South Africa in England

[King Pietersen]

England batting first. Sounds alright to me, Steyn's been poor, Ntini's not looked threatening, Morkel's blatently not 100% fit considering Smith's answer to whether he'd be fit for the 3rd game, he didn't exactly look convinced that he'd be fit. Amla's not a great ODi player either, I'd have gone with De Villiers at the top with Justin Ontong into the middle order. Can actually see us winning this one

 

[Vcassano]

South Africa didn't want to frontload their batting because if Gibbs and De Villiers were taken early then they would have lost their two most explosive batsmen. Opening with Amla is a clear signal they want to build a platform rather than blast forwards. Although they are having to make do with the few players thay have available.

 

[vaibhav mehta]

Yes also fine to me.A bit wired that Amla has replaced Smith.
Rather I would go for Duminy to open and would have brought back Philander.
Anyway that doesn't mean anything as We going to claim the series today.

I think anything over 260 will be enough for this African side without Smith.
Conditions look good for Bowling though and M Morkel is back so hope our openers start it sensitively.

 

[King Pietersen]

Those 2 boundaries prove that Ian Bell is such a class player. The on drive was almost perfection, Steyn's swinging the ball away and Bell uses his feet perfectly and crashes it through Mid On, beautiful shot. This then made Steyn correct his length which allowed him to Pull him for Four. Such a class player, if only he could maintain some consistency and up the aggression levels a little.

 

[Highlander999]

HA, that over from Ntini was farcical

 

[King Pietersen]

Yeh, was pretty brilliant. The best delivery was the 2nd free-hit, he bowled from the first line but bowled a wide, then got hit for 6 You can tell it's affecting him, he keeps looking at the crease, marking his run, and Prior's trying to attack him which will worry him even more. Good start for England, mainly thanks to Makhaya Ntini =D

 

[vaibhav mehta]

lol.Awesome from Ntini and on other note more stylish from Prior.
Simply Owned.
Great Start from England.If these to keep these till 18-20 overs then We might see the score of 300 here.

vaibhav mehta added 7 Minutes and 26 Seconds later...

Well three deliveries out of Six on pads,and that to Bell who would love to flick through Mid wicket any day.
Much impressive application from Bell.
England desperate to end up series here.

 

[irottev]

Pretty poor bowling. Ntini's bowled great balls and terrible balls. Nothing in between. More bad balls argh.

Anyone know why Morne Morkel didn't open the bowling? He's bowling over 90miles an hour, plus he's obviously the most threatening. Bad planning from SA. They really don't look like the second best side in the world.

 

[King Pietersen]

This is how Ian Bell plays on this type of track, he makes batting look so easy. His timing is exquisite, shot selection brilliant, foot movement almost perfect. He plays the ball through the field, can play over the top, plays all round the wicket, and hits boundaries. If Bell could work out a plan for the slower, more turgid surfaces he would be a brilliant player. This has been a masterful innings, really shows his class when he plays like this.

 

[aussie_ben91]

Why hasn't Patel ever been considered for Tests?

An average of 46 isn't bad compared to the fact that the majority of the players who represent England have very poor first-class records for International players.

 

[vaibhav mehta]

Pretty poor bowling. Ntini's bowled great balls and terrible balls. Nothing in between. More bad balls argh.

Anyone know why Morne Morkel didn't open the bowling? He's bowling over 90miles an hour, plus he's obviously the most threatening. Bad planning from SA. They really don't look like the second best side in the world.

Well I was hoping to see Morkel after Ntini's brutal over.And that would have been best time to bring Morkel.
South Africa just carried away here.To much waiting game from Kallis.I never felt like so far that He wanted to change things.
It just too late for Morkel even as Bell looks fine for a deserving ton.

 

[King Pietersen]

Why hasn't Patel ever been considered for Tests?

An average of 46 isn't bad compared to the fact that the majority of the players who represent England have very poor first-class records for International players.

Do they? Here's a look at the test squad and their first class stats.

Alastair Cook: 6625 runs at 45.06
Andrew Strauss: 10863 runs at 40.08
Ian Bell: 9157 runs at 43.81
Kevin Pietersen: 10172 runs at 51.37
Paul Collingwood: 9301 runs at 35.63
Andrew Flintoff: 8588 runs at 34.48
Matt Prior: 7473 runs at 39.53
Stuart Broad: 1092 runs at 25.39

Doesn't look "very poor" to me. Collingwood's the only player that doesn't have bloody good FC stats, and the only proper batsman to average under 40, but he's massively improved since the start of his FC career. Should probably try looking up the stats first Ben

England are looking good here, 97-0 off 14 overs, as long as we don't have a major collapse we should comfortably get 300. 280 should be enough I imagine.

 

[vaibhav mehta]

England are looking good here, 97-0 off 14 overs, as long as we don't have a major collapse we should comfortably get 300. 280 should be enough I imagine.

:
Finger crossed.
Well all set for Shah.Best time for him to join Bell as He has all the time in the world to do his job.
Hope He makes him self count and If He doesn't the I am just going to put his name in Most over rated cricketer thread.

 

[angryangy]

Should probably try looking up the stats first Ben

Probably depends how high you set the bar. I think he's exaggerating, but there are certainly guys like Trescothick and Vaughan that you could add to the list.

 

[evertonfan]

England in danger of throwing this one away a bit here. It's all on Fredward and Collingwood to get us a good score here.