*Official* England in South Africa Thread

[Neil Pickup]

I was pretty impressed with what I saw of Solanki - for the most part of his innings his foot movement and strokeplay was decisive, and he didn't do what he has so often in England colours and get caught in two minds between one shot and another, resulting in him playing neither and getting out.

He reverted to type in the way he was dismissed, though - half-shot, and no real surprise that it found AB de Villiers. The rest of the batting was solid enough, just nobody going on from the starts combined with some well-directed death bowling from the South Africans.

To sum up, I'd have taken 267 this morning, but I'm a little disappointed that it isn't more.

 

[SpeedKing]

Nice to see Solanki filling in Vaughan's batting precisely, looks good and flashy, hits the fielders with unerring accuracy and averages below 30...

Vaughn's been getting better of recent and he seems to be learning to get the singles. and solanki played a good innings[ albeit unexpected]

 

[Legglancer]

Has Smith finally got Hoggard's number ?

SA 65/1
GS 38
NB 9

 

[Scaly piscine]

Vaughn's been getting better of recent and he seems to be learning to get the singles. and solanki played a good innings[ albeit unexpected]

!

As shown by his 42 off 82 balls the other day when both teams scored at 5.4 an over.

 

[SpaceMonkey]

Ali is fast becoming the new Anderson if he keeps getting wickets off bad balls

 

[Scaly piscine]

Ali is fast becoming the new Anderson if he keeps getting wickets off bad balls

Grrrrrrrrrrrrr there we go there's the obligatory no-ball, wonder what odds you'd get on Collingwood getting Kallis.

 

[Scaly piscine]

England horlicks 2 easy peasy chances to get rid of Smith

 

[marc71178]

!

As shown by his 42 off 82 balls the other day when both teams scored at 5.4 an over.

I think that without that knock, England wouldn't have even got close to 270.

 

[marc71178]

England horlicks 2 easy peasy chances to get rid of Smith

Jones again - sounds like an elementary error.

 

[Legglancer]

Smith Can take the Saffies home ... 59 unbeaten

Ali the best bowler for england so far

 

[Scaly piscine]

I think that without that knock, England wouldn't have even got close to 270.

Yea they might well have gotten 300, there was no way SA would have skittled through Collingwood, Bell on that pitch.

 

[Scaly piscine]

Looks like England have gone for the lazy, half-arsed, lets give them a chance approach of the Tests. They dug themselves out of a hole in the 2nd Test, SA contrived to draw the 2nd game of the ODI series and both times after a thorough brain-dead and half-arsed performance that they largely get away with they follow it up with an even worse performance.

 

[marc71178]

Yea they might well have gotten 300, there was no way SA would have skittled through Collingwood, Bell on that pitch.

Why not, they'd got 3 quick wickets, so why are you so sure they wouldn't have kept up the momentum?

 

[SpaceMonkey]

Annoyingly if England had taken their chances they had created this series we could easily be 3-0 up. Now it looks like its gonna be 1-1 and lucky not to be 2-1 down
Trescothick is the most defensive captain i think ive seen for a long while. For the love of god Vaughan get better!

 

[Scaly piscine]

Why not, they'd got 3 quick wickets, so why are you so sure they wouldn't have kept up the momentum?

Because Collingwood & Bell aren't the sort to throw their wicket away like the others did in that sort of situation.

 

[Legglancer]

Ahhhh Gibbs gone ...... another vital 50 ....to think they were thinking his days are over !

 

[Scaly piscine]

Ahhhh Gibbs gone ...... another vital 50 ....to think they were thinking his days are over !

Yep, and who does Tresco bring back immediately after the wicket? Collingwood...

Giles, Hoggard, Ali and Gough could have bowled all the remaining overs at that point, but no.

 

[Scaly piscine]

Ooh it's gotten interesting again...

 

[Legglancer]

Psycho Gilo Strikes !

 

[Scaly piscine]

G Jones misses a stumping (and the ball for 2 byes) that combined with a runout earlier, not good.