***Official*** South Africa in England

[nexxus]

Meh, it was hitting the stumps and on the line of off stump, my initial thought was stone cold plumb.

If I were Davis, I'd have given the LBW, even if the replay shows it was just inside the line of off, nobody would be too bothered about that being given. The catch was a guess at best.

 

[Woodster]

Bopara was awful when he had a go. Shah can't field and is mentally not good enough unfortunately and will consistently underperform.

Would be very hard on Bopara to judge him on his few Tests so far. He looks a class act in domestic cricket, and has flourished in a few ODI's. He will be back to play Test cricket for England, of that I have no doubt, and imo he will succeed.

Shah for me deserves more Tests to prove himself either way. I don't think there's a more deserving English batsman out there for consistently scoring domestic runs.

 

[GIMH]

Can't blame people for not wanting to show up with these sorts of insipid performances on display.

So true. Don't think I've ever been this pissed off about cricket. Missus got in from a driving lesson around 8, I was in the kitchen all "meh". She just said "cricket?" Too right. Pathetic England, really pathetic.

Fred denied his double ton though, so I'm not counting my prediction as false. In fact my point about him not getting enough chance to bat...I was right

 

[GIMH]

Oh and lovely dismissal of Smith. Cheered me up temporarily.

Didn't catch Anderson's bowling, well maybe one over where he didn't seem to bowl badly. Were his other two stinkers?

 

[Woodster]

Oh and lovely dismissal of Smith. Cheered me up temporarily.

Didn't catch Anderson's bowling, well maybe one over where he didn't seem to bowl badly. Were his other two stinkers?

He was too wide, allowing Smith to watch a number of deliveries go by harmlessly. Generally bowled away swingers to Smith which was a touch surprising when you consider his natural ball swings into Smith and that is where Smith's had his problems in the past. Must've been working to an obscure plan, perhaps starving him of that ball and then zap, trapped in front. But Freddie did the business.

 

[GIMH]

Flintoff looked good, a notch up from the last game. Expecting 3 or 4 from him.

 

[Woodster]

Yes Freddie looked pumped up. Not necessarily bowling particularly express, but looked threatening. Fingers crossed for a decent haul from him, ably supported by Sidebottom and Anderson. Panesar to come into his own in the latter stages. Or will McKenzie, Amla, Prince and De Villiers assume control and batter us into the ground!! I sincerely hope not.

 

[GIMH]

The thing is, Flintoff, Sidebottom, Anderson is a very good seam attack. But you have to give your bowlers a chance, and 231 all out just isn't doing that.

 

[SpaceMonkey]

Good to see Anderson back to bowling his usual crap. When he bowls well for three matches in a row you'll know the apocalypse is just around the corner.

He had a poor mini session. Hardly anything to really lay into him about. Sidebottom hardly bowled better either.

 

[Woodster]

On a track that currently has no demons in it, 231 is unacceptable. Couple of them got out to fairly decent balls, thought Kp and Vaughans decision on another day could quite conceivably have gone the other way. Cook and Bell really should have pushed on to big ones.

 

[GIMH]

Sidebottom conceded a few boundaries while I was watching but it was fair to say a couple were unlucky

 

[GIMH]

On a track that currently has no demons in it, 231 is unacceptable. Couple of them got out to fairly decent balls, thought Kp and Vaughans decision on another day could quite conceivably have gone the other way. Cook and Bell really should have pushed on to big ones.

Yes, big problem for both at the minute. In some ways I'd rather a Collyesque run of form, it's so frustrating to see a player that is set lose their wicket.

 

[nexxus]

Yes Freddie looked pumped up. Not necessarily bowling particularly express, but looked threatening. Fingers crossed for a decent haul from him, ably supported by Sidebottom and Anderson. Panesar to come into his own in the latter stages. Or will McKenzie, Amla, Prince and De Villiers assume control and batter us into the ground!! I sincerely hope not.

What about that other dude, the only one who hasn't scored a century this tour yet? I think he might want to have something to say about grinding people into the ground. I sincerely hope so.

 

[Uppercut]

What about that other dude, the only one who hasn't scored a century this tour yet? I think he might want to have something to say about grinding people into the ground. I sincerely hope so.

He already has.

 

[Richard]

Never seen you post so many Rolleyeses in a short space of time. You know England must be doing badly!

 

[Richard]

On a track that currently has no demons in it, 231 is unacceptable. Couple of them got out to fairly decent balls, thought Kp and Vaughans decision on another day could quite conceivably have gone the other way. Cook and Bell really should have pushed on to big ones.

Cook at least was got out, don't think there can be too much blame there. Bell, though (and Ambrose too) was simply shocking. Both got out to utter nothing balls after doing the hard work.

I just don't know what to say that hasn't already been said, several hundred times. The disappointing thing is, I can't say I'd be confident that Key, Shah or Joyce (or even Prior ) would neccessarily do better, so really the idea of dropping Strauss, Cook or Bell just doesn't wash.

 

[Woodster]

What about that other dude, the only one who hasn't scored a century this tour yet? I think he might want to have something to say about grinding people into the ground. I sincerely hope so.

Yes it's unfortunately only a matter of time before Kallis does make a big one. Top batsmen like that don't go too long without having a major say in the series.

 

[Woodster]

Cook at least was got out, don't think there can be too much blame there. Bell, though (and Ambrose too) was simply shocking. Both got out to utter nothing balls after doing the hard work.

I just don't know what to say that hasn't already been said, several hundred times. The disappointing thing is, I can't say I'd be confident that Key, Shah or Joyce (or even Prior ) would neccessarily do better, so really the idea of dropping Strauss, Cook or Bell just doesn't wash.

Cook tbf got a bit of a beauty.

 

[Furball]

The more I think about it, the more the selection of Collingwood annoys me.

There seem to be two different selection criteria depending on whether or not you're in the batting clique.

Shah or Bopara should have been in the side for this test. They're in form, Collingwood isn't. Heck, if you want a number six who can bowl a bit, Stuart Broad's been in better recent form than Collingwood has. There's no justification for Collingwood being anywhere near the side. He's played 10 first class innings this summer, and hasn't yet broken the 100 run mark. He's averaging 8 for England - and that's with a 24* boosting his average!

Yet Harmison, Hoggard, Broad, Pattinson all have bad games, and they're binned immediately, rightly or wrongly. The batting line up is doing the bowlers no favours, yet they're the ones who keep their places. It's a joke.

 

[Richard]

Harmison and Broad all had plenty and plenty more than a single bad game. Broad has never yet been a good Test bowler, should never yet have played Test cricket, and Harmison was one only for a few months, a few months which is now over 4 years ago.

Hoggard is a little more debateable and has indeed it would seem been sawn-off without all that much justification, but nonetheless he'd certainly had more than a single poor match.

Pattinson was less a case of being binned after 1 poor game as, hopefully, a case of realising swiftly a very bad mistake and correcting it.