SA tour of Eng, July 19 - Sept 12

[Durhamfootman]

Buttler out early again. Roy gets his SR up to 100 for once

[Arthur Crabtree]

Roy out for a low score made slowly.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Now Malan goes. Going to have to do it the hard way.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Ouch!

Five for Shamsi. Not bad in four overs.

[Durhamfootman]

England chose to chase again, clearly ignoring the evidence of the summer.

After being white ball monsters for the last few years, suddenly it feels as if England have lot of work to do

[Durhamfootman]

Ouch!

Five for Shamsi. Not bad in four overs.

looked a liability when he was being monstered in the first T20.

[alfie]

Didn't see the SA innings ; but England never looked like making any sort of chase . Leads me to wonder if conditions were such that the SA score was actually way above par ?

England white ball form does seem to have fallen off a cliff - can't all just be losing Morgan ! On what I've seen recently they have no hope in Australia in October ; and no time to make much of a team adjustment anyway. Seven matches (seven !?!) in Pakistan - which will bear no resemblance to Australian conditions ; then three warm ups... If they wish to make changes , they are going to be guessing a bit.

Might be a case for shuffling the deck ? Buttler can be devastating opening if he bats long - but when he gets out early they are deprived of his ability to monster the late overs ; and with Morgan gone and Livingstone flattering to deceive maybe that is too much risk for not enough gain ? Bairstow and Roy were a good opening combination in this as well as 50 over ; worth revisiting ? Of course if you think Roy is shot then you have to (presumably) install Salt...

At least Stokes will be around for the WC : with him and Moeen you really only need four pure bowlers so can select the best bat for number seven without taking bowling into consideration : is that still Livingstone ?

Problems. Just as well the Test team is suddenly "good" again

[Durhamfootman]

I don't think Roy is shot, just in no form at all. I'm sure that will change at some point, but England have conceded an awful lot of runs lately, so there's never been any 'give' in the run chase.

[bigfluffylemon]

Ollie Robinson recalled for the test series. Can he make it through three games? Potts keeps his place though, and justifiably so.

[alfie]

Can't see Robinson playing all three : in fact I think he will be part of a bit of bowler rotation with matches close together . I would actually expect Anderson Broad and Potts to start the series.

Batting unchanged. Crawley better do something to reward the faith !

[Slipstream]

Lions squad to face SA on 9 August

Sam Billings (c)
Harry Brook
Sam Conners
Sam Cook
Ben Duckett
Will Jacks
Keaton Jennings
Dan Lawrence
Craig Overton
Liam Patterson-White
James Rew
Ollie Robinson
Dom Sibley

[Durhamfootman]

no Durham players in that squad

might have something to do with Durham having no senior England qualified players left in their own squad

[Arthur Crabtree]

A few yesterdays men in there.

[alfie]

SA can't complain about not getting decent opposition for their warm up : unusual these days for the hosts to be so obliging. At the same time it is a useful mix for England fringe players and Test/tour aspirants with a couple of current squad bowlers in particular getting a run ; and potential reserve bats for the winter tour on trial.

Suppose it will end up one of these thirteen a side messes though...

[Arthur Crabtree]

Looks like 12v13.

C.Overton taking wickets.