South Africa in England July-Sept 2012

[barmyarmy]

Well beat SL/NZ/WI but drew with Australia/India/Pakistan/England.

You've hardly been setting the world on fire.

 

[nelson111]

well, it's not helped by south africa's tendency to self destruct.

Don't you realise that you're admitting we're the better team. The Choker label is the same - if you weren't expecting us to win then there wouldn't be the choker label! If we lost and you weren't expecting us to win there wouldn't be any comment.

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Well beat SL/NZ/WI but drew with Australia/India/Pakistan/England.

You've hardly been setting the world on fire.

Where is the loss?? And these are ALL the so called best teams in the world.

 

[sami ullah khan]

Amla is the king of cricket. He may not be the best batsmen of all time but he sure as hell is the best bearded batsmen ever to grace a cricket field .

 

[nelson111]

Amla is the king of cricket. He may not be the best batsmen of all time but he sure as hell is the best bearded batsmen ever to grace a cricket field .

Lovely to watch hey? The epitomy of a great sportsman and a good man! What a biscuit!

 

[Sahil 7]

wow fantastic unbelievable england lost it well played south africa you deserved to be win and thanks for beating the mighty england

 

[StinkyBoHoon]

Don't you realise that you're admitting we're the better team. The Choker label is the same - if you weren't expecting us to win then there wouldn't be the choker label! If we lost and you weren't expecting us to win there wouldn't be any comment.

I agree, south africa are the best team on paper, amla, de villiers, smith, kallis with duminy and rudolph floating in the wings. that's a great batting line up which should only get better and the pace attack contains the best cricketer of his generation (taking that ponting and tendulkar's generation was actually about 10 years ago they just keep going on and on) and with philander and morkel the attack could barely be better.

but still, couldn't beat india or australia at home and weren't exactly convincing against sri lanka or new zealand. under-performance is practically to be expected with south africa. they had everything to win the world cup but no one backed them because they always mess up and play terribley at some point and so it came to be.

if they go out and win some series well then I would have no qualms about such boasting, but it's yet to happen.

 

[nelson111]

It 's a pleasure, wasn't that difficult!

Before all the bleating comments tomorrow - I am bona fide, passport holding, NHS paying, property owning, tax paying BRITISH!

 

[nelson111]

but still, couldn't beat india or australia at home and weren't exactly convincing against sri lanka or new zealand. under-performance is practically to be expected with south africa. they had everything to win the world cup but no one backed them because they always mess up and play terribley at some point and so it came to.

Stinky, Stinky, Stinky lad, I'll start with the obvious retort. What New Zealand series are you referring to? As far as I remember (I watched every single minute and have just looked at the figures again to refresh my memory), this was an absolute no contest. If there ever was a convincing thrashing, this was it!

India and Australia at home are a completely different story. When was the last time we were beaten at home? (RTFQ BEATEN). In fact, when was the last time we were beaten? Seriously, can't find it, am actually asking a question.

The All Blacks are undoubtedly the best rugby team ever. Of that there can be no question. I don't remember, however, twoddle talkers calling them chokers because they didn't win the Rugby World Cup for a few years. We will win the Cricket World Cup sooner rather than later, then what will you guys have to talk about? There's also the glaring fact that CWC is an ODI competition, and that's not what we're talking about right now.

Lastly, I will return to my general argument. If you think we "underperform", and we have the reputation and record we enjoy, are you not admitting that we are seriously brilliant? We are about to be number one (guaranteed). imagine what we could do if we actually "performed"!

 

[Sulaiman7]

South Africa's recent records are much better than England tough , England only play good in thier own home ground but when they play away , well everyone knows the auay records of England but , if we view South Africa's away records , well we can see this tour how they dominate . Africa can win any tour weather its away or home but a little difficulty to play in India's home ground . We all saw that how England defeated India in England [home ground] and how India defeated England in India [their home ground] Altough England defeated Pakistan in Dubai but they all got sick by drinking away water . But still England is the no.1 team of teast and maybe not looking the no.1 at this moment but we can't say that England did'nt fought for a draw . Well played Amla,Kallis,Smith and South Africa .

 

[badvintage]

Amla with a triple century and he's fasting. Pure class, he's one of the best South Africa have.

 

[War]

South Africa is the best team in the world. Finish, Klaar. Despite what the stats have said we have been the best team in the world for a while now.Is there anyone out there who wants to argue the toss?? Because I've been biding my time watching you guys talk utter crap about England (South Africa B team including that idiot Pietersen), knowing you were not correct and just waiting for an absolute annihilation as we have just witnessed! How on earth can you call yourselves the best cricket team in the world, even before this match it was a totally ridiculous statement.

