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England v South Africa Cricket


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Time for a new thread and what better than Boxing days encounter at Centurion in something akin to a normal viewing time.

Surprisingly after a turgid loss in New Zealand, the Fourth estate have decreed that England will be winning this series, I disagree with the Proteas strong favourites on home turf

Just break down the two sides and South Africa have the edge even before the plague ravaged England man for man

England

Sibley not a Test match Player - comparisons to KP and Trott ignoring the fact that both the latter players had an offside game

Burns - Rory may be sorted out on a faster bouncier track than the slow pudding wickets of New Zealand .Expect a barrage of short balls and slips and gully will be interested

Denly = It grieves me to post this as a man of Kent but the wrong Kent player is in the side. It should be Zak Crawley. Future history will prove me right on this.

Root - Not a fan of his captaincy and a sneaking feeling that he could end up doing a Cook with one big score per series making up his series average. Looked Englands most potent spinner in the New Zeraland series which is alarming.

Stokes - Technically England's best batsman and handy fourth change bowler. Good to hear Ged's pulling round so hopefully in the right frame of mind for centurion.

Bairstow - Technical flaw defensively outside off stump wheras in his earlier career it was playing across the line. Still people tend to forget that two years ago on the Australian tour no less than Ricky Ponting saw him as the best of the English Batsmen. Jonny B has never let England down and everyone has a bad run sooner or later. He needs to get back the Gloves from Jos Buttler. He is the better keeper, not a better technician than Ben Foakes behind the timbers, but not that far behind him. The next few years in Test Cricket (and possibly ODI) will be a repriese of the old Knott v Taylor / Stewart v Russell debate as Bairstow v Foakes.

Buttler - Sorry Jos,  1 century in 37 Tests matches pales in comparison with his 9 centuries in ODI cricket batting lower down the order indicates why he was brought into the test side. To whack a few runs down the end of the order before the tail is blown away. this by and large he has not done. Jos is a one day player like Jason Roy. This tour will confirm it.

Sam Curran / Woakes - I am amazed that Curran the younger is seen as an all rounder bearing in mind that  he has yet to score a first class century. He may do so in time and he may also gain a yard in pace bowling left arm which wiuld make him a viable option in a four man attack but at the moment Sam, if picked, is there rather as an indicator of the paucity of available left arm options in England. Woakes by contrast is a player that did gain a yard from Test debut so that by 2017/18 was an inked in pick. Rumour has it his pace has dropped which would be a concern. His batting also seems to have fallen away so England's Mr Reliable needs to up both dimensions to his game.

Archer - Jofra still starting out in Test Cricket and has a lot of unrealistic expectations placed on his shoulder and an equally unrealistic workload given to him by Root.

Anderson - Sorry Jimmy but along with Michael Vaughan and Sir Geoffrey, I took do not believe having Anderson and Broad in the side is bneneficial bearing in mind both are now at the end of their careers. It's said Jimmy wants another 25 Test wickets to retire on 600 But he is not going to Australia on the next tour. It's time to move on - Jimmy is an all time great and will be in the conversation when it comes to picking an all time England XI but as Steve Waugh put it there are no fairytale endings in sport.

Broad -Being placed below Anderson should be a mark of where SCJ Broad stands now as a batter. His bowling is as a good as it's been over the past few years. and the hope has always been that post Jimmy's retirement, "Broadie" would hang around for a couple of seasons to ease the transition but the box in the SKY beckons. Hanging on to Broad and Anderson is like the West Indies sticking with Walsh and Ambrose at the turn of the century and look where it got them

Ollie Pope has succumbed to influenza and again is a tyro batsman starting out Jack Leach is a cult figure, a sort of reverse Monty Panesar, Monty's charm was in his Patka, and batting and fielding eccentricities but he could bowl. Jack by contrast, also has his bald pate and glasses , his batting durability and adequate fielding but people forget - He is in the side to bowl.and he is not that good away from the turning pitches of Taunton.

South Africa will open up on the fast track at Centurion with Kagisa Rabada a champion quick who one day may be surpassed by Jofra but not this series, Vernon Philander accuate to the core and either Andrich Nortje or Dane Patersen both reputed to be fast. with Keshav Maharaj providing the spin option - Think about it South Africa have a spinner an we do not - who would have thought it..

Quinten De Kock wearing the gloves behind the stumps and a top 6 of the durable Dean Eglar, Captain Faf Du Plessis, Rassie Van Der Dussen one of the few bright spots in the World Cup Campaign, Aidan Markram SA oplayer of the series v Australia, Newcomer Pieter Malan as opener and Andile Phehilukwayo as the all rounder. Seems a strong line up though SA politics may degree more non-white players in the XI which is where the loss of Temba Bavuma may be felt.

