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

budgetmeansbudget wrote:Diabolical umpiring, absolutely plumb.

Did look dead , didn't it ? Ah well ...thank heavens for drs ! Prolonged the drama

Glad it wasn't "umpires call" .

game over, well played england, well deserved victory, and what a debut for Roland-Jones, good start for Westley too!

alfie wrote:

budgetmeansbudget wrote:Diabolical umpiring, absolutely plumb.

Did look dead , didn't it ? Ah well ...thank heavens for drs ! Prolonged the drama

Glad it wasn't "umpires call" .

First ever hattrick on a referral?

That ended in a hurry. Well done to Mo for the hat trick. Nice figures for him in the end, and he enhanced his position as leading wicket taker.

Hard to predict if SA can come back again.

When Woakes, Ball, and Roland-Jones are all avaliable, who gets 3rd seamer spot? Intresting...Obviously Woakes has been in great form in past 12 months or so, but all in with a shout..with Wood lurking too, Finn way out of the picture for now..

Stokes is POTM for me.

Third 200 plus victory margin of the series.

andy wrote:When Woakes, Ball, and Roland-Jones are all avaliable, who gets 3rd seamer spot? Intresting...Obviously Woakes has been in great form in past 12 months or so, but all in with a shout..with Wood lurking too, Finn way out of the picture for now..

Finn got called up for this Test which at least shows the selectors haven't moved on from him. Which I thought they may have done. I'd guess Woakes will come in for R-J when fit, but the latter gets another game before Woakes is ready. Injuries to the bowlers will be frequent.

Arthur Crabtree wrote:Stokes is POTM for me.

Yep, TRJ needed two more wickets in that second innings to have pipped him.

Stokes took three decent catches off Ali and one in the gully in the first innings as well.

Arthur Crabtree wrote:

andy wrote:When Woakes, Ball, and Roland-Jones are all avaliable, who gets 3rd seamer spot? Intresting...Obviously Woakes has been in great form in past 12 months or so, but all in with a shout..with Wood lurking too, Finn way out of the picture for now..

Finn got called up for this Test which at least shows the selectors haven't moved on from him. Which I thought they may have done. I'd guess Woakes will come in for R-J when fit, but the latter gets another game before Woakes is ready. Injuries to the bowlers will be frequent.

Probably significant that Wood wasn't mentioned. Maybe he's slipping out of the picture? He's harder to rank because, yes, he hasn't shone on his return to the side, but also yes, he does have the pace that might make him a special case. On a flat pitch, perhaps he'll be the best pick.

The lively pitches have been useful in judging the batters ahead of the Ashes, especially this one where there was bounce if the bowler worked to extract it. SO fair to say that Westley's runs didn't really come with the uncertainty about how well he'd bat in Perth. Morkel was enough of a test to give some idea. SO a good Test for the Essex number three. Hopefully Malan will get another game, but the next Test is a DN and so is a bit of a freak in terms of judging what a player is made of at this level.

It's the 1st Test v W.Indies that's the D/N?. Next test is at O. T.-usual hours surely?

OK, thanks for that.

W.Indies are an unknown quantity so could well produce a couple of tall quicks that we've never heard of.

budgetmeansbudget wrote:

Arthur Crabtree wrote:Stokes is POTM for me.

Yep, TRJ needed two more wickets in that second innings to have pipped him.

Stokes took three decent catches off Ali and one in the gully in the first innings as well.

Didn't he drop edgar, who went into score more runs?

TRJ for me. Decimated the south African batting first up

Arthur Crabtree wrote:Stokes is POTM for me.

Good call. After all, the Sky team are the experts and they watch every ball of the game. Always listen to the experts is my motto. Think Shaun Pollock is an expert addition to an already very knowledgeable team.
Nasser was very complimentary about Stokes application and dedication before play each day. That's the beauty of listening to the experts- they see far more than we armchair critics.