***Official*** South Africa in England

[Richard]

Dammit, Vaughan gone in the penultimate over.

Another super delivery though. Ntini unrecogniseable this innings from the first-innings and Lord's.

Would tend to suggest it's probably the best he's bowled for a year or so too.

 

[grecian]

What's the weather forecast then

Jimmy as night-watchman, what's the odds he'll top score

Rabble.....

 

[Richard]

At least we'll now see Ambrose batting seven and Flintoff eight. And finally we get to see Anderson earn the promotion so many claim he deserves.

 

[Richard]

Anderson gets away with a near-plumb lbw there - England getting some of the luck of Lord's and the first-innings back there.

 

[Shaggy Alfresco]

Predicting Anderson to get his first test duck, either today or tomorrow.

 

[tooextracool]

Dammit, Vaughan gone in the penultimate over.

Another super delivery though. Ntini unrecogniseable this innings from the first-innings and Lord's.

Would tend to suggest it's probably the best he's bowled for a year or so too.

Vaughan can do you no wrong can he? Edged a straight delivery to the keeper and looked like doing so all innings. question marks really need to be asked about his batting because atm he looks like a rabbit caught in the headlights at the international level.

 

[SpaceMonkey]

Something tells me Jimmy wont be getting another Not out this innings

 

[BoyBrumby]

Innings defeat by early afternoon tomorrow then? Sheesh.

Fair play to the yarps & Prince and (grudgingly) De Villiers in particular tho.

Who'd have pegged Kallis as the last saffie top six bat to ton up this series? Means he's probably due something sizeable in the last two tests.

 

[grecian]

Something tells me Jimmy wont be getting another Not out this innings

Nah, he'll be 25 not out,and stranded, just after lunch tomorrow.

 

[Richard]

Predicting Anderson to get his first test duck, either today or tomorrow.

Obviously, he should have got it just now.

 

[opener]

Anderson gets away with a near-plumb lbw there - England getting some of the luck of Lord's and the first-innings back there.

Already did when Vaughan got away with the same LBW everyone was moaning about Panesar being denied on Mckenzie.

 

[Richard]

Vaughan can do you no wrong can he? Edged a straight delivery to the keeper and looked like doing so all innings.

How on Earth can you tell me that that ball didn't move away? Lots.

 

[Richard]

Already did when Vaughan got away with the same LBW everyone was moaning about Panesar being denied on Mckenzie.

There's no way you can expect that to be given out. Not unless it's referred to TV replays.

That really bore no resemblence to the McKenzie one.

 

[opener]

Eh? When was that?

12.1 Steyn to Vaughan, no run, oh, a loud appeal as the ball hits pad, then bat, as the batsman defended forward, Vaughan was possibly a touch lucky there, while height may have been a factor, although not definitely

There. And it was definately not a factor.

 

[opener]

There's no way you can expect that to be given out. Not unless it's referred to TV replays.

That really bore no resemblence to the McKenzie one.

Nice edit.

And it resembled it in the way that it was the same.

 

[Richard]

No, it wasn't, it was nothing like. The one from MSP to McKenzie was given not-out by Hopeless Harper because McKenzie had a stride in, which is not good enough any more - the Vaughan one was given not-out because you can almost never be sure about those when it's pad and bat almost instantly after one another. Which will always be good enough until TV replays are used on lbws.

In the McKenzie one he didn't get his bat anywhere near the ball and it was obviously pad only.

 

[zaremba]

Well another poor day for England, and another good one for South Africa. More grimly determined batting from South Africa, and England's attack continues to look pretty toothless. With Strauss and Vaughan gone, there remain a grand total of three batsmen (Cook, Bell and Pietersen) who might be capable of playing the long innings required. And at least two of them have to do it. But obviously they won't. England all out for 178 just before tea time tomorrow.

 

[a massive zebra]

I attended today's play and had a very enjoyable day.

England's attack looked rather toothless and I can't see them consistently taking 20 wickets against quality Test teams with the current lineup. Darren Pattinson seemed a rather bizarre selection - he has had a decent season but no more so than a number of other bowlers who have proved their worth for England in the past. Stuart Broad is in the selectors good books and may become a good bowler in the future but at present he simply does not have either the penetration or control required of a Test match bowler and his selection is costing England dear. James Anderson can run through any side on his day but these days come few and far between - more often than not he just serves up a load of pies.

In my opinion a bowling lineup of Sidebottom, Hoggard, Jones, Flintoff and Panesar would prove far more fruitful and give England a much greater chance of winning games against class batting sides. Hoggard - a proven Test player with a great strike rate who should have come straight back into the side after his injury - and Jones - who has shown of late that his injuries have done nothing to affect his bowling which proved so instrumental in our Ashes victory - would provide real wicket taking potential while Sidebottom and Flintoff would complement these two by keeping the batsmen on their toes with excellent accuracy and chipping in with a few wickets now and then, while you still have panesar to take advantage of a dusty wicket late on in a game.

 

[Goughy]

In my opinion a bowling lineup of Sidebottom, Hoggard, Jones, Flintoff and Panesar would prove far more fruitful and give England a much greater chance of winning games against class batting sides. Hoggard - a proven Test player with a great strike rate who should have come straight back into the side after his injury - and Jones - who has shown of late that his injuries have done nothing to affect his bowling which proved so instrumental in our Ashes victory - would provide real wicket taking potential while Sidebottom and Flintoff would complement these two by keeping the batsmen on their toes with excellent accuracy and chipping in with a few wickets now and then, while you still have panesar to take advantage of a dusty wicket late on in a game.

I cant argue with the logic there. They are not quite the bowlers Id choose but there are good justifications for the selections you suggest.

However, Id be worried with only 5 specialist batsmen and Hoggard batting at 8. Doesnt matter how many bowlers you have if you are defending small totals.

 

[Richard]

Broad surely has to go after this Test.

Perhaps the most interesting question now is... will Collingwood be brought back into the team? And if so, will it be this series?

When you're dropped at the age of 32 you always have to begin to wonder, while knowing still that plenty have managed to fight their way back in at such an age.