England tour to South Africa December 2015/February 2016

[War]

Stephen Cook making a early statement about his test credentials if SA make-shift opener experiment fails @stefan @Markkkkk @Rudolph

 

[Markkkkk]

Well sadly @War you are a couple years late on that...

 

[stefan]

Stephen Cook making a early statement about his test credentials if SA make-shift opener experiment fails @stefan @Markkkkk @Rudolph

He should be in the squad and opening instead of van zyl. Selectors reluctance to pick either him or puttick because of age is going to bite them in the ass...

 

[bigred]

He should be in the squad and opening instead of van zyl. Selectors reluctance to pick either him or puttick because of age is going to bite them in the ass...

Hasn't the Chris Rogers selection proved that age shouldn't be a barrier when selecting? Cook is only 33 isn't he? A pup compared to Rogers.

 

[stefan]

Hasn't the Chris Rogers selection proved that age shouldn't be a barrier when selecting? Cook is only 33 isn't he? A pup compared to Rogers.

Hussey for Aus years ago should have as well. But the word is the SA selectors aren't keen on picking either cook or puttick due to age. They rather go with makeshift openers. Guess they have forgotten the Ashwell prince experiment as an opener as well...

 

[Markkkkk]

I don't understand why Vilas refuses to open with Paterson...

 

[bigred]

I think those 56 runs will do Hales the world of good. Looks pretty certain now that Ballance will be the one to miss out and it'll be Compton in to replace Bell at 3. Not sure that's a long term solution, so I reckon we'll see Bell back at 3 for the first test against Pakistan this summer after he's stacked up hundreds of runs for Warwickshire.

 

[stefan]

Still something to take for SA from Hales dismissal. He has gotten bowled by the ball coming back to him in all 3 innings on tour. Something for the SA to think about coming boxing day.

 

[bigred]

Still something to take for SA from Hales dismissal. He has gotten bowled by the ball coming back to him in all 3 innings on tour. Something for the SA to think about coming boxing day.

Pat Cummins kept in cleaning him up with fast and full deliveries during the summer. He's obviously got a technical issue.

 

[_Sam_]

Pat Cummins kept in cleaning him up with fast and full deliveries during the summer. He's obviously got a technical issue.

I think the 2 times he's been straight up bowled in these warm ups so far have both been balls that he's left that came back and hit the stumps as a big misjudgment rather than the ball getting through him like with Cummins. The other bowled was a slightly more unlucky playing a backfoot shot to a short ball for it to the bounce onto his wicket.

 

[cricket_icon]

This should be a good series, with SA having a taste of mortality in recent months as their team is starting to introduce new blood and the old order weakens or fades. I haven't followed them closely for a while so it will be interesting to see what their new bowlers can do and how the team reacts with Amla and AB have a tough time.

England, though thoroughly beaten by a strong Pakistan, showed they could be competitive and came back strong in the limited overs series, looking more settled as a side. Yes there's a rejigging of the middle order but with names like Cook, Root, Ali, Anderson, there's a list of tried and tested commodities. Does SA have that ?

 

[stefan]

This should be a good series, with SA having a taste of mortality in recent months as their team is starting to introduce new blood and the old order weakens or fades. I haven't followed them closely for a while so it will be interesting to see what their new bowlers can do and how the team reacts with Amla and AB have a tough time.

England, though thoroughly beaten by a strong Pakistan, showed they could be competitive and came back strong in the limited overs series, looking more settled as a side. Yes there's a rejigging of the middle order but with names like Cook, Root, Ali, Anderson, there's a list of tried and tested commodities. Does SA have that ?

Uhm AB hasn't been having a tough time. He is the only batsman we can say goes into the series with confidence. The SA attack will be fine atleast as far as seamers are concerned. Abbot,Morkel and Steyn have shown they can do it at international level and young Radaba has sown enough at international level.

The question for SA is all about the batting. If amla and faf hit form then that all disappears thought. They had a terrible tour of India but have proven they can perform at test level.

 

[Markkkkk]

I love hearing that Paterson dismissed Hales and got a couple edges off Cook...

 

[_Sam_]

Stokes thrashing the bowling around again while Root goes along at a decent rate.

 

[War]

He should be in the squad and opening instead of van zyl. Selectors reluctance to pick either him or puttick because of age is going to bite them in the ass...

Yea I expect the make-shift opener experiment to fail for SA in the first couple of tests. If Cook had made another big 2nd innings score his case might have been impossible to ignore - but just got to go back domestic cricket and keep scoring heavy..