*Official* England in South Africa Thread

[Rich2001]

Apparently Top 4 English batsmen played out 59 dot balls, that's 10 maiden overs. I hope Freddie comes soon and replaces Vaughan in ODIs.

That was just teasing South Africa, showing we can score 300 from 40 overs - Just think how much different it would have been had 40 of those dots just been knocked away for a easy single

 

[marc71178]

Fair enough but froming watching Bell's 70 compared to KP 100 and two 50s , it is pretty clear who is the better batsmen and who would do better aganist the Australian bowling attack.

How can you compare the 2 forms though?

Is the Australian attack going to allow Pietersen to score runs so freely?

 

[SpeedKing]

KEVIN PIETERSEN!!!!!!!!!!!! KEEP GOING SON. MADE A NEW SLOGAN FOR THE GUY.
chant with me ,

''KP....keep going..KP.. keep going.... KP...keep going......''

the guy is looking invincible. utterly gutted that we lost but happy that england ave discovered a real world class gem in this series. also on a really seroius note, we have discovered the effects of such an itinerary that even Strauss cannot apply himself properly.

Now, Jones should go back to the middle order. he is more usefull there so we can ave some competent hitters down the order. imagine how usefull he could have been today if he was at 7/8. we have got boundary hitters like Strauss, Vaughan, solanki and players like Solanki and Bell who could do a better job in the first 15 overs.

not saying that Jones is useless at the top [infact, he has done alright and is england's no 3 top scorer] but, he would honestly be much more destructive down the order

 

[marc71178]

Must have, he's only a 6th bowler when Flintoff is playing

Won't Flintoff replace a specialist bowler?

 

[marc71178]

I really cant believe how so called international players cant bowl 6 balls in the block hole

Because it's so easy to do isn't it?

 

[Scaly piscine]

Won't Flintoff replace a specialist bowler?

He might do now, but I think they'll probably go with the usual 4 specialist bowlers and Flintoff and Collingwood goes back to back-up bowler.

 

[marc71178]

Who were those English fans calling for Gough's head after the Champions Trophy? Nevermind I think I remember their names.

At the time we were fully justified in it - he was awful.

Fair play to him he appears to have put a big effort in since then.

 

[Neil Pickup]

Middle overs are boring...

 

[marc71178]

Well I'd have liked to have seen Simon Jones in the ODI side personally, strong bloke, good outfielder, bowled a good straight line in the Tests which could have converted successfully into ODIs.

I must admit I was shocked he went home - he needs as much cricket as he can get.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Regarding bowling balls in the block hole, one of the commentators (was it Botham?) was asked by Gower how many he'd expect to be in the blockhole in 6 balls. He said 2. It's certainly not as easy as some would think. There's no room for error, especially with a man like Kemp on strike.

 

[marc71178]

actually if you use richards estimation, gough has gone for over 4.5 in all of his last 4 games. hence hes bowled fairly poorly.

LOL - but he'd probably change his assessment of him because he's taken wickets.

 

[marc71178]

Apparently Top 4 English batsmen played out 59 dot balls, that's 10 maiden overs.

The top 4 South African's played out 90, which is 15 overs.

I hope Freddie comes soon and replaces Vaughan in ODIs.

Why does Vaughan get so much criticism in spite of making runs?

Twice this series he's played that sort of innings - both times England have made big scores.

 

[marc71178]

He might do now, but I think they'll probably go with the usual 4 specialist bowlers and Flintoff and Collingwood goes back to back-up bowler.

So which batsman goes then?

 

[SpaceMonkey]

England could have done no better chasing such a big score. We couldnt just hit it from the start else we'd have got nowhere close.
You could argue we should have started swinging a few overs earlier..but if we had and lost wickets we'd have got nowhere near 300.

On a side note i see Pietersens 100 was the 9th fastest in history. Matched the fastest Sehwag has ever done. (according to bbc site).

 

[Scaly piscine]

So which batsman goes then?

Solanki

Top 7 would then be (in no particular order) Trescothick Strauss Vaughan Pietersen Flintoff Collingwood G Jones.

I personally would hope the bowlers are something like Giles, S Jones, Harmison and Gough. But you can just about name anyone for S Jones' spot trying to guess who'll England would go with if they have everyone fit for the triangular against Bangladesh and Australia (Wharf might well play against SA now), hopefully Jones can get some games with Glamorgan for a change...

 

[Sanz]

The top 4 South African's played out 90, which is 15 overs.

Sorry I meant the Strike rate .

 

[Scaly piscine]

England could have done no better chasing such a big score. We couldnt just hit it from the start else we'd have got nowhere close.
You could argue we should have started swinging a few overs earlier..but if we had and lost wickets we'd have got nowhere near 300.

On a side note i see Pietersens 100 was the 9th fastest in history. Matched the fastest Sehwag has ever done. (according to bbc site).

They could easily have done better, they could have been more aggressive in the first 15, I think they got 59 runs in the first 15 which was pretty poor considering the target and the ball wasn't exactly zipping all over the place. They should have been looking to take advantage of the short boundaries throughout the innings, not just right at the end. England were most effective during the spell around the 35-40 overs when they didn't go ape, they just took the odd risk but otherwise took the singles. They should have been doing this to keep the run-rate below say 8 an over, which no matter how good the death bowling is you should still achieve comfortably.

 

[twctopcat]

Solanki

Top 7 would then be (in no particular order) Trescothick Strauss Vaughan Pietersen Flintoff Collingwood G Jones.

I personally would hope the bowlers are something like Giles, S Jones, Harmison and Gough. But you can just about name anyone for S Jones' spot trying to guess who'll England would go with if they have everyone fit for the triangular against Bangladesh and Australia (Wharf might well play against SA now), hopefully Jones can get some games with Glamorgan for a change...

If we can only get 3 bowlers at the bottom then so be it. With giles, gough and someone else, then freddy, that would make up 40 overs most day and i'd like to see bell take the place of the 4th bowler so the final 10 overs are left to colly/bell/kp/vaughan/tres whoever is feeling up to it. Colly is more than tight enough.

 

[Scaly piscine]

If we can only get 3 bowlers at the bottom then so be it. With giles, gough and someone else, then freddy, that would make up 40 overs most day and i'd like to see bell take the place of the 4th bowler so the final 10 overs are left to colly/bell/kp/vaughan/tres whoever is feeling up to it. Colly is more than tight enough.

I prefer the 4 bowlers + Flintoff, if you can do without the part-time bowling without weakening the batting too much it's gotta be worth doing in ODIs. With having 3 bowlers + Flintoff you're kinda screwed if one of those 4 is having an off-day or the conditions don't suit one of them particularly.

 

[Zinzan]

As I predicted S.A are looking like the better ODI side, If England lose the 3 remaining games they will drop to 7th or 8th in the ICC ratings.