*Official* South Africa in England Thread

[Craig]

Astle and Harris are more slow medium then anything else.

 

[Tim]

Here's my take on that:

Shane Bond - RF
Daryl Tuffey - RMF
Ian Butler - RFM
Andre Adams - RFM
Jacob Oram - RMF
Scott Styris - RM
Nathan Astle / Chris Harris - bordering slow bowlers.

Tuffey barely breaks 135 k's, so IMO thats Medium Fast.
Andre Adams bowled 145 k's at the World Cup.

But anyway, this isn't S.A in England.

 

[Mr. P]

who cares? why are we arguing about this?

 

[marc71178]

I do, since he's the best batsman we have. And I think the press have built up this whole thing far too much. I reccon it was "Graham do you want to be put on standby?" "No I'd get more out of playing for Surrey in a competitive match" than "Graham do you want to be put on standby?" "NO, NEVER! HOW DARE YOU!" I'm in the situation now where I just don't believe anything they say.

But it was :

"Graham do you want to be put on standby?"

"No, I have a bad back."

Next day he's playing for Surrey.

 

[marc71178]

Johnson's yet to prove himslef against anyone but Zimbabwe

Mainly because he's only played against Zimbabwe?

I'm surprised he didn't get selected for this Test since he's played a CC game for Somerset, and until you try him, you don't know what he's going to do!

 

[barmyarmy]

so had Anthoney McGrath...

 

[marc71178]

Yes, but because a batsman has failed against that bowling attack, why does that mean an in-form bowler will fail?

 

[barmyarmy]

I hope he won't but apart from his extraordinary first innings performance in the first test he didn't look that amazing. We may be pinning too many hopes on him. Currently we have a dearth of experienced bowlers and guys like Johnson and Jones are expected to come in and bowl like they've been playing test cricket all their lives.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

The difference between Johnson and Jones is that Johnson has alot more FC experience which (at this point) is the next best thing for England.

 

[Bazza]

Exactly.

We just lost Darren Gough who is 32 and has nearly 500 FC wickets at 26.

We are without Andy Caddick who is 34 and has 600-odd wickets at 24.

Richard Johnson is 28 and has 426 wickets at 26.

Compare this with:

Andrew Flintoff - 25, 81 wickets at 34
Simon Jones - 24, 95 wickets at 37
Matthew Hoggard - 26, 207 wickets at 26
James Anderson - 21, 65 wickets at 23
Steve Harmison - 24, 232 wickets at 31
Glenn Chapple - 29, 465 wickets at 28
James Kirtley - 28, 452 wickets at 25

These stats are based on FC wickets not including test wickets. So you can see there is a big difference. Gough and Caddick are season pros with hundreds of wickets to their names. Johnson and Kirtley have the advantage of being in their late 20s with approaching 500 wickets, but Anderson, Flintoff and Jones particularly, but also to a lesser extent Harmison and Hoggard have much less experience. They just haven't done enough bowling in county cricket, as Geoff Boycott points out.

 

[Mr. P]

note andersons record there. very impressive at 21.

 

[gibbsnsmith]

err...

*ahem* the contracted team of players for england are :

vaughn\trescothick\butcher\bell\solanki\wagh\flintoff\read\jones\ batty\anderson\harmison\johnson\kirtley?\edsmith?\foster\troughton

those are the ONLY FEW YOUND AND REASONABLY TALENTED PLAYERS

 

[luckyeddie]

Re: err...

*ahem* the contracted team of players for england are :

vaughn\trescothick\butcher\bell\solanki\wagh\flintoff\read\jones\ batty\anderson\harmison\johnson\kirtley?\edsmith?\foster\troughton

those are the ONLY FEW YOUND AND REASONABLY TALENTED PLAYERS

That's a sweeping statement. You ought to have 2 Joneses in there - then there are a few U-19's who look to have a prodigious amount of potential.

And Rikki Clarke (runs off gibbering to himself)

 

[gibbsnsmith]

yes yes i ...

suppose that u-19 s should count but then i could say that so should a friend of mine he plays for kent u-16 and people say hes the best batsman to come up through the ranks sine fulton.

clarke? hes good even possibly great but i havent seen much of him to be sure

 

[luckyeddie]

Re: yes yes i ...

clarke? hes good even possibly great but i havent seen much of him to be sure

Just go back through Devil Ducky's Weekly Column (Cricket Web front page) - there's a regular 'Clarkewatch' in many of the articles - tells you everything you need to know.

Welcome to the board.

 

[gibbsnsmith]

oh yea by the way as from now on im also joining AA..i have seen his prodigious talent a good 4 years ago when he was the quickest bowler ever to take 50 wickets in odis [still is]

he only took 12 games to take his firsrt 50 wicket and his test century at lords convinced me that he s a quality allrounder

 

[luckyeddie]

Membership is easy : just add any comment praising the great one in your signature and you are in.

 

[Langeveldt]

Eh!

Is that Simon Jones - 95 FC Wickets at an average of 37!!

That seems to make Glenn Chapples selection far more sensible..

Remember, averages do not lie..

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Remember, averages do not lie..

What?? Are you sure you said that correctly?? Averages do not lie?

Um...Michael Vaughan, Marcus Trescothick, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Fidel Edwards....etc. etc.

On the flip side, Graeme Hick, Stuart Williams, Ajit Agarkar , Nixon McLean...etc. etc.

 

[Craig]

Eh!

Is that Simon Jones - 95 FC Wickets at an average of 37!!

That seems to make Glenn Chapples selection far more sensible..

Remember, averages do not lie..

That is correct. Hence that is oneo f my reasons I dont rate Simon Jones but some people here (not listing any names) seem to ignore that.