*Official* England in South Africa Thread

[marc71178]

pick claude henderson, far better bowler than peterson or adams.

Isn't he now effectively barred from selection though?

 

[Scaly piscine]

Strauss' pull shot is fine and gets him plenty of runs, he just has a tendency to try and pull balls that are wide of off-stump which he should really be cutting - especially to guys like Ntini who bowl it across him from a sharp angle. The result is usually an ugly short-armed jab that goes in the air to mid-on region.

 

[Mr Casson]

yes i think now hes cleared any doubts that i may have had off him. he is a quality batsman.
although i cant believe that he still hasnt got that pull shot sorted out, he still takes his eye of the ball way too early.

It's horrible, isn't it! Butt-ugly, horrible attempt most of the time... I love it!!

Honestly, if he can play it and not get out though, I'm fine with it. If he plays it when there's no danger of getting out, then why not have a go? It's only when a fault causes a batsman to fail that something needs changing. Having said that, I would definitely like it if he was more selective and played it better; some of those smoked pulls yesterday were amazing.

 

[Neil Pickup]

He got out doing it a couple of times last summer, that's the worry.

 

[Mr Casson]

Did he?!?

 

[tooextracool]

his test record so far is hardly flattering

perhaps, but IMO given favourable conditions, hes a better bet than both adams and peterson(who seem to be the options atm) and can be as effective as boje.

 

[tooextracool]

Isn't he now effectively barred from selection though?

i heard something of the sort, perhaps one of the SA followers can tell us more?

 

[tooextracool]

Strauss' pull shot is fine and gets him plenty of runs, he just has a tendency to try and pull balls that are wide of off-stump which he should really be cutting - especially to guys like Ntini who bowl it across him from a sharp angle. The result is usually an ugly short-armed jab that goes in the air to mid-on region.

its not fine because the technique is all wrong. on any wicket that offers extra bounce hes going to have problems. not too mention of course, the technical flaw that he has when the ball is angling across him. if he gets things right in terms of shot selection like he did yesterday, he'll be fine though.

 

[tooextracool]

It's horrible, isn't it! Butt-ugly, horrible attempt most of the time... I love it!!

Honestly, if he can play it and not get out though, I'm fine with it. If he plays it when there's no danger of getting out, then why not have a go? It's only when a fault causes a batsman to fail that something needs changing. Having said that, I would definitely like it if he was more selective and played it better; some of those smoked pulls yesterday were amazing.

he had problems with it last summer, and the signs are that he hasnt changed it. if the ball bounces more or less than expected he will have problems with that shot.

 

[tooextracool]

Did he?!?

3 times in the series against WI he was out pulling. at the oval off lawson and against collins at old trafford and at lords 2nd innings.

 

[parttimer]

Where can I listen to commentary over the web (for free)?

 

[superkingdave]

Better start for SA, 2 early wickets, they'll be hoping for more with the new ball. Still the no ball problems though.

 

[shaka]

They do need a few more to bring them back into this game.

 

[superkingdave]

Shocking shot by Thorpe, for some one who is normally so great at playing spin, he looked all at sea against Smith today

 

[Son Of Coco]

yes he did, but im confident that had he played the way he had for most of that tournament, he would have beaten rafter in the finals.

Possibly, but he was never that convincing against him at other times. He has a bit of a tendency to go missing at important times.

 

[Jono]

Shocking shot by Thorpe, for some one who is normally so great at playing spin, he looked all at sea against Smith today

Yeah, but what shocked me the most was Butcher almost went out playing a similar shot. Then Thorpe tried it and got nothing from it, and he tried it again :-/ Unlike the great batsman.

 

[Scaly piscine]

its not fine because the technique is all wrong. on any wicket that offers extra bounce hes going to have problems. not too mention of course, the technical flaw that he has when the ball is angling across him. if he gets things right in terms of shot selection like he did yesterday, he'll be fine though.

Contradicted yourself, the last sentence was exactly what I said. It's not a technical fault if you execute the shot well but you just play it at the wrong time and I'm sure everyone is aware the volume of runs Strauss gets from the pull shot.

 

[Langeveldt]

England in the lead.. Comfortably the worst SA bowling performance i've seen.. They need to drop Ntini because he is just nothing at the moment.. But they won't.. Hall is bowling even worse..

 

[Mr Casson]

England in the lead.. Comfortably the worst SA bowling performance i've seen.. They need to drop Ntini because he is just nothing at the moment.. But they won't.. Hall is bowling even worse..

Hall looked to be troubling Flintoff there for a bit. And Ntini just needs to bowl closer to the stumps when he's got the lefties out there.

 

[Scaly piscine]

Hopefully Flintoff and Jones the keeper can perform to their partnership average and not throw their wicket away like some of the batsmen.