[Archived] Cricket - England V South Africa

[Plastic Head]

First test at Lords starts Thursday 10th.

Judging by the form of the Proteas and the (badly) selected England team I feel odds of 1.95 (betfair) on a SA series win is money for nothing.

Players like Collingwood, Ambrose and Sidebottom are just not up to the sort of level required to compete with the SA's.

They have a guy batting at 8 that's better than all but 1 of ours.

On a more positive note, I have recently reached an age that is higher than the average life-expectancy of a South African (<42.5 years) so most of them won't have long to celebrate the win, whereas I still have an average of 36.35 years to "consider the defeat".

[blue phil]

I suspect they'll need flippers and snorkel to inspect the pitch tomorrow .....

[Iceman]

300 odd for 3 is a very good score.kp is looking fantastic again.

[Flopsy]

I suspect they'll need flippers and snorkel to inspect the pitch tomorrow .....

not when it comes to lords, the relaid the drainage in the outfield a few years ago and now if it stops raining they'll be playing an hour later.

Most other grounds are looking at doing the same

[Bazzanotsogreat]

First test at Lords starts Thursday 10th.

Judging by the form of the Proteas and the (badly) selected England team I feel odds of 1.95 (betfair) on a SA series win is money for nothing.

Players like Collingwood, Ambrose and Sidebottom are just not up to the sort of level required to compete with the SA's.

They have a guy batting at 8 that's better than all but 1 of ours.

On a more positive note, I have recently reached an age that is higher than the average life-expectancy of a South African (<42.5 years) so most of them won't have long to celebrate the win, whereas I still have an average of 36.35 years to "consider the defeat".

Collingwood is out of form but is a good player; he has better stats than most of the Saffers excluding Smith & Kallis

As for Sidebottom- are we talking about the same bowler who is ranked sixth in the world? & who has a bowling avg of around 25 & a strike rate of under 50.

Not sure how much cricket you watch but Sidebottom is a class-act, the best-leftie in the world at the mo.

PS-I wont be taking any tips from you again;England are 500-6

[modes98]

Haha keep it up plastic head!

England going great guns so far against South Africa. It wil get more difficult as they get more and more form.

England's main problem for me is the top order, Strauss and Vaughan don't score enough. We rely upon Cook, KP and Belly to save us on most occasions.

England have said that Flintoff will be in the starting 11 for the next match, meaning it's likely Anderson or Broad will miss out.

[Flopsy]

nah, they'll go for a 5 man pace attack, they'll drop collingwood for him and either play Prior at 6, Fred at 7 and Broad at 8, or Fred 6, Broad 7 and Ambrose at 8.

They cant play a 4 man pace attack without risking the ankle of Fred and can use him in short bursts.

Just to remind you what happened when england last scored 500+ Cricinfo

[RibbleValleyRover]

South Africa's pace attack looks rusty and shows a lack of match preperation.

[grizfoot]

England batted brilliantly today how much that was down to the pitch or South Africa's bowling is yet to be determined. We'll have to wait and see how South Africa bat. On the first two days form their pace attack looked a bit all over the place to be honest.

Glad to see Ian Bell back in form for England and how desperately unlucky to get out on 199. Also KP continued in his usual fashion getting a nice 150. Also Stuart Broad seems to be getting better with every England game this lad has got the potential to become a world-class all-rounder in my opinion.

With it looking like Flintoff will be called up for the next test it's got to be Collingwood who drops out for me, although he got a bad decison today he's been offering nothing with the bat of late.

Also I noticed a good look-a-like whilst watching the cricket today

Mr.Grumpy

Graeme Smith

[T4E]

God bless you Plastic Head. Hardly a RevidgeBlue/Rocco Mediate tip was it

England are going great guns this morning - a couple of wickets before lunch would have been the aim, and we're there already.

[Tris]

Stunning catch from Jimmy Anderson to dismiss de Villiers. If we do sell Brad might be worth having a look at him ... ...

[Flopsy]

Burnley's only good sportsman takes a stonking catch

[broadsword]

You're a shrewd man, plastic head.

Trying to explain cricket to a foreigner down a pub in Geneva, hard work!

[T4E]

You're a shrewd man, plastic head.

That first post in this thread is fast becoming post of the year

[grizfoot]

That first post in this thread is fast becoming post of the year

Indeed that guy batting at 8 looked really great (didn't take Monty to skittle him out)

I honestly thought the two teams were evenly managed before the test series but England's entrie team bar maybe Collingwood and Ambrose are firing on all cyclinders. Think we can knock them over and gain a win by an innings to spare tommorrow.

[Flopsy]

never underestimate the ability of the England cricket team to cock it up,especially at Lords.

On the flips side, never underestimate the ability of the Saffers to choke.

[RibbleValleyRover]

I honestly thought the two teams were evenly managed before the test series but England's entrie team bar maybe Collingwood and Ambrose are firing on all cyclinders. Think we can knock them over and gain a win by an innings to spare tommorrow.

England have played well but i wouldn't rule out South Africa yet. I'm expecting them to be a lot stronger in the next test and get stronger as the series goes on and it was clear that their bowlers looked very rusty. Smith made a huge mistake in bowling first, though Vaughn said he would have done the same thing if he had won the toss.

[jim mk2]

Burnley's only good sportsman takes a stonking catch

Catching's easy when you have 6 fingers.

[American]

and we're there already.

Says the Scot.

[broadsword]

I wouldn't have enforced teh follow-on, I would've given the bowlers a wee break. You don't always have to enforce it.

Quickfire 130 from us, and the Saffers are playing for a draw with plenty of time left and a fresh attack.

That's my take anyway.

[T4E]

Says the Scot.

I'll assume that you're unaware of the ECB's broad selection criteria.

Ever heard of Gavin Hamilton? Ed Joyce?

Agree with you BTW Bryan. WE should have put another 150 on the board.

[Flopsy]

Says the Scot.

says the yank. (if we're going to be like that)

We should have batted on and gone all 20/20 on their arses and got as close to a 500+ lead as possible, however we havent, so we'll just have to wee with the willy we've got and hope for some swing this morning. The good news is that it's now a 5th day pitch and they're still 140 behind, and Smith has gone. Expect a KP fivefer

[T4E]

What a load of crap.

[RibbleValleyRover]

Crap surface

[chocky]

Crap surface

The bowling was not bad but I think they seem to lack that killer instinct...The desire to kill off the game...That last two days were as boring as fook..unlike the first three...