South Africa in England

[Simbazz]

Its Cook who i'm afraid of, he isn't, and doesn't, look right facing bowlers who can etch out an extra few MPH here and there.

He has a very low bat, and like Strauss today, can be found out off the handle. I think he might come undone against the experience of Kumble, who knows, these boys might kick on and prove us wrong. But against the Indians, most of whom have 50+ tests under thier belts, i can't see it happening.

King Kev might get the troops to rally, I like his captaincy, he jumps around in the field. Looks like he wants to make the bowlers feel wanted and really does drive his points home it seems. But i can see him never getting through to Fred/Jones and all those of a similar mental strength. Fred does what he wants and has his fielders where he wants them, but if i could captain Fred and he wanted 3x3rd men, he'd have 'em!

 

[Skater]

Panesar is worrying me. Even the crowds have begun to see through him. At The Oval they didn't cheer whenever he took a wicket, did a bit of fielding, or even, farted.

 

[Highlander999]

I don't see why everyone keeps ignoring Rob Key. This guy is a hell of a lot better than Strauss

 

[evertonfan]

Cook battled his way to three half centuries in the Safrica series as opposed to Strauss' one. I's rather have Cook struggling to open the batting and hitting fifties than Strauss playing poorly and making nowt.

 

[Simbazz]

Did I read/hear right, Broad has hit more runs that Strauss in this series?

 

[evertonfan]

I don't see why everyone keeps ignoring Rob Key. This guy is a hell of a lot better than Strauss

We all know, but unfortunately the selectors are a pile of gash and they don't pick cricketers on basis of form or talent.

 

[Highlander999]

Did I read/hear right, Broad has hit more runs that Strauss in this series?

Yes

We all know, but unfortunately the selectors are a pile of gash and they don't pick cricketers on basis of form or talent.

Well it could be worse. We could have the BCCI

 

[Simbazz]

Rob Key, hmmm...Yeh i'd give him another shot, he's worth it, in India? Maybe not though.

 

[Skater]

India is a bit of a joke anyway. 2 Tests?

You wait until our next tour there. It'll be 1 Test, 100 ODIs and 99 Twenty20s.

 

[evertonfan]

What exactly is the point in a 2 Test series? You lose the first Test and you're already out of contention. It's gash.

Test series' should be 3 at the very least.

 

[Simbazz]

I was going to say that earlier, I doubt we'll take a full squad, no reason to really.

 

[Highlander999]

Unfortunately when your average Joe wants lot's of quickfire action, we are gonna have to accept that more and more 20/20 cricket is going to creep in as that is where the cash is

 

[barmyarmy]

Actually, Am i the only one who is suspect about Harmison. One good game does not make an International grade player!

We're all suspect about Harmison but we need him playing well for us to win. When he performs England are a totally different team and far stronger.

barmyarmy added 2 Minutes and 9 Seconds later...

Did I read/hear right, Broad has hit more runs that Strauss in this series?

Strauss just edged ahead after his final innings but the stats are pretty damning:

AJ Strauss (Eng) 4 7 0 180 58 25.71 468 38.46 0 1 1 22 0
SCJ Broad (Eng) 3 4 1 161 76 53.66 240 67.08 0 2 0 24 0

 

[manee]

Panesar is worrying me. Even the crowds have begun to see through him. At The Oval they didn't cheer whenever he took a wicket, did a bit of fielding, or even, farted.

'See through'? Perhaps they're starting to give him some respect, perhaps his novelty is waring off. Although I am skeptical of his long term prospects for being anything more than 'okay', it is not as if he has failed for England with the ball, with 13 wickets at 31.69 in this series.

manee added 3 Minutes and 6 Seconds later...

We're all suspect about Harmison but we need him playing well for us to win. When he performs England are a totally different team and far stronger.

Yes. He is a pretty clear success of sending a failing international bowler to County Cricket. He looks a bowler with overs under his belt; the action has been more consistent in the past, hell, he was aiming to gully for a few deliveries, but after his many overs this season, his body subconsciously knows where to land the ball and Harmison landing the ball even remotely in the right area is a dangerous prospect.

Strauss just edged ahead after his final innings but the stats are pretty damning:

Perhaps but Broad has not been facing a new ball and yet had similarly attacking fields. I say that England truly test out Broad's superb batting form and put him at six. FC statistics aside, you cannot ignore his batting success at Test level and the fact that he is not a good enough Test bowler to bat eight.

 

[DPRA]

Here is the team I would select:

Horton
Cook
Bell
KP
Collingwood
Freddie
Broad
Harmison
Jones
Anderson
Monty

The batting isn't that big, but we proved this week that the extra bowler will help, so going with 5 bowlers could be dangerous.