*Official* England in South Africa 2019/20

[StephenZA]

markram out for the series with a broken finger. did he punch another wall?

Dislocated yesterday while fielding? And then got hit on the glove while batting.... but probably a continuation of the problems from when he hit the wall.

 

[Heboric]

And Australia is touring in 14 months with Cummins, Starc, Hazlewood, Pattinson and possibly young Green.

It’s conceivable Faf might be done by then as well.

They need to get their act together by then or it could be 4-0 whitewash territory.

Glenn McGrath is that you.

We will have to see, I have lost count how many times South Africa have been written off.

 

[NUFAN]

Markram is the type of guy Id like more if his name was spelt backwards.

 

[SeamUp]

South Africa losing to the likes of Sri Lanka at home won’t be an anomaly next year. Philander is irreplaceable, they’re one injury away from having Dane Paterson play, and batting is so weak. It’s coming on 1 year since Elgar and Markram put on 50 runs together and almost 2 years since they nearly had a 100-run stand. Last 5 opening stands have all been single digits.

I know times are low in SA cricket mate but there is still enough talent out there. It is just about getting them the right knowledge and early experiences.

We've all said it before, this guy and that guy was irreplaceable.

A year to 18 months is a lot of time in cricket. Lots of domestic and SA A so I do agree that our batting would have needed to improve by our next home summer. I think there is enough time to have improved enough to certainly not let Sri Lanka at home happen again. But for me the bowling was an even bigger issue in that series with Otis Gibson at the helm.

 

[StephenZA]

Gibson era is just looking more and more terrible... our bowlers all regressed. And batting issues where basically ignored.

 

[Dendarii]

We will have to see, I have lost count how many times South Africa have been written off.

Often by South Africans...

 

[Dendarii]

Gibson era is just looking more and more terrible... our bowlers all regressed. And batting issues where basically ignored.

Gibson's thinking was sound - one of South Africa's major resources is the production line of fast bowlers. The problem was the way he went about utilising those fast bowlers was to request pitches that were too bowler-friendly rather than developing the bowlers' skills, and the failures of the batsmen were written off as pitches being tough to bat on. So when there were less bowler-friendly pitches, the bowlers didn't know how to bowl on them, and the batsmen didn't know how to bat on them.

 

[StephenZA]

Gibson's thinking was sound - one of South Africa's major resources is the production line of fast bowlers. The problem was the way he went about utilising those fast bowlers was to request pitches that were too bowler-friendly rather than developing the bowlers' skills, and the failures of the batsmen were written off as pitches being tough to bat on. So when there were less bowler-friendly pitches, the bowlers didn't know how to bowl on them, and the batsmen didn't know how to bat on them.

So he fiddled with the one thing we did not have a problem with? It was not like our fast bowlers were not taking wickets before he came along, particular in SA. And his task was to get us ready for the WC, that was the condition upon which he got hired in the first place.

So no I don't think his thinking was sound in any way. He did not look after the team and or the players as would be expected of the coach. He destroyed Maharaj's confidence, got all our batsmen into a bad head space. and selected unbalanced sides short of batsmen with to many fast bowlers.

 

[Spark]

I don't think green domestic pitches has worked for anyone in the last 10-15 years. It ****ed with our production line of batsmen, messed with India's for a while and certainly isn't helping England's.

FC batsmen need to learn how to bat for 250+ balls. Hard to do that when it's going around corners and the next ball is as likely to have your name on it as not.

 

[Dendarii]

So he fiddled with the one thing we did not have a problem with? It was not like our fast bowlers were not taking wickets before he came along, particular in SA. And his task was to get us ready for the WC, that was the condition upon which he got hired in the first place.

So no I don't think his thinking was sound in any way. He did not look after the team and or the players as would be expected of the coach. He destroyed Maharaj's confidence, got all our batsmen into a bad head space. and selected unbalanced sides short of batsmen with to many fast bowlers.

What I meant was his plan to build up the stock of fast bowlers, especially given that the trio of Steyn, Morkel, and Philander were nearing the end of their careers. If you look at things now, we're not entirely sure of what our bowling is going to be like after this series and Philander's gone. But I agree that apart from that initial idea he went about things in the wrong way and the new guys now have a tough task ahead of them picking up the pieces.

 

[SeamUp]

Nortje could be a massive frustration if England don't get him too early. They really want to get at de Kock as early as possible.

 

[NUFAN]

Nortje could be a massive frustration if England don't get him too early. They really want to get at de Kock as early as possible.

Yep agree. I love the use of nightwatchman in this situation. 24th over is still a new ball and with time no issue at all, a 150 ball 30 could be huge (long way to go obvs).

 

[StephenZA]

These quick singles are going to start irritating the Eng bowlers soon.

 

[wpdavid]

Nortje could be a massive frustration if England don't get him too early. They really want to get at de Kock as early as possible.

One of England's biggest problems this year has been their inability to knock over the lower middle order and on some occasions even the lower order. The first innings here was a prime example, but it cost us the first test in the Ashes and made sure we were absolutely hammered in the first test against NZ. I recall the WI lower middle order making hay when they walloped us too. Says something about the quality of bowling tbh.

 

[slippy888]

England wont chase 250 against this South Africa bowling lineup but it worth a watch i suppose

 

[Jarquis]

Bairstow is keeping?

 

[Jarquis]

Ah, Buttler has gone down with this bug too. Far out.

 

[Daemon]

Have this many members of a squad fallen ill before? Maybe back in the day when Border etc used it as an excuse to avoid India?

 

[wpdavid]

England wont chase 250 against this South Africa bowling lineup but it worth a watch i suppose

I'd be surprised if they make 150. They way things are looking this morning, we're heading for a 200+ margin of victory for SA.

 

[Spark]

Good stuff by Nortje. Impressive ticker.