*Official* England in South Africa

[Prince EWS]

Not many, I hope - getting pretty sick of it.

Here's a difficult question - if you could force England to drop one player only, would it be Cook or Bell?

I've long held the opinion that Cook gets a free ride with fans in comparison to Bell who has become the team scapegoat at times on forums, but I think dropping Bell would make a lot more sense at the moment as they aren't exactly openers bashing the door down. Joe Denly fills me with even less confidence than Cook at this point and I don't think the selectors would actually pick Carberry or Key TBH.

 

[wpdavid]

Not many, I hope - getting pretty sick of it.

Here's a difficult question - if you could force England to drop one player only, would it be Cook or Bell?

To some extent it depends on which position has the better alternatives. At this stage, there's a bit more in the middle-order cupboard than the openers one, so it would be Bell.

btw what's Cook's test average in 2009?

 

[silentstriker]

The Sky commentary team really likes me. Twice they've used my emails to make a point. This time they didn't mention my name though - last time they did when I corrected their figures for the number of batsmen being out twice for 99.

 

[GIMH]

Convert a middle order batsman to open IMO, then in a few years we can debate whether or not they are an opener

 

[Prince EWS]

Convert a middle order batsman to open IMO, then in a few years we can debate whether or not they are an opener

Haha, well Trott and Joyce both open in one day cricket.

 

[GIMH]

And yes, as one or two of you have pointed out, the only non South African-born people on the field right now are the umpires. Just wait until KP turns up

****ing irks me this, I bet Pattinson wasn't English-born when he played for us though was he? If you think Strauss isn't as English as a cucumber sandwich then you are 100% remedial, who gives a **** where he was born, pathetic

 

[Uppercut]

Synthetic openers never compare to the quality of natural ones IMO.

 

[GIMH]

what kind of reception did Trott get?

 

[silentstriker]

Morkel is looking good right now.

Oh, and Sky commentary is by far the best in the world IMO. Production value is awesome, and it's actually fun to listen to. Unlike some of the others, where I just prefer to mute and watch. Like when Healy opens his trap.

 

[Penguinissimo]

The only alternative for opening is Trott, as far as I can see. Although you probably then end up with Bell back at 3, which is atrocious.

So probably still Bell, partly to allow for 5 bowlers (or at least 4 bowlers and Luke Wright). But if there were a sensible alternative for opener Cook should be gone, notwithstanding his FEC status.

The answer to the latter will become clear when they announce who will be batting in Bangladesh.

 

[Prince EWS]

Morkel is looking good right now.

Oh, and Sky commentary is by far the best in the world IMO. Production value is awesome, and it's actually fun to listen to. Unlike some of the others, where I just prefer to mute and watch. Like when Healy opens his trap.

Stop rubbing it in FFS; Australia get SuperSport's coverage.

 

[popepouri]

England making hay. They're going at over 5 an over.

 

[Uppercut]

Yeah, I thought he'd hit that. And it was probably missing. Didn't really get what all the excitement was about.

 

[Prince EWS]

The only alternative for opening is Trott, as far as I can see. Although you probably then end up with Bell back at 3, which is atrocious.

Could open with Joyce and leave Trott where he is - or better yet, drop Bell as well, bat Trott at five with Joyce at three and have Carberry or Key open. That's a lot of new faces at once though and as frustrating as Bell and Cook are, they aren't really quite as terrible as everyone makes out; you could certainly do worse and so many n00bs at once certainly risks that possibility.

 

[wpdavid]

Synthetic openers never compare to the quality of natural ones IMO.

Agreed - and making a middle-order batsman open in tests would, I think, be a recipe for disaster. If Cook does have a disaster this series, then I'd give Key a run in the side next summer.

 

[Uppercut]

Mm. Joyce could probably do it. But it's not ideal asking someone to step up both from FC to test level and from middle-order batting to opening at the same time.

I'm happy to reserve judgment until after Cook finishes this series.

 

[silentstriker]

Stop rubbing it in FFS; Australia get SuperSport's coverage.

Haha, how does anyone still like cricket in Australia after that crap? With that said, Indian coverage is so much worse and the production value is total crap (sometimes you lose the first ball of the over to the commercial, etc), but thankfully, I never get the Indian coverage in the US. It's almost always Sky (even with the neutral India vs. SL series), or coverage of the other country playing India.

 

[GIMH]

If Trott scores 13 more by close and stays out he'll, average at least 100 overnight, should retire IMO

 

[Scaly piscine]

Could open with Joyce and leave Trott where he is - or better yet, drop Bell as well, bat Trott at five with Joyce at three and have Carberry or Key open. That's a lot of new faces at once though and as frustrating as Bell and Cook are, they aren't really quite as terrible as everyone makes out; you could certainly do worse and so many n00bs at once certainly risks that possibility.

Well you've got a draw a line somewhere, which is something the selectors should have done with Bell. We've all seen Bell isn't good enough, flat track bully, only gets soft runs etc. basically the sort of mental flaw that most don't ever come close to correcting. You can't pick players like that in Test cricket. But what do England do? They do everything to accommodate Bell saying we don't care about your frailties, all the guys working hard in FC cricket can get ****ed because we're going to settle for this failure.

This is in contrast to someone like Cook who has blatant failings that need to be worked on and can be sorted out in a relatively short time frame (months). But instead of giving the boot and giving him time and motivation to work on them, come back a better player, we again persist in a sub-standard player.

It is typical England though. We just settle for mediocrity, inconsistency etc. instead of striving for excellence, striving to be better.

 

[LegionOfBrad]

SA have pulled the run rate in. Tho De Wet coming back on so could go for some. He reminds me of Steyn a lot when he first appeared.