*Official* England in South Africa Thread

[marc71178]

Arent SA at home meant to be a top team???

Until we beat them yes.

Every win we have seems to be then written off by some people that the opposition are rubbish, so it's to be expected that SA will be written off now.

 

[marc71178]

I cannot believe they fined Gibbs, why cant he aid the umpires decision.

Because the rules are quite clear against such a thing - as soon as he did it, the commentators commented that he'd be in trouble for it, regardless of whether he hit it or not.

 

[marc71178]

And what a partnership between Freddy and Jones.

What partnership was this? :S

Well played England and I still have faith in South Africa to not lose the series.

If it goes to 2-0, I don't see that they have a way back in, momentum and all that.

 

[marc71178]

good to see smith and co take harmison and co to the cleaners......

To be fair, Smith has made it into double figures on 1 occasion this series.

 

[Mr Casson]

finally some sense prevailed!!!

The good thing about Flintoff's innings is that he didn't play the hook straight from the start. That was the Freddie that people have come to expect, where he gets well set and then explodes (in the good way... until he also explodes in the bad way).

 

[Jono]

Anyone still want to debate that Flintoff's a better batsman than Kallis?

Who actually said that?

 

[tooextracool]

Who actually said that?

a certain type of fish i believe.

 

[tooextracool]

The good thing about Flintoff's innings is that he didn't play the hook straight from the start. That was the Freddie that people have come to expect, where he gets well set and then explodes (in the good way... until he also explodes in the bad way).

yes and lets hope that he continues to play that way.
however jones on the other hand really needs to learn when to play his strokes and when not to. i really wish fletcher or vaughan would tell him that.

 

[Mr Casson]

yes and lets hope that he continues to play that way.
however jones on the other hand really needs to learn when to play his strokes and when not to. i really wish fletcher or vaughan would tell him that.

I wouldn't use yesterday's performance as a barometer.. Clearly the message was runs, runs and quickly, please. I think he did a marvellous job, too. Are you talking about the hooking every single short ball at his body? I suppose he could learn to check that a bit, but hell he hit them pretty damn well.

 

[tooextracool]

I wouldn't use yesterday's performance as a barometer.. Clearly the message was runs, runs and quickly, please. I think he did a marvellous job, too. Are you talking about the hooking every single short ball at his body? I suppose he could learn to check that a bit, but hell he hit them pretty damn well.

im not using yesterdays performance, im using the rest of his career that includes his ridiculous performance in the first inning. hes always been the sort of player who plays too many shots before getting set, and if he continues to do that he will have problems on any non-flat track.

 

[Mr Casson]

How does Freddie always do that!?!?!?

 

[shaka]

35/2 Boje out to Freddie in his first over.

 

[superkingdave]

No, but over quite a time. It is 32 innings since he last made a Test hundred. Even Vaughan, the other current underperformer in the top order, has made four hundreds in that time.

I don't want to take anything away from what Butcher has done for England over the last 3-4 years. There was certainly nobody better around. But I don't think anyone believes that Butcher is going to get any better than he already is, whereas we can probably all name someone who we think is going to be better, whether it be Bell, Key (ptui!), Pietersen or what have you.

Look, quite a few of us can remember when England didn't have a single batsman score a century all year and a draw was quite a positive result in a Test match, considering, and blokes who chipped in with regular 60s and 70s were pretty valuable.

But with this England team, we now expect at least one of them to make a hundred in every game, and Butcher hasn't been doing his share for some time now.

Butcher is a good Test batsman. But England aren't automatically satisfied any longer with the merely good, or at least shouldn't be. If he won't deliver hundreds, let's get someone who will. This is the kind of pressure on players to perform that England need - hungry young men snapping at their heels, rather than the old retributive regime of dropping players at random after we lost a match.

Since I am mortally afraid of Key getting established, I'd prefer that the axe doesn't fall on Butcher now. I'd rather wait until the English summer, when perhaps the selectors will see the sense of promoting Bell ahead of Key.

Cheers,

Mike

Good post, it's like the whole top order has passed him by, he's now batting in a side where the rest of the top 5 all average over 40 and an average of 35 with the odd half century just isnt good enough any more. At the moment he also looks pretty much all at sea for at least the first 30 balls of his innings and you can't have that against the Aussies. Having said that, i do believe he has at least until the end of the series but the manner of his dismissals is not encouraging and at the moment one has to seriously doubt his application and concentration

 

[marc71178]

Who actually said that?

Can't remember exactly, but common sense did prevail!

 

[Mr Casson]

GOT HIM!! Where the hell did that wicket come from!!! I so wasn't expecting a wicket any time soon the way those two were batting!!

 

[superkingdave]

Rain/Bad Light may yet intervene....

 

[Mr Casson]

You beauty Messrs Harmison and Jones!!!!!!!!!!! On ya bike, Kallis!!

 

[superkingdave]

Yes, that's the big one

 

[S & G Jones Fan]

so did Trescothick, Strauss, Thorpe and Flintoff

the minority of players

 

[S & G Jones Fan]

wicket...harmie!!! great catch geraint