Rants, raves and opinions

[Will p]

But that game was a tie, ali actually bowled well seen as how young he is

 

[andrew_nixon]

But that game was a tie, ali actually bowled well seen as how young he is

And especially to stop South Africa scoring 3 runs off 6 balls.

 

[aditya123]

And especially to stop South Africa scoring 3 runs off 6 balls.

SA have a history of messing things up when the match goes down to the wire ,so iam not surprised that they did it again
Of all teams in world cricket , the most probability of getting a tie is with SA
In the Hero Cup in India , SA required 3 runs to win of the last over (it may have also been 2 , can`t quite remember) and Sachin bowled the last over and just conceded a single and India won
Who wud forget the 1999 WC semifinal , ICC champions trophy 2002 Semifinal where they lost to India after neding just 80 odd runs of the last 20 overs !

 

[Maxkarter]

Can't really defend our team, they have had good chances and thrown them away, and under pressure situations we haven't always made the best decisions either. But after the last ODI (not today) we have redeemed ourself to a certain extent.

 

[T20]

ok this one should start some fire K. Pieterson - right to play for England or should have played for SA?

 

[barmyarmy]

At the risk of being diplomatic - personal choice. Plenty of players haven't in this past, and don't know play for the teams they were born in.
I'll just re-iterate the Barmy Army chant for Andy Caddick we used on the NZ tour:
Andy Caddick, Andy Caddick, greatest bowler in the land
He was too good for New Zealand so he plays for Eng-er-land

 

[andrew_nixon]

ok this one should start some fire K. Pieterson - right to play for England or should have played for SA?

It's an interesting one. He did have his reasons for leaving South Africa, reasons which I happen to agree with. One thing people do forget that he is actually half English. In most other sports he wouldn't have had to serve a residential qualification.

He isn't the only player on the England team in recent years to be born outside England.

Over the last couple of years I can think of a few:

• Gerraint Jones (Papua New Guinea)
• Andrew Strauss (South Africa)
• Andy Caddick (New Zealand)
• Nasser Hussain (India)

And you don't have to go too far back to get

• Graeme Hick (Zimbabwe)
• Adam Hollioake (Australia)
• Ben Hollioake (Australia)

Nobody makes this much of a fuss over Andrew Symonds playing for Australia. You don't see English fans booing him for turning his back on the country of his birth.

 

[Skater]

Kevin Pieterson worked hard to gain Englishman status, and he has every right to play for England.

 

[barmyarmy]

Kevin Pieterson worked hard to gain Englishman status

You mean he lived here for 6 years?

 

[themuel1]

I agree with Andrew Nixon, in any other sport he would have the right to play for england anyway as he's half english so technically he should have been able to play for both without getting the flack hes getting. He also had good reasons to come here (being disillusioned with the south african selection process)

Being an england supporter, I think he made the right decision.

 

[andrew_nixon]

You mean he lived here for 6 years?

4 years. It used to be 6 years, but it was changed a few years back.

 

[barmyarmy]

4 years. It used to be 6 years, but it was changed a few years back.

I thought before I posted that, shall I check just to be safe or not?

 

[Will p]

I think he has every right to be english, because in current form and SA's current form he would have been in their team, i also think he has taken the flack from SA very well