***Official*** South Africa in England

KP is superficial smarm at the best of times but underneath that he does comes across as a fairly honest guy but today, the amount of ass licking that went on was mute inducing, “I just like to begin (this press conference) by saying I love Michael”…

Goughy said:

And what exactly should they fear from Broad?

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His batting?

Strange how the rationale for Broad's axing was that he was fatigued/in need of a rest yet within 24 hours he was playing for Notts (admirably it would seem) and is now back in contention for the Oval.

Can’t find the full squads online but Rob Key will captain England A against South Africa on the 14th of August (?). Ed Joyce will take the reigns for the second A game against the Proteas for Key's got a Lord's final to attend.

TT Boy said:

Can’t find the full squads online but Rob Key will captain England A against South Africa on the 14th of August (?). Ed Joyce will take the reigns for the second A game against the Proteas for Key's got a Lord's final to attend.

Incidentally, Simon Jones will participate in the second game along with Eoin Morgan.

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Squad for Leicester (Source)
Robert Key (Kent, capt), Kabir Ali (Worcestershire), Ravi Bopara (Essex), Joe Denly (Kent), Simon Jones (Worcestershire), Dimitri Mascarenhas (Hampshire), Samit Patel (Nottinghamshire), Matt Prior (Sussex), Owais Shah (Middlesex), Chris Tremlett (Hampshire), James Tredwell (Kent), Luke Wright (Sussex).

Joyce, Morgan, Trott, Bresnan, Mahmood and Pattinson in for Bopara, Denly, Tredwell, Kabir, Jones and Tremlett for Derby.

Samuel_Vimes said:

Squad for Leicester (Source)
Robert Key (Kent, capt), Kabir Ali (Worcestershire), Ravi Bopara (Essex), Joe Denly (Kent), Simon Jones (Worcestershire), Dimitri Mascarenhas (Hampshire), Samit Patel (Nottinghamshire), Matt Prior (Sussex), Owais Shah (Middlesex), Chris Tremlett (Hampshire), James Tredwell (Kent), Luke Wright (Sussex).

Joyce, Morgan, Trott, Bresnan, Mahmood and Pattinson in for Bopara, Denly, Tredwell, Kabir, Jones and Tremlett for Derby.

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Cool.

Decent chance both sides will be more competitive than the full team.

TT Boy said:

His batting?

Strange how the rationale for Broad's axing was that he was fatigued/in need of a rest yet within 24 hours he was playing for Notts (admirably it would seem) and is now back in contention for the Oval.

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Was it? Who said that? It was his ineffective bowling.

Lots of people said it, mostly those who didn't want to face the facts that Broad's bowling is currently well below Test-class and has been shown to be such a thing.

Not sure if the selectors were amongst them.

Pup Clarke said:

How else are they going to be?

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It's as inevitable as it is worthy.

I see the need for the things I suppose, but I'm amazed the press pack do. Why on Earth would their readers want to read that vast array of obvious-stating?

Richard said:

Lots of people said it, mostly those who didn't want to face the facts that Broad's bowling is currently well below Test-class and has been shown to be such a thing.

Not sure if the selectors were amongst them.

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I thought he was quoting an official source, which I don't remember hearing.

steds said:

Indeed. Want Pietersen to come out and say something really controversial. "Death to Mandela!" or something...

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Interesting Freudian slip in his interview with Athers shown on Sky in the change of innings during the Somerset/Middlesex Pro40 just now:

"Mooresy likes to pressure players, no not pressure, challenge them."

Napier16 said:

Bopara's obvious a case of a young pretty thing who's face fits, which isn't hard to do alongside Key.

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There speaks a true son of Essex. Just pleased to see a county stalwart get a go.

Seriously tho, shocking decision. If I were Shah (unbeaten 96 in the Pro40 just now, btw) I'd probably have signed for the ICL by now. Yeah, Bopara's done marginally better this summer, but enough to forget how utterly out of his depth he looked in Sri Lanka? Not for me.

Will we see KP man up and move to three now he's the captain? I know he loves his security at four, but he's patently the best qualified to bat there. Harmy for the ailing Sid & there's the team for me.

