*Official* England in South Africa

[TT Boy]

Aussie, it is The Oval, a spinner is mandatory.

Just look at the stats, it favours spin or pace. Stuart Clark is neither, hence it was a poor decision.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Moving away from England briefly, will Tahir get a go for SA now he's eligible?

 

[tooextracool]

Graeme Smith scores heavy in India/subcontinent but he can't play spin either. Seen Carberry on TV a lot this year and he looks awful against the stuff. At least Smith has a sweep and the ability to hit you into the stand, Carberry plays from the crease, doesn't use he feet and gets bogged down too easily. And this was against Mickey Mouse non-spinners.

I have never seen him bat, so I will go with what you say. Not sure I understand what you mean about Smith though, if he scores runs against Murali, Harbhajan and Kumble, and he's done so on pitches that were offering plenty for twirlers, it would suggest that he can play spin. Hes obviously no Brian Lara given that he plays from the crease and isnt as wristy, but hes never really been shown up against the spinners

 

[aussie]

Aussie, it is The Oval, a spinner is mandatory.

Just look at the stats, it favours spin or pace. Stuart Clark is neither, hence it was a poor decision.

The Oval is traditionally the fastest wicket in England. So at least intially the fast bowlers will have the best use of the pitch for the frist 3 days -a s we saw last year when SA toured. The spinners come into play late in the game.

This pitch though wasn't that quick & certainly wasn't spinning that significantly on the last day like when Tufnell, Murali & Warne ran riot in 97, 98 & 01 respectively. AUS played Swann fairly competently on the 5th day, none of his 4 wickets where due to any big spinning deliveries.

I definately was againts Clark playing, but i would have played Lee instead of Haurtiz. Since Lee's reverse swing would have more dangerous than Haurtiz.

But the fact remains, Hauritz not playing was the reason AUS lost this test. It was the first innings batting collapse - just like at Lord's.

 

[TT Boy]

Moving away from England briefly, will Tahir get a go for SA now he's eligible?

Unless he takes a bucket load early season, I very much doubt it. Struggled this year for Hampshire and even last year in South Africa, he wasn't taking the amount of wickets his franchise would like.

Will probably play for South Africa A against England but Harris is still number one after his performances against Australia. Tahir's also got Botha and van der Merwe to contend with, both of whom can bat and field.

 

[TT Boy]

I have never seen him bat, so I will go with what you say. Not sure I understand what you mean about Smith though, if he scores runs against Murali, Harbhajan and Kumble, and he's done so on pitches that were offering plenty for twirlers, it would suggest that he can play spin. Hes obviously no Brian Lara given that he plays from the crease and isnt as wristy, but hes never really been shown up against the spinners

Never looks at ease for me against spinners but is usually very, very set before they show up and whenever he goes huge, it is against sides with poor spin attacks. Swann might pose him a few questions.

 

[marc71178]

But the fact remains, Hauritz not playing was the reason AUS lost this test.

Not the sole reason, but a bit of a change of heart there.

 

[chucky907]

Andrew Strauss* - excellent
Alastair Cook -good but need see he score over 100
Kevin Pietersen depend on his injured is heal then yes
Jonathan Trott - i pick trott then bell for nation reason
Paul Collingwood -but if he stay like crap then he must retire asap after he score over 70 for seven hours in ashes.
Matthew Prior+ he must keep wickkeeper place after excellent ashes series.
Stuart Broad - he need stay as seven number until he need learn how to master his powerful batting then will promote up between four and six number.
Graeme Swann - he is he new legend spinner but he is possible became all rounder player to replace fallen legend test Andrew Flintoff
Ryan Sidebottom - he must prove better do bowling or back to imprisoned to dropped for life
Jimmy Anderson -he is good but i hope he need improve fearless batting
Graham Onions i like him but he need improve his target ibw skill.

Rob Key- he is good at one day and t20 but not test
Michael Carberry- he is good player but need see his player at one day match against county
James Foster- he need more experience international cap
Steve Harmison he past his bast but england need big experience
Monty Panesar - he is good but he only pick if swann is injured

 

[Scaly piscine]

I would go

Strauss
Cook (quite happy for him to be dropped)
KP
Collingwood
Trott
Patel
Prior
Broad
Sidebottom
Harmison
Onions



Anderson just doesn't do enough. Looks good when he swings it past the outside edge, but soon follows it up with ****. Given he gets the new ball and the good times to bowl he should be doing more than that. Basically the times Anderson will bowl well, so would Onions, so would Broad, so would Sidebottom. Sidebottom would keep it tight otherwise and adds some variety. Onions can nibble it off the seam and surprises batsmen every now and then. Broad well he can bat.

