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Re: Fourth test: England v South Africa, Old Trafford, 4-8 A

PostPosted: Tue Aug 08, 2017 12:55 am
by Arthur Crabtree
Outstanding catch by Stokes to dismiss de Bruyn off Mo.

Re: Fourth test: England v South Africa, Old Trafford, 4-8 A

PostPosted: Tue Aug 08, 2017 12:57 pm
by backfootpunch
Double hundred from hales for Notts

Maybe has his eye on malans spot

Re: Fourth test: England v South Africa, Old Trafford, 4-8 A

PostPosted: Tue Aug 08, 2017 1:27 pm
by Arthur Crabtree
The disciplinary issue that may have contributed to his exit (and the possibility that his decision not to tour BD was unpopular with Strauss/Bayliss) can't be too much issues, given he still plays limited overs. He feels a way off a return, but England are burning through batting options so it may be they revisit previous selections at some point. Maybe Ravi will get another go...

Re: Fourth test: England v South Africa, Old Trafford, 4-8 A

PostPosted: Tue Aug 08, 2017 5:53 pm
by bigfluffylemon
Arthur Crabtree wrote:The disciplinary issue that may have contributed to his exit (and the possibility that his decision not to tour BD was unpopular with Strauss/Bayliss) can't be too much issues, given he still plays limited overs. He feels a way off a return, but England are burning through batting options so it may be they revisit previous selections at some point. Maybe Ravi will get another go...


Oh heavens no! Not Ravi!

Composite team of the series picks itself:

Cook
Elgar
Amla
Root
Bairstow
Stokes
Moeen
Philander
Roland-Jones
Morkel
Anderson

12th man: Bavuma

Re: Fourth test: England v South Africa, Old Trafford, 4-8 A

PostPosted: Tue Aug 08, 2017 6:40 pm
by Arthur Crabtree
Five seamers? Drop TRJ and play Bavuma or Maharaj.

Re: Fourth test: England v South Africa, Old Trafford, 4-8 A

PostPosted: Wed Aug 09, 2017 9:33 am
by bigfluffylemon
Arthur Crabtree wrote:Five seamers? Drop TRJ and play Bavuma or Maharaj.


Yeah, probably. Bavuma, then. I did have him as 12th man. It can be hard to balance sides in a theoretical exercise like this, especially when, as in this series, ball heavily dominated bat.

Re: Fourth test: England v South Africa, Old Trafford, 4-8 A

PostPosted: Wed Aug 09, 2017 10:06 am
by Arthur Crabtree
Maharaj had a good series and spin was successful overall. Dawson took five wickets at 34 (not quite supporting the disappointment he is portrayed as). Mo's 25 wicket bag is impressive. Maharaj, 17 wickets.

I think what we're seeing is that the slow seamers that England are calling up since they really started to embrace preferential pitch preparation during the 2013 Ashes, are also helping the spinners more than home pitches once did. This might make things interesting in the next India series. India normally cut out a spinner when they come to England, but there might be a case next summer for them to go with their two spinners. Unless England change tack and prepare pacier wickets for that series.

Re: Fourth test: England v South Africa, Old Trafford, 4-8 A

PostPosted: Wed Aug 09, 2017 10:18 am
by Arthur Crabtree
Things will appear different after a few reputations are enhanced during the WI visit, but my feeling is prospects are looking quite poor for the Ashes series, mainly because the top three is so unreliable, and the prime batting spot at five is a dud. What Australia could do to that batting line up doesn't inspire confidence. And further, the seam attack is still lead by James Anderson who usually doesn't do well there (admittedly he had one magnificent tour, seven years ago). But a great hope for that series, Mark Wood, has had a big setback on his return. Woakes and TRJ appear to be classic bowlers for English tracks (I expect Woakes will eventually prove more that that given his decent away record as a bowler with England Lions, but to date he has no overseas Test pedigree at all).

But, England won in SA, so maybe they'll surprise me. Stokes and Root will be big factors, but if the rest of 1-6 do badly, there will be too much lifting for them over five Tests.

Re: Fourth test: England v South Africa, Old Trafford, 4-8 A

PostPosted: Wed Aug 09, 2017 11:39 am
by mikesiva
South Africa's bowlers did pretty well...they all averaged under 31 for the series:

Philander - 10 wkts @ 23
Morris - 8 wkts @ 25
Morkel - 19 wkts @ 26
Olivier - 7 wkts @ 27
Rabada - 16 wkts @ 28
Maharaj - 17 wkts @ 30

The problem has been the batting, when you consider that Philander also topped the batting averages. Only four batsmen came out with any credit:

Philander - 177 runs @ 44
Amla - 329 runs @ 41
Elgar - 291 runs @ 36
Bavuma - 257 runs @ 32

The side was let down by three batsmen who failed to average over 30:

du Plessis - 171 runs @ 28
de Kock - 185 runs @ 23
Kuhn - 113 runs @ 14

Duminy was dropped after the first Test, but his two replacements, Morris and de Bruyne, failed to produce the runs:

Morris - 75 runs @ 18
de Bruyne - 60 runs @ 15

Yes, Duminy underachieved, but don't do a West Indies, and replace a Marlon Samuels with a Vishal Singh....
:mrgreen:
South africa will be hoping that one of these guys comes good in the next series.