*Official* England in South Africa Thread

[tooextracool]

I never said we would win and still don't think we had a hope in hell of winning. I think we had a better than one in a million chance of drawing.

i meant 1 in million chance of drawing. argh these stupid 'slip of the keyboard's'

 

[Langeveldt]

Im happy for the boys, Im thrilled to bits for my man Langeveldt and I hope we can carry this victory onto the Highveld for more enjoyable cricket..
Im beginning to think Jacques Kallis is some offering from the gods.. I don't think he is human

 

[BoyBrumby]

For me the most scary thing from the England viewpoint is the paucity of alternatives.

Of the 11 test slots I'd reckon 9 are nailed-on certainties; the two exceptions being no.3 (Butcher/Key to contest) & the 3rd seamer/2nd spinner on turning track (S Jones/Anderson/Batty). The 16 on tour aren't my 16, but short of injury won't be changed.

If you factor in Fred's injury (last I read was "minor" abdominal tear, which cannot be good news for a bowler) & I think we're really behind the eight-ball. Fred is just totally vital to our balance and, by extension, our competitiveness. If he can't bowl, what do we do? Play him as batter only & rely on Tresco's &/or Butch's medium-pace wides for our 4th seamer?

I was confident before the tour, but increasingly less so now.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

They say Flintoff's is a very minor injury and he will be able to bowl. Last time he went into a Test with doubts about his bowling fitness, he didn't do too bad.

 

[Langeveldt]

Flintoff's niggle could put some severe doubts in his mind though.. it must play on the mind when something like that happens..

My geography teacher got back from Durbs and Jo'burg last night.. She said it was so hot and humid at times she didnt want go out of the house, and she has lived in places like Brazil.. Really hot summer for some reason, which won't help any of the bowlers..

 

[Marcus]

..
Im beginning to think Jacques Kallis is some offering from the gods.. I don't think he is human

That was sent about smith in the last home series over South Africa and about Michael Vaughan 2 season back, Kallis is in form no doubt and is a great player, but only a few bad scores can sort that out

 

[Marcus]

The way we went about saving that match was dreadful, South Africa batted to save the test imn the 2nd test and although that wasnt for such a long period, all England needed to do was to play defense all thourgh both days, avoiding the balls outside off stump and not taking anything on, on the hook or the pull, Vaughan got out to the worst shot ever in a a match saving 2nd innings......although we may of lost i feel we could of played the innings much better, and even though it may of been boring, it would of saved England losing the match...lets hope Jburg has somthing in the match for England, as we are up against it at the moment in this series

 

[wils333]

is neone here remotely worried about Vaughan's batting form?? ok in form hes class, however when was the last time he even looked remotely like a test batsmen, granted hes a good skip, but all this fuss about butcher's form, when vaughan hasnt got a 50 yet? anyone agree?

 

[BoyBrumby]

I'm very worried about Vaughan's form. He's been on a downward slide since he took over from Nas.

Before captaincy he averaged very nearly 51, since it's dropped to about 43.5. Can't be just coincidence. He scored good runs against the best team in the world and now can't buy an innings.

That said I'd choose him ahead of Butch every time.

 

[Marcus]

is neone here remotely worried about Vaughan's batting form?? ok in form hes class, however when was the last time he even looked remotely like a test batsmen, granted hes a good skip, but all this fuss about butcher's form, when vaughan hasnt got a 50 yet? anyone agree?

agree from this corner....although the number 3 positon a big deal as well....the reason vaughan is being looked over is due to his genreal good captaincy....his batting though needs to be improved...last 50 no idea..anyone help?

 

[a massive zebra]

the reason vaughan is being looked over is due to his genreal good captaincy....his batting though needs to be improved...last 50 no idea..anyone help?

Seven innings ago vs West Indies at The Oval

 

[savill]

Not choosing Bell for the tour was a big mistake. He could bat anywhere in the top/middle order and perhaps give Vaughn a go at 3. Also, I think Vaughn could bowl alot more, after seeing Smith pick up the wickets of Thorpe and Flintoff. I can't see Batty playing ahead of Jones, I don't think he's that much better a bowler than Vaughn.

 

[shaka]

I doubt Key will play again in this tour.

 

[SpaceMonkey]

I doubt Key will play again in this tour.

Butcher is a doubt for 4th test by the looks of it. So its got to be Key that replaces him, as he can fit into the side without disrupting anyones position. If you give the spot to collingwood then you'll have to move Vaughan upto 3 which is something they dont want to do.

 

[Zinzan]

You English fans are strange lot. Your team has just come off an 8 or 9 test winning streak (which is incredible given the last 15 years or so of english cricket). Yet after this one test loss, I see the knives and daggers are out and all the english players are suddenly hopeless. I also note there were very few suggestions that the opposition actually played well.

Given the fact that England struggle in most sports (pub-sports aside) given the population of 60 million, you lot should be satisfied with 9 out of 10 test wins.

I'm not suggesting that you fans should be over the moon about losing this particular test, but i didn't think the reaction would be this over the top.

Let be realistic, 9 out of 10 is fantastic result for the english cricket team in a 12 month period.Remember this is the English cricket team are talking about , not Australia!!

Having said that when Australia lost that last test to India 2 or 3 months ago, You didn't see Australia fans suggesting that suddenly they weren't a great team any more.

C'mon english fans, be realistic !!

 

[Scaly piscine]

The knives were already out for a few players before the draw/loss. The way people were throwing their wickets away was the problem, if SA had suddenly become a better team than England and genuinely earned 20 wickets then fine. But instead 2 utterly brain-dead dismissals in the 2nd innings and countless more in the 1st innings against a team England should whitewash in all honesty.

 

[marc71178]

Simon Jones has a better average and better highest score than both of them.

Which is a trifle bizarre.

 

[marc71178]

Maybe not going to Zimbabwe and not playing not a lot of meaningfull cricket is probably the reason why Harmison and Flintoff aren't batting and bowling as well as they like (certainly result wise although) and what also annoyed me as his bowling to Kallis, bowling very wide of the off stump so he can't score.

I think that is Harmison's problem, not so evident with Flintoff, seeing as he is our leading wicket-taker.

 

[marc71178]

We've played badly for one Test, and true to the English, people are jumping on them already.

Actually, I think we;ve played badly for 3 Tests now, but the series score is 1-1.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

That was sent about smith in the last home series over South Africa and about Michael Vaughan 2 season back, Kallis is in form no doubt and is a great player, but only a few bad scores can sort that out

I think it would take more than a few bad scores to get Kallis as badly out of form as England need him to be. It would take certain types of dismissals and several ducks. Kallis is too good a player to think otherwise.