Harmison offers some pace and hostility. Obviously it is crucial he is in rhythm otherwise there's no point. Similarly Sidebottom has to be back properly fit.

 

[FBU]

Strauss
Cook
Joyce
Pietersen
Trott
Bopara
Prior
Swann
Broad
Anderson
Onions

Reserves - Rashid, Read, MDavies, Shah, Tremlett

 

[Briony]

Smith has a new woman.

Watch the runs dry up.

The Times - Graeme’s new maiden

 

[TT Boy]

 

[Briony]

Not my favourite scent.

It was of interest because many people on other sites had posted that they thought he was gay.

 

[pasag]

Smith has a new woman.

Watch the runs dry up.

The Times - Graeme’s new maiden

horrible stuff, what a waste of bandwidth

 

[tooextracool]

Never looks at ease for me against spinners but is usually very, very set before they show up and whenever he goes huge, it is against sides with poor spin attacks. Swann might pose him a few questions.

Possibly, although I think what people forget is that Swann is very very good against left handers and there have been a very tiny few left handers who have been able to negotiate him comfortably especially when there is a little bit in the pitch for him to work with. So long answer, but I would hardly be surprised if Swann was to create problems for Smith, Duminy and Prince as long if he has something to work with.

 

[zaremba]

I would go

Strauss
Cook (quite happy for him to be dropped)
KP
Collingwood
Trott
Patel
Prior
Broad
Sidebottom
Harmison
Onions



Anderson just doesn't do enough. Looks good when he swings it past the outside edge, but soon follows it up with ****. Given he gets the new ball and the good times to bowl he should be doing more than that. Basically the times Anderson will bowl well, so would Onions, so would Broad, so would Sidebottom. Sidebottom would keep it tight otherwise and adds some variety. Onions can nibble it off the seam and surprises batsmen every now and then. Broad well he can bat.

Harmison offers some pace and hostility. Obviously it is crucial he is in rhythm otherwise there's no point. Similarly Sidebottom has to be back properly fit.

Glad to see you've got the Prior love, Scaly.

 

[PhoenixFire]

Possibly, although I think what people forget is that Swann is very very good against left handers and there have been a very tiny few left handers who have been able to negotiate him comfortably especially when there is a little bit in the pitch for him to work with. So long answer, but I would hardly be surprised if Swann was to create problems for Smith, Duminy and Prince as long if he has something to work with.

Yeah, I reckon if Swann can trouble Chanderpaul (who is a pretty damn good player of spin), then people like Smith and Duminy (who aren't particularly good players of spin) could very well end up having a few problems against him. From what I remember, Prince is a pretty good player of spin, but I'm not entirely sure about that.

Reckon he'll enjoy the extra bounce he'll get in South Africa as well. Are the pitches likely to turn much? Remember watching a South Africa v India game where the groundsman at Johannesburg (I think) inexplicably prepared a dustbowl with Kumble and maybe Harbhajan playing in the opppo. Would be nice if he could do it again.

 

[Uppercut]

Never looks at ease for me against spinners but is usually very, very set before they show up and whenever he goes huge, it is against sides with poor spin attacks. Swann might pose him a few questions.

Smith was absolutely excellent against Monty Panesar last time SA toured here. He was bowling pretty well back then too. Fantastic technique to the left-arm tweakers.

 

[SeamUp]

Prince and Duminy like to use their feet to the spinners unlike Biff who remains in the crease and either sweeps or muscles it.

I feel if England have any chance there middle-order has to improve and Anderson needs to be on-song.

Our top 6 (Smith, Prince, Amla, Kallis, AB, Duminy) is pretty powerful but if as usual our spicy pitches are produced and England can bowl the best they have bowled they have a slight chance.

Our big poser is do we choose M.Morkel or Parnell or McLaren. I'm a big fan of Ntini's but his spot is under threat from Tsotsobe and Makhaya is on 99 tests.

Also you can possibly play 2 spinners at Centurion iand Cape Town. In recent years Centurion has become spin friendly due to the local Titans team having Harris, Tahir, Vd Merwe and Du Plessis in their ranks.

 

[PhoenixFire]

@ Uppercut.

As you know though, different kettle of fish when the ball is turning away from the bat. Hopefully Swanneh can make Smith look as bad as he did when I saw him play against Harbhajan.