South Africa in England

[banjo6]

Because its a test match.

Bell is a natural 3 and Pietersen should not be 3 in tests.

We know you love KP so obviously you want him batting as high as possible but he is not a number 3.

Personally i would have him at 6 below Shah.

 

[Dare]

Is Anderson not fit or do people like excluding him out of the team for nor reason??

 

[Sureshot]

Because its a test match.

Bell is a natural 3 and Pietersen should not be 3 in tests.

We know you love KP so obviously you want him batting as high as possible but he is not a number 3.

Personally i would have him at 6 below Shah.

At 6? You don't have your best batsman at Number 6, he is at either 3 or 4. I would have him at 4. Had his success there.

Dare, Anderson hasn't got any consistency. That's his problem.

 

[King Pietersen]

Because its a test match.

Bell is a natural 3 and Pietersen should not be 3 in tests.

We know you love KP so obviously you want him batting as high as possible but he is not a number 3.

Personally i would have him at 6 below Shah.

Bell's a natural number 3, why have you got him in at 4 then ? Pietersen's our best player by a mile, he's the only player that can take the attack to the opposition and not resort to slogging, he should be batting as high in the team as possible, which whilst Vaughan is in the side is at 4. When Vaughan hangs up his bat, I expect Pietersen to move to 3 and take the captaincy. Collingwood's too old to be the next test captain, many forget that he's 32 years of age. Pietersen at 28 offers the best choice to be the next captain.

Also, Dare, Anderson's a good bowler in swinging conditions, but on a batsmans pitch he really offers nothing, other than his fielding. He's got fairly decent control considering he doesn't look where he's bowling, but the likes of Jones and Flintoff offer the side far more consistency and are far more dangerous on all pitches. On a swinging pitch though there is no better bowler in England, I'd argue that Anderson is the best new ball Swing bowler in the world. He's only world class when conditions suit though.

 

[Sureshot]

I think Cook is the natural successor for captain of the Test side.

 

[Will_NA]

Captain Cook?

 

[0601731]

Captain Cook?

lol

england should have backed flintoff for the 1st test,england will be fielding an unchanged squad for a 6th test in a row.

 

[jimmymycrushie]

Thare won't be a test match at Old Trafford for the next two years. I think England will play the same team that played that played vs Nz. It will be a record. No country has ever played the same XI for six consecutive matches. And it's the right decision too. Freddie needs more overs under his belt. Good News! Belly has scored 215 in County Cricket recently. Hope he continues his form in the test series too! Our bowling has been doing all the work lately. Batsmen need to fire.

jimmymycrushie added 3 Minutes and 45 Seconds later...

I think Cook is the natural successor for captain of the Test side.

Strauss should be the captain after Vaughny.

 

[King Pietersen]

Strauss is 31, he'll be too old to be the captain by the time Vaughan retires. Cook's not got enough about him to be captain for me, his place in the side is still not secured, and he's not in great form. I just don't see him as captaincy material, he's a quality player, but I'm not sure he's got enough in him to be captain, vice captain possibly, but not captain. Pietersen's our best player, has massive confidence/arrogance, performed well in his only game as captain, was agressive as captain, kept a slip in for a long period of time, which resulted in the wicket of McCullum, and other than bowling Shah for 1 more over than he should have he did very well. He's next in line for the ODi captaincy, so he'd be the perfect captain for me.

 

[PhilD123]

I'm not particularly talking about on here, but more the media in general. What is the need to constantly suggest someone needs to be dropped? Just think about it, when was the last time the media, after a game, said everyone should keep their place. After the first few tests in NZ, it was Strauss, then it was Vaughan after Strauss had got a hundred, then Vaughan got a hundred at Lords, and so it moved onto Collingwood and Bell, they, without great form, took us over the line at OT. And now it seems Ambrose is being targeted, despite being in a match winning partnership in the last test match! Shah could come in, i'd have no problems with that, but Collingwood and Bell are good batsmen, give them time and their form will improve. They've proved themselves in the past, they'll do it again. Any thoughts to get rid of Cook are ridiculous, he's a young batsman, still learning, he'll have dips in form, but he needs to continue to be played.

As for captain, Cook is a great shout, got so much time ahead of him and seems to have a mature attitude. Pietersen is another good shout, but he'd need to be the ODI captaincy really beforehand to give him more experience.

 

[jimmymycrushie]

I don't think Cook should ever captain England & nobody needs to be dropped right now from the test team. Not even Ambrose. I'm worried captaincy might effect KP's batting that's why I suggested Strauss.

 

[irottev]

Look at what SA is doing in these practices. They're in damned good nick. England are gonna have a tough series, that's for sure.

 

[Sureshot]

The Middlesex attack is very, very weak. Also Uxbridge and Taunton are very good batting tracks.

That's not to say they are in bad form, but there are factors. Somerset fielded a weakened team too.

 

[irottev]

Of course..But still, batting these petty attacks around and getting good time in the middle is only helping them find the middle of the bat and getting confidence. Doesn't matter who it's against.

 

[King Pietersen]

They've not faced a world class spinner yet either, South Africa struggle against spin. If you look at the worlds prolific spinners, their figures against South Africa are impressive:

Muralitharan: 104 wickets at 22
Warne: 130 wickets at 24
Kumble: 84 wickets at 32
Harbhajan: 35 wickets at 27
Kaneria: 36 wickets at 30

Only Daniel Vettori has really struggled against South Africa, only taking 18 wickets at 69. Against the spinners who get real turn South Africa have struggled, which is proven by the 2 real big spinners, Murali and Warne taking lots of wickets at a low average. The likes of Vettori and Kumble, and even Giles who are more slow bowlers than spinners have been played well by the South Africans, but Monty's different to those 3 in that he gets rip, spin and bounce. I think if England are going to win this series, Monty Panesar is going to be the key. Also, England play pace very well, if the lefties cope well against the angle from Ntini and the swing from Steyn, then we'll stand a real chance of beating South Africa. It's going to be a much closer series than many are anticipating. I'd even go as far as saying that England have the edge, the 1 paced South African attack, the lack of a quality spinner, a weakness against quality spin bowling, it could work out very well for England, we like pace on the ball.