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***Official*** England in South Africa 2015/16

A

AndrewB

International Vice-Captain
Stapel said:
As did Cook. I'm quite sure Trescothick was still in the side when Cook came along. Is there a way to get exact numbers?
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Most Test runs as an opener:
9607: SM Gavaskar
9202: AN Cook
9030: GC Smith
8625: ML Hayden
8207: V Sehwag

Gavaskar, Gooch, Smith & Hutton have most runs batting at 1; Hayden, Sehwag, Haynes & Cook have most batting at 2.
 
Niall

Niall

International Coach
Niall said:
South Africa are a slight lay I think, I couldn't consider backing them for anything under EVS. I think I'd want something like 6/4 or so to get interested to no value. I don't think England should be favourites for this series whatsoever, but I think England are to tempting to back here.
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Also bigger prices with England with 365 and a few other firms.
 
SeamUp

SeamUp

International Coach
Big series for both teams & I can't wait. Lots of change in the teams since they last met & you always got to love this series. Last time we absolutely dominated them in 3 tests but England walked away with a 1-1 & you can't get more frustrating than that !

Barry Richards, Ali Bacher and Boeta Dippenaar all calling for specialist opener Stephen Cook to be included in the squad. Reckon it is unfair on van Zyl who is a 3 or 4 stroke-maker.
 
vcs

vcs

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Can't wait for this series, England have an excellent chance here I think.

I hope S. Africa steamroller them with AB-Steyn-Amla having standout displays, though.
 
9

91Jmay

International Coach
The warm up games have basically been perfect so far, just Bairstow needing runs. Makes me worried.
 
YorksLanka

YorksLanka

International Debutant
England have looked solid in the warm up games, can't wait to see this series ( which I think England will win).I know what you mean FJ but England can only play the team put up against them and a lot of form and confidence should come from the performances so far.
 
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Howe_zat

Howe_zat

Audio File
Yeah also this A team has a fair few players who are either SA players or aiming to be. It's a decent first class side
 
9

91Jmay

International Coach
Yeah the opposition from this SA A side are much better (on paper) than most touring teams face nowadays.
 
Furball

Furball

Evil Scotsman
Should be an interesting series. Both sides are a curious mix of world class players, unproven talent and complete toilet. South Africa's best players are better than their English counterparts but I also reckon their weaker players are worse than England's.

Makes it impossible to predict really. If the teams perform as well on paper as they should then South Africa should just shade it but I wouldn't be comfortable predicting that.
 
S

Stefan9

International Debutant
SeamUp said:
Big series for both teams & I can't wait. Lots of change in the teams since they last met & you always got to love this series. Last time we absolutely dominated them in 3 tests but England walked away with a 1-1 & you can't get more frustrating than that !

Barry Richards, Ali Bacher and Boeta Dippenaar all calling for specialist opener Stephen Cook to be included in the squad. Reckon it is unfair on van Zyl who is a 3 or 4 stroke-maker.
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They obviously didn't learn from the failed experiment of playing Ashwell Prince as an opener a few years ago. Just cause they managed to convert gibbs to an opener doesn't mean it works each time.

As for the series I still SA 2-1, believe Steyn and AB will make big enough contributions to win it for SA but it will be a close series. Will come down to which sides batsman perform better.
 
theegyptian

theegyptian

International Vice-Captain
Personally I really think England need to at least draw this series if they want to continue their progress. I thought they did quite well in UAE but they lost 2-0, they can't afford to do the same here and say lose 2-1 but play quite well. I'd say it could be a defining series one way or the other for England. The likes of Stokes, Ali and Bairstow need to stand up now. They've had 15 or 20 tests. It's time to prove they are worthy. Adn the selectors can't mess up the same way they did in UAE with the selections of the teams.

SA have problems. Amla looks an average and reluctant captain. They're coming off a damaging tour of India where most of the bats didn't perform. They have this quota and political instability hovering over their heads. Injury concerns over the bowlers, with Steyn as great as he still is you never quite know when he will start to decline.


England are still improving at the moment, SA seem to be stagnant or on the decline. Hopefully we'll pass them by this series.
 
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Furball

Furball

Evil Scotsman
I wouldn't mind seeing this improvement. England haven't won an away series for 3 years and have only won 2 out of their last 7 series.
 
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