***Official*** South Africa in England

[SpaceMonkey]

Same, as I said earlier there is a lot of perplexing fickleness about at the moment. A settled side is paramount.

Only change I'd make is when we can be sure that Jones is ready, bring him in for Anderson.

Unfortunately the fitness of Sidebottom and Fred may dictate changes.

Leaving the batting line up which has continuly failed all summer alone? Bowling was fine really. If the batsmen had scored enough in the first innings then SA wouldnt have got close. Not to mention we had 2 bowlers that were obviously crocked / some dodgy umpiring.

Ambrose and Collingwood need to go, and the top 5 need to sort their **** out asap.

 

[Langeveldt]

I've been so happy with the way Smith has conducted himself both on and off the cricket field this year.. He's been absolute gun, I've been a critic of his, and I'd have kept Polly as captain in the national team until his retirement, but I think we've got something really special developing now..

 

[Zinzan]

Pretty much the best available team played. They set SA 280 to win and had them 93-4. This doesn't suggest to me that anything is seriously wrong with the England team. .

Well said, and to add to that, when are English fans (not all of them) just going to accept that SA are the better team. Forget the whinging about the selections, and give SA credit where its due

England had everything going for them leading into this test with Steyn injured and then winning the toss yet still got beaten comfortably.

I felt the same as a NZ fan in the test series against England, forever questioning selections, thinking that they always choked and fell over, before realising they just weren't as good as their opposition. Its the same for England in this series.

Well played SA, England simply outclassed for mine

I'll be very surprised if its not 3-0 to SA

 

[SpaceMonkey]

Well said, and to add to that, when are English fans (not all of them) just going to accept that SA are the better team. Forget the whinging about the selections, and give SA credit where its due

England had everything going for them leading into this test with Steyn injured and then winning the toss yet still got beaten comfortably.

I felt the same as a NZ fan in the test series against England, forever questioning selections, thinking that they always choked and fell over, before realising they just weren't as good as their opposition. Its the same for England in this series.

Well played SA, England simply outclassed for mine

I'll be very surprised if its not 3-0 to SA

SA having a good team has nothing to do with Englands batmens just completely losing the plot and getting out to stupid shots all the time.

Its not like SA had the shackles on us and the batsmen try and hit the occasional loose ball too hard...that i could understand. But England have it in their head that they need to score at 4 an over in all conditions and as a result rightly lost.

 

[pnesam07]

shocking

Aussies are going to whitewash us. Dark future ahead

 

[Zinzan]

SA having a good team has nothing to do with Englands batmens just completely losing the plot and getting out to stupid shots all the time.

Its not like SA had the shackles on us and the batsmen try and hit the occasional loose ball too hard...that i could understand. But England have it in their head that they need to score at 4 an over in all conditions and as a result rightly lost.

Look, I agree they played some silly shots to get out. But thats the pressure of test cricket. And when I said SA are the better side, I mean both in terms of their skill and mental game.

Incidently, I suppose at least no English batsmen got out in not-sighting the ball as Mckenzie did once & Kallis twice, and even with the strange advantage Flintoff seemed to get from the what I can only assume was a gap in the sidescreen where he picked up those lucky and key wickets, SA still won comfortably

 

[TazzX]

So SOOOO happy

what a great player Smith is def the best captains knock I have seen in a long time!

ahahah SHAME on your name England!

 

[Zinzan]

So SOOOO happy

what a great player Smith is def the best captains knock I have seen in a long time!

ahahah SHAME on your name England!

A tad childish to be fair.

 

[SpaceMonkey]

Look, I agree they played some silly shots to get out. But thats the pressure of test cricket. And when I said SA are the better side, I mean both in terms of their skill and mental game.

Incidently, I suppose at least no English batsmen got out in not-sighting the ball as Mckenzie did once & Kallis twice, and even with the strange advantage Flintoff seemed to get from the what I can only assume was a gap in the sidescreen where he picked up those lucky and key wickets, SA still won comfortably

I totally agree. Mentally, SA destroyed us. The way they played old fashioned test cricket to build their innings up was awesome. But the only reason they could do that most of the time was because we got bowled out in under a day and gave them plenty time to bat.

