England tour of South Africa

[yuppie]

England had a great chance when they had SA 4-65. SA add another 200 runs and it proved just to much for them.

Well played from SA.

[Durhamfootman]

at least we aren't talking about the openers any more. Sibley may not have done much, but the later collapses are keeping the critical eyes away from him, so it appears now that England have at least a top 5 for 2020. Something to build on

Talk is of England's continued use of the short ball either side of stumps in SA's second innings.... the period when SA got themselves out of trouble

That's a lesson they refuse to learn, despite years.... and it is years..... of letting teams off the hook by sticking to a barrage of short balls that players can either leave, or feast on once they have their eye in. Despite all the batting and selection woes of the Bayleaf era, it is this that infuriates me the most. It's never worked.... ever. It didn't work particularly well in the Flower era either, so why they persist with it contrary to all the evidence is completely beyond me. When you have new batsmen at the crease, why would you give them a barrage of deliveries (from both ends) that they can just duck/sway/get out of the way of, when you could be making them play by bowling controlled lines and lengths? Perhaps McGrath was wrong and he was just lucky when he took all those hundreds of wickets all over the world, by asking questions of the batsmen every delivery and despite only having a dukes ball in his hand, in swinging conditions, once every 4 years, rather than twice a year, every year

Hey ho Silveraway was a bowler..... surely he understands these things?

[mikesiva]

Markram out of the series with a fractured finger.

Pieter Malan to open?

Keegan Petersen who topped the four day domestic batting aggregates last season has been called up to replace Markram in the squad.

Petersen vs Malan?

[ianp1970]

Markram out of the series with a fractured finger.

Pieter Malan to open?

Keegan Petersen who topped the four day domestic batting aggregates last season has been called up to replace Markram in the squad.

Petersen vs Malan?

Surely they go with the original pick, otherwise the selectors will look like they chose the wrong person originally?

[Arthur Crabtree]

England do that all the time!

[ianp1970]

England do that all the time!

Indeed - an example not to be followed!

[sussexpob]

I have no idea how Jonny Bairstow is still in the setup. His average for the year is 18 off 10 tests, and that is coming from a 3 year platform of very average/poor numbers. He is hardly a demon wicketkeeper, and aside from one period of sustained form, has had a pretty underwhelming career as a test player where he displays quite a host of technical faults. We cant keep picking the same failures. He didnt go to NZ, what did he do to justify come back and being thrown straight back into the team? Buttler too is now averaging low 20s for the year and his form has totally disappeared. How is he still getting in the team? It seems that Smith has his idea of who should play, and actual performance will be continued to be ignored.

Root's captaincy is also becoming an annoyance. Who picks to bowl first on a surface that is clearly going to break up quickly? In the end England batted pretty well in the 4th innings, but they never had a chance after giving South Africa first use of the pitch at its best to bat on. Not many teams have chased totals in the 4th innings of a test in SA in the last 5 years, and in fact when Durban is taken out the equation (where SL made 300 to win, and where the 3 top totals come from), not many teams are even getting 200 to win.

You;d have thought with all the massive back off staff and what not these teams have, that they'd have known that, so its difficult to see why England would have felt they could win having to bat last.

[sussexpob]

Losing to this South Africa side over a series really would be a disaster; its by some margin the worst South Africa side since their test match re-entry, and considering the quality of the G.Pollock era in parts, probably their worst for a very, very long time.

Markham's form has nosedived off a cliff after his first couple of tests. Elgar has been terrible in the last 2 years. De Plessis has had some disasterous series recently. De Kock has been founding wanting a lot, and at times recently has looked like a technical disaster. The rest of the line up batting wise has about 3 caps spread over 3 players, they are young and totally inexperienced. Not a single world class batsman, and not a single player with any continued form even in the shorter term.

Bowling wise Rabada has shown a bit of vulnerability, but is still a good player, and Philander will always take wickets.... but Nortje is totally unproven and Maharaj's form has nosedived; hes coming of a recent series where he conceded 200 in a single innings in one test, after going for way over 300 in the test before. And thats not isolated, in 2018 he took a noticeable step backwards.

Essentially 4/5 players with no experience, two very good bowlers, and the rest are out of sorts players who might have been dropped already were it not for a total dearth of options and the fact there is no one else knocking on the door.