KP going to be good listening on TALKSPORT 2 commerntary - Klaxon alert ?

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When the pinch comes the common people will turn out to be more intelligent than the clever ones. I certainly hope so.

George Orwell
 
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You either own NFTs or women’s phone numbers but not both

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Hard to disagree with a lot of that pal . I wouldn’t have us favourites anywhere away from home with our record . I think the tracks should be more helpful and conducive ( thank god ) to entertaining cricket . As ever it’s first innings runs that will tell , and it’s an Achilles heel for us . I’d say a draw would be a good result , which tells you where we are right now because this Proteas outfit is in a dodgy place themselves 

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37 minutes ago, DavidM said:

Call me old fashioned but bat first , and if you’re in doubt think about it ... and then bat . I’ve hardly seen this track do anything , and I’m sure over time it won’t get better

I can see where you are coming from because South Africa fancied a bat.

You have to admit, we’ve got them in trouble now at 112-5, Root’s decision not looking too crazy.

Plenty of cricket left, but this is a winnable position now even at this early stage.

 

 

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22 minutes ago, Gerrumonside ref said:

I can see where you are coming from because South Africa fancied a bat.

You have to admit, we’ve got them in trouble now at 112-5, Root’s decision not looking too crazy.

Plenty of cricket left, but this is a winnable position now even at this early stage.

 

 

This is just like watching us bat . The pitch has had no demons at all if your’e a good batting unit . Many a confident side would look at this and say ‘ yes please ‘ , but there’s been some soft English like dismissals . Obviously our team make up is determining this , but one thing is for sure . You better had make it count on first innings or your advantage is gone . I thought this series would be on first innings runs and it looks like it will be

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What is up with the Sky commentry team?

They keep saying there's nothing wrong with the pitch but every single batsman on either side has looked uncomfortable on it. De Kock got runs but he was just chancing his arm before he would get a ball that would jag half a foot sidewards off a good length.

Under Scrutiny by the Right-On Thought Police

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I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the pitch in general , bit of uneven bounce but really not commensurate to the wickets today anyway . They’re just two very average batting outfits . In our case , when it keeps happening and so many dismissals are repetitive then you’re the problem , nothing else . Guys keep getting out the same way and we keep collapsing in a heap . The bowlers have so much pressure heaped on them to keep us in games 

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I would say it was another bad England performance but I suppose by now its a kind of comment that could be cut and pasted after the majority of Test matches these days, particularily overseas.. A 7-39 collpase today and a 9/10/11 of Archer, Broad and Anderson which on current form is reminiscent of Mullally, Giddins and Tufnell for those of a certain age.

Roy Keane said that "if you fail to prepare prepare to fail" and one reason why touring teasms fare so badly across the world  is that due to TV deals and lifestyle choices touring teams rock up in alien conditions, play one or two non-first class warm up matches featuring 15 batters and 15 bowlers and then think that's sufficient preparation for a Test match.

I certainly hope none of you youngsters reading this, turn up for job interviews or business meetings not having done your prep just hoping to wing it on the day,  for if you do, you will probably have a lot more time to compose your posts on TRL than you bargained for...

England still with an outside chance if Van der Dussen and De Kock go early tomorrow and are chasing around 250. But that all depends, as always, on a a couple of Root, Stokes, Bairstow or Buttler firing the others managing to stick around long enough.

Confident ?

Quote

When the pinch comes the common people will turn out to be more intelligent than the clever ones. I certainly hope so.

George Orwell
 
image.png.5fe5424fdf31c5004e2aad945309f68e.png

You either own NFTs or women’s phone numbers but not both

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4 hours ago, DavidM said:

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the pitch in general , bit of uneven bounce but really not commensurate to the wickets today anyway . They’re just two very average batting outfits . In our case , when it keeps happening and so many dismissals are repetitive then you’re the problem , nothing else . Guys keep getting out the same way and we keep collapsing in a heap . The bowlers have so much pressure heaped on them to keep us in games 

Its a good test wicket.... Most games now finish within 4 days mercifully

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Opposition video sessions before facing England probably last no more than ten minutes:

- Bairstow - bowl at the stumps.

- Stokes - good length wide of off, he'll flap at it.

- Broad - bowl at his head.

Don't even get me started on Stokes getting 'dehydrated' on day one of a test.

I can confirm 30+ less sales for Scotland vs Italy at Workington, after this afternoons test purchase for the Tonga match, £7.50 is extremely reasonable, however a £2.50 'delivery' fee for a walk in purchase is beyond taking the mickey, good luck with that, it's cheaper on the telly.

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