*Official* England in South Africa Thread

[Mr Casson]

.. not to mention the SL games previously. Maybe someone's telling us there are too many ODI's?

Is that the case though? In the last year I know Australia only played 20, which really isn't all that many. In 2003 they played in excess of 30 I think (mainly due to the WC), but 20 a year really isn't saturation point at all for ODIs.

Were there any teams last year that DID play loads of them?

 

[Marius]

With regards to the rain forecast, on Mike Haysman's cricket program which is shown here in SA, he said there was no rain forecast, so hopefully we'll get some cricket in.

 

[Scaly piscine]

More bizarre selections from SA - Boje (vice-captain) dropped on a dry, good batting pitch with large dimensions (ie might be tough clearing the boundary). Day/night game and Smith wins the toss and decides to bowl first...

 

[Arjun]

What's your opinion of Kabir Ali? He bowled well in his first 8 overs, for a reserve. He also has 5 FC half-centuries, so how does he bat?

 

[Scaly piscine]

I haven't seen him bat, but his FC his pretty poor so I wouldn't have thought he's any more than a number 8.

 

[twctopcat]

What's your opinion of Kabir Ali? He bowled well in his first 8 overs, for a reserve. He also has 5 FC half-centuries, so how does he bat?

A slogger by the sounds of it. Got 90 odd in FC limited overs once so must be something there.

 

[Scaly piscine]

Just knew Tresco would get himself out, always gets overexcited on pitches like these and gets a cameo score.

 

[Scaly piscine]

Vaughan as usual struggling at the start of his innings, in my opinion he's pretty weak when it comes to picking up singles and tends to hit the fielders with great regularity in ODIs.

 

[marc71178]

I haven't seen him bat, but his FC his pretty poor so I wouldn't have thought he's any more than a number 8.

I wouldn't expect him to come in ahead of Gilo.

 

[Scaly piscine]

Pretty dumb batting from the English openers, they've seen the pitch is a little slow & low so they play the exact sort of shots that are going to get them out sooner rather than later.

 

[Marius]

Come on SA. 68/3. If we can nip out Vaughan or Pietersen (preferably both ) before the score has reached 100 we will be in a very good position.

 

[Jono]

Why the hell would you run on Gibbs' arm? Lucky Vaughan was in.

 

[Scaly piscine]

Why the hell would you run on Gibbs' arm? Lucky Vaughan was in.

Lucky for who? Vaughan's busy killing the run-rate with his unerring fielder-picking-out-ability.

 

[twctopcat]

Lucky for who? Vaughan's busy killing the run-rate with his unerring fielder-picking-out-ability.

Hahaha, it is spooky i know.

 

[chris.hinton]

125/3 off 29 overs...... we need 260 as South Africa are a better one day outfit then a test outfit.....

Still Pietersen Rules

 

[Scaly piscine]

125/3 off 29 overs...... we need 260 as South Africa are a better one day outfit then a test outfit.....

Still Pietersen Rules

?

South Africa are a far better Test team than ODI team - their last non-Bangladesh/Zimbabwe ODI victory was February last year.

 

[chris.hinton]

Well they have not impressed me during the test Series as i thought england only played 60% of their game

 

[Scaly piscine]

Well SA have still only lost a home Test series against England & Australia since their readmission (2-1 3 times), which says more about England than SA in my opinion, although they're probably a little weaker nowadays - not helped by the somewhat dodgy selections.

 

[The Baconator]

collingwood's gone, decent knock, hopefully bell can get a few in the last 3 overs

 

[wpdavid]

I'm not sure that Bell at 7 makes much sense.

Still, it's looking like a good contest. How much does the ball do under the lights here?