*Official* England in South Africa Thread

[twctopcat]

Second thoughts someone hyptonize Vaughan into believing he's not captain, never realised his record was so disgustingly good opening and non captain, talk about ruining a good thing............

 

[tooextracool]

the sad part was that in his last test before becoming captain he scored a 150 odd. then he became captain and failed for the rest of the series and really hasnt recovered since.

 

[DocHead]

England where shocking in the Third Test they have been complaceant in the last 2 tests South Africa are not that good a test team

That's not a very nice thing to say, especially seeing as we just whipped your arses into the middle of next week, and the last time you won a test series here Noah still needed planning permission for his ark.

With class like Smith, Gibbs, Kallis & Pollock in the side, and Ntini (doing far better than Stevie "The World #1" Harmison) & the promising Langeveldt to call on, we're far from being "not that good." Boucher's back in the squad, I reckon poor Hashim's going to get the chop and AB's going to open with Gibbs down the order, we have a batting lineup that measures up to anyone except perhaps the Aussies.

 

[Pratters]

With class like Smith, Gibbs, Kallis & Pollock in the side, and Ntini (doing far better than Stevie "The World #1" Harmison) & the promising Langeveldt to call on, we're far from being "not that good." Boucher's back in the squad, I reckon poor Hashim's going to get the chop and AB's going to open with Gibbs down the order, we have a batting lineup that measures up to anyone except perhaps the Aussies.

Word!

 

[Scaly piscine]

SA's batting isn't that good I'm afraid. 1851 runs from 6 innings (with the odd tailender wicket left) with the best of the batting conditions on 3 fairly good (at least) batting tracks against a bowling attack without their no.1 bowler anywhere near his best. That doesn't strike me as a performance from a batting lineup that would measure up with everyone bar Australia.

 

[Langeveldt]

That's not a very nice thing to say, especially seeing as we just whipped your arses into the middle of next week, and the last time you won a test series here Noah still needed planning permission for his ark.

Absolutely class .. Where are you from in CT?? I should be coming over in October and need some tips on where its "happening" in CT.. You got MSN?

 

[DocHead]

SA's batting isn't that good I'm afraid. 1851 runs from 6 innings (with the odd tailender wicket left) with the best of the batting conditions on 3 fairly good (at least) batting tracks against a bowling attack without their no.1 bowler anywhere near his best. That doesn't strike me as a performance from a batting lineup that would measure up with everyone bar Australia.

The mighty England juggernaught have only scored less than a 100 more than SA, 1939, with the odd tailender left. So by your logic, the English batting ain't that good either.

I was referring to an on-paper lineup. India have some classy batsmen, but they have a longer tail than Haley's comet. Pakistan collapse like a magnificent card house when the wind blows, New Zealand errm, we'd thump them at home, Sri Lanka have a solid lineup but we compare well. Bangladesh & Zim would be cannon fodder, even Ntini could score a 50 against Zim.

 

[Marius]

What would a combined Pommy/SA XI look like at this stage of the series? It's quite a tricky one.
Here's mine:
In batting order:
Strauss
Trescothick
Rudolph
Kallis
Thorpe
Flintoff
G Jones
Pollock
Boje
Hoggard
Ntini

Polly or Trescothick to captain.

Simon Jones, AD de Villiers and Ashley Giles are unlucky to miss out. Dippennar is also a mite unlucky, but I don't like him, so even if he had made three triple centuries in a row I still wouldn't pick that smarmy palooka.

 

[Steulen]

De Villiers unlucky to miss out? G Jones more than lucky to be included! Swap 'em!

 

[Scaly piscine]

The mighty England juggernaught have only scored less than a 100 more than SA, 1939, with the odd tailender left. So by your logic, the English batting ain't that good either.

I was referring to an on-paper lineup. India have some classy batsmen, but they have a longer tail than Haley's comet. Pakistan collapse like a magnificent card house when the wind blows, New Zealand errm, we'd thump them at home, Sri Lanka have a solid lineup but we compare well. Bangladesh & Zim would be cannon fodder, even Ntini could score a 50 against Zim.

