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

[Compton]

Presumably Moeen got given MOTM as a punishment to Broad for getting caught behind off of a ball that was going backwards.

 

[Flem274*]

south africa wot

if england win this series they're the best in the world tbh, even if they're doing it with 4-5 awesome players and a couple of holes.

 

[Stapel]

thoughts on Stiaan? Would he get into the Netherlands' lineup at this rate?

All Stiaan needs to do is change his name to Bastiaan. Or to Sebastiaan.

 

[LegionOfBrad]

Presumably Moeen got given MOTM as a punishment to Broad for getting caught behind off of a ball that was going backwards.

They couldn't give it to Elgar so just totted up who got the most wickets.

Compo, Finn and Broad were all in with a shout.

 

[Bahnz]

If SA can't get Steyn back quick smart then this series is over. de Villiers aside SA's batting is a horrendous mess.

 

[Furball]

What's really pleasing is that's twice that Jimmeh's been injured and Broad's just stepped up and wrecked the opposition.

Good stuff from Moeen. He's got an excellent strike rate for a spinner, hope he continues to prosper this series.

 

[Furball]

That 2nd innings felt like a lot of recent Ashes victories as well. Decent opening partnership then a complete capitulation. 85/1 to 174 is pathetic.

 

[grecian]

Good stuff England, pretty impressive from 12-2 and 49-3 on the first day, afterwards pretty much dominated, with about 6 contenders for MoTM.

BTW did anyone see Beefy's interview at the end of the match, bizzarre stuff, including saying no-one criticised DeVilliers 'keeping but they did Bairstows, umm well yes they did, but more oddly going on about Root not contributing in the match.

Too much Saffie wine in the sun I'd suggest,

 

[91Jmay]

We have found the ability to choke teams again, our bowling attack reminds me of 2010-12 in a way (better seam attack but obviously worse spinner). At no point did the run rate get away from us. Cook also captained really well. There was a point where Moeen was getting some tap against AbDV/Elgar in first dig but he kept him on and bowled through it.

 

[Neil Pickup]

Was thinking this morning when I got up this would be one of the best and most satisfying wins away from home in a long time. India tour, Cook's Ashes, Nassers tours to pakistan and Sri Lanka and as far back as the Sabina Park win under Gooch are the only ones that come close to this. Beating the number 1 side in the rankings so comfortably when they had the best bowling and batting conditions as well is a real huge effort.

All Out Cricket did a series just before Christmas with England's best away wins since 1990 - it's worth checking out.

For me, the win at Joburg in 2005 when Tres hit 180 and Hoggard took 7-for on the final afternoon still trumps this one in the way we pulled it off, but in terms of impact - and the fact that we won every day and arguably didn't lose a session after the first morning - this is right up there.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

south africa wot

if england win this series they're the best in the world tbh, even if they're doing it with 4-5 awesome players and a couple of holes.

Well we win the series and have a good home summer against Sri Lanka and Pakistan and we probably will be ranked there. Whether they are good enough to stay there is a different matter and we still have a lot of work to do in this series yet.

 

[Spark]

That 2nd innings felt like a lot of recent Ashes victories as well. Decent opening partnership then a complete capitulation. 85/1 to 174 is pathetic.

This entire Test felt a lot like Cardiff tbh. Close for a while, but England with a small but consistent advantage from early on which they steadily exploited.

 

[wowitspink]

Cook for Duminy, give van Zyl a crack in his preferred middle order. With Piedt in the team and Elgar a handy enough change option, JP's bowling is no longer a huge factor in his selection. Meanwhile Bavuma has shown just enough for him to be retained (for now).

1. Elgar
2. Cook
3. Amla
4. de Villiers
5. du Plessis
6. Bavuma
7. van Zyl
8. Piedt
9. Abbott
10. Steyn/Rabada
11. Morkel

Who is this Cook that everyone is talking about? I thought there is only 1 Cook and he is the English captain. Enlighten me.

 

[Howe_zat]

Who is this Cook that everyone is talking about? I thought there is only 1 Cook and he is the English captain. Enlighten me.

Cook is actually Cook's son.

 

[Furball]

All Out Cricket did a series just before Christmas with England's best away wins since 1990 - it's worth checking out.

For me, the win at Joburg in 2005 when Tres hit 180 and Hoggard took 7-for on the final afternoon still trumps this one in the way we pulled it off, but in terms of impact - and the fact that we won every day and arguably didn't lose a session after the first morning - this is right up there.

Adelaide 2010 is still my favourite. Was probably the worst defeat in 2006 so the redemption 4 years later was brilliant.

 

[Stapel]

This entire Test felt a lot like Cardiff tbh. Close for a while, but England with a small but consistent advantage from early on which they steadily exploited.

TBF, the England advantage was not there until halfway the SA 1st innings. At some point, before AB fell, SA were 100/2 in reply to 300. But shortly afterwards, Faf, Bavuma & JP fell for hardly anything.

 

[Stefan9]

Who is this Cook that everyone is talking about? I thought there is only 1 Cook and he is the English captain. Enlighten me.

Stephen Cook, son of Jimmy Cook former SA opener.

Given the squad picked I guess they will go for this, still no recognised second opener picked so still a mistake, jp shouldn't be playing but need to keep to the 4 colored player selection criteria so quess his second innings will save his ass.

1.Elgar
2.Rossouw
3.Amla
4.AB
5.Faf
6.QDK
7.JP
8.Abbot
9.Radaba
10.Piedt
11.Morkel

 

[fishyguy]

This England team have the potential to be the best test team in the world. They have Moeen Ali at 8.NO other team has this many capable and talented all rounders and class players. And even broad can bat a bit. See great potential in Bairstow if he can improve his keeping. Stokes could be a total phenom. Ali still hasn't fired consistently with his batting. Thing is this team hasn't even fired in all cylinders yet and they're still doing well. Imagine when they actually do!

On the other hand this whole quota system is ruining SA cricket and will continue to do so. Not that any of this matters because SA's racist quota system is here to stay. Look at USA they never let black play sports for years once they did the talent rose to the top now they dominate basket and football. But not so much baseball. They didn't have a quota system. At the end of the day if you got talent in this world racism cannot hold you back. Look at the European and South American soccer teams. So many black players and they are the minority in that country. People also need to understand that certain race groups and ethnicity prefer certain types of sports because that's part of their culture. Once again why you don't see blacks dominate baseball in America but you see a lot of Hispanics.But by forcing a quota at state level where half have to minorities and 2 have to be black that is utter nonsense and completely racist and wrong. SA could be as good as Australia if it wasn't for the quota. Look at all the players they've lost over the years that would've strengthened their domestic and potential national team. More will be lost and eventually the whites in general will be discouraged to pick up sports. Great idea guys!

 

[Spark]

TBF, the England advantage was not there until halfway the SA 1st innings. At some point, before AB fell, SA were 100/2 in reply to 300. But shortly afterwards, Faf, Bavuma & JP fell for hardly anything.

Cardiff was much the same.

 

[Howe_zat]

This was much lower scoring than Cardiff which made the 100ish lead look bigger and the eventual result much bigger. But for the most part I agree