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

[Scaly piscine]

It's a dead rubber and Anderson is rusty. They're as well letting him get 50 overs under his belt in this match in the hope that it helps him find his rhythm again.

Bull**** it's a Test match not a warm-up. England don't play another Test til May.

 

[Captain_Cook]

Anderson will need to be patient then. If Amir outbowls him in the summer will he retire?

 

[we're yorkshire]

Who else do you drop? Finn has looked genuinely world class to me since he came back into the side. For me, Finn has been better than Anderson since coming back into the side

 

[wpdavid]

Popped out for a bit and came back hoping to see that these two have proved me dead wrong in taking the new ball tonight. No such luck, of course.

Classic captaincy by numbers instead of actually showing any understanding of the state of the game.

 

[Stapel]

Footitt is pure class....

He plays in the 2nd division, not? Bottom team as well. I've watched him live in Leicester last summer, on day 4. Really felt he was the bowler that made a rare Leicester win possible, as he got pummeled a bit. I know he took a Michelle in the first innings, but I wasn't impressed.

 

[kiwiviktor81]

Who else do you drop? Finn has looked genuinely world class to me since he came back into the side. For me, Finn has been better than Anderson since coming back into the side

Anderson averages almost 30 with the ball. Dropping him at this stage for a young talent is bound to happen.

 

[wpdavid]

He plays in the 2nd division, not? Bottom team as well. I've watched him live in Leicester last summer, on day 4. Really felt he was the bowler that made a rare Leicester win possible, as he got pummeled a bit. I know he took a Michelle in the first innings, but I wasn't impressed.

fwiw I suspect 91Jmay was being a touch ironic in response the previous bloke's post.

 

[Black_Warrior]

Bull**** it's a Test match not a warm-up. England don't play another Test til May.

He is bowling because that's kinda his job as a strike bowler..to help England win games and England are trying to win games.

International test cricketers do not give up on a test match after 2 poor sessions on Day 1 and thank god for that.

 

[StephenZA]

Good day for us.. even with the few bumps... well done boys.

 

[Scaly piscine]

Has anyone ever done analysis of injured bowlers who've come back without having a proper workout? Just seems to me like it's almost never worth it.

 

[Stapel]

fwiw I suspect 91Jmay was being a touch ironic in response the previous bloke's post.

I know. For once, I was actually backing 91Jmay's opinion.

 

[Black_Warrior]

Who else do you drop? Finn has looked genuinely world class to me since he came back into the side. For me, Finn has been better than Anderson since coming back into the side

Finn is extremely injury prone and is unlikely to be a consistent member of the side as a result. You obviously drop Woakes when Finn is fit.
Then there's the excellent Mark Wood that people have forgotten about..who I rate higher than Finn..so we can hope they don't get injured at the same time so you always have the services of one of them.

Anderson averages almost 30 with the ball. Dropping him at this stage for a young talent is bound to happen.

I can't tell if you're trolling or genuine

Anderson has averaged over 30 for most part of his career, and only recently started averaging under 30. It's not the other way around.

 

[Niall]

Anderson will need to be patient then. If Amir outbowls him in the summer will he retire?

That won't happen though. It will be an inexperienced Lanka and a Pakistan side who has rarely left the SC over the last few years for him to bowl at.

Anderson will have a few months to put his feet up and recharge his batteries after what has been a bloody long slog for him, 3 tests in WI, Ashes, the UAE and these 4 tests, that would take a toil on a lot of fast bowlers especially as their been plenty of roads prepared in those matches.

Its one bad series lads.

 

[we're yorkshire]

That was what I was getting at, as it stands we get rid of Woakes, as he's clearly not good enough. If we had given Footitt a chance, however, and he had made such an impact he was undroppable, then someone else has to go when Finn comes back.
Remember Hoggard got dropped after one bad game when Anderson was coming through, and that seemed an awful decision at the time.

 

[King Pietersen]

This has happened so many times. Jimmeh gets written off as done. Comes back next series and bowls like an absolute gun. Be absolutely ludicrous to drop Anderson after the summer he had. He's got a good couple of years left in him.

 

[Daemon]

Has anyone ever done analysis of injured bowlers who've come back without having a proper workout? Just seems to me like it's almost never worth it.

It's hard to do that really because we barely know anything about the extent of the injury and how much work has gone in for rehab and recovery

 

[wpdavid]

That was what I was getting at, as it stands we get rid of Woakes, as he's clearly not good enough. If we had given Footitt a chance, however, and he had made such an impact he was undroppable, then someone else has to go when Finn comes back.
Remember Hoggard got dropped after one bad game when Anderson was coming through, and that seemed an awful decision at the time.

Not to everyone, as Hoggard hadn't been great for a while before that test in NZ when he and Harmison stiffed. I honestly don't think it was just that test.
But I'm with you about Footitt playing instead of Woakes, and I was saying as much before today's play. You've got to have 3 out & out bowlers.

 

[Compton]

Dropping Anderson

England should have their contingency plan for when he isn't good enough to get picked, but they're not there yet.

 

[wpdavid]

Finn is extremely injury prone and is unlikely to be a consistent member of the side as a result. You obviously drop Woakes when Finn is fit.
Then there's the excellent Mark Wood that people have forgotten about..who I rate higher than Finn..so we can hope they don't get injured at the same time so you always have the services of one of them.

I can't say I'm 100% convinced about Wood's excellence. He's likeable enough and whole hearted as you could want, but I don't recall him taking many wickets yet. Finn is by some way his superior imo.

 

[Compton]

I don't see the thing about Mark Wood. He's a decent bowler, but he's never really impressed me in Test Cricket.