*Official* England in South Africa Thread

[SpaceMonkey]

Hoggard should have come out b4 Thorpe tbh. He never looked comfertable at the crease.

 

[Pratters]

What England does in their innings will as ever depend on what conditions you get tomorrow, if England get sunny conditions then they've got no good reason not to score comfortably over 400 - regardless of how SA bowl.

Conditions do always play a part but I believe the better team makes the most of what they get like the thing about McGrath and Pollock you said.

A cloudy day tomorrow could be dooms day for South Africa but I will never put it on that for a loss if it ever happens. The team which has the best killer instinct makes the most out of their luck.

 

[Scaly piscine]

If I were the betting sort I'd definitely put some money on England to win, they're 2.75 on the scrolling one on cricinfo with a draw 1.72 (I dunno why people bet on draws so much, but I guess that's an indication of the dodgy weather). Par score is given as 440... which is kinda more optimistic than me.

 

[SpaceMonkey]

Average first innings score at jo'berg is 333. So England are on course for a good (perhaps not match winning) score which will more than keep us in the game.

 

[tooextracool]

Anderson in for Jones. Lets see what he does...

further evidence about how stupid the english selectors are.

 

[tooextracool]

Why can't tres just go back to somerset so we can get a real test opener in there. Fletcher and him obviously have something special..........

ive been saying that for god knows how long, in which time ive been called all sorts of names.

 

[tooextracool]

Just wondering if anyone who saw that innings of 130 by tres thought it was any good as centuries go?? All i seem to remember is him playing onto his pads alot.

he of course came up with one of his typical knocks on the flattest of wickets. his dismissal this inning is typical tresco, pace and outside the off stump, the same mistake hes been making for years.

 

[SpaceMonkey]

further evidence about how stupid the english selectors are.

I think it was more to do with the fact they wanted to lessen Flintoffs role bowling wise and thought Anderson would be able to bowl more overs than Jones. Not to mention they think the ball will swing (which it has shown to do a little bit from the SA bowlers...i feel Langeveldt would have done much better than Steyn in the conditions).

 

[tooextracool]

Big question is - have we seen the last of Butcher?

if key continues to play like the way he is for the rest of the series, i'd think so. well at least until butcher shows good form in domestic cricket and keys performances start to drop.

 

[tooextracool]

"When will they learn"? What the hell is that? How about "Congratulations, what an important knock"?

theres nothing wrong with pointing out mistakes. just because you score runs it doesnt mean that your mistakes should be completely ignored. when i saw geraint jones scored runs against NZ at headingly i pointed out that he played his shots too early and it could cause him problems on non-flat wickets. incidentally hes been struggling with that flaw for a while now, but at the time i was shot down for not showing any respect for his innings.

 

[savill]

If Key can find some consistency, and keep his place, Butcher would find himself slipping down the order, especially with Bell and Pietersen coming through.

 

[tooextracool]

I think it was more to do with the fact they wanted to lessen Flintoffs role bowling wise and thought Anderson would be able to bowl more overs than Jones. Not to mention they think the ball will swing (which it has shown to do a little bit from the SA bowlers...i feel Langeveldt would have done much better than Steyn in the conditions).

personally i think vaughan has underbowled jones throughout his career, hes certainly capable of bowling long spells. one must remember that in the only game that england have won this series he was the one who did the job. of course to show him some gratitude they still drop him.
as far as steyns selection over langeveldt is concerned, i have absolutely no idea what thats about.

 

[savill]

Jones has definitely been underbowled. Should be used alot more, especially when it is reversing.

 

[tooextracool]

That was the "great innings" bit. Still doesn't make it a great idea to give it away at that stage of play, as Thorpe's subsequent duck shows. Bit like Gibbs' 1st innings at the Oval in 2003.

on thorpe, bar that one inning he really has been in poor form this series.

 

[Pratters]

as far as steyns selection over langeveldt is concerned, i have absolutely no idea what thats about.

He was carrying some injury and it was thought too big a risk to carry Langeveldt into the match. If he got severely injured during the match and could not play, it would be too big a blow.

 

[badgerhair]

personally i think vaughan has underbowled jones throughout his career, hes certainly capable of bowling long spells. one must remember that in the only game that england have won this series he was the one who did the job. of course to show him some gratitude they still drop him.
as far as steyns selection over langeveldt is concerned, i have absolutely no idea what thats about.

Jones has been saying over the last few months that he's gradually getting the strength and confidence back to bowl longer spells, which suggests that part of his appearing underbowled is that there are limits which we know not of. Though I would agree that Vaughan has seemed to me rather too reluctant to give him a go.

They clearly believe that it is more likely to swing in Jo'burg, which is why they're giving Anderson a go: he didn't do too badly last time out either, and you can just as easily argue it was harsh to drop him in favour of Jones for PE.

Cheers,

Mike

 

[SpaceMonkey]

Apparently Vaughan was impressed with Anderson in the nets all this tour (him almost breaking Vaughans hand with apparently a very good ball might have helped that opinion). Who are we to argue say thousands of miles away when Vaughan sees both bowlers first hand. I'd take his judgment over mine anyday

 

[wpdavid]

on thorpe, bar that one inning he really has been in poor form this series.

I'm quite concerned actually. I know anyone can have a duff series, but at his age you just wonder if his powers are beginning to wane, but it didn't show against relatively weak WI & NZ attacks.

 

[twctopcat]

I'm quite concerned actually. I know anyone can have a duff series, but at his age you just wonder if his powers are beginning to wane, but it didn't show against relatively weak WI & NZ attacks.

Me too but of all the batsmen to bounce back i would back Thorpe. However you've got to wonder how much he's got upstairs. You can almost see how mentally drained he is sometimes, doesn't bode well for July.

 

[superkingdave]

BTW according to fat boy croft, Jones has a back injury which has kept him out of this test