Where would you have Bopara then, DB?

Jamee999 said:

Where would you have Bopara then, DB?

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6, I suppose, after Colly's knock. Imagine we'll move Bell to 3 in all probability too. Think the captaincy is probably enough for KP to deal with without an unwanted promotion up the order.

Strauss
Cook
Bell
Pietersen*
Collingwood
Bopara
Flintoff
Ambrose+
Anderson
Harmison
Panesar

is my guess, unless Ravi's a massive red herring & Broad comes back into a 5-man attack.

Richard said:

Or someone who can score one-day runs, which Prior has proven well incapable of.

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Well doubtless you're hoping he fails, to "teach the selectors a lesson".

Napier16 said:

Yet again England go and make a balls up of it and pick the weakest possible of the potentail Vaughan replacements.

Bopara's obvious a case of a young pretty thing who's face fits, which isn't hard to do alongside Key.

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Dunno who you are, but totally agree with you..

TT Boy said:

KP is superficial smarm at the best of times but underneath that he does comes across as a fairly honest guy but today, the amount of ass licking that went on was mute inducing, “I just like to begin (this press conference) by saying I love Michael”…

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I was impressed.. Obviously my accent is a bit of a mess for the same reasons as his, and I love the way he says "a lot".. Sounds like he has come straight out of Peckham..

Now we can safely say that SA are a superior side in every form and facet, I can start feeling a bit of quiet admiration for KP.. He seems to have chilled out a bit like Smith, two men I despised a couple of years ago..

Manee said:

The selection of Matt Prior for the ODIs is a baffling one and one that surely cannot succeed in the long term. He has a poor List A record and his poorer ODI record shows that he doesn't raise his game in ODIs from List A cricket.

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Prior has had 22 ODI innings. After 22 Test innings, Steve Waugh averaged less than 28. You have no idea whether Matt Prior will succeed in the long term. He's being selected not on his (ODI) record but on his ability, which is, or should be, patently obvious to those who have watched him play.

Langeveldt said:

I was impressed.. Obviously my accent is a bit of a mess for the same reasons as his, and I love the way he says "a lot".. Sounds like he has come straight out of Peckham..

Now we can safely say that SA are a superior side in every form and facet, I can start feeling a bit of quiet admiration for KP.. He seems to have chilled out a bit like Smith, two men I despised a couple of years ago..

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I think we can quite safely say SA are a much more complete side than England at this moment. I've been impressed with SA throughout, all facets of their play. The batting has looked too strong for our attack and the bowling is certainly more threatening than anything we could muster, barring a couple of Flintoff spells. Whenever SA have smelt an opening they've exploited it where as England failed to take the chance in the last Test during Colly and KP's partnership.

The SA v Aus promises to be a real test for the Aussies and a good indication of how close they have come back to the pack.

zaremba said:

Prior has had 22 ODI innings. After 22 Test innings, Steve Waugh averaged less than 28. You have no idea whether Matt Prior will succeed in the long term. He's being selected not on his (ODI) record but on his ability, which is, or should be, patently obvious to those who have watched him play.

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Interestingly, he has an excellent record for a new batsman in tests, but most don't believe he has what it takes to succeed as a specialist bat from watching him play. So the opposite of what you're saying is the case for ODIs.

Uppercut said:

most don't believe he has what it takes to succeed as a specialist bat from watching him play.

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Even on this site there is no such consensus. One or two individuals who talk a lot but who I suspect haven't seen him play that much have decided, in their wisdom, that he's not up to it, but this does not add up to "most people".

I really do wonder sometimes how much domestic cricket the more vocal and arrogant of the posters here actually watch.

zaremba said:

Even on this site there is no such consensus. One or two individuals who talk a lot but who I suspect haven't seen him play that much have decided, in their wisdom, that he's not up to it, but this does not add up to "most people".

I really do wonder sometimes how much domestic cricket the more vocal and arrogant of the posters here actually watch.

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I suppose by "most people" what i meant was "the people who matter", i.e. the selectors. Personally i thought he looked superb against Sri Lanka, don't really know how he would deal with good pace bowling but given the current state of the England batting lineup he's probably worth a shot.