*Official* South Africa in England Thread

[Mr. P]

yep, 9/131. ntini is on 3 off 5. he is on FIRE!

 

[Tim]

The pitch is a shocker, im watching the day 4 replay and im not surprised South Africa are struggling let alone England in their 2nd innings.

 

[Mr. P]

well done england good victory

 

[luckyeddie]

The pitch is a shocker, im watching the day 4 replay and im not surprised South Africa are struggling let alone England in their 2nd innings.

I've been rabbiting on about the Trent Bridge pitch all season - total rubbish of a track (mind you, it made for an interesting test).

 

[Tim]

Its no fun to watch unless you're supporting the side who won the toss. But even then you start to think..well are we really playing good cricket or is the pitch doing all the damage?

 

[luckyeddie]

Its no fun to watch unless you're supporting the side who won the toss. But even then you start to think..well are we really playing good cricket or is the pitch doing all the damage?

Agreed. Let's call it a draw, shall we?

TOUGH LUCK! That's why you toss a coin.

 

[marc71178]

Still all over, such a pity the pitch has had most of the say, but England have done well, particularly M.Butcher

The pitch - so it's nothing to do with SA's poor bowling on the 1st Day then?

If that pitch was so bad, how come Giles got 20 in both innings when he's not the greatest of players, and how come Boucher got 2 50's, Pollock got one and McKenzie got one?

 

[marc71178]

Its no fun to watch unless you're supporting the side who won the toss. But even then you start to think..well are we really playing good cricket or is the pitch doing all the damage?

It wasn't just the toss though.

England batted well on the first day and SA bowled poorly - that's got nothing to do with the toss.


The good thing for me now is that Pollock is missing the Headingley Test, and England have the momentum - could he return to a side battling to save the series?

 

[hourn]

well done to England - a vastly improved performance. They did all the damage on day one, and just hung in from there and deserved the win.

Well done to Kirtley - I haven't been his biggest fan, but he really put in the hard yards in that second dig. will be interesting to see if he goe's on with it.

 

[Langeveldt]

The pitch - so it's nothing to do with SA's poor bowling on the 1st Day then?

If that pitch was so bad, how come Giles got 20 in both innings when he's not the greatest of players, and how come Boucher got 2 50's, Pollock got one and McKenzie got one?

Determination to succeed? Watchful against the one that inevitably rolls? And a bit of luck... McKenzie had many borderline LBW appeals that could well have been given out...

Just take a look at the pitch, and what about one ball an over was doing almost from the start... it doesnt take a rocket scientist to work out it was a shocker, and England made use of it better than SA...

 

[Mr. P]

i'm with marc. england deserved this victory, and the pitch was the same for both sides. it was not the pitch as england just happened to bowl well.

 

[Rik]

Its no fun to watch unless you're supporting the side who won the toss. But even then you start to think..well are we really playing good cricket or is the pitch doing all the damage?

Well it sure as hell beat watching Smith pile on all those runs on dead pitches. Strange that no one complains when a pitch has no life...I found this Test the most gripping to watch of the summer, in fact, of the last few summers...

 

[Tim]

Ian Smith on Radio Sport this morning said its the worst pitch he's ever seen in England.

Note: its the worst pitch SMITH has seen..there could have been others.

 

[luckyeddie]

Ian Smith on Radio Sport this morning said its the worst pitch he's ever seen in England.

Note: its the worst pitch SMITH has seen..there could have been others.

I can name a dozen

 

[Tim]

Well its not like i haven't seen the pitch either and it was a very poor pitch indeed.

You cannot convince me out of the fact that whoever won the toss was more than likely going to win that test match..I mean one minute you're getting a reasonably shortish delivery and then the next its rolling past your feet..YOU try batting on a pitch like that and then you'll see.

 

[Rik]

YOU try batting on a pitch like that and then you'll see.

You think the village cricket pitches over here are any easier? :rolleyes:

 

[Tim]

no but we're talking about international pitches here.

the standard of club cricket pitches around the World will usually be of an average standard because alot of clubs just don't have the money or resources to be able to prepare an excellent pitch.

 

[Craig]

Well Kirtley, Anderson, Flintoff bowled well and Harmison did well considering his injury. So what if the pitch was poor, if you score runs on it, it certainly wont make you look like a flat track bully.

If you think that is poor, try batting on a uncovered wicket.

The new England squad have been named and here it is:

*MP Vaughan, ME Trescothick, MA Butcher, N Hussain, ET Smith, +AJ Stewart, A Flintoff, AF Giles, AM Anderson, RJ Kirtley, SP Harmison, Kabir Ali, MP Bicknell (I think is middle inital is P).

For South Africa, I tip Zondeki to make his Test debut. The kid has a big future.

 

[Andre]

When I saw Bicknell's selection, I laughed and laughed.

Then I laughed some more.

The selectors are living in a time warp.

 

[Tim]

So they've dropped Chapple altogether & instead they've picked a 34 year old who last played a test 10 years ago?

And I thought the NZ selectors were bad.