Cricket-Match-Special ... A forum for discussion

1st T20I: England v South Africa at Southampton on Jun 21, 2017
(18:30 local | 17:30 GMT)

2nd T20I: England v South Africa at Taunton on Jun 23, 2017
(17:00 local | 16:00 GMT)

3rd T20I: England v South Africa at Cardiff on Jun 25, 2017
(14:30 local | 13:30 GMT)

"AB de Villiers will lead South Africa's T20 squad in three matches against England in the absence of Faf du Plessis, who will return home for the birth of his first child. De Villiers will then leave the UK, with du Plessis taking over for the Tests that begin in early July."

http://www.espncricinfo.com/england-v-s ... 03293.html

South Africa's T20 squad
AB de Villiers (capt), Farhaan Behardien, Reeza Hendricks, Imran Tahir, David Miller, Morne Morkel, Chris Morris, Mangaliso Mosehle (wk), Wayne Parnell, Dane Paterson, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dwaine Pretorius, Tabraiz Shamsi, JJ Smuts

No let-up. Both teams just get over the disappointment of the CT, and go into the T20s.

To be honest, to me these seem a little inconsequential now, sandwiched between the CT and the test series. But then, international cricket has been crying out for more context for years.

1 Jason Roy, 2 Alex Hales, 3 Sam Billings, 4 Eoin Morgan (capt), 5 Jonny Bairstow, 6 Jos Buttler (wk), 7 Liam Dawson, 8 Chris Jordan, 9 Tom Curran, 10 Mason Crane, 11 Mark Wood.

Cricinfo's suggested team.

Is Mills injured? I mean more than usual.

no backup bowling option ?

Also Livingstone, Malan, Plunkett, Willey, Overton.

Cricinfo seems to think they'll stick with the old guard with the batters, but make changes with the bowlers. Obviously Livingstone could offer a bowling option. After not getting games in the CT, I think Bairstow and Billings should play. By the same reckoning, so should Willey.

Arthur Crabtree wrote:Also Livingstone, Malan, Plunkett, Willey, Overton.

Cricinfo seems to think they'll stick with the old guard with the batters, but make changes with the bowlers. Obviously Livingstone could offer a bowling option. After not getting games in the CT, I think Bairstow and Billings should play. By the same reckoning, so should Willey.

i know there are backups in the squad but in that predicted XI there are 5 bowlers and none of the top 6 provide any backup option at all, which is a bit of a risky strategy for t20

Yes, should be six bowlers in a T20 side.

According to the Guardian, all five uncapped players will feature in the three game series (Crane, Malan, Livinstone, Curran, Overton). Bairstow will play in the first two and miss the third. Crane will play in Soton. Wood will only play the first game. This article suggests the first game will feature a conventional XI, so maybe Plunkett or Willey for Curran in the Cricinfo XI.

Hope Mason Crane does well on his home pitch. The debut of a wrist spinner is an interesting prospect.

he's been highly touted for a couple of years now

rich1uk wrote:he's been highly touted for a couple of years now

Still very young. Wrist spinners don't usually come into their own until mid-late 20s - Shane Warne was a freak in that regard, but he was still nearly 24 when he bowled that ball to Gatting.

Not sure that's true. I know we all like the idea of the wise and hard schooled spinner, but perhaps more than any other cricket discipline, flexibility is a great asset for a wrist spinner (or any spinner). And that goes with injury. The greats find ways to adapt, as Warne did, but few spinners really overcome the ache of injury and repetition set against the time when their body responded easily to expected demands.

The most important factor for MC will be... will he land the ball where he intends. Will he not feed a stream of bad balls.

if they are going to have alot of rotation through the series i think it would make sense to play Livingstone so we at least have that 6th bowling option rather than play a top 6 that are all established players