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

[kykweer.proteas]

England thought the series was won after two games, the commentators noted that at the third game remarking on their body language and approach... and it sure told in the results. Excellent comeback by AB and his team who were under massive pressure.

Now for the T20's

 

[vcs]

AB you beautiful man.

Good series win for SA, both teams with plenty of positives to take out of it.

 

[burr]

That takes guts to come back from 2 zip down. Hats off.

Yes...I perhaps lauded England prematurely. They really are consistently inconsistent.

 

[Prince EWS]

I really enjoyed this series, even just on a game-by-game basis outside the wider context of the series itself. I'm a bit gutted it's over now.

 

[Furball]

That 23* was a shocking innings. If you're playing for not outs and trying to pick 1s and 2s into gaps then yea you'll get a good average but it isn't great for the team. About the only guy who's done it well is Bevan and that's a totally different era.

If you're trying to get as many possible, playing selflessly then slogging at the death won't do your average any good.

 

[Bijed]

Quite disappointed to have lost the series having won the first 2 games, but once this series has faded into the record books at least a 3-2 loss won't look like such a bad scoreline. As others have said, we had plenty of chances to claim the series and we just didn't take them.

On the other hand, very pleased for Hales - he's had a great series with the bat, especially considering his confidence could well have been shot to pieces after his fairly miserable test series.

 

[grecian]

Ravi for Stokes then, clearly the way to go. I just want it for Scaly's reaction though......

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Well played SA, great comeback from 2-0.

Was a fun series really.

 

[YorksLanka]

Yes, congrats and apologies to SA, I honestly felt England would walk this series. Great comeback from the first match for SA..

 

[Daemon]

Good series. After being 2-0 up England have lost the 3rd ODI despite scoring over 300 in the first innings, lost the 4th ODI after having it in the bag, and then collapsed pretty badly here from a decent position. Good stuff from Saffers but Eng had their chances.

Some might even say England choked

 

[Energetic]

I thought England have become a major force in this format? I'm actually surprised they have been bowled out for less than 240 in this final ODI since they bat pretty much all the way through. Let's not forget the likes of Morkel, Philander and Steyn were missing; on the other hand, congrats to South Africa for the massive turnaround (comeback).

 

[RossTaylorsBox]

(comeback).

Thanks for clarifying.

 

[grecian]

In the end, as WPDavid and Trevor Bayliss have said, our fielding is our achilles heel in all cricket ATM (that and the odd batting collapse), if you look at practically all our bad losses recently, in all forms, you'll see terrible drops behind the stumps and elsewhere.

We are choking in the field under pressure, it is an huge problem. Really doesn't help our bowlers either who often bowl well and have ****e figures for it.

 

[Stefan9]

It will be interesting to see what SA does for the t20's, faf seems really keen to have ab open. Only problem with that is I am struggling to see where Amla fits into the side if AB is opening, faf has been brilliant at 3 in t20's so you don't want to move him and obviously qdk has to play.

1.AB
2.QDK
3.Faf
4.JP
5.Miller
6.Behardien
7.Wiese
8.Morris
9.Radaba
10.Abbot
11.Tahir


I would go with this instead thought:

1.Amla
2.QDK
3.Faf
4.AB
5.Miller
6.Duminy
7.Wiese
8.Morris
9.Radaba
10.Abbot
11.Tahir

Obviously Steyn will come in for abbot for the t20's vs aus and the world t20's.

 

[wpdavid]

In the end, as WPDavid and Trevor Bayliss have said, our fielding is our achilles heel in all cricket ATM (that and the odd batting collapse), if you look at practically all our bad losses recently, in all forms, you'll see terrible drops behind the stumps and elsewhere.

We are choking in the field under pressure, it is an huge problem. Really doesn't help our bowlers either who often bowl well and have ****e figures for it.

Yeah, you do wonder what on earth goes on at county level when fielding is such a weakness. It's one of the basics that should be fine even if we tend not to produce many world class batsmen or bowlers.

As for the batting, it is a concern that we've failed to last 50 overs twice on the trot on pitches that really weren't minefields.To some extent that's down to the lower middle order not having any sort of Plan 'B', which you'd like to think could be developed. Beyond that it'll come down to whether we want the extra full-time batsman or the sixth bowler. My guess is they'll stick with the current split and hope that Roy, Stokes and Buttler will become more consistent. Judging by Hales' progress, that may not be the worst idea.

People do spout some crap at times. Elsewhere, someone was arguing that losing 3-2 after being 2 up means we haven't made any progress. Perhaps that particular individual didn't watch us in the WC or against NZ, Aus or Pakistan. It's still pretty clear we're moving in the right direction. And the comment earlier here that this series loss was down to complacency after the 2nd game is pretty silly too.

 

[91Jmay]

Yeah, really disappointing end to the series. Glad that Hales has nailed down the opener slot, but this team is pretty clearly a couple of years away from being a genuine threat. Think Taylor has to come into the middle order somewhere, probably easiest to open Ali and drop Roy.

 

[Heboric]

Yeah, really disappointing end to the series. Glad that Hales has nailed down the opener slot, but this team is pretty clearly a couple of years away from being a genuine threat. Think Taylor has to come into the middle order somewhere, probably easiest to open Ali and drop Roy.

Why a couple of years surely it should be sooner. Going through Englands team for the fifth ODI barring Reece Topley, each player of the team had played a minimum of 30 ODI's and over 100 list A games. How long does it take ?

 

[91Jmay]

Jason Roy, Rashid, and Hales haven't played 30 ODIs, and Willey also hasn't who played most of the series.

 

[Heboric]

Jason Roy, Rashid, and Hales haven't played 30 ODIs, and Willey also hasn't who played most of the series.

29 or 30

Tomayto Tomato

 

[91Jmay]

Rashid, Roy and Willey haven't played 29 either.