England tour to South Africa December 2015/February 2016

[LiveLoveABD]

New ball 6 overs old. I don't think Cook has the imagination to put fielders around Amla's bat and put Moeen Ali on. Mid off up, long on back. Hats off to Amla though. The SA commentators are making it sound like he's been serene, but I've seen Amla surgically annihilate bowling attacks and he isn't at 80% yet.

AB has also had to guts it out, but he's been anything but fluent by his standards. Like Hash, probably at 70-75%.

Good stuff from Finn. Pick of the bowlers for me along with Ali. Anderson has been all over the shop in terms of consistency. Broad has tried stuff and I dislike him but he's started bowling better on flat decks. Still not world class standards.

Cook has 2 slips for his premiere quick with a brand new cherry. Jesus!

 

[LiveLoveABD]

England bowling too short. Too predictable. De Villiers has missed 5 half volleys today.

 

[richowebbo]

Well, at long last! I've been a huge supporter of Ben Stokes as my friend @richowebbo will allude to on these forums and I'm really happy for the bloke.

For all those that are expecting him to become a 'model' of consistency, it could happen but I fear the period will not be more than four years. But, I will always have a Ben Stokes in my line up because his numbers will never be a 50+ batting average and a 25 bowling average. But, when he makes a 100 or takes 4/5 wickets in an innings, England will WIN.

I know I'm going to get trounced for saying this but I always felt Kallis was a once in a generation cricketer. I think his slip catching and support act as a bowler (in terms of locking an end up) absolutely snow balled his reputation as an 'all rounder.' For me, Freddy fit that bill a bit more perfectly. He could explode with ball or bat and when he did England would win. I see a lot of that in Stokes and M Marsh.

Edit- I've had it pretty rough the past month and it would be timely if ABDV could put a smile on my face tomorrow.

Amla is putting a smile on your face as well, I expect?[DOUBLEPOST=1451913399][/DOUBLEPOST]

England bowling too short. Too predictable. De Villiers has missed 5 half volleys today.

Short worked! Yay!

 

[richowebbo]

I really cant understand why Cook declared. I was bemused yesterday, and still am now. With Bairstow smashing it around and Moeen to come, why not let them keep batting and get as big a score as possible. Keep SA in the field and grind them down as much as possible. I think a draw is on the cards.

Both teams catching has been woeful. England's catching under Flowers was immaculate, and I'm surprised this hasn't carried over into this team.

 

[PokerAce]

Just what level of Bullsh!t have the commentators have talking about for the past half hr? Does no tell them to get back to cricket. Are you a modern husband and do you change nappies !!?

Get back to talking about cricket, already. No one wants to know which of the commentators changes nappies, and which of them will be house hunting during the gap between the 2nd and 3rd test.

 

[richowebbo]

Just what level of Bullsh!t have the commentators have talking about for the past half hr? Does no tell them to get back to cricket. Are you a modern husband and do you change nappies !!?

Get back to talking about cricket, already. No one wants to know which of the commentators changes nappies, and which of them will be house hunting during the gap between the 2nd and 3rd test.

To be fair, not a lot going on in terms of cricket! This is a very batting friendly pitch. If you don't give you wicket away, many runs to be had.

Credot to Amla. Having a hard time and has taken his luck on board. Would have been a different game if he hadn't been dropped on 5.

 

[LiveLoveABD]

@richowebbo - You are correct in some regards but Ace has a legit point. They were surprisingly poor today. Also, the pitch is looking flatter because of poor bowling. I can bet my bottom dollar that if Jimmy was up to it and at his best in terms of match time, SA would have been in a world of trouble. Amla and de Villiers were fed with back of a length and short stuff. AB was poor today to be honest. Amla has been a rock and huge props for his mental toughness but England just didn't 'get it up there' consistently enough. It was an impatient attack led by a defensive captain.

 

[T.J.Hooker]

My guess is that a big factor in the declaration was not wanting to enforce a follow on and have to bowl two innings in a row on a flat deck in South African heat. They didn't expect to bowl SA out easily and wanted to leave enough time to have a bit of a break before they had to do it all over again.

Cook isn't a strong captain and Anderson and Broad have tended to boss him about in the past, and I wouldn't expect either of them to want to enforce a follow on.

 

[stefan]

Very good performance from all the batsman except van zyl he will be cursing getting run out on this deck. Ofcourse england did give Amla a nice new year present dropping him three times.

Pitch is crying out for a real quick bowler or a wrist spinner. It seems very easy against the medium-fast and finger spinners.

Will take a draw from where we were and go to the highveld only 1-0 down with the chance of steyn and vern returning.

 

[PokerAce]

I think its a brilliant day's play for SA. This is the only day I remember where just 1 wicket was lost. I remember Day 4 of the follow on test, where no wickets fell, and this may be the only test day since then when only one or lesser wickets fell. I am of course talking about full day's play where the full no. of overs were bowled and not rain shortened days.

A brilliant innings from Amla, though England should really have held onto what were very simple chances. Its good to see Faf back scoring, he was really in a terrible run of form. Elgar's wicket yesterday was cruel in a way he really did seem in control. It was just that one ball that bounced, and he closed the face of the bat too early, that had him in trouble. Had he not got out to that delivery there was a good chance SA would have started the day only 1 down and not 2 down as they did. SA have shown enough commitment to suggest they could get atleast a draw from this one. The pitch doesn't seem to suggest a result can be achieved on that wicket.

Also these are interesting times for the top 3 teams on the ICC test ranking table. Australia are leading WI 2-0, and should really win the series 3-0. If they do, then they will move ahead of India into #2 spot. If however it remains 2-0, then Australia will remain 3rd. There is plenty of rain in the 3rd test right now, and more rain is likely for the 3rd day's play. If day 3 is washed out, with not even one innings having been completed yet, the chances of a draw are high. However if there is no further rain, then Australia will beat WI easily in all likelihood.

Regardless of who is second, Australia or India, having lost the first test, SA must win atleast two of the three tests (including the one presently going on). Unless SA draw the series 2-2, or win 2-1, they will lose the top spot on the table to Australia or India, whoever is second, after Aus vs WI third test.

 

[MUFC1987]

Seems like a typical match for England on a flat pitch. We have the opportunities to take wickets and see if we can force a result, we just don't take them. Looks like a draw unless something dramatic happens.

 

[LiveLoveABD]

Also these are interesting times for the top 3 teams on the ICC test ranking table. Australia are leading WI 2-0, and should really win the series 3-0. If they do, then they will move ahead of India into #2 spot. If however it remains 2-0, then Australia will remain 3rd. There is plenty of rain in the 3rd test right now, and more rain is likely for the 3rd day's play. If day 3 is washed out, with not even one innings having been completed yet, the chances of a draw are high. However if there is no further rain, then Australia will beat WI easily in all likelihood.

Regardless of who is second, Australia or India, having lost the first test, SA must win atleast two of the three tests (including the one presently going on). Unless SA draw the series 2-2, or win 2-1, they will lose the top spot on the table to Australia or India, whoever is second, after Aus vs WI third test.

To be honest, I don't see any real 'force' in test cricket at the moment. Those rankings have been a joke for a while. Any average Joe would know SA were the best until India happened. India has been refreshing, but I don't see them winning outside Asia.

Personally, if there was one team I'd pick that had the depth to rule test cricket, it would be England. But, if there was one team apart from Pakistan capable of pushing a self destruct button, it would be England.

 

[bigred]

New ball 6 overs old. I don't think Cook has the imagination to put fielders around Amla's bat and put Moeen Ali on. Mid off up, long on back. Hats off to Amla though. The SA commentators are making it sound like he's been serene, but I've seen Amla surgically annihilate bowling attacks and he isn't at 80% yet.

AB has also had to guts it out, but he's been anything but fluent by his standards. Like Hash, probably at 70-75%.

Good stuff from Finn. Pick of the bowlers for me along with Ali. Anderson has been all over the shop in terms of consistency. Broad has tried stuff and I dislike him but he's started bowling better on flat decks. Still not world class standards.

Cook has 2 slips for his premiere quick with a brand new cherry. Jesus!

How on earth can you say that Stuart Broad isn't a world class bowler. He's brilliant now home and away. There was a time 3/4 years ago when he was a bit home only, but he's blossomed into one of Enlgand's all time greats.

Also, for the people slagging off Cook's 'defensive' captaincy today, there has only been one wicket in this match that has fallen because of a good piece of bowling. The rest have been batsman errors. England weren't going to get people out caught behind the wicket today as there is more movement in the Statue of Liberty than there is out on that pitch. Therefore the only realistic way to take wickets was to frustrate batsman by cutting off their favourite scoring areas. Sensible if you ask me.

 

[LiveLoveABD]

How on earth can you say that Stuart Broad isn't a world class bowler. He's brilliant now home and away. There was a time 3/4 years ago when he was a bit home only, but he's blossomed into one of Enlgand's all time greats.

He's not. Not in the sub continent.

 

[bigred]

He's not. Not in the sub continent.

I know it's not the sub continent, but Broad has Bowles very well on both UAE tours he's been on. I also have a vague memory of him bowling well in Sri Lanka as well.