Second Test: England v South Africa, Nottingham, July 14-18

[Arthur Crabtree]

Ball will be a candidate if Woakes isn't.

[sussexpob]

Ball will be a candidate if Woakes isn't.

14 wickets this year hardly justifies the form and fitness argument over proven quality and batting depth

[mikesiva]

What's the Saffer plan? Bat until an hour before the close, and then declare? Or get all out before then?

[Arthur Crabtree]

Early days for some of them, but four of England's six bowler attack average over 35.

Stokes 35.2
Wood 38.8
Moeen 39.7
Dawson 42.7

[Arthur Crabtree]

Ball will be a candidate if Woakes isn't.

14 wickets this year hardly justifies the form and fitness argument over proven quality and batting depth

If Woakes is ruled out for the reason mentioned above.

Maybe Downton is freelancing on the decision to discount Woakes.

[sussexpob]

Ball will be a candidate if Woakes isn't.

14 wickets this year hardly justifies the form and fitness argument over proven quality and batting depth

If Woakes is ruled out for the reason mentioned above.

Maybe Downton is freelancing on the decision to discount Woakes.

Sadly,it does seem like a continuation of the agenda against woakes if true. Wonder if that rule applies to all. I doubt TRJ will ever get capped until they find a flat pancake to fail him on, then slap themselves on the back for not picking him.

[Dr Cricket]

Wonder when Baylis is under pressure for test results.
Wouldn't surprise me if he gone from the test teams and kept for white ball cricket.
Not sure Bayliss and the captain/ selectors are on the same page for the test team.

Losing a test to sa is pretty bad they should be winning this series 3-0 at least.
If they were to lose a test it should have been because of sa playing well and not England being shambolic with the ball and bat.
Wouldn't say sa played well either in this test a team with a rookie and quarter fit philander shouldn't bowl a team out for 50 overs and they batting isn't that great either.

[mikesiva]

3-0? Only once in recent times have south Africa lost a test series 3-0.

That was to India in India and that could happen to anyone. South Africa have a good record in tests this decade. I think they have only lost three series in 25 or something like that.

England might still win the series but it won't be 3-0 or something lopsided like that.

[Dr Cricket]

With the team they got in paper now they will not be competitive all the time they definately going to lose more game than they win.
With the team England got and the players they have they should be beating sa easily here.
Although for the past few years England have been bad at test and some of the selections and Baylis thought process been odd.
Test team defiantly gone backwards and not really making any progress.

[Gingerfinch]

With the team they got in paper now they will not be competitive all the time they definately going to lose more game than they win.
With the team England got and the players they have they should be beating sa easily here.
Although for the past few years England have been bad at test and some of the selections and Baylis thought process been odd.
Test team defiantly gone backwards and not really making any progress.

Don't underestimate the Dogged South Africans.

[Dr Cricket]

yep they generally been competitive, although this is probably the first time people are not fancying them for anything these days.

[Durhamfootman]

going by the highlights it looks as though Morne was immense today

[Dr Cricket]

pitches have surprised me though, although in a good way.
nice to see some good decks prepared in the test, england test pitches lately have been shambles.
last year pak ones were awful only really Old trafford was good, Edgebaston probably the worst and lords/oval not great either.
the new modern drainage system are crazy though they pretty much sucking all life out of the pitches, we saw how bad banglore deck was this winter after the new system, went from a run fest, bouncy deck to a slow, turning, unpredictable wicket overnight.
RCB couldn't even adapt to it either.

[Dr Cricket]

pretty damning stat found on the mail.
England only won 12 test since 2014.
only positive for the test team been the winter tour of SA where they played good cricket and beat a strong SA team.
really apart from that they usually not got the result that is expected of them.
home record not that great either.
also after a test win they only won 3 test with 7 losses and 2 draws, so they can't even win back to back games either.

for me england problem been the selection and mostly bayliss and the selectors or captain at times not been in the same page and it doesn't help that bayliss doesn't follow County cricket much.
not really sure why Dawson playing for england in test or in what world was balance picked here where the chances of him succeeding were low considering he had to score highly from the get go and at the same time not get out in a bad way considering he was only really likely to get a few test to confirm his place in the team.

[The Professor]

South Africa always do this. Start off poorly and grind into top form.