*Official* Match 21 - England v South Africa

[Teja.]

England are pretty much relying on other teams to have a horror like SA did,

Let's give the bowling some credit, hey.

 

[GIMH]

Colly's cutters would have been useful today as well tbh

 

[GIMH]

True, and I do hear what you are saying, but I do feel that England lack clarity in where they are going with their OD team, they are pretty much relying on other teams to have a horror like SA did, they dont seem to have the consistency to play well consistently

What a load of bollocks. We had a horror with the bat as well but happened to bowl bloody marvellously. Way to take credit away

 

[GIMH]

The following posters can suck it:

BeeGee, blahblahblah, Blaze 18, centurymaker, cricpk, Cruxdude, Ikki, IndiaLose, Jayzamann, kingkallis, Mike5181, Nnanden, Protean, robinjr, Turbinator, xanderbiscuits

 

[Blaze 18]

 

[Teja.]

Haha, Fired up GIMH ftw.

 

[Jono]

Colly's cutters would have been useful today as well tbh

Would have only been defending 80 though.

Ravi's innings was invaluable. It looked like a "done enough to save my spot" innings at the innings break. But it turned out to be match-winning.

Good on him. Will be interesting to see if he can kick on. Always been a "what if" player. Bit of a **** tease. Kind of like Guptill for NZ.

 

[vcs]

Trott and Bopara's knocks both turned out to be invaluable. And that little slog Swann had towards the end, WAG. Still, MOTM should've been Broad, quite easily.

 

[Dhoni_fan]

What a load of bollocks. We had a horror with the bat as well but happened to bowl bloody marvellously. Way to take credit away

England fought hard but let us be realistic 67-0 chasing 172 at this level to then lose the next 10 wickets for 98 runs is pretty poor batting when it only needed one good partenrship to win the match is nothing more than a choke.

Yes England were poor but they were poor throughout their innings (losing 2 wickets in the 1st over).

Bopara and Trott battled hard but SA choked.

Had SA lost wickets right throughout the innings like England did I would say this loss was less to do with SA but 67-0 to 165 all out, South Africa have lived up to their choker tag, not sure England will get a freebie like that from a top team again.

 

[Jono]

This is a situation where I'm fine with shared MOTMs I reckon.

 

[social]

How about we **** off with this chokers rubbish and give the team that's defended 171 some credit for bowling well?

It's understandable but "certain" sections of the English press and CW posters blaming English inconsistency on tiredness, boredom, dontcareitis, etc is just as pathetic

Reality is that we have a number of sides in contention who all have glaring weaknesses hence the inconsistency

Fortunately, we have the first WC in about 15 years where there isnt a certain winner before the first game so let's just sit back and enjoy

 

[Jono]

You reckon Australia were certain winners back in 99 and 2003 prior to the tournament starting?

 

[vcs]

This is a situation where I'm fine with shared MOTMs I reckon.

Hmm.. harsh on Broad. Guy turned the game on its head with both spells. Gave them the initial impetus by getting Amla and Kallis and finished it off when he came back (one bad ball at that stage would've meant game over).

 

[Jono]

How is it harsh to give him MOTM and give it to Bopara as well? Their contributions were equal.

 

[Howe_zat]

Would have only been defending 80 though.

Ravi's innings was invaluable. It looked like a "done enough to save my spot" innings at the innings break. But it turned out to be match-winning.

Good on him. Will be interesting to see if he can kick on. Always been a "what if" player. Bit of a **** tease. Kind of like Guptill for NZ.

Yeah, don't think anyone's seriously saying we could have done without Ravi today. Most here would agree that Yardy did nothing today other than wrongly convince Strauss we had an extra spinner. His slow-medium non-spin wouldn't be any more effective than Colly's cutters this time around, and comparing them as batsmen is just laughable, even if Colly's looking out of touch.

Agreed on Bopara as a teaser. He's the kind of guy who's clearly too good to leave in county cricket, be nice if he produced some of those performances on the big stage.

 

[vcs]

I think Broad's impact was much more tangible. Bopara only scored 8 more than Trott. Yes, those two managed to take England to a position where they wouldn't get rolled for an embarrassing double digit total, but it was not close to match-winning. Very few people would have called it at the break. I think the main strike bowler deserves the attention in this case.

 

[Howe_zat]

Well I said before that Bresnan should've been given MOTM in the India game after taking 5-48 because he did it in the middle of a runfest. So by the same logic it'd be kind of unfair for me not to back Bopara for a innings-rescuing 60 when 336 runs were scored in the match.

But, hey, I'm not logical, I'm a bowler. Broad all the way.

 

[Teja.]

Broad definitely my Motm.

I reckon if England managed to lose the match with someone in the SA tail hitting a six in the end, Broad's performance would be much more remembered than Bopara's.

 

[social]

You reckon Australia were certain winners back in 99 and 2003 prior to the tournament starting?

Barring a "one-off" result - yes

 

[Blaze 18]

2003 and 2007, yes. Not sure about 1999. Pakistan and South Africa were pretty strong contenders for that one.