*Official* England in South Africa

[wpdavid]

Broad gone, and the new ball still to come. Barring some more miracles from Swann & Anderson, SA will have a very handy lead. Probably a decisive one on this pitch. Shame 5 of our top 6 absolutely gifted their wickets, but nothing new of course.

 

[Furball]

Swann to eliminate the deficit by the time the new ball is taken tbh.

 

[wpdavid]

Will there be time for the new ball today?

Dunno, but the over rate has been diabolical. Anyone know how many have been bowled in the last hour? It's seemed painfully slow to me.

 

[Stapel]

127-4 plays 291 at Newlands. What a game. This is what Test cricket is all about.

We couldn't ask for much more. Trailing by 50 runs with 3 wickets in hand in the first innings of a Test, no matter who plays whom, is just good cricket!

 

[zaremba]

If these muppets would avoid finding an uber-moronic way of getting out they would have cruised past SA's total.

Pleased to hear you're still enjoying your cricket as much as ever, Scaly

 

[Jono]

Haha.

 

[Notorious1]

This one is going to be a close match.

 

[GIMH]

Honours about even I reckon. Will be a thrilling chase unless Broad & Swanneh skittle them for nothing again

 

[Scaly piscine]

Honours about even I reckon. Will be a thrilling chase unless Broad & Swanneh skittle them for nothing again

Or Swann gets his maiden Test hundred tomorrow by being an Englishman who can:

a) bat
b) not throw his wicket away

 

[four_or_six]

Should be good, am expecting that we'll have a bit of a lead now, which is good.

 

[BoyBrumby]

DWTA. The best batsman in this match scored a ton. I think even Smith v KP is pretty debatable.

Naaah, god bless you. It's like comparing an economy burger to a prime rib-eye steak. There's about the same calorific value in both but, by Christ, one's a lot more enjoyable than the other.

Although, spookily, both average exactly the same as of tonight: 49.47. Brothers by another mother.

Should be good, am expecting that we'll have a bit of a lead now, which is good.

Touch & go, IMHO. Even so tho it's nice to see an England with a bit of spunk and without a tail that starts at #6. Can think of several of our line ups that would've folded like the proverbial house of cards at 73/4.

Plus Onions's ball to get Kallis. Wow. Jaffa barely does it justice.

 

[GIMH]

Naaah, god bless you. It's like comparing an economy burger to a prime rib-eye steak. There's about the same calorific value in both but, by Christ, one's a lot more enjoyable than the other.

Although, spookily, both average exactly the same as of tonight: 49.47. Brothers by another mother.

Yeah, Pietersen is a class above Smith for mine. KP is in his worst ever run of form, only scored one ton in 09 and still averaged around 47. Averages 0 this year mind you. Also, surely we have to do the old, remove the minnows, routine for Smitteh? KP hasn't had any 'easy' runs yet.

Touch & go, IMHO. Even so tho it's nice to see an England with a bit of spunk and without a tail that starts at #6. Can think of several of our line ups that would've folded like the proverbial house of cards at 73/4.

Plus Onions's ball to get Kallis. Wow. Jaffa barely does it justice.

Yeah, was saying that to a colleague today. When we were 4 down I said to him that i was thinking we'd struggle to make 300 now, whereas in the days of Hoggard & Harmison etc, I'd have been thinking, oh balls, 150 ao.

Our attack looks like our best one since (dare I say it?) 2005 I think. Just need a bit of work on the batting, never seem to have more than a couple clicking at the same time.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Just saw Cooky's dismissal. Can't be too rough on a bloke when he's top scored, but awful shot to go to on a capricious pitch when well set on 65. Like an old school shovel of the type Embers and Jack Russell used to play.

 

[Goughy]

Yeah, Pietersen is a class above Smith for mine.

I agree.

 

[four_or_six]

That KP apparently appears to be a class above Smith is just something that makes KP's ups and downs more irritating to see given their similar records.

 

[Briony]

KP is classes above Smith but I'm loath to compare openers with those batting down the order. KP batted at #5 for a while did he not?

 

[Prince EWS]

Naaah, god bless you. It's like comparing an economy burger to a prime rib-eye steak. There's about the same calorific value in both but, by Christ, one's a lot more enjoyable than the other.

I think Pietersen is better than Smith too, but it's a lot more debatable than people think IMO. Your food example is poor IMO because the quality of food is determined mostly by the enjoyability of it as such while the quality of one's batsmanship is determined entirely by how good they are at scoring runs ie. the "caloric value". How enjoyable watching Smith is compared to Pietersen is an entirely subjective matter that shouldn't be factored in to how good they are at scoring runs.

I do think Pietersen is better, mainly for the reasons GIMH said actually, but he's certainly in the same league as Smith for mine and a level below Kallis.

 

[Jono]

Pietersen's slightly better than Smith, but he should be better by a fair distance.

Wasting his talent.

 

[Briony]

Interesting too how some talent blooms later. KP was considered ordinary by his peers as a junior and didn't make representative age team, unlike Smith. Yet from the age of about nineteen his talent seemed to emerge.

 

[Prince EWS]

Rest day today or something?
EDIT: Nevermind.