***Official*** South Africa in England

[Manee]

A(a)qib Javed was the same.

This reminds me that when I was younger, I used to sing: "Aaqib Javed is coming to town, Aaqib Javed is coming to town, Aaqib Javed is coming...to town" (don't ask why) - good times.

 

[zaremba]

194 all out. Now to see how good, or bad, that score really was.

 

[SpaceMonkey]

Irrelevent of how the batsmen do, well played the bowlers. Anderson, Flintoff and Harmison was pretty world class today and got the reward for it.

 

[zaremba]

Yep not disputing that for a moment. But as I learned when drunk with joy (and just drunk) at teatime on 21 July 2005, bowling a team out for 190-odd isn't necessarily the cause for too much celebration until your team has batted too.

 

[jammay123]

ooh close run out there. bell needs to get hi sskates on.

 

[Richard]

Me?
Not any more.
Why's that?

Because you've got a better chance of understanding how frustrating it is to be denied first crack at the tail having earned it by knocking-over the top-order in favour of someone who's bowled a heap of rubbish.

I'm sure Anderson won't be sulking in the left-hand corner of the dressing-room about it, but he wouldn't be human if he didn't think "I should've had a couple of those tail-end wickets".

 

[Scaly piscine]

Been travelling most of the day (no radio in the car because my dad broke the aerial off ages ago) and come home to see Panesar's boosted his average with cheap wickets yet again.

Anyway I hope at last that people are seeing the virtue of having a proper 4 man seam attack which I've been advocating for ages. Unfortunately we only have 3 proper quality seam bowlers at the moment (assuming no-one is having an off-day), add in Simon Jones/Sidebottom for Broad and there's just no hiding place against this attack. Panesar can go back to county cricket where he belongs and then we could actually have a batting lineup that isn't alarmingly fragile to boot.

Well I can dream can't I.

 

[Manee]

Been travelling most of the day (no radio in the car because my dad broke the aerial off ages ago) and come home to see Panesar's boosted his average with cheap wickets yet again.

I won't lie, I am starting to come around to your way of thinking but AB De Villiars' wicket was a valuable one. If you are talking about the specific dismissal, it is a simple misjudgement of line and length - if this had caused him to edge a swinging delivery or get bowled off a pacer, there would be no such arguement although it still can be caused by a similar misjudgement.

 

[andruid]

Been travelling most of the day (no radio in the car because my dad broke the aerial off ages ago) and come home to see Panesar's boosted his average with cheap wickets yet again.

Anyway I hope at last that people are seeing the virtue of having a proper 4 man seam attack which I've been advocating for ages. Unfortunately we only have 3 proper quality seam bowlers at the moment (assuming no-one is having an off-day), add in Simon Jones/Sidebottom for Broad and there's just no hiding place against this attack. Panesar can go back to county cricket where he belongs and then we could actually have a batting lineup that isn't alarmingly fragile to boot.

Well I can dream can't I.

AB Devillliers is hardly a cheap wicket...gosh you sound like one of these days you will kill Monty.

 

[Manee]

I don't think there is anything more to it that Scaly not rating Monty, but it does seem that way at times.

 

[andruid]

Maybe if he signs for Durham things will change

 

[Scaly piscine]

AB Devillliers is hardly a cheap wicket...gosh you sound like one of these days you will kill Monty.

Well firstly it was terrible batting (can't believe batsmen still fall for it - getting little or no turn and they still play for it to go the width of the bat) and secondly it was going over the stumps. So personally I would say it was a pretty cheap wicket in some respects.

 

[steds]

Panesar can go back to county cricket where he belongs and then we could actually have a batting lineup that isn't alarmingly fragile to boot.

Yes, because it's entirely Panesar's fault that as a unit the top 7 has been dire all series.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Fair play to the bowlers. Especially pleased for Harmy, who looks like a different bowler after his spell in the shires. His ball to castle Amla was as good as anything we've seen all summer.

Only debits are Cook's butterfingers & Strauss succumbing to an entirely typical dismissal; his patented indistinct prod at a wide-ish ball that was crying out to be left.

Can't quite shake off the suspicion the yarps are phoning it in a bit tho.

 

[GIMH]

Been travelling most of the day (no radio in the car because my dad broke the aerial off ages ago) and come home to see Panesar's boosted his average with cheap wickets yet again.

Anyway I hope at last that people are seeing the virtue of having a proper 4 man seam attack which I've been advocating for ages. Unfortunately we only have 3 proper quality seam bowlers at the moment (assuming no-one is having an off-day), add in Simon Jones/Sidebottom for Broad and there's just no hiding place against this attack. Panesar can go back to county cricket where he belongs and then we could actually have a batting lineup that isn't alarmingly fragile to boot.

Well I can dream can't I.

Well I wouldn't mind a 4-man seam attack but quite frankly there is more chance of me batting at 5 in India than us going in without a spinner.

Good day, anyway. watched the highlights before, Harmy looked good, so did Anderson. Didn't see Flintoff bowl a lot, shouldn't have finished with worse figures than Broad though. That being said, I am actually pleased Broad got those wickets it might do his confidence some good. If he gets a few top order wickets in the next innings, Pietersen will be justified in putting him in when he did, this seems to have been overlooked; Anderson didn't need those wickets, Broad did.

 

[GIMH]

This thread has gone really quiet, you can tell the series is dead. In any of the other Tests, if I had been working hard (well, y'know, working anyway) all day, I'd have about twelve pages to catch up on when I got online in the evening.

Like Brumby it's in the back of my mind that if it was 1-0, 1-1 or whatever things would have been different today, but we did bowl well, and anyway, as long as we don't go down 3-0 at home I don't mind. A Test Match is still a Test Match.

Thinking that we could get a decent lead here, hoping in a way that Strauss gets a decent bat 2nd time round even though an empahtic victory would be nice. He seems to be slipping solidly into another slump and could really do with some runs going into the winter.

 

[SpaceMonkey]

I know Harmi got most of the press because it was his comeback etc. But i thought Anderson bowled outstandingly. Perfect conditions for him but he put them to use with a great line of bowling. Not many bowlers around can both Out and Inswing the ball at will. The way he worked Kallis over was a real joy to watch.

 

[NUFAN]

What's everyone thinking England's first innings score will be?

On Bet365 England's under/over is 356.5 paying $1.83 either way you go.

I'm thinking under is a very good chance.

 

[TazzX]

SA can say what they like but thats not the team that turned up for either of the first 3 Test matches. Way to relaxed for my liking.

3-0 would have been awesome before we take on Aus.

 

[tooextracool]

Harmison really was fantastic today, it was a pleasure to watch. However, lets be fair, the pitch really was custom made for him even though this is probably one of the best test match wickets I have seen in a very very long time. There was more than enough to encourage the bowlers and the ball came on nicely to the bat as well.
Personally, I think Englands best bowling attack assuming Harmison continues in this vein is Flintoff, Jones, Anderson and Harmison largely because both Harmison and Jones serve up bowling styles that are not replicable by any other fast bowler in England.