*Official* South Africa in England Thread

[hourn]

Flintoff batting very well at the moment - chancing his arm and coming off, and I'd say it break or make for him, at least for his short term future anyway - I would've though that axe was dangilng very close to the jugalar up until about 2 hours ago.....

I'm still unchanged on him though - don't think he is producing the goods enough to be a part of the English Cricket team, and he can't just rely on the odd flash in the pan, particularly in this circumstance when the game is gone to survive.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

It would be wrong to drop him now though. He bowled well (albeit without luck) and he scored 142 off 146! He may have been lucky in that innings, but its still shows spunk.

Average up 4 points....

 

[luckyeddie]

Good job I'm not monitoring Fredquakes (Plate Flintonics, I suppose) - that was about an 8.3 (jellies wobbled on the other side of the world).

There's obviously no way that he will be dropped now - he stood up and was clearly counted with both ball (stuck at it well) and bat (wow!!!). Sensible batting when he came in, awesome with the tail - as it should be.

Smith and Ntini joint men of the match - fantastic entertainment throughout.

 

[marc71178]

Well, I stuck my neck out yesterday with that article, and I now feel vindicated.

Drop 'em all.

 

[V Reddy]

Flintoff's batting has really improved this season. His batting looks more solid than it used to. I think he can hold on to his position in the England with his batting alone now. He is a good bowler in the tests too. His bowling will come on in the next few matches with some luck.

 

[full_length]

marc, doesnt this remind you of AA's fine innings at Lords lost cause, tired bowlers and all.

Terrific knock by Flintoff. Refreshing and must have been highly entertaining too.

Happy Ntini delivered too. Always held him to be a top performer.

 

[marc71178]

marc, doesnt this remind you of AA's fine innings at Lords lost cause, tired bowlers and all.

Touché!

The difference is Freddie has threatened to score runs before, AA is just AA!

 

[Rich2001]

marc, doesnt this remind you of AA's fine innings at Lords lost cause, tired bowlers and all.

I know you are saying it as a bit of fun, but it's hardly the same apart from the lost cause.

There's no way the South African bowlers could have been that tired when Freddie came in just after lunch :P

 

[marc71178]

There's no way the South African bowlers could have been that tired when Freddie came in just after lunch :P

On a point of fact, he actually came in a ball before lunch, and they were probably tired out by having to battle their way to the lunch table before Freddy in order to actually get some food!

In all seriousness though, that South African attack, just by virtue of including Pollock, is better than England's 2002 vintage.

 

[luckyeddie]

I liked Graeme Smith's comment - "Tonight, we are going to celebrate. Tomorrow, we shall be humble".

The man has gone up in my estimation tenfold since the Klusener Memorial Breakfast.

 

[marc71178]

I just hope 10 days is long enough for bowlers to learn that feeding him leg stump balls is not going to get him out.

 

[Langeveldt]

I liked Graeme Smith's comment - "Tonight, we are going to celebrate. Tomorrow, we shall be humble".

The man has gone up in my estimation tenfold since the Klusener Memorial Breakfast.

Indeed, he has gone from laughing stock to legend in a very small space of time...

I know its very early days, but hes reminded me of Steve Waugh in this series, so determined, with bat and captaincy... Louder obviously but there are some parallells.. At the moment he can do or say no wrong...

 

[full_length]

He should never have been laughing stock in the first place :!(

never understood that :rolleyes:

 

[royGilchrist]

must have been a treat to witness Flintoff's innings

 

[Craig]

Flintoff did bat very well, but the debt he owes to thwe England selectors for all the faith they have put in him is still large and will start taking wickets (although to be fair, some sitters were dropped) and scoring more runs.

It is the only time in my life I have heard at the cricket, the crowd chanting: "Freddie, Freddie, Freddie" or chanting anybodies name during some big hitting.

Anderson when he finally gets out will have a batting average of at least 41.

Another difficult selection for SA, is that of who will miss out for Kallis. My feeling is Rudolph because of the fact Dippenaar made 92.

Ntini picked up ten for the match, but still I have seen him bowl better, he did have trouble with accuracy and did spray the ball around, and most of his wickets were to poor batting.

 

[The Argonaut]

It was supposed to be Australia smashing record scores against Bangladesh. What's going on in England?

South Africa are smashing a well established test playing nation on their home ground. How pitiful is the English bowling if they can't bowl South Africa out once in a match. This is also on paper one of the least experienced South African line ups in recent years.

It's hard to know where to even start. Will wholesale changes work. The bowlers must be found accountable for the lion's share of problems however they must persist with Anderson. He's young and the experience will be good for him in the long run. Gough is finished, Harmison questionable and Giles also questionable.

I just can't believe what I've seen on the scoreboards. Maybe more credit should be given to the South Africans who have batted well. I really thought England would give them a good run.

 

[marc71178]

Another difficult selection for SA, is that of who will miss out for Kallis. My feeling is Rudolph because of the fact Dippenaar made 92.

Pretorius will be the one to miss out IMO.

By the way, love your "From:"

 

[Andre]

I think with Freddie's bowling (same goes for Giles too) all he needs is a bit of luck ot go his way.

Neither of them are bowling too badly - just getting no help in the field. If either get an early breakthrough or a good catch in the next Test, watch out because after 1 comes so will others...

 

[Craig]

True Marc, but South Africa will have a longish batting line-up, and the way Smith and the top order are batting, I might be tempted to play another bowler just in case or unless Kallis would count as that bowler?

 

[Mr. P]

IMO kallis counts as a bowler. he is so unlucky its not funny