South Africa in England

[Simbazz]

In the heat of the moment, i'd have done the same thing. It meant my team had a wicket.

 

[evertonfan]

I would have done as well, but i'd understand if someone disliked me for it.

 

[Simbazz]

Its the fact that had it been Vettori, he'd be lying had he said that he would have helped the batsmen up and said "Bat on kid," because any captain would have done the same.

All it needs is a bit of give from each of them! Be-grudging Colly of that is selfish and means he isn't the perfect captain.

It sounds like i'm backing the England boys to the hills, and i don't. But in this situation i will, knowing how difficult the captains job is, even at the ages group!

 

[MUFC1987]

Collingwood's innings is what Test match cricket is all about, when your team is down with their backs against the wall and you need an innings, you need someone to get the job done, and Collingwood did it superbly.

 

[age of the fall]

And, Murali succumbed to it, which most NZ'ers forget somehow. Conveniently some would say.

And people from england use an example witch was based on Muralis Stupidity, and was in NZ rights.

 

[Ollie_H]

As was it in Colly's rights to run him out :

 

[Will_NA]

Kinf of hard to score runs when you're out of the side. Collingwood is class and is going through the obligatory loss of form. This is the same man who hit 96 and 200-odd in successive Tests against Australia not too long ago and has managed to maintain a run in the side despite never having a spot tied-down with competition with Ian Bell and questions about his technique.

Collingwood will score runs.

Case in point.

 

[Covvy]

Paul Collingwood saved his career yesterday. If he didn't perform he would've been dropped again and never to play again. England's just getting on top of S.A at the moment.

 

[Owzat]

Well played KP first of all, his aggression threw the South African bowling into disarray and has given England a shot at winning the game from the brink of defeat. If he hadn't been destroying their bowling then I think Collingwood might have struggled a bit more, not that Collingwood doesn't deserve credit for his 100, but I think Pietersen's 94 put England back in with a shout and I'm annoyed some are criticising him for the way he got out. Yes it was frustrating, but he's not the only one to give South Africa his wicket. He took England from just a bit ahead with four 2nd innings wickets down, to a point at which England had something to bowl out. Collingwood and Ambrose have carried on that good work. The thrown away wickets are making England work hard for any kind of target, the pitch is a 300 par and England are gifting so many wickets :-

1st innings

Strauss - poor technique to the short ball
Collingwood - poor shot selection and execution
Ambrose - indecisive in shot (selection)
Anderson - silly run out
Panesar - silly run out

2nd innings

Cook - poor shot selection and execution
Vaughan - poor technique
Pietersen - good score, but one risk too many
Bell - poor shot selection and execution
Flintoff - poor defensive technique to spin

Only Sidebottom hasn't given his wicket away, or been run out if you blame Flintoff for those. When South Africa finally bowl England out they will have more or less only done it once, England have given them half the 20 wickets Vaughan is always going on about.


As for the match, well the new ball and first session are crucial. If Ambrose can hang around and Collingwood go on then England could post the 250-270 I reckon might win it. They'd have to bowl well and not drop any chances. I fear I've seen one or two new days like this before, the centurion overnight might as well be on nought. I hope he and Ambrose add at least another 30 before the next wicket falls, the South Africans may well focus on Ambrose and then the tail will be exposed.

A special mention to Ambrose, he may not have scored a lot of runs in the match, but he hung around while 39 runs were scored 1st innings and 76 runs (and counting) this time around. He's come in for a lot of stick, but I believe PARTNERSHIPS are important even if you don't score many runs and while he may not score the runs himself, they won't get scored at all if his partner is left stranded a la Flintoff 1st innings.

Owzat added 4 Minutes and 3 Seconds later...

Just one thing on Collingwood, he should have been dropped a while ago and got a reprieve. He's made most of this chance, but it is what he does in his next few that determines if the gamble was justified. I have to laugh at his attempts to help out Vaughan, saying 'Vaughany' said to him

Collingwood said some words of wisdom from skipper Michael Vaughan - also under pressure after a bad run of scores - had helped settle him on his way to the crease.

"Michael Vaughan said to me 'just go out there and be positive, be the aggressor' and it stood me in good stead," he added.

Dear oh dear, words of wisdom : I've read a variation on that which said something like "be positive, but don't be reckless". It's what Vaughan did and look how far it got him! I had to laugh when Pollock (I think it was) suggested he (Vaughan) was "in" - he wasn't, he'd scored four boundaries but you're not really "in" until you've spent a bit of time at the crease. You're "in" when you've faced 25-30 balls, not a dozen or so

 

[aditya123]

Collingwood`s innings yesterday symbolizes what test match cricket is all about.
A test of skill,grit and resilience.

 

[angryangy]

Spoken like a true batsman, never could it be the bowler leading the batsman into a mistake! Especially to call those later short balls gimmes, while on the first couple of days, it was apparent that anything short just sat up and was fair game. As the the game has progressed, much better short balls have been delivered and that deceived the batsmen, especially with good sunshine helping the batsmen and encouraging them to shirk defensive play. Ntini especially delivers quite well with the bouncer because of his angles and when the ball flies a bit straighter, you look at the ball that finishes up high and well outside off and rightly say "why did he go for that?" If it had sat up and held its line, it would have been sacrilege to let it go.

 

[Sureshot]

Ambrose gone 2nd ball to Morkel.

Colly had a big job yesterday, his task is even bigger today. We have to give ourselves a chance. Even if it is only another 35 runs.

 

[aditya123]

Ambrose gone 2nd ball to Morkel.

Colly had a big job yesterday, his task is even bigger today. We have to give ourselves a chance. Even if it is only another 35 runs.

Those runs will have to come as long as Sidebottom stays there because I do not see Anderson and Monty staying there for long.

 

[irottev]

Please don't bring up that incident again unless you want to get me started on it again. I've said many times what I think about it and the Murili thing. Go search my posts.

The umpiring has been a disgrace this series. That was absolutely dead plumb taking middle 3/4s of the way up. It's time for technology.

 

[aditya123]

Please don't bring up that incident again unless you want to get me started on it again. I've said many times what I think about it and the Murili thing. Go search my posts.

The umpiring has been a disgrace this series. That was absolutely dead plumb taking middle 3/4s of the way up. It's time for technology.

Maybe the time has come for the referral system to be implemented.
That leads me to ask a question as to why they are not trying out the referral system in this series?