 

[Zinzan]

I totally agree. Mentally SA destroyed us. The way they played old fashioned test cricket to build their innings up was awesome. But the only reason they could do that most of the time was because we got bowled out in under a day and gave them plenty time to bat.

Yup, undoubtedly a combination of SA's mental strength and England's lack of it.

 

[Spikey]

, and even with the strange advantage Flintoff seemed to get from the what I can only assume was a gap in the sidescreen where he picked up those lucky and key wickets, SA still won comfortably

It was the glare from the windows above the screen according to the FoxSports report.

http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,24120397-23212,00.html

 

[Zinzan]

It was the glare from the windows above the screen according to the FoxSports report.

http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,24120397-23212,00.html

Right, cheers

 

[pasag]

Great stuff from Smith, have had a soft spot for him since the IPL and he played magnificently. A real captain's knock if there ever was one. Sigh at England.

 

[pasag]

South Africa played very well and look like a formidable opponent for Australia down here in summertime. I will go on out a limb and say that South Africa WON'T lose the series against Australia, provided no one in the first XI breaks down in the meantime. I just think they have a better seam attack, better wickey, but, of course Australia has the better batting lineup on paper but all of SAfrica's batsman are in prime form.IMHO, South Africa are a quality attacking spinner away from knocking Australia off top spot.

They might not lose in Australia but there's no reason to suggest that from the way they've played in England which has been pretty unconvincing, for mine in all departments. Yes they've won, but if this England team weren't so rubbish at times, things may have been different.

 

[NZTailender]

Ridiculous that people are Collingwood to be dropped. I can think of 3 people in the English side who should be dropped before Collingwood now.

 

[Spinksy]

Ridiculous that people are Collingwood to be dropped. I can think of 3 people in the English side who should be dropped before Collingwood now.

Collingwood isn't a player that you drop no matter what form that he is in, like even when Glenn McGrath was in pretty bad shape we still kept him in the side, why because he is one of those players, without him the Australian side would never bethe same, Glenn is a good team motivator and that was why Australia was so motivated at times even when games had a slim chance of victory. Collingwood is Englands Glenn McGrath at the moment in my opinion, a great team motivator and dropping him from the test side is pointless and will only come back to bite them on the arse. By the way, who are the three people that you considered should get the boot before Paul Collingwood, I can think of a few, like 1. Monty Panesar because he cannot catch even if his life depended on it, a bit like me really and maybe the possible 2. in Stuart Broad, it would probably a silly suggestion to make though because they are both bowlers and there is not many people to replace, a left arm orthodox spinner, being Monty Panesar and a right arm fast medium pace bowler being Stuart Broad.

 

[Bahnz]

Yeah...I got a similar feeling watching this series, as I did watching the earlier series as a New Zealand fan. That is, while England are capable of matching and even bettering their opponnents for periods of time, over the full 5 days of a test the greater discipline, experience and (to a small degree) talent of South Africa will usually win through.

 

[Spinksy]

So SOOOO happy

what a great player Smith is def the best captains knock I have seen in a long time!

ahahah SHAME on your name England!

Agreed, I have not seen a better test match knock by a captain in probably one to three years now. It is a bit of a pity for England but South Africa are deserving winners all the same. To be perfectly honest though I don't see how England losing to South Africa is funny, unless you are a hater of England I see no perpose in that at all. What did Graeme Smith end up getting, 167 or something like that, Superb knock to say the very least though.

 

[Napier16]

If the batsmen had scored enough in the first innings then SA wouldnt have got close. .

Conversely if SA had scored enough in their first innings then England wouldn't have got close.

Pretty pointless comment really.

 

[Napier16]

But England have it in their head that they need to score at 4 an over in all conditions and as a result rightly lost.

They do? That's odd because their run rates have been really low over recent times.

They had in their heads to go at about 2 an over against a toothless NZ attack, this isn't 2005 anymore.