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

[Pothas]

I like so many of the young English batting brigade... big fan of Compton, Taylor, Root, Ballance, but why are they all so terrible to watch in a purely aesthetic sense? I know some people enjoy Root's strokeplay, but to me, that's more down to him being a jet batsman and not necessarily how good his strokes actually look while he's batting. It doesn't matter if they're getting runs obviously, but they all look so ungainly, ugh. This could be the only semi-sensible reason people could've given to retain Bell.

This is why we need James Vince. Can't really agree on Root though, he is pretty much the perfect modern style of batsman.

We have the most stylish number 8 ever of course.

 

[91Jmay]

That is a good delivery, much fuller. Hales had a real chance for a big ton there, but still batted well.

 

[Howe_zat]

c De Villiers b Howe 60

 

[OverratedSanity]

This is why we need James Vinnce. Can't really agree on Root though, he is pretty much the perfect modern style of batsman.

We have the most stylish number 8 ever of course.

Oh yeah Moeen is definitely fun.

 

[Compton]

That's a good ball. Obviously Hales should do better, but that's true of all edges to slip. Hales will be furious with himself.

 

[LegionOfBrad]

I like so many of the young English batting brigade... big fan of Compton, Taylor, Root, Ballance, but why are they all so terrible to watch in a purely aesthetic sense? I know some people enjoy Root's strokeplay, but to me, that's more down to him being a jet batsman and not necessarily how good his strokes actually look while he's batting. It doesn't matter if they're getting runs obviously, but they all look so ungainly, ugh. This could be the only semi-sensible reason people could've given to retain Bell.

Some of it is to do with the coaching methods employed due to having to counteract the ball moves more I would think.

 

[OverratedSanity]

I think Root's a brilliant batsman to watch. Also, having pretty strokeplay isn't even close to being a semi-sensible reason to retain Bell.

I don't know what it is about Root... might be the backlift. It just looks awkward and unsexy.

Joking about Bell, obviously. There was no semi-sensible reason to retain him.

 

[Gnske]

Alex Fails

 

[91Jmay]

Yeah there is a degree of batting error but largely that is just a very good piece of bowling.

 

[Furball]

Has the bowling improved much in the last half hour? England don't seem to have gone anywhere.

 

[Compton]

England will be genuine contenders for no. 1 over the next few years. Good young players, good balance and hopefully Broad and Anderson can hang around for a few more years at least.

And Moeen Ali is underrated IMO. Has potential to be a great all-rounder.

Can't see much hope for SA, just judging by what they have coming through to fill vacant spots in the test side. They'll find a way to be competitive though.

Moeen's stats probably flatter his bowling quite a lot, but that will probably let him keep a respectable average while his skills develop to let him genuinely bowl to that average in a few years' time.

I'm still not entirely convinced with him as a batsman or a frontline spinner to be honest. He has potential, and obviously deserves his spot just now, but I'm just not sure about his longevity in the side.

 

[OverratedSanity]

SA seriously needed that.Good nut from Morkel.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Good catch again. Taken a couple of good ones today.

 

[Compton]

Has the bowling improved much in the last half hour? England don't seem to have gone anywhere.

They've recovered well from England's really quick re-start. Tighter line has kept Hales quiet, and Compton has kept Compton quiet. The game was in a bit of a lull, which was probably suiting England okay before the wicket.

 

[wpdavid]

No idea why they are going on about the Compton scoring rate, been very good since lunch and for him to score at 40 every 100 balls would be acceptable every time he bats.

It's probably because of how few balls he actually scores off and that spate of boundaries seems a long way ago now. Similar for Hales, actually. They both seem to lack the ability to rotate the strike without playing relatively high risk strokes, although that can improve of course. Which doesn't mean I want to see either of them dropped, and I much prefer what we're getting from Compton so far in this series to what we'd seen from Bell for ages.

 

[LegionOfBrad]

Yeah they tightened up. Piedt going around the wicket as he was getting tonked.

 

[Stapel]

I like so many of the young English batting brigade... big fan of Compton, Taylor, Root, Ballance, but why are they all so terrible to watch in a purely aesthetic sense? I know some people enjoy Root's strokeplay, but to me, that's more down to him being a jet batsman and not necessarily how good his strokes actually look while he's batting. It doesn't matter if they're getting runs obviously, but they all look so ungainly, ugh. This could be the only semi-sensible reason people could've given to retain Bell.

Compton is only a year younger than Bell .

I guess I agree somewhat with you here. First of all, I have enjoyed Ian Bell batting so many times. I don't really care about his average, and even les about statistics like 'no 100s when nobody else has done so'. Sure enough those things are fair points when judging how good a batsman he is/was. But from a purely aesthetic point of view, Ian Bell should play more Tests!

I can't say I dislike watching Root bat, but it's different.

 

[Compton]

Compton's strike rate is marginally higher than Hales'. Stats.

 

[TheJediBrah]

Moeen's stats probably flatter his bowling quite a lot, but that will probably let him keep a respectable average while his skills develop to let him genuinely bowl to that average in a few years' time.

I'm still not entirely convinced with him as a batsman or a frontline spinner to be honest. He has potential, and obviously deserves his spot just now, but I'm just not sure about his longevity in the side.

Adil Rashid bowls too much ****. I can see Moeen developing into an Ashwin/Ajmal type bowler and if his batting develops as well he could be awesome.

Hopefully he doesn't do a Shane Watson and peak in his mid 20s

 

[Niall]

I like so many of the young English batting brigade... big fan of Compton, Taylor, Root, Ballance, but why are they all so terrible to watch in a purely aesthetic sense? I know some people enjoy Root's strokeplay, but to me, that's more down to him being a jet batsman and not necessarily how good his strokes actually look while he's batting. It doesn't matter if they're getting runs obviously, but they all look so ungainly, ugh. This could be the only semi-sensible reason people could've given to retain Bell.

Bell towards the end was very bad to watch. That first test innings of 70 against Pakistan was absolutely horrible. It was a road, Pakistan had no Yasir or Gohar, Rahat was bowling trash and the rest were looking harmless, England dominant and he was content to play out maidens to Malik.

His negatively killed the innings and was a reason why they did not have enough time in the end to force a win.