England vs South Africa - 1st Test - Lord's

Royale with Cheese

England currently 114/1. Strauss just gone to a bad lbw decision. Scoring slowly enough at 2.70 and over.

Royale with Cheese

Vaughan lasts all of 3 balls. 117/2

Royale with Cheese

Cook gone. 117/3. I could sense a batting collapse when I wrote the first post.

el_tiddlero

my aussie mate in work just told me this one...

How many England Cricketers can you fit in a mini??


11 ... They're collapsable!!!

Danger_Dave

Ian Bell and Stuart Broad put on partnership of 152.Ian bell finished on 199 !!!! Broad on 76 for anybody still watching the highlights program.

. However i think Vaughan gave them to long to go for there double and single centuries , he should have put the Saffies in early.

P.S look forward to Sidebottom and Broad tomorrow.

toomevara

What crass bowling by SA yesterday, you'd think after the first day they'd have mede the mental leap...short and wide all day, and Harris, dear God, appalling stuff...totally undercooked and wilted under the pressure of a lords test...some of the fielding inexplicable too...gutted for bell, but a great knock all the same

HonalD

SA may have been caught cold but...............whisper it...........England are looking good :eek::eek:

kensutz

England enforce the follow on. Hopefully they'll get rid of Smith asap just to really annoy him.

Danger_Dave

Stuart Broad really is becoming a genuine all rounder. England bowled some excellent spells that put to much pressure on the SA batsmen. Hoprefully it will swing for Side/Ander/Broad tomorrow.

Royale with Cheese

Well England came back really strongly in this one since I wrote my last post. Was funny to see KP bowling at Smith there at the death.

Broad does look a handy player with bat and ball. 199, that's gotta suck for Bell.

Who will Freddie come back in for? Would definitely be Collingwood imo if he wasn't one day captain. Still think it'll be him though.

DMC

Always nice to see Graeme Smith do his bull-in-a-china-shop-whilst-chewing-a-bee impression. No one does it better!

I can't see Collingwood being dropped for the next test, he got a bad decision (off the pads to short-leg.)

Flintoff needs more runs. He got 2 from 7 balls today. He's bowling good, but if he is to replace a batsman, he needs to being in good nick with the bat. Pointless exercise otherwise.

Royale with Cheese

He made 50 in a 20/20 game a week or so back did he not?

And if they decide to drop a batsman for him I can't see it being anybody but Collingwood, bad decision or not. The only other candidate made 199, so he's safe for a while at least.

For a bowler it would be Anderson to go imo. But then again, if the team wins emphatically today or tomorrow, it'd be hard to change a winning team. But it won't be long before Flintoff is back in the side.

dfx-

South Africa 241-1 now with 3 overs left.

McKenzie and Smith both centuries. Some steel at last.

DMC

Royale with Cheese wrote: »

He made 50 in a 20/20 game a week or so back did he not?

He did, but I feel its still not quality time in the middle. He's had a couple of 4 day games and he's not excelled himself, except in his bowling. But bowling 4 overs in Twenty20 is not exactly taxing, as a lot of the bowlers in the IPL have testified!

Royale with Cheese wrote: »

And if they decide to drop a batsman for him I can't see it being anybody but Collingwood, bad decision or not. The only other candidate made 199, so he's safe for a while at least.

For a bowler it would be Anderson to go imo. But then again, if the team wins emphatically today or tomorrow, it'd be hard to change a winning team. But it won't be long before Flintoff is back in the side.

No doubt its Collingwood's head is on the block if its a batsman, but Anderson has done well in this test match. He's not spraying it all over the shop like he used to. Much improved.

Sidebottom's "niggle" might let everyone off the hook and let Flintoff in that way. The lads on TMS were mentioning it today, when Sri Lanka followed on the other year at Lord's and Flintoff bowled trojan-like, but all it did was upside his ankle, and has not been right since. If Flintoff was bowling for 20-30 overs two days in a row, what state would his ankle be in now?

Ideally, Flintoff would come back as a 5th bowler, and replace a batsman. But only if his batting is up to it.

Also. Tim Ambrose is goosed.

Danger_Dave

DMC wrote: »

He did, but I feel its still not quality time in the middle. He's had a couple of 4 day games and he's not excelled himself, except in his bowling. But bowling 4 overs in