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

[flibbertyjibber]

Sunday 17 January 2016 - the day this man became the leader of the #1 test cricket team in the world

Wonder how many captains have never set foot on the park when they are ranked number 1?

Aussies win in NZ I presume they go top of the rankings.

 

[YorksLanka]

congrats to England on a fantastic win, the form in the warm up games carried on through and I honestly think England will win the series easily and will soon get back to #1 spot in tests

Wish I was this good at picking lottery numbers..well done England on a predicted series win..won't be long before England take the #1 spot..

 

[Stefan9]

Politics impacts everything, you can bury your head in the sand and pretend sport and politics don't mix but they do so it being ignored doesn't change anything.

There's a difference between reporting on political issues affecting the team/game and trying to drive an agenda. She and her husband try to drive an agenda the other SA cricket journo's don't.

 

[91Jmay]

Perhaps, I have no issue with advocacy journalism though especially if they are upfront about it. Objectivity is largely a myth.

 

[Cabinet96]

She is certainly bias but no more than Botham, C9, Malcolm Conn (before he literally became a paid cheerleader for CA) et al.

And all of them get **** on by fans on a near daily basis.

 

[Bahnz]

She is certainly bias but no more than Botham, C9, Malcolm Conn (before he literally became a paid cheerleader for CA) et al.

Yes, and nobody on CW ever complains about how terrible these guys are.

 

[91Jmay]

Yeah that is true, suppose I don't see it as often about written journalists but you are right only fair we dig them all out.

 

[marc71178]

Sunday 17 January 2016 - the day this man became the leader of the #1 test cricket team in the world

It was a Saturday you prick.

 

[Jono]

It was a Saturday you prick.

Was Sunday here:

 

[weldone]

Well done England!

 

[Black_Warrior]

Massive win this for England. It's great how the batting weaknesses were sort of filled by the emergence of Compton, Taylor and the brilliant Stokes of course.

Another great knock in this game to form a partnership with Root at a crucial stage. Incredible how much he adds to the team, totally makes up for a sort of misfiring top order.

In the last 4 years, England have now won two massive away series, absolutely incredible stuff this.

Gotta feel bad for South Africa though. For a team that had such an incredible away record for almost 8 years at a time when everyone was getting hammered overseas, to lose the number 1 ranking after 2 series losses should hurt. They should have had more points separating them from the number 2.

This does look like a broken team though, and there seems to be a lot going on behind the scenes. AB's comments are worrying for a guy who always wore his passion on his sleeve and who never made a secret of how much losing hurt him. Yet now he talks about workload and burnout and retirement and all that. There is obviously a lot bothering him at his workplace, and that will always effect how much you enjoy your work

 

[Black_Warrior]

"It's a big responsibility for me, and a great opportunity to have an influence on younger players. I would love to walk away from the game knowing I've had an influence on the young guys turning into senior players in the team," de Villiers said. "There's a group of about four or five players that have the responsibility on their shoulders, and it's important for us to keep things intact. And to keep the hope going. I'd love to be captain, I'm hopefully still captain in the next game, we'll see."

I don't understand these comments from ABD. What's going on behind the scenes?

 

[Adders]

He hasn't officially been appointed yet, he's only stand in skipper at the moment.

 

[kykweer.proteas]

Geez that was some spell from broad, brilliant... Congrats england and her supporters, easy series win.

 

[kykweer.proteas]

I think the thing with firdosa, a while ago she wrote an article about these black player not getting a chance in south africa so he went overseas to play in england... She wrote this article and made such a fuss about this poor guy not playing domestic cricket... Meanwhile he was ****, he was playing lower level club cricket... She did lil fact checking and never retracted this propaganda piece.

 

[Prince EWS]

I think the thing with firdosa, a while ago she wrote an article about these black player not getting a chance in south africa so he went overseas to play in england... She wrote this article and made such a fuss about this poor guy not playing domestic cricket... Meanwhile he was ****, he was playing lower level club cricket... She did lil fact checking and never retracted this propaganda piece.

Yeah that article really ground my gears too.

 

[kykweer.proteas]

Poor management and a negative mindset contributed to South Africa's home series defeat by England and loss of the No 1 test ranking, former Proteas captain Graeme Smith said.

Smith's brash leadership over a decade led the side to the top of the International Cricket Council's test rankings, but since he retired in early 2014 he has watched from the sidelines as the team's performances worsen.

Their latest seven-wicket loss to England at the Wanderers on Saturday, that included being bowled out for a paltry 83 in their second innings, gifted the series to the tourists and saw India installed as the new No 1 test team.

Smith believes the management team, led by head coach Russell Domingo, need to look at their role in the decline of the side.

"The players have to take responsibility for their performances, there's no doubt about that, but the management do too," Smith told SuperSport.

"They haven't quite come into the equation of late. At the end the day the performances of the test team for the last year haven't been good enough, so you have to ask questions of everybody.

"How is management getting the best out of them, how are they preparing them, are they directed in the right way, do they need to be firmer, do they need to be softer? I don't know.

"These are all questions that need to come out of the environment. When you are not performing well, people are going to ask questions and you've got to live with it."

Smith, arguably the Proteas greatest ever captain, said there was a lack of strong leadership in the current squad, which has also lost senior players Jacques Kallis and Mark Boucher in recent years.

"Some of the decision-making around the space looks a bit worrisome for me. The team seems a bit flat. Some of the messages coming out in the press conferences don't seem positive and it's coming from senior players.

"You're are in a big series and there is a lot of negativity among your senior players. It looks like someone needs to grab the bull by the horns and say, 'listen guys, let's wake up and let's pull our finger out and let's go and play some test cricket'."

The fourth and final test, now a dead rubber, starts in Pretoria on Friday

 

[Damo833]

Broad number one in the rankings

 

[Howe_zat]

The rankings have gone a bit weird. Steyn not being number one is something that will take some getting used to if you started paying attention around 2008.

 

[vcs]

Moonda is easily the most biased out of the cricinfo mob (Kimber, Dobell, Monga, Fernando etc.).