Mar 6 - England v South Africa

If somehow Broad and Swann can get South Africa five down by the time they reach 100 then there is a glimmer of hope. IF ONLY England had seen Yardy for what he is about 10+ ODIs ago then maybe they'd have tried someone else and we'd have a second spinner worthy of the name and capable of playing.

Couple that with Anderson not being the be all and end all, maybe we could have taken/played someone like Panesar and with Swann, Broad and Bresnan all able to bat a bit then they'd be looking for a fifth bowler who could be a spinner OR a seamer.

And of course England did so little preparation leading up to the World Cup, seven ODIs but not using Tredwell or Pietersen as bowling options :facepalm It's not even as if we won the series, we got our asses tanned bigtime. Where was the preparation? Should have been finalising the squad about a year ago having spent the previous three years establishing our best XI, even now there is little clarity on that.

As for any excuse of fatigue, England could EASILY have left several of the Test players out of the ODIs for the past 12-18 months. Leave out Swann and tried a spinner, it is not as if this World Cup VENUE was a secret :rolleyes Maybe play 2 out of Pietersen, Strauss, Bell and Trott, one out of Broad and Bresnan and basically rest the rest, alternating those rested while trying back-up and potentials for first XI duties. But oh no, England try to win every match and persist with rubbish until it is too late. I'm guessing Yardy will be discarded after this World Cup, a little too little a little too late :wave
 
If they can get AB out soon and Duminy rather quickly, then England have a chance. Otherwise, this will go no where for England.
 
Need to take a couple of wickets VERY SOON, while a collapse is possible, with little pressure applied someone is bound to grab a 10-20 that will carry them home (if it is much longer before 1-2 wickets)
 
Broad and Swann doing quite well, match "nicely poised" at the moment in commentators' jargon. Not over yet but don't see much of a problem for us. (Yes, there is a South African on this forum!)
 
Looks as if our evil plan of making the ashes the holy grail of cricket competitions has worked. England just seem disinterested in winning anything else.

Where will this game put England, do they have to win both of their next two, or can they sneak through by winning just one of them?
 
If England could have scraped 220, then they would have been competitive. No way is 160, no matter what pitch, competitive in an ODI.

Don't see why Naseer and Pomel think the match is poised? SA are coasting. Taking singles, taking it easy. That's all they need to do.
 
If AB remains unbeaten I think it will make him tournament leader. Am I correct?

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Player Mat Runs HS Ave SR
A. Strauss 3 280 158 93.33 105.66
AB. de Villiers 2 241 134 241.00 118.71
V. Sehwag 2 210 175 105.00 126.50
Misbah-ul-Haq 3 185 83* 92.50 81.14
Ian Bell 3 183 81 61.00 92.89
J. Trott 3 170 92 56.66 96.59
K. Sangakkara 3 168 92 84.00 97.67
K. O'Brien 2 150 113 75.00 145.63
S. Tendulkar 2 148 120 74.00 102.77
S. Watson 2 141 79 70.50 92.15
 
Devilliers gone, just one or two more wickets quickly and the game is on.

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Yes! Du Plessis England definetely have a good chance now.
 
Yardy has done pretty much FA in his ODI career, taken ONE WICKET for over 150 runs in this World Cup now, so WHY THE F is Strauss still bowling him?!?!?!?!?

If he hadn't bowled full-stop then this might have been a close contest, 39 runs off 42 balls and those are stats only a BATSMAN would be proud of.

Broad and Pietersen have bowled umpteen times better, even ANDERSON has bowled better, yet the stats show how stupid the captain is

by overs bowled

7 Yardy 0/39
7 Bresnan 0/22
7 Swann 1/25
4 Pietersen 0/14
4 Broad 2/12
3 Anderson 1/11

How is it the bowlers who have taken wickets have bowled 14 overs between them while three that haven't have bowled 18...............? Is Strauss still using his bowlers as if the game will last 50 overs............................? :facepalm :eek: :yes
 

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