**Official** South Africa in England 2012

[Marius]

So the Test squad to tour England is unchanged.

Good team overall I think, gonna be a cracker of a series.

Squad: Graeme Smith (capt), Hashim Amla, Mark Boucher, Marchant de Lange, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, Imran Tahir, Jacques Kallis, Morne Morkel, Alviro Petersen, Robin Peterson, Vernon Philander, Jacques Rudolph, Dale Steyn, Lonwabo Tsotsobe.

South Africa in England 2012: Graeme Smith fit to lead South Africa in England | Cricket News | England v South Africa | ESPN Cricinfo

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Tour Fixtures

Mon Jul 9 - Tue Jul 10
09:00 GMT | 10:00 local
Somerset v South Africans
County Ground, Taunton

Fri Jul 13 - Sun Jul 15
10:00 GMT | 11:00 local
Kent v South Africans
St Lawrence Ground, Canterbury

Thu Jul 19 - Mon Jul 23
10:00 GMT | 11:00 local
1st Test - England v South Africa
Kennington Oval, London

Fri Jul 27 - Sat Jul 28
10:00 GMT | 11:00 local
Worcestershire v South Africans
County Ground, New Road, Worcester

Thu Aug 2 - Mon Aug 6
10:00 GMT | 11:00 local
2nd Test - England v South Africa
Headingley, Leeds

Fri Aug 10 - Sat Aug 11
10:00 GMT | 11:00 local
Derbyshire v South Africans
County Ground, Derby

Thu Aug 16 - Mon Aug 20
10:00 GMT | 11:00 local
3rd Test - England v South Africa
Lord's, London

Wed Aug 22
09:15 GMT | 10:15 local
Gloucestershire v South Africans
County Ground, Bristol

Fri Aug 24
09:15 GMT | 10:15 local
1st ODI - England v South Africa
Sophia Gardens, Cardiff

Tue Aug 28
13:00 GMT | 14:00 local
2nd ODI - England v South Africa
The Rose Bowl, Southampton

Fri Aug 31
13:00 GMT | 14:00 local
3rd ODI - England v South Africa
Kennington Oval, London

Sun Sep 2
09:15 GMT | 10:15 local
4th ODI - England v South Africa
Lord's, London

Wed Sep 5
13:00 GMT | 14:00 local
5th ODI - England v South Africa
Trent Bridge, Nottingham

Sat Sep 8
13:30 GMT | 14:30 local
1st T20I - England v South Africa
Riverside Ground, Chester-le-Street

Mon Sep 10
17:30 GMT | 18:30 local
2nd T20I - England v South Africa
Old Trafford, Manchester

Wed Sep 12
17:30 GMT | 18:30 local
3rd T20I - England v South Africa
Edgbaston, Birmingham

edit: fixtures added ~spark

 

[fredfertang]

Good - no Ashwell Prince

 

[Marius]

Good - no Ashwell Prince

He's been in decent nick for his country side, Lancashire.

In FC cricket this season he's scored more than 400 runs at nearly 60.

 

[fredfertang]

He's been in decent nick for his country side, Lancashire.

In FC cricket this season he's scored more than 400 runs at nearly 60.

Quite, and it's in Lancashire that he's needed, as our batting without him is too horrible a prospect to contemplate!

 

[flibbertyjibber]

So there are 4 bats that have good/great records against England and 3 that our bowlers would be licking their lips at facing. Glad Prince isn't there to be honest.

 

[Furball]

Why? Swann would have a field day against a left handed bat that can't play spin at all.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Why? Swann would have a field day against a left handed bat that can't play spin at all.

Well i'd rather he played against Duminy or Rudolph. Prince has done well against us in the past, the other 2 haven't.

 

[WindieWeathers]

I'm also looking forward to this, now we will see if England really are unbeatable at home, judging from the series we just played against England i think they'll need to step up a few levels, though the wins on paper look impressive i don't think SA will fail to take advantage of the good of situations we let slip away.

 

[Furball]

What series were you watching?

 

[WindieWeathers]

What series were you watching?

The series where WI had England 57/4 chasing 192 on the last day of the first test, i think Steyn and co would take advantage of situations like that, and if SA score over 420 and England are 215/5 like what happened in the third test then that would really put the cat amoungst the pigoens aswell .

 

[Cabinet96]

The series where WI had England 57/4 chasing 192 on the last day of the first test, i think Steyn and co would take advantage of situations like that, and if SA score over 420 and England are 215/5 like what happened in the third test then that would really put the cat amoungst the pigoens aswell .

Well they had a better situation than that last time we played them, at Centurion (we were 221-7 after they got 418) and they let Swann get 85, Anderson get 29 and failed to win the test.

And we were basically 3 down at Lords since one of the wickets was our usual number 11.

 

[WindieWeathers]

Well they had a better situation than that last time we played them, at Centurion (we were 221-7 after they got 418) and they let Swann get 85, Anderson get 29 and failed to win the test.

And we were basically 3 down at Lords since one of the wickets was our usual number 11.

Yes but back then they didn't have Philander or Tahir!! , i can't see the current bowling unit letting England off the hook now, it also doesn't bode well when only Strauss was able to get a ton against our attack which isn't as good as SA's.

 

[Jacknife]

LOL lets be right about this SA didn't look to flash against NZ, they got knocked over cheaply for a couple of low scores in the first two test. If NZ can do that England must be fancying their chances and England wont be letting them off the hook like the NZ'ers did.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Yes but back then they didn't have Philander or Tahir!! , i can't see the current bowling unit letting England off the hook now, it also doesn't bode well when only Strauss was able to get a ton against our attack which isn't as good as SA's.

Yeah and Tahir has ripped it up since his test debut hasn't he.

 

[WindieWeathers]

Yeah and Tahir has ripped it up since his test debut hasn't he.

He's experienced in English conditions though!!

 

[flibbertyjibber]

He's experienced in English condtions though!!

and our bats have probably seen more of him than any international spinner. Fail against him and they may as well give up. He has a pretty ordinary county record anyway.

 

[Bokkiegirl]

This fan needs to keep her fingers crossed for the Proteas, this time their game face needs to be on.

 

[Woodster]

I agree with WW in that England do need to step up a level or two when we take on South Africa, we need to be more ruthless and not offer SA the opportunities to take control of a Test the way we did with WI, but we knew we were a far superior team to the recent tourists and could afford a poor session here and there, with SA we cannot afford such luxuries.

I think when challenged by a sterner test this group of England players will step up and find the necessary performance levels needed, but it promises to be a very exciting and closely fought contest. Cannot see SA flopping in the same spineless manner as India did last year.

 

[Jacknife]

I agree with WW in that England do need to step up a level or two when we take on South Africa, we need to be more ruthless and not offer SA the opportunities to take control of a Test the way we did with WI, but we knew we were a far superior team to the recent tourists and could afford a poor session here and there, with SA we cannot afford such luxuries.

I think when challenged by a sterner test this group of England players will step up and find the necessary performance levels needed, but it promises to be a very exciting and closely fought contest. Cannot see SA flopping in the same spineless manner as India did last year.

It's a bit like last year when we played SL at the start of the summer, I didn't think we were at our best then but when the supposed bigger test came they upped their game.

 

[Woodster]

It's a bit like last year when we played SL at the start of the summer, I didn't think we were at our best then but when the supposed bigger test came they upped their game.

Yes absolutely, and the beauty is we are still winning series' well despite not playing to our capacity. We'll know how strong this England side is in these conditions at the end of this next series.