***Official*** South Africa in England

[superkingdave]

Horton for Vaughan imo :0)

 

[tooextracool]

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.

KP got a good delivery but Vaughan whether he edged it or not, he played a poor stroke against a poor delivery. Even if he goes on to score a 100 this series, I simply dont think hes good enough to be playing test match cricket as a batsman. At almost 34, its hard to see how hes dramatically going to turn around his being very ordinary for the last 5 years.

 

[Furball]

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.

Collingwood has been rotten for a year now, yet is recalled after 1 Test away.

Why not Bopara or Shah?

 

[Burgey]

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.

Is Hogard perceived to have gone the way of Gillespie, in losing some zip which he used to have?
I haven't seen as much of his bowling of late, but out here in the Ashes series his efforts were superb, even on the flat decks like Adelaide. I wonder if the selectors think he's too much like Sidebottom pace-wise to play them both?

 

[SpaceMonkey]

Is Hogard perceived to have gone the way of Gillespie, in losing some zip which he used to have?
I haven't seen as much of his bowling of late, but out here in the Ashes series his efforts were superb, even on the flat decks like Adelaide. I wonder if the selectors think he's too much like Sidebottom pace-wise to play them both?

The term is 'lost a yard of pace'. Which i heard some commentator say the selectors said. I guess they dont want Hoggard / Sidebottom / Anderson in the same team. Cant blame them for that!

 

[Speersy]

KP got a good delivery but Vaughan whether he edged it or not, he played a poor stroke against a poor delivery. Even if he goes on to score a 100 this series, I simply dont think hes good enough to be playing test match cricket as a batsman. At almost 34, its hard to see how hes dramatically going to turn around his being very ordinary for the last 5 years.

I don't think Pieterson deserves that. It was not that good of a delivery, KP picked it and was going to whip it off his pads for four. He just hit his pad with his bat, and couldn't hit the ball in time.

 

[The Baconator]

Hmm, really worried we won't make it till Saturday, or probably worse, we watch some tailenders get cleaned up in the morning and don't get a refund.

 

[SirBloody Idiot]

KP got a good delivery but Vaughan whether he edged it or not, he played a poor stroke against a poor delivery.

Poor delivery? Really?

 

[Flem274*]

Horton for Vaughan imo :0)

Look, Vaughan may be in **** form, but he's still far superior than me at batting.

 

[howardj]

What's happened to the Pommy batsmen and their off-stump judgement!

More nicks this series than at an old-school barber shop.

 

[Zinzan]

What's happened to the Pommy batsmen and their off-stump judgement!

More nicks this series than at an old-school barber shop.

Will remember that one

 

[Richard]

KP got a good delivery but Vaughan whether he edged it or not, he played a poor stroke against a poor delivery. Even if he goes on to score a 100 this series, I simply dont think hes good enough to be playing test match cricket as a batsman. At almost 34, its hard to see how hes dramatically going to turn around his being very ordinary for the last 5 years.

Poor delivery? Hardly. I can accept that some batsmen might have kept it out (or missed it) but it was decent bowling from Nel on that occasion and to call it a rank poor delivery is, simply, wrong.

 

[Richard]

Collingwood has been rotten for a year now, yet is recalled after 1 Test away.

Why not Bopara or Shah?

Apart from the fact that's not strictly true (Collingwood was fairly poor in the winter but still managed a decent knock or two), Collingwood was recalled because the perception was that he'd not have been dropped at Headingley but for Sidebottom's injury. Honestly, I don't really see that Collingwood playing this game was a shocking decision at all. His scenario is totally, completely incomparable to Broad or Harmison.

Why not Bopara? Well he was shown-up to be convincingly short of Test-class in his previous stint, which wasn't so long ago, and he shouldn't even have been picked then, as Shah and Joyce both had better cases.

Why not Shah? Well I don't know. I still hope that if Collingwood gets the axe again any time soon, he'll be the man to come in.

 

[Richard]

I don't think Pieterson deserves that. It was not that good of a delivery, KP picked it and was going to whip it off his pads for four. He just hit his pad with his bat, and couldn't hit the ball in time.

It was well bowled by Kallis IMO. Even though Pietersen may have picked it, he still couldn't get bat on it.

To change up your standard (Kallis usually bowls outswingers) is always good bowling, if well-disguised.

 

[Richard]

Look, Vaughan may be in **** form, but he's still far superior than me at batting.

Ah, so is this finally revealing your surname then? Should've been careful of that with me around.

 

[Richard]

Is Hogard perceived to have gone the way of Gillespie, in losing some zip which he used to have?
I haven't seen as much of his bowling of late, but out here in the Ashes series his efforts were superb, even on the flat decks like Adelaide. I wonder if the selectors think he's too much like Sidebottom pace-wise to play them both?

The official-ish word is that he's being ignored because of some form of loss in speed. Whether that's through the air or off the wicket, doesn't especially matter. However, I do wonder if it's just a convenient excuse, because of some form of wrong-headed analogy of not wanting Sidebottom and him in the team.

I do feel that currently Sidebottom > Hoggard (though that certainly hasn't been true for most of their careers until very recently) but also, to suggest that Monty Panesar is a better bowler than him under more circumstances than not is mad.

 

[Scaly piscine]

Collingwood has been rotten for a year now, yet is recalled after 1 Test away.

Why not Bopara or Shah?

Bopara got picked for a series and was utterly useless.

Shah has mental issues and can't field for toffee.

 

[Richard]

Kinda ridiculous, obviously, that it's taken so for granted that Shah has "mental issues".

 

[Stapel]

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.

Not sure about that. If England go into their 2nd innings trailing less than 100 runs, the bowlers have arguably doen their thing. Today, the England attack might not play to win, but most defenitely have a chance to save the match.

That said, I'm still hoping for a fired up Flintoff bowling the Proteas in shatters.

 

[aussie tragic]

I think the bowling line-up is okay for now, with Sidebottom, Flintoff, Anderson, Harmison, Jones, Hoggard and Panesar to choose from, however I think the batting needs to be sorted by blooding some good county performers.

This would be my top 7 in the next test

1. Andrew Strauss
2. Paul Horton
3. Stephen Moore
4. Kevin Pietersen
5. Owais Shah
6. Matt Prior
7. Tim Ambrose




……lol, just joking by naming a side where not a single batsman is born in England…In reality, Cook and Bell would of course replace Moore and Prior