The point is you said "we have a batting lineup that measures up to anyone except perhaps the Aussies". It doesn't even measure up to England in self-destruct mode all series (take into account SA have had the best times to bat all series as well). If Harmison gets his form back SA would struggle to make 300 on a decent track - that's not the signs of a particularly good batting side to me.

 

[DocHead]

So you're saying SA are playing to the best of their ability, the Poms are playing crap, all the mighty English need do is light their fires and SA will be steamroller'ed.

In the same vein, if Pollock, Ntini & Kallis really hit their straps, England would struggle to make 300 in their current form, cos only that Strauss guy looks any good at all under pressure. The pendulum swings both ways. If Gibbs, Smith and Kallis all click in the same match England will be chasing the leather for a loooooong time for little

So what's your point really?

 

[Scaly piscine]

So you're saying SA are playing to the best of their ability, the Poms are playing crap, all the mighty English need do is light their fires and SA will be steamroller'ed.

In the same vein, if Pollock, Ntini & Kallis really hit their straps, England would struggle to make 300 in their current form, cos only that Strauss guy looks any good at all under pressure. The pendulum swings both ways. If Gibbs, Smith and Kallis all click in the same match England will be chasing the leather for a loooooong time for little

So what's your point really?

Opening paragraph is roughly correct. England can only get better, SA can't improve much more but there's plenty of room for them to get worse, and who knows maybe England will win the toss and get the advantage of the conditions for once?

 

[Pratters]

Opening paragraph is roughly correct. England can only get better, SA can't improve much more but there's plenty of room for them to get worse, and who knows maybe England will win the toss and get the advantage of the conditions for once?

SA cant improve much? Dude we have only Kallis who has played any where near his best in this tour.

 

[marc71178]

In the same vein, if Pollock, Ntini & Kallis really hit their straps,

When did Kallis last do that though?

 

[DocHead]

Bowling wise, a while ago, I'll grant you that. Still, he was hitting 140kph in Newlands, so that's a good sign, if he can get some shape he's still a more than useful shock bowler to complement the opening 2.

As for SA not being able to improve much, it's already been mentioned, only Kallis has really played to full potential. You haven't forgotted the massacre Smith & Gibbs inflicted on you in those 2 tests already have you? Rudolf has 2 doubles to his name, and a top average, he's been in pretty good knick without getting a huge score.

Even once you get past de Villiers at 6, there's still Boucher, Pollock & Boje to go. Langeveldt's a doubt, if Hall plays, you've got a guy who scored a 160 against India not too long ago to contend with as well. Ntini can't bat, I'll admit that much, neither can Langeveldt. But then again, neither can Hoggard or Harmison really. SA let them get away, they should never have done that well, in a tight situation they'd have to eat a few.

 

[marc71178]

Erm Hoggard certainly can bat.

 

[DocHead]

He can block a straight ball, he can't do much else. Geoff Boycott told me over the telly, and I reckon he usually knows what he's on about.

 

[SpaceMonkey]

Hoggard is unlikely to hit 50 but he's more than capable of hanging around for a good long while at one end if theres a batsmen at the other who can tick the score along.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Hoggy is certainly the least naturally gifted batter in our team, but applies himself far better than Jones (S) or Harmy. He's never gonna score big, but I'd fancy him to block an end up far more than our other rabbits if we have recognised batter at the other end.

His big flaw is that he doesn't really have a scoring shot as such.

Moving on, I see on news that Fred has been passed fit to bowl. I'm praying to Jesus, Allah, Jehovah, Jah, Vishnu & Buddha that he doesn't break down.

 

[tooextracool]

In the same vein, if Pollock, Ntini & Kallis really hit their straps, England would struggle to make 300 in their current form, cos only that Strauss guy looks any good at all under pressure. The pendulum swings both ways. If Gibbs, Smith and Kallis all click in the same match England will be chasing the leather for a loooooong time for little

except that both pollock and ntini are bowling as well as they possibly can, ntini is in fact bowling better than usual.