Morkel.
I'd love SA to come at us with 7 batters and 3 bowlers in a match they have to win.
On the Harris vs Duminy debate Harris actually has quite respectable figures this series and has taken second most wickets behind Morkel.
I'd love SA to come at us with 7 batters and 3 bowlers in a match they have to win.
venom2011
Club Cricketer
Tahir has had problems with the Titans' administration so has only played 2 fc matches for 7 wickets I think, and the rest of the wickets have come from the provincial league 1 level lower, but he's still an interesting option.
It's a difficult thing though because his bowling attack has been a bit unstable of late in terms of fitness and form compared to the great season in 2008.
In the 1st test Steyn pulled out just before the test so he had a new player (Friedel de Wet). Kallis couldn't bowl and Ntini has been bad since 2008, but they had to play him because he was close to 100 matches. And Morkel is at times erratic.
3rd test Friedel was injured in first innings and Morkel was bowling with a foot injury. So again he was a bowler light and had other injury concerns, on a flat pitch.
I think with a fully fit and dependable unit he could afford to be more aggressive, but in these cases he had to play it a little safe.
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Valaskjalf
Club Captain
I think 450 was always more than they needed. 350 would have been enough.
On the Harris vs Duminy debate Harris actually has quite respectable figures this series and has taken second most wickets behind Morkel.
I'd love SA to come at us with 7 batters and 3 bowlers in a match they have to win.
In hindsight 350 was obviously enough...but at the time with 120 overs still left in the game you wouldnt have put it past England to chase that on a flat wicket. All the feedback from commentarors and the coaches suggested that SA would probably declare around 450, so I dont think Smith made a massive blunder - as mentioned before we were another bowler short with de Wet's back.
Regarding Harris...he might have the second most wickets and bowling 3 times as much as anyone else...and Steyn played one test less than him, as did Kallis (from a bowling perspective). So when you add all those variables up, it makes sense that he would have more wickets than most of our other bowlers. Doesnt mean jack tho...
Kallis, Parnell, Morkel, Steyn....and the spinner (whoever its gonna be) how do you get to 3 bowlers?
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Robelinda
International Coach
Dare
Chairman of Selectors
Every captain has those moments. Strauss had a few of those when England toured the Caribbean. I do agree that a captain with as much experience as Smith has should be more confident in his bowling attack.
MasterBlaster76
ICC Chairman
De Wet's out of the test - who are SA likely to replace him with? Reckon they'll bring back Ntini?
MasterBlaster76 added 2 Minutes and 0 Seconds later...
SA aren't choking - what has happened here is they've come up against an England team that just doesn't know when they're beaten!
MasterBlaster76 added 2 Minutes and 0 Seconds later...
SA aren't choking - what has happened here is they've come up against an England team that just doesn't know when they're beaten!
Dare
Chairman of Selectors
Ntini is not in the squad. Parnell will make his debut unless they choose to go with McLaren.
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