*Official* England in South Africa 2019/20

[OverratedSanity]

Can't believe how under rated Curran still is among English fans. I am obviously exaggerating but it honestly could well have been 4-1 to us in England in 2018 if not for him. And while he may have limited skill sets in certain conditions, his attitude and sharp cricketing acumen should ensure he is a bit of a direct pick in almost all conditions.

Agree but who makes way for him if everyone is fit? Anderson and Broad are undroppable, Archer despite his recent meh form still has a very high ceiling and Woakes is better at both batting and bowling than Curran imo.

 

[StephenZA]

Stokes getting ill? That would be a real blow to Eng team. The question you have to ask is why did the players not get their flu jab...?

 

[trundler]

Slightly Haydenesque, no?

 

[honestbharani]

Agree but who makes way for him if everyone is fit? Anderson and Broad are undroppable, Archer despite his recent meh form still has a very high ceiling and Woakes is better at both batting and bowling than Curran imo.

They don't need so many batsmen. He can well play at 8 if they have Pope at 5, Stokes at 6 and a keeper at 7. And I think Woakes is rather over-rated. Even if you consider him to be better, Curran has a much higher ceiling and is less likely to break down. I think its a no-brainer. I will mark him at #8 and Stokes at #6 and then work out the rest of the XI.

 

[trundler]

This is the kind of match situation where you'd want Stokes to pull one out of thin air, as he usually does.

 

[trundler]

Noooooooooooooo. He deserved that 100 so much. What a peach though. I'll definitely take Curran ahead of Archer now.

 

[Prince EWS]

Agree but who makes way for him if everyone is fit? Anderson and Broad are undroppable, Archer despite his recent meh form still has a very high ceiling and Woakes is better at both batting and bowling than Curran imo.

Yeah Curran's bowled well here and I like him but if we assume Stokes and the other three quicks playing here are fit then I'm not picking him. If Archer bowls like this too much more often or Stokes isn't fit then my mind can easily be changed, but having a short history of making important contributions doesn't trump actually being one of the best three seamers or seven batsmen available when the team already has a gun allrounder.

I don't enjoy having to talk him down at all but all his 2019 Tests other than this one had been meh to dire. He played well against India last year and then made a few runs in SL straight after (no wickets though), but since then he has scored one fifty (55 against Ireland) and hasn't taken more than three wickets in a Test.

I'm happy for him here and I do think the way people carry on as if it's some kind of miracle whenever he does something is silly, but yeah I don't think I'd pick him with everyone at full fitness. I suppose the good thing for him is that all England's bowlers/allrounders being fit at once is an extremely rare event the last year or two. I'd still be picking him most of the time.

 

[SeamUp]

Hopefully it swings all day tomorrow too. This has been Wanderers like.

It can get very flat and difficult to stop run-scoring before the inconsistent bounce but not sure if this extra grass (and atmosphere) has allowed for the swing and seam all day .

 

[trundler]

England in the lead but you'd expect another collapse from then surely

 

[Pup Clarke]

Curran is definitely a better bowler than Woakes overseas. He's a legit test bowler

 

[SeamUp]

If Vernon could go through the gears better he would have had a test hundred by now. Technically always been pretty decent. Thinking back to his contribution in that Lord's test match victory with the bat. It was massive.

 

[StephenZA]

Hopefully it swings all day tomorrow too. This has been Wanderers like.

It can get very flat and difficult to stop run-scoring before the inconsistent bounce but not sure if this extra grass (and atmosphere) has allowed for the swing and seam all day .

High humidity?

 

[SeamUp]

High humidity?

By all accounts it is super muggy. But I'm sure it has been like that in the past too.

England's day for me. Not by much but think they will be pleased.

 

[Lillian Thomson]

You never know until both teams have batted, but this feels like a few too many.

 

[StephenZA]

England just... think they would have wanted more with the movement available and having SA down 110+ for 5.

 

[BoyBrumby]

I think if one inserts anything much over 250 for the oppo is disappointing.

This comes with the proviso that I haven't seen a ball of today's play, but mildly questionable decision to put RSA in? Broad and Jofra have both been in their sickbeds since they arrived, Jimmeh hasn't bowled in earnest since before Boris was PM, Stokes's dad is clearly seriously ill and he's ailing himself and there's no specialist spinner to keep things tight.

If it was as marginal a call as reported (Faf said he'd have batted) surely an extra day's rest and not batting last should've added weight to batting first?

 

[theegyptian]

I think if one inserts anything much over 250 for the oppo is disappointing.

This comes with the proviso that I haven't seen a ball of today's play, but mildly questionable decision to put RSA in? Broad and Jofra have both been in their sickbeds since they arrived, Jimmeh hasn't bowled in earnest since before Boris was PM, Stokes's dad is clearly seriously ill and he's ailing himself and there's no specialist spinner to keep things tight.

If it was as marginal a call as reported (Faf said he'd have batted) surely an extra day's rest and not batting last should've added weight to batting first?

Agreed, everything I heard it sounded like a bad decision. Sounds like the wicket will quicken up the next couple of days and then possibly break up, with day 1 being possibly the best time to bat( at least England would be better off batting day 1 when the wicket is a little slower).

Probably Root swayed by picking all the seamers.
It made sense the test in Hamilton where the only good time to bowl was likely to be day 1, and likely to be flat after. Here it looks misjudged.

 

[Bijed]

I think if one inserts anything much over 250 for the oppo is disappointing.

This comes with the proviso that I haven't seen a ball of today's play, but mildly questionable decision to put RSA in? Broad and Jofra have both been in their sickbeds since they arrived, Jimmeh hasn't bowled in earnest since before Boris was PM, Stokes's dad is clearly seriously ill and he's ailing himself and there's no specialist spinner to keep things tight.

If it was as marginal a call as reported (Faf said he'd have batted) surely an extra day's rest and not batting last should've added weight to batting first?

Yeah, I think it was the wrong call to put them in, but, whilst they've got more than you'd like having sent someone in, last wicket partnership notwithstanding, it hasn't backfired too badly. We were lucky to be gifted the first three wickets, mind

 

[Stefan9]

By all accounts it is super muggy. But I'm sure it has been like that in the past too.

England's day for me. Not by much but think they will be pleased.

Feels much more humid then normal for pretoria/centurion. Probably contributed to the swing we saw today. Quite usual. Usual hot but not that humid.

England probably just ahead. Would love a little 30 partnership tomorrow morning.

 

[BSM]

Notwitstanding the fact that they will probably be rolled over by Philander tomorrow, England had a pretty good day. Have a feeling the decision to bowl first isn't going to age well at all but nonetheless it was a pretty respectable performance with the ball, besides the first session. Will be interesting to see how the pitch plays for the rest of the match.