I agree with you in premise that S Africa are the best team in the world, ever since Australia's glory era ended after the 2006/07 Ashes. Especially considering that they have not lost a test series since going down 1-0 in Sri Lanka 2006.

The faulty ranking system putting India has # 1 was always a farce and i personally also has never fully comfortable as an England fan, that England were truly the best team in world either, due to the faulty ranking system saying that they are.

England are still in the embryonic stages of their growth of a test team, whose potentially dynasty begun after they won the 2010/11 Ashes.

However ignoring the ranking system factor, the Saffies have not helped themselves in recent years due to them not being clinical enough in certain marquee series - which would have cemented them as the clear cut # 1 a long time ago.

- They slipped up by losing 2-1 to Australia at home in 2009, after winning in Australia in the previous series.

- They threw away great opportunities to win in India twice (2008 and 2010). Their pace attack routed India early in each series, but S Africa's batsmen deficiency vs Spin on turning tracks enabled India to come back and level both series.

- Then we had the quota system raring its ugly head during the 2009/10 and 2010/11 home series vs England and India.

During the England series although the balance of side was affected with Steyn being injured and Kallis being unable to bowl. But crucially even with Ntini clearly passed his peak, due to his iconic figure as a black player, S Africa were forced to keep picking him ahead of form white player Fridel De Wet and it messed up the entire balance of the squad for most of that series.

This occurred ed again when India visited in 2011. Suddenly De Wet and another form white bowler Ryan McClaren was being overlooked for coloured players in Tstosobe and Parnell in the pecking order and S Africa did not pick a strong enough all-round bowling attack in that home series. They depended too much of Steyn/Morkel and as the series went on , the India batsmen were able to see of Steyn/Morkel and survive vs the other bowlers in that attack.

If the Saffies had picked a stronger attack, they probably could have throttled India at home similarly to how England and Australia did.

I wouldn't add the 1-1 draw vs Australia last year into this so much, because it was just a 2 test series. A third test could have seen them being victorious, given the iffy form of Australia at the time.

However this England tour and Australia tour coming up, is key for S Africa 100% reaching this # 1 status. They have the perfect team (may have to think about including a pure keeper to replace Boucher) and they have to win these two series. Drawing them would see them unfortunately being viewed as the "nearly" team.

 

[Haarithan]

What I would do for the second test - Drop Bopara and promote Prior to #6. Bring in Finny and retain Bresnan, solely for we're playing at the Headingley.

 

[puddleduck]

It'll be interesting, as people like Amla could get ducks through the rest of the series and still look like they've had a good tour. However they will need to carry on the form into two more games and hope England don't fight back.

Should still be two interesting games to come.

 

[War]

My 1st test review

If S Africa continue to build on this result, we could be on the verge of seeing the first true # 1 team, since the decline of Australia in 2006/07.

They have the best balanced test team in the world on paper, although maybe they may need a find a pure keeper, if De Villiers with the gloves doesn't work out.

Can be no question now that Dale Steyn also is one of the all-time great fast bowlers. At this rate he will reach 300 test wickets faster than legendary fast-bowlers such as Hadlee, Marshall, Imran, McGrath, Donald and Trueman fo eg, if he claims his 21 more wickets in his next 6 tests, which is truly amazing.

For England i'm not sure how to view this defeat. Clearly this it strongest team they have faced since their era of dominance in the 2010/11 Ashes, so they need to take their game to the next level.

As Nasser Hussain was saying on commentary, Amla/Smith did to England in that partnership, what ENG did to Australia in Brisbane 2010. So i'm willing to look at it as a one-off.

The interesting thing is will what will be the changes. Steve Finn has to come in really to give the England attack, that 90 mph option.

Even if Finn comes in also, given the strength of Saffies batting, i think England should SERIOUSLY consider picking 5-bowlers also, although it may expose their batting to the Saffies lethal bowling attack.

But i say do this because clearly the # 6 batting spot in England is full on conjecture. I dont trust Bopara as a test player and can't be confident from a English perspective that county cricket two inform batsmen in Nick Compton or James Hildreth can make a difference in this high profile series?

I say throw a 5-man attack at Saffies, with the aim of keeping their batting in check, even if our batting gets exposed too. This way at it will turn the final two test into bowler dominated events and it will take some individual batting brilliance from both sides to come out on top.

So my 2nd test team:

Strauss, Cook, Trott, KP, Bell, Prior, Bresnan, Broad, Swann, Anderson, Finn.

 

[puddleduck]

I think it would be the bold move. Interesting stat. From the last 10 test matches (I think) the England number 6 has averaged 13. Finn averages 14