South Africa in England

[thesweepmaster]

England might be able to draw this game!

 

[m_vaughan]

Are you high? Or is it raining?

 

[Insomniac]

England could still lose this.

South Africa bat on, score around 500 in this innings (SL did it in 2006), and then in the 2nd session on day 5, they bowl out England for under 125 on a Day 5 pitch.

You just never know with this game...

 

[m_vaughan]

It is a possibility but somehow I cant see lightning striking twice. England losing this is out of the picture.

 

[Sureshot]

England could still lose this.

South Africa bat on, score around 500 in this innings (SL did it in 2006), and then in the 2nd session on day 5, they bowl out England for under 125 on a Day 5 pitch.

You just never know with this game...

Many reasons why that is unlikely to happen. Flintoff was captaining that game and bowled himself for about 52 overs, Monty didn't bowl even 30 in 200 overs iirc. Secondly, this pitch is getting a lot better for the bowlers, Monty is getting a lot more out of it, plus he is better now than he was then and the Sri Lankans can play spinners very well.

I'm not saying it won't happen, but we will have to bowl very badly.

Is Simon Jones actually in contention for a return? If thats the case, and assuming he will be able to reproduce his old form, its great news for this team.

He has done very well for Worcs in the 2nd division of the Championship this season. However, he isn't playing every game Worcs play because they are being very gentle with him. Got an average around the 12/13 mark. As for whether he is in contention? If he keeps taking wickets he'd be hard to keep out, but our pace attack is very strong.

 

[Maxkarter]

I haven't seen a team underperform so much as a whole when you consider the amount of confidence (over-confidence?) they had coming into the match. Talking up your performace is all fine and well as long as you can actually back it up on the field, but that hasn't happened at all. The bowling was pretty bad, but the batting was just dire today, Prince really shone and he was really out of form before his innings today. McKenzie and de Villiers were the only other players to score runs even if they didn't look the most comfortable all the time.

It really has been a disappointing start to the test and from here it's quite likely an England victory or a pretty amazing draw, which would require a solid batting display which would have to last until well into the final day. Hopefully take two on the batting can be better than what was put into the bowlers' heads overnight after a bad first day. I think most of the problems are psychlogical along with the whole team being undercooked in terms of playing time when you consider the last time anyone played long games was the NZ series, and the IPL hardly could prepare anyone for this series.

 

[mattfb]

I watched moft of the second session of this game and what I saw made me pretty impressed with Jimmy and Prince. Prince was batting superb, keeping his cool and hitting the gaps when he was from 0-40 but once he got in the 40's England (Jimmy ecspecially) did very good to keep him under the pump and nearly got him a few times.

 

[irottev]

SA aren't impressive at all. Hopefully they lift for the next match. This one, is to be honest, as good as gone. Best they can really hope for is a draw and there'd have to be some really yucky weather.

England are playing really well. Maybe our test side isn't so crap after all. We did really well in that test series looking at this result.

 

[SciD]

Originally Posted by Stupid Commentator after KP scores century
What a find he has been for England.

What find. He better had played for RSA.

 

[aussie_ben91]

Just imagine how good South Africa would be if they had Kevin Pietersen coming in at number 3 instead of Hashim Amla.

 

[mattfb]

SA aren't impressive at all. Hopefully they lift for the next match. This one, is to be honest, as good as gone. Best they can really hope for is a draw and there'd have to be some really yucky weather.

England are playing really well. Maybe our test side isn't so crap after all. We did really well in that test series looking at this result.

I never said SA were impressive, I said Prince and Jimmy Anderson impressed me in that middle session.

 

[sennamor]

SA aren't impressive at all. Hopefully they lift for the next match. This one, is to be honest, as good as gone. Best they can really hope for is a draw and there'd have to be some really yucky weather.

England are playing really well. Maybe our test side isn't so crap after all. We did really well in that test series looking at this result.

In my opinion it is England who have raised their game a great deal against South Africa. They got away despite playing average cricket against New Zealand.

 

[Sureshot]

Just imagine how good South Africa would be if they had Kevin Pietersen coming in at number 3 instead of Hashim Amla.

Just imagine how good South Africa would have been had they not been racists for so many decades.

I'm amazed at how Monty didn't get McKenzie lbw, it was plumb. Yet Harper didn't give it out, it was clearly pad first too.

 

[Ollie_H]

He has done very well for Worcs in the 2nd division of the Championship this season. However, he isn't playing every game Worcs play because they are being very gentle with him. Got an average around the 12/13 mark. As for whether he is in contention? If he keeps taking wickets he'd be hard to keep out, but our pace attack is very strong.

Is Simon Jones actually in contention for a return? If thats the case, and assuming he will be able to reproduce his old form, its great news for this team.

Re: Simon Jones/Flintoff, who would we drop to accommodate them?? This attack has to be one of the best in the world right now.

Does nobody look at my posts anymore?

He's been taking 5 wicket halls all over the place this season. Him and Kabir Ali have been doing very well for Worcs. Although Worcsteshire are being careful over him so that he doesn't break down again but he may be on sky this week in the pro40.

Top 3 Divison Two Bowlers!

Player	        Mat	Overs	Mdns	Runs	Wkts	BBI	BBM	Ave	Econ	SR	5	10
TJ Murtagh	8*	234.5	43	825	35	7/95	10/127	23.57	3.51	40.2	2	1
(Middlesex)
Kabir Ali	7*	163.4	24	614	30	4/63	7/95	20.46	3.75	32.7	0	0
(Worcestershire)
SP Jones	6*	113.2	22	376	26	5/30	8/55	14.46	3.31	26.1	3	0
(Worcestershire)

Compare with Top 3 Division 1 Bowlers

Player	        Mat	Overs	Mdns	Runs	Wkts	BBI	BBM	Ave	Econ	SR	5	10
SJ Harmison	7*	228.5	63	713	33	6/122	8/180	21.60	3.11	41.6	1	0
(Durham)
Saqlain Mushtaq	8*	230.3	25	784	31	6/50	7/115	25.29	3.40	44.6	3	0
(Surrey)
JA Tomlinson	8*	232.4	35	885	30	8/46	10/194	29.50	3.80	46.5	1	1
(Hampshire)

 

[MUFC1987]

I don't get this thing about Flintoff coming back into the team. He's hardly scoring any runs and he's not exactly taking loads of wickets either, yet because he's Flintoff and bowls fast he should be back in the team apparently.

If we're looking at bringing somebody back in, it should be either Harmison or Mahmood for me, but I don't think there's a reason to change the side at the moment, especially not the bowling attack.