We shouldnt be losing convincingly to these at all. It really would show if we do, how low England have gone.

[Arthur Crabtree]

I know England used to employ a statistician. I guess they still do.

[Arthur Crabtree]

SA, England and Australia are all ranked on 102 points, behind NZ, and a long way behind India. I'm surprised SA and England are that high. It feels a bit like everyone is doing badly at the moment apart from India and NZ. But of course, that's not possible.

[Slipstream]

at least we aren't talking about the openers any more. Sibley may not have done much, but the later collapses are keeping the critical eyes away from him, so it appears now that England have at least a top 5 for 2020. Something to build on

Talk is of England's continued use of the short ball either side of stumps in SA's second innings.... the period when SA got themselves out of trouble

That's a lesson they refuse to learn, despite years.... and it is years..... of letting teams off the hook by sticking to a barrage of short balls that players can either leave, or feast on once they have their eye in. Despite all the batting and selection woes of the Bayleaf era, it is this that infuriates me the most. It's never worked.... ever. It didn't work particularly well in the Flower era either, so why they persist with it contrary to all the evidence is completely beyond me. When you have new batsmen at the crease, why would you give them a barrage of deliveries (from both ends) that they can just duck/sway/get out of the way of, when you could be making them play by bowling controlled lines and lengths? Perhaps McGrath was wrong and he was just lucky when he took all those hundreds of wickets all over the world, by asking questions of the batsmen every delivery and despite only having a dukes ball in his hand, in swinging conditions, once every 4 years, rather than twice a year, every year

Hey ho Silveraway was a bowler..... surely he understands these things?

Finn was dropped in the Ashes because he was too expensive, econ 4.30.

Archer was going at 6.0 an over for his 17 overs. Wagner with his bouncers econ 2.40 in his last Test. I read 24 overs of short pitched bowling by England. Is that his job as Root's new toy? T20 bowling in a Test with all your variations. Two knuckle balls that failed. David Saker and his bowling 'dry', would have had a fit.

Root doesn't understand how to use his bowlers either. There were 7 spells of 2/3 overs mainly by Broad and Anderson. How can you set up batsmen in such a short time? McGrath asked that question about Root last year. I was looking at McGrath's last Test, spells of 7/8/6/8/5/8/8. Anderson 5/3/3/3/5/1 Broad 4/4/3/2/3/2/1.

[Durhamfootman]

Root doesn't understand how to use his bowlers either. There were 7 spells of 2/3 overs mainly by Broad and Anderson. How can you set up batsmen in such a short time? McGrath asked that question about Root last year. I was looking at McGrath's last Test, spells of 7/8/6/8/5/8/8. Anderson 5/3/3/3/5/1 Broad 4/4/3/2/3/2/1.

getting old perhaps?

[sussexpob]

When are the BBC going to get rid of Jonathan Agnew? Aside from the bizarre racist behaviour directed to Jonathan Liew that should have resulted in his instant sacking in the past, I am sick and tired of his articles that ar*e kiss everything the selectors and captain seems to do.

[Slipstream]

Root doesn't understand how to use his bowlers either. There were 7 spells of 2/3 overs mainly by Broad and Anderson. How can you set up batsmen in such a short time? McGrath asked that question about Root last year. I was looking at McGrath's last Test, spells of 7/8/6/8/5/8/8. Anderson 5/3/3/3/5/1 Broad 4/4/3/2/3/2/1.

getting old perhaps?

You look at when they play for their counties. Their captains let them bowl till they are tired. Usually one spell a session. I remember last season Anderson opened with a 12 over spell (but usually it's 7/8 overs) and Stokes has even been known to have bowled 17 overs in one go! Three players Root mentions, who he can't get the ball out of their hands, are Stokes, Archer and Anderson. So if he let them they would carry on until they were tired.

Wood is supposed to be ready for the 3rd Test. When will he get his chance? If England play a spinner at Newlands, it seems Anderson will be dropped. Maybe they will drop Broad to fit in Wood for Port Elizabeth.

[Durhamfootman]

Archer shouldn't be allowed to bowl until he's tired. I always liked the way Australia bowled the tash when he was on fire. 3 over spells... give me everything you have. Whilst I'd love to see Archer and Wood steaming in, I'm not sure how you fit both into the attack. Someone has to do the donkey work after all and it isn't as if England have a reliable spinner to occupy one end