*Official* England in South Africa Thread

[Jono]

There's only 2 games left I believe.

 

[BoyBrumby]

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.

Gloating is a sign of insecurity, Zinzan! Stop it!

We've only 2 games left to jib now anyway.

 

[tooextracool]

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

actually he said that the top 4 batsmen alone played 59 dot balls, not the entire side. and if you only had 20 dot balls in an entire inning you would really have far more than 400 runs scored in 50 overs.

 

[Zinzan]

Gloating is a sign of insecurity, Zinzan! Stop it!

We've only 2 games left to jib now anyway.

Sorry I couldn't resist

 

[benchmark00]

Smithy's smashin' em... another ton on the cards maybe? *hopes to god i dont jinx him*

hehe anyone remember me saying that? a few hours later Smith had his 2nd ODI century

 

[amokk1]

Justin Kemp = 80 runs of 50 balls.

In the leaf we trust.

 

[shaka]

well done Kemp, and to South Africa.

 

[Bookie]

Smith has become a recognised ODI player in my mind.

 

[amokk1]

I Think was a a regonized ODI player for a while back. I don't see any reason that a batmans needs to score a hundred to be a regcognized ODI player.

btw, when I said leaf...I was actually refering to weed. Go Figure.

 

[twctopcat]

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.

Fair enough but i would hope if conditions didn't suit a certain type of bowler then they either adapt, or don't get picked at all. No point playing a specialist bowler if their not going to bowl their allocated 10 overs IMO.

 

[twctopcat]

With such a lack in bowling depth in the england ODI ranks, does anyone know why Jon Lewis wasn't added to the squad?? He seems like a more than capable LOI player in my book.

 

[SJS]

All rounders were traditionally considered players who could have played either as bowlers or as batsmen (though not many would qualify all the time). Against this we have the bits-and-pieces player who I define as one who would neither make it as a bowler, nor as a batsman !!

England seems to consider such players as the ultimate in making a "great' one day side. I think their great acquisition from any team in the world for ODI's would be Nicky Boje !! At least thats how it seems to me.

Hence the Ronnie Irani's and the Kabir Ali's of this world

When will they ever learn....
when will they ever learn ?

 

[Scaly piscine]

England have this fixation on trying to find a number 9 who can pinch hit to a degree forgetting that they need a decent bowler there in the first place. I wish they'd just give Simon Jones a run, or even someone like the terminally injured Richard Johnson. At least you know you'll get something decent from them, not this 2 overs for 36 or 1 over for 20 crap.

 

[Zinzan]

I haven't yet seen Kevin Pietersen but his oneday record suggests he's some kind of a freak

Admittedly he's only played 9 games but here are his stats so far...

M I NO Runs HS Ave SR 100 50 Ct St
Batting & Fielding 9 8 5 442 108* 147.33 99.54 2 2 6 0

Not the worst start to a oneday career..

Who does he bat like? Is he in the Cairns/Flintoff mould or more classical??
Its obvious he must be a good striker

English fans must be grinning having nabbed him from S.African clutches

 

[amokk1]

Who dares dissing Irani !! He was a legend. He made the last trip by England to Australia in the ODI series happening !!!

 

[wpdavid]

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...

I'd completely agree with your top 7, in that order and also Giles of course. I have to add my name to those who underestimated Gough for this trip - his figures may not have been world class, but he's the only one of our quicks who's had a clue. Beyond that, it's guesswork, and I don't envy the selectors. They were entitled to expect Harmison & Anderson to maintain better form than what we've seen from them.

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

Who does he bat like? Is he in the Cairns/Flintoff mould or more classical?? Its obvious he must be a good striker

From what I've seen of him (just this ODI series currently in progress), he's a more orthodox type player than Cairnz or Flintoff, who can turn it on late in the innings and up the scoring rate, like a Brian Lara or a Michael Clarke (or Inzy when he's in form). Certainly looks to be a top quality ODI batsman for the future.

Any thoughts from English fans who know him better than me about if/when he will get a run in the test side? He certainly looks to be a quality batsman who could go beyond being an ODI specialist.

 

[wpdavid]

Any thoughts from English fans who know him better than me about if/when he will get a run in the test side? He certainly looks to be a quality batsman who could go beyond being an ODI specialist.

That depends on a number of things. If the selectors decide to stick with either Butcher or Key at number 3 and if we keep Flintoff at 6 instead of playing an extra battter, then KP won't be starting for the test side unless injuries intervene. If either of those don't happen, then there's a vacancy and it's a choice between him & Bell, which has been discussed earlier on the thread. Beyond the English summer, the other factor is if Thorpe calls it a day after the Ashes.

 

[wpdavid]

England have this fixation on trying to find a number 9 who can pinch hit to a degree forgetting that they need a decent bowler there in the first place. I wish they'd just give Simon Jones a run, or even someone like the terminally injured Richard Johnson. At least you know you'll get something decent from them, not this 2 overs for 36 or 1 over for 20 crap.

I think they genuinely view(ed) Ali as the next best bowler after the test guys. And to be fair, about 70-80% of his overs have been fine. Unfortunately, the others have been off the scale, of course. But I suspect that Kemp would have done just as much damage against most of our other FM guys, be they Wharf, Kirtley, Lewis or whoever. Like you, I'd be happy to see Jones play, although I don't think he's picked for many of the Glamorgan oneday games. Johnson, surely, is history.

 

[BoyBrumby]

That depends on a number of things. If the selectors decide to stick with either Butcher or Key at number 3 and if we keep Flintoff at 6 instead of playing an extra battter, then KP won't be starting for the test side unless injuries intervene. If either of those don't happen, then there's a vacancy and it's a choice between him & Bell, which has been discussed earlier on the thread. Beyond the English summer, the other factor is if Thorpe calls it a day after the Ashes.

As I said before I think they'd be quixotic in the extreme if they did.

I have to hold my hand up & say I've never seen KP play an FC innings yet & he does have a couple of potential flaws that may be exposed by an attack of the quality of Oz (plays across line, not always convinced he knows where his off-stump is), but I can't recall being as impressed by an English-qualified batter since, well, a long, long time!