*Official* South African tour of England and Ireland 2022

[Pup Clarke]

Big fan of Markram. I'd say he really needs to deliver in this series, otherwise major questions have to be asked of his test credentials
Feel that he's too loose to be an opener in these conditions and preferably could drop down to no 4

Elgar, Erwee, Petersen, Markram, VDD, Verreynne, Rickelton, Jansen, Maharaj, Rabada, Ngidi

 

[StephenZA]

Big fan of Markram. I'd say he really needs to deliver in this series, otherwise major questions have to be asked of his test credentials
Feel that he's too loose to be an opener in these conditions and preferably could drop down to no 4

Elgar, Erwee, Petersen, Markram, VDD, Verreynne, Rickelton, Jansen, Maharaj, Rabada, Ngidi

Team I would go with, but think that they will possibly play Harmer in place of a batsmen. Also chance the Nortje plays in front of Ngidi or Jansen.

 

[Heboric]

Team I would go with, but think that they will possibly play Harmer in place of a batsmen. Also chance the Nortje plays in front of Ngidi or Jansen.

If you go by Sports24 they would play both Harmer and Maharaj

Proteas selection conundrum for Lord's: Who makes the starting XI? | Sport

The Proteas go into the first Test against England at Lord's on Wednesday with options aplenty.

www.news24.com

 

[StephenZA]

If you go by Sports24 they would play both Harmer and Maharaj

Proteas selection conundrum for Lord's: Who makes the starting XI? | Sport

The Proteas go into the first Test against England at Lord's on Wednesday with options aplenty.

www.news24.com

That's what I think is gonna happen. They not likely to drop Maharaj but possibly will play both. But that almost a guarantees that Jansen will play because they do look at him as an extension to what would otherwise be a long tail. I think they hope Harmer and Jansen combines into a good allrounder....

 

[Bahseph]

Essentially it's picking three no.9s and hoping their contribution equates to a no.7. ?
Edit: I mean Jansen,Harmer and Keshav btw.

 

[StephenZA]

Essentially it's picking three no.9s and hoping their contribution equates to a no.7. ?
Edit: I mean Jansen,Harmer and Keshav btw.

Lets be generous and say 3 no 8s...

 

[slippy888]

When are the test matches actually going to be played for this tour

 

[wpdavid]

When are the test matches actually going to be played for this tour

Between the showers.

 

[Bahseph]

Lets be generous and say 3 no 8s...

I don't know @StephenZA, Philander was a Test quality no.8...I don't think SA will role over,but they always seem to make it harder for themselves with the selections sometimes.

 

[StephenZA]

I don't know @StephenZA, Philander was a Test quality no.8...I don't think SA will role over,but they always seem to make it harder for themselves with the selections sometimes.

In SA team and mindset Philander was selected as a number 7 many a time...

always competitive hardly ever sensible. Brawn over brains thinking...

 

[Zinzan]

So, my England XI :
Lawrence, Brook, Pope, Root, Bairstow, Stokes, Foakes, Robinson, Broad, Leach, Anderson
Though Potts was very good, I still think Robinson deserves to come back. I know Lawrence & Brook are not openers, but that's the only way to fit them in the XI. I think Lees & Crawley have had a long enough run.

They're not dropping Potts after taking 18 wickets @ 26 at an ER of 2.96 in his first 4 tests with some of them high-scoring for the opposition, and nor should they.

 

[Red_Ink_Squid]

They're not dropping Potts after taking 18 wickets @ 26 at an ER of 2.96 in his first 4 tests with some of them high-scoring for the opposition, and nor should they.

It's not quite so simple because Potts was playing as injury cover for a guy who has taken 39 wickets @ 21 in his first 9 Tests.

On performances over the past couple of seasons you could argue that Potts and Robinson both deserve to play, with Broad the one left out. But I'd be surprised if they do that for the first Test.

I'd expect the England XI will be:

Lees
Crawley
Pope
Root
Bairstow
Stokes
Foakes
Broad
Leach
Potts
Anderson

...with Robinson for Potts the most likely alternative.

 

[Marius]

I don't see us playing two spinners, although it has been so dry in London lately, Lords could well be a bunsen, so maybe two spinners is not impossible.

Tricky situation for the selectors in the middle order, all the guys vying for a middle order spot made runs in the A-game except Rickelton but he's been in great form in the county stuff.

 

[trundler]

How dry a summer it has been in England is almost always a red herring when it comes to bowling selections IMO. Just pick your best bowlers.

 

[slippy888]

Draw is value around 3 to 1 with a lot of rain about

 

[StephenZA]

I don't see us playing two spinners, although it has been so dry in London lately, Lords could well be a bunsen, so maybe two spinners is not impossible.

Tricky situation for the selectors in the middle order, all the guys vying for a middle order spot made runs in the A-game except Rickelton but he's been in great form in the county stuff.

We where playing 2 spinners in SA... I don't understand why they would select Harmer and not Mulder in the squad unless wanting to play 2 spinners

 

[Dendarii]

I don't understand why they would select Harmer and not Mulder in the squad unless wanting to play 2 spinners

Even if the intention is only to play one spinner, there does need to be a second spinner in the squad as a back up. Maharaj gets injured the day before the test and there's no way they'd be able to fly anyone out from South Africa in time and I wouldn't have thought they'd be able to pull Harmer out of a county match if one had already started, so having him in the squad ensures his availability.

 

[Heboric]

England team announced

Zak Crawley, Alex Lees, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes (capt), Ben Foakes (wkt), Matthew Potts, Stuart Broad, Jack Leach, James Anderson

England name their XI to face Proteas at Lord's, fit-again Foakes recalled | Sport

England have recalled fit-again wicketkeeper Ben Foakes for the first Test against South Africa at Lord's starting on Wednesday.

www.news24.com

 

[StephenZA]

Even if the intention is only to play one spinner, there does need to be a second spinner in the squad as a back up. Maharaj gets injured the day before the test and there's no way they'd be able to fly anyone out from South Africa in time and I wouldn't have thought they'd be able to pull Harmer out of a county match if one had already started, so having him in the squad ensures his availability.

SA have played many a tour with only one spinner... mainly because we generally only had one 1/2 of a decent spinner. Half the time we selected a spinner because it was 'expected' or 'just in case'. So going on tour with two decent spinners is not a SA standard. Even if we can now.

I still think we will play both Harmer and Maharaj spinners, and lots of that will be because if we play don't play one or the other it will either become a 'quota' issue or a 'dropping player of colour' issue. Dropping Mulder from the squad and playing both Maharaj and Harmer avoids lots of difficult selection issues.

 

[Red_Ink_Squid]

We where playing 2 spinners in SA... I don't understand why they would select Harmer and not Mulder in the squad unless wanting to play 2 spinners

Clearly I'm out of step with the SA set up's thinking, but I'd have thought that Mulder becomes more valuable with two spinners in the side, as he can bat 7 to accommodate them both. I guess that'll be Jansen's role instead?