***Official*** South Africa in England

[_Ed_]

Another beauty there from Broad.

 

[zaremba]

If you said county-born players only neither would even be eligable to play for England.

Funnily enough the situation will soon recur at Sussex. Andy Hodd and Ben Brown (both Sussex-born) are finding their way blocked by Prior. Both are excellent keeper/batsmen and I wouldn't be surprised if either or both plays for England in the next few years.

 

[BoyBrumby]

A poor opening spell from Sidebottom too wide & no 'nip'.
Looked to me to be bowling within himself - I wonder if he is still carrying an injury?

Looks more of him than the last time I saw him too, or is that just me? Can't be too many seamers who put weight on in the season, surely?

28-2!

Amla doesn't seem to score many runs when he's playing against anyone other than NZ.

Yeah, I mean he's obviously done well against your chaps, but he looked about the same player today as he was the last time he played us to me. Ditto Steyn, to a degree. Are England just Kryptonite for those two or do their averages flatter then?

 

[aussie]

He won't, and you can oh dear as much as you like. Anyone who can understand a bowler's potential will realise, TBH, that Anderson simply doesn't have that capacity.

I do not debate your point, my "oh dear" sentiment is basically towards your constant ridiculing of my fellow lancastrian.

It doesn't matter what the pitch is like. Swing takes the pitch out of the equation, that's why it's such a good weapon.

A combination of coventional & reverse. Since an attack of Hoggard (although he can reverse it now)/Anderson/Sidebottom playing in conditions where they get purchase out the new ball & the ball gets out & the pitch flattens out would be a nets session.

You need as many swing-bowlers as you can get. Jones is about as much a swing-bowler as anyone in history has been, that's what makes him so dangerous, and Flintoff is not as much of one as Jones but still plenty of it. Sidebottom, Jones and Flintoff would be an attack composed 100% of swing-bowlers.

Jones & Freddie can't be classified as "swing bowlers" they are capable of exploiting conditions where it swings. The term "Swing bowler" describes your traditional English style bowler like your Sidebottom, Hoggard, Saggers, Lewis or recent while historically Hadlee, Fazal Mahmood, Moss, DeVilliers, Amar Singh immediately come to mind..

 

[Jono]

Yeah, I mean he's obviously done well against your chaps, but he looked about the same player today as he was the last time he played us to me. Ditto Steyn, to a degree. Are England just Kryptonite for those two or do their averages flatter then?

That's not really a fair question for Steyn. All you've had to do is see him bowl over the last 24 months to know that.

Amla there's still question marks I guess.

 

[BoyBrumby]

That's not really a fair question for Steyn. All you've had to do is see him bowl over the last 24 months to know that.

Amla there's still question marks I guess.

Yeah, fair enough I suppose. There's always an element of rating players on how they perform against one's own team tho. Or rather, I should say, I can't help but do that, anyway.

Steyn looks quick, but still wayward to me. If I were watching the game with no prior knowledge of any of the bowlers I'd assume Morkel was the senior seamer based on the past couple of days. Looks to have something of the Curtlys about him to me.

 

[Richard]

I do not debate your point, my "oh dear" sentiment is basically towards your constant ridiculing of my fellow lancastrian.

Hardly ridiculing. Simply stating the way things are (IMO).

A combination of coventional & reverse. Since an attack of Hoggard (although he can reverse it now)/Anderson/Sidebottom playing in conditions where they get purchase out the new ball & the ball gets out & the pitch flattens out would be a nets session.

Sidebottom is quite capable of using reverse-swing too, but that's beside the point. The point is you need both conventional and reverse-swing, and if you've got that you've got most bases covered with a good-quality cricket-ball, completely regardless of the pitch.

Jones & Freddie can't be classified as "swing bowlers" they are capable of exploiting conditions where it swings. The term "Swing bowler" describes your traditional English style bowler like your Sidebottom, Hoggard, Saggers, Lewis or recent while historically Hadlee, Fazal Mahmood, Moss, DeVilliers, Amar Singh immediately come to mind..

Swing bowler means precisely what it sounds like - a bowler who swings the ball. There's no such thing as "conditions where it swings" - the ball will always swing if it's in the right state, and won't if it's not. Jones and Flintoff are swing-bowlers, because they swing the ball.

 

[Jono]

Yeah, fair enough I suppose. There's always an element of rating players on how they perform against one's own team tho. Or rather, I should say, I can't help but do that, anyway.

I think most of us do it, no matter who we support.

I think that only Australians should be allowed to though. Not performing against England but performing against other equal teams doesn't make anyone less of a player. Not yet in Steyn's career anyway.

 

[Goughy]

Looks more of him than the last time I saw him too, or is that just me? Can't be too many seamers who put weight on in the season, surely?

Yeah, I thought the same. Looking rather chesty.

 

[pasag]

MASSIVE wicket.

 

[PhoenixFire]

Kallis is a gonner. Good catch.

 

[andruid]

Prince to save the day?

 

[Goughy]

Prince to save the day?

Im no Prince fan but this can suit him. Not much movement and attritional cricket needed.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Since Atherton pointed out McKenzie's little OCD tics I can't help but notice them. Mildly annoying as I'd never spotted them before.

 

[open365]

Since Atherton pointed out McKenzie's little OCD tics I can't help but notice them. Mildly annoying as I'd never spotted them before.

What OCD tics are these? I was watching when they talked about them but the only thing I could tell that McKenzie does in between deliveries is stand still, look behind square on the leg side then take his guard.

 

[BoyBrumby]

What OCD tics are these? I was watching when they talked about them but the only thing I could tell that McKenzie does in between deliveries is stand still, look behind square on the leg side then take his guard.

If you watch, he draws two lines on about middle stump with his spikes, the same with his bat & then looks at sqaure leg before every delivery.

 

[jammay123]

Montyyyyyyyyy

 

[BoyBrumby]

Great bowling change from Mick after lunch there. Have to give credit to the skipper for mine.

 

[SpaceMonkey]

Warne-esque dismissal there behind his legs. Nice one Monty.

 

[Jono]

Haha that was awesome