England tour to South Africa December 2015/February 2016

[cricket_icon]

Exceptional win by England and in my opinion, one of the best test match wins for England in a long long time. They beat the number one team, away from home, in less than 3 days and do so with flair, aggression and panache. Wow!

 

[bigred]

I never think you should rest batsmen as they need to be out in the middle, but I think England should think about resting some of the bowlers that will be involved in all formats. Especially with a WC coming. So if play this team in the fourth test.

1. Cook
2. Hales
3. Compton
4. Root
5. Taylor
6. Bairstow
7. Ali
8. Woakes
9. Broad
10. Anderson
11. Footitt

Rumour has it that Finn is struggling with a niggle, so no point in him playing next one.

 

[stefan]

Congrats to england. played exceptional cricket all tour. SA has been dreadful, simply not acceptable performances. Collapsed 6 out of the last 7 tests, simply unacceptable.

 

[bigred]

Congrats to england. played exceptional cricket all tour. SA has been dreadful, simply not acceptable performances. Collapsed 6 out of the last 7 tests, simply unacceptable.

As an England fan, it looks like you're carrying a few players that aren't good enough. Perhaps it's because there's not a lot else out there. I know Stephen Cook keeps being mentioned, and he should probably come in now, but I can't see him being the ultimate answer.

van Zyl, Bavuma, Vilas, de Kock, Morris and Piedt look nowhere near test standard. Viljeon has got a lot of pace, but if that's his usual line and length, then he's in big trouble at this level. Faf du Plessis is a good player, but much like Ian Bell, he probably needs to be put out of his misery and have a break.

 

[stefan]

As an England fan, it looks like you're carrying a few players that aren't good enough. Perhaps it's because there's not a lot else out there. I know Stephen Cook keeps being mentioned, and he should probably come in now, but I can't see him being the ultimate answer.

van Zyl, Bavuma, Vilas, de Kock, Morris and Piedt look nowhere near test standard. Viljeon has got a lot of pace, but if that's his usual line and length, then he's in big trouble at this level. Faf du Plessis is a good player, but much like Ian Bell, he probably needs to be put out of his misery and have a break.

A bit unfair to judge qdk on only one innings he played tbh, still think he will be a good number 7 just needs to improve his decision making. Van zyl will be better down the order he isn't an opener, just cause it worked with gibbs does not mean it will work each.

Think there is enough talent they just aren't performing anywhere near to their normal standards.

It seems like they don't care anymore after the selection fiasco of the world cup semi.

 

[Markkkkk]

My thoughts:

 

[PokerAce]

A bit unfair to judge qdk on only one innings he played tbh, still think he will be a good number 7 just needs to improve his decision making. Van zyl will be better down the order he isn't an opener, just cause it worked with gibbs does not mean it will work each.

Think there is enough talent they just aren't performing anywhere near to their normal standards.

It seems like they don't care anymore after the selection fiasco of the world cup semi.

What fiasco?

 

[stefan]

What fiasco?

The sms from the ceo insisting philander plays instead of abbot.

 

[bigred]

The sms from the ceo insisting philander plays instead of abbot.

Abbot is crap anyway.

 

[cricket_icon]

So, to the saffers on here, how do SA come back from here? I see complaints about the bowling but tbh it was pretty damn good through out, the bigger issue is the batting. Who goes? Who stays? What's up with Amla and Faf?

 

[MUFC1987]

I never thought we'd outplay South Africa on this tour. I thought we had a chance to win the series, for sure, but we've taken them apart in 2 or the 3 Tests so far. Broad was brilliant today and although I'd like to say that he should be more consistent, I saw a stat about his record from the last 5 years or so, which showed that he averages 25 with the ball. So I can't knock him. And on days like today, he's unplayable.

Great series win with everyone chipping in really. Two of the players who haven't performed that well are Cook and Anderson. To think we've won the series without 2 of our very best players doing that well is incredible really.

 

[CremerCurrans]

My thoughts:

Get Heino Kuhn in the team.

 

[Markkkkk]

So, to the saffers on here, how do SA come back from here? I see complaints about the bowling but tbh it was pretty damn good through out, the bigger issue is the batting. Who goes? Who stays? What's up with Amla and Faf?

Well I think the problem is we're carrying 3-4 people who shouldn't be playing Test cricket. That means we are effectively playing with 7 players. I would (as stated a million times throughout the thread) go with this line up:

Elgar
Cook
Amla
de Villiers
Rossouw
van Zyl
Vilas/Kuhn
Abbott
Rabada/Tahir
Steyn/Rabada
Morkel

Yes Rabadas done very well but IMO Abbott, Steyn and Morkel are better. We need Tahir to break apart partnerships and he would have Stokes and Bairstow's numbers.

Get Heino Kuhn in the team.

I was thinking that but he isn't better then Cook but could easily bat in the middle order over Vilas...

 

[blockerdave]

@Markkkkk from what i've seen in this series Rabada is miles better than Abbott. Definitely worth persevering with.

An excellent win from England, with multiple contributions - Finn's spell on the first morning; Stokes' counter-attack when we were in trouble & Root's ton; Bairstow good with the gloves and did well with the bat to get us the lead; Taylor's catching; Stokes again with the ball and that unbelievable spell yesterday.

That said, I can't recall seeing such a poor South Africa side - the bowling has been particularly poor: Chris Morris is even funnier trying to be a test bowler than he was on Brass Eye!

 

[bigred]

@Markkkkk from what i've seen in this series Rabada is miles better than Abbott. Definitely worth persevering with.

An excellent win from England, with multiple contributions - Finn's spell on the first morning; Stokes' counter-attack when we were in trouble & Root's ton; Bairstow good with the gloves and did well with the bat to get us the lead; Taylor's catching; Stokes again with the ball and that unbelievable spell yesterday.

That said, I can't recall seeing such a poor South Africa side - the bowling has been particularly poor: Chris Morris is even funnier trying to be a test bowler than he was on Brass Eye!

I thought the Stokes spell might go unnoticed due to Broad's heroics, but all of the pundits have given him credit. Even though I think Jimmy has got 3 or 4 years left in him (if he only plays test cricket), I'm not to worried about life beyond him as Stokes is becoming a really good swing bowler.

In a different note, many people in here were very disappointed when Strauss was named director of cricket. However, since he's taken over, he has prioritised one day cricket but still brought in a team of coaches that will help us be number one in test cricket. I don't think it'll be long before England are officially the world number one team, and I think they've got a real chance in some global tournaments over the next three years. The up and coming world t20 might have come to soon, but the champions trophy and next World Cup could be very successful for us.