SirBloody Idiot said:
I still do not know why they would omit Gibbs and Boucher. It is stupidity. It is obvious that Tsolekile can't bat aswell as Boucher, and frankly is a below average gloveman.
Boucher, yes. But I can wholly understand the selection of AB, he looks like a fantastic batsman.
And as good as Andrew Hall played against India, I still don't see him performing up to the required consistancy as an opener. And we all know how well Gibbs has played against England in the past.
Gibbs has played 2 high innings against England in Test-cricket, 1 of which needed an early dropped catch.
By-and-large, England have had the wood over him, just like they did with Liebenberg... shame we've always had so many problems with Kirsten and Smith.
My lineup with that squad would be...
G Smith
A Hall
J Rudolph
J Kallis
Z de Bruyn
H Amla (this guy will be star, regardless how stupid he looks)
H Dipenaar
S Pollock
T Tsolekile
N Boje
M Ntini
I'd put de Villiers as 12th man.
Not as light on in the bowling options I thought, Ntini, Pollock, Boje can handle the main bowling, while de Bruyn, Kallis, Hall and Rudolph can cover other aspects of bowling.
Personally I'd prefer to have Boje batting above Tselokile, if he plays - and really I'd prefer have Hall above Pollock and AB opening.
Still would have liked to see a spin option in Paul Adams, Claude Henderson or the guy who played in the last few games (name escapes me) and also Boucher and Gibbs of course.
Robin Peterson? Justin Ontong? You surely cannot be serious!
Paul Adams has been in horrible touch recently and Claude Henderson I don't think has even played this season. Boje is the only serious option - but really spin shouldn't play too big a part in this series.
As for England, their team would stay the same as it hqas for a while, obviously without Key and Anderson. I still doubt Simon Jones' ability as a bowler since the injury, and don't think he will cause too many problems. Butcher, however, will add some much needed experience in there. Would love to see Harmison maybe get a bat other then 11th cause he is a big hitter when he gets onto it, much better then Hoggard to me.
I believe we will be prepared for another Trescothcick away failure as per usual.
M Trescothick
A Strauss
M Vaughan
M Butcher
G Thorpe
A Flintoff
G Jones
A Giles
S Harmison
S Jones
M Hoggard
My prediction: Just because of form and stability, this will go to England, but after that tour of England I believe South Africa are regaining that fighting spirit. Disappointing of the late finding of Zander de Bruyn cause he really showed a lot against Kumble and the likes.
But I think Harmison, Hoggard and co. will really be relentless and I think South Africa have made a mistake in selection Tsolekile as it gives makes them add another speciallist batsman because of Tsolekile's inexperience and lack of batting talent compared to someone like Dipenaar and Hashim Amla.
South Africa edge it in terms of batting talent as this is the first time in a while people like Flintoff and Trescothick have to prove themselves on foreign soil where they generally struggle. However, England are vastly superior in the bowling options, but still Giles and Harmison have to prove to be dynamic on foreign soil as they are in England. If current form is anything to go by, I predict England 2-0, but only just.
Hoggard has far more ability with the bat, even if he doesn't swing as hard as Harmison. He's always more likely to make a telling lower-order contribution. I can't see Harmison making many with Ntini (and hopefully later Nel) tearing in at him.
I think it's realistic to hope Tselokile might be dumped after this Test, personally. Maybe AB can keep wicket and bat three? That'd enable the selection of an extra batsman or bowler.
Still no-one has mentioned what the pitch is looking like, it seems. Not heard a peep.
If it's like some of the WC surfaces 2 years ago, a bore draw is a distinct possibility.
