South Africa tour of England 2022 (incl. 2 T20Is vs Ireland)

[Bevab]

For all the jokes, that's a really strong SA bowling attack. If anything Ngidi (48 Test wickets @ 20.79) is the weak link

I have to vehemently disagree here. This is not the Ngidi of the old with an identity crisis as he has cleaned up his act and is now the second best pacer in this side. Nortje for me is the weak (and that is being very harsh as you would take him in every bowling attack barring the Aussie one) link as he has a tendency to leak runs despite the wickets he takes.

 

[Aislabie]

Zak Crawley's whole career arc kind of reminds me of Adrian Barath in the way that he comes into the side as a highly rated young player, only to then flounder at Test level and end up out of his national team a couple of years later with an average in the 20s. And of course Adrian Barath is now a 32-year-old man who's not played cricket in eight years.

The best thing the ECB can do is pull him from the side, and make sure he's got a good support group around him, because this kind of sustained high-profile failure and criticism permanently damages people.

 

[CerealKiller]

Zak Crawley's whole career arc kind of reminds me of Adrian Barath in the way that he comes into the side as a highly rated young player, only to then flounder at Test level and end up out of his national team a couple of years later with an average in the 20s. And of course Adrian Barath is now a 32-year-old man who's not played cricket in eight years.

The best thing the ECB can do is pull him from the side, and make sure he's got a good support group around him, because this kind of sustained high-profile failure and criticism permanently damages people.

And keep him fresh for the Pakistan tour.

 

[Bevab]

Oh sweet lord is Crawley playing yet another test?

At this rate Lees-Crawley might just wipe out Rahul’s greatest achievement as being part of the worst opening pair in test history.

 

[Aislabie]

Ollie Robinson's off-breaks could make him a really useful dual-role bowler when the subcontinent series come around. But more importantly, he also makes a strong case for inclusion this week.

After all, is he the worst option to open the batting?

 

[Ed Smith]

Adore the philosophy of batting badly twice then dropping a bowler. Love out like that.

 

[Bevab]

Adore the philosophy of batting badly twice then dropping a bowler. Love out like that.

Robinson’s batting > Potts batting, so that ought to fix problems.

- brought to you by the ECB.

 

[Ed Smith]

A great toss to lose then. Keegan Petersen reminds me a lot of Hameed. Can't quite put my finger on why...

 

[wasteyouryouth]

A great toss to lose then. Keegan Petersen reminds me a lot of Hameed. Can't quite put my finger on why...

I'm about 65 miles from Old Trafford but when I went to the shop it was obviously bowling weather.

 

[Aislabie]

Well I'm glad England went to the bouncer plan after reducing SA to 90 for 7 with seam movement. Got to keep the game competitive

 

[Bevab]

Rassie van der Dussen after 17 games has very similar stats to the much maligned Bavuma after his own 17 games. Wonder why he doesn’t face the same amount of backlash that Bavuma did.

 

[Bevab]

Well I'm glad England went to the bouncer plan after reducing SA to 90 for 7 with seam movement. Got to keep the game competitive

Feels like every test side just resort to the short ball tactic if they have no idea of what to do. Is it really that successful if plan A doesn’t work?

 

[Aislabie]

Feels like every test side just resort to the short ball tactic if they have no idea of what to do. Is it really that successful if plan A doesn’t work?

It's awful - the short ball as a surprise tactic is super effective but the short ball every ball is predictable and not especially effective against any pro cricketer

 

[Bevab]

Crawley did well today to survive and stay in there. Could cash in tomorrow with some more application like today.

Post automatically merged: Aug 25, 2022

It's awful - the short ball as a surprise tactic is super effective but the short ball every ball is predictable and not especially effective against any pro cricketer

Feels like we’ve moved towards the ‘well my fuller delivery shall be the surprise one’ these days. It’s understandable when Stokes does it at his pace but to watch the other three try bouncers at 130 is ridiculous when they’re all much stronger testing batsmen with their length deliveries.

 

[Aislabie]

Feels like we’ve moved towards the ‘well my fuller delivery shall be the surprise one’ these days. It’s understandable when Stokes does it at his pace but to watch the other three try bouncers at 130 is ridiculous when they’re all much stronger testing batsmen with their length deliveries.

Yeah that's definitely the theory - but if you're going to have a stock ball and a surprise ball, then surely the stock ball should be the one that keeps most modes of dismissal in play.

Also ridiculous is that we hardly ever see them try things like slower balls when bowling at the tail - the batters who are least likely of all to pick and adjust to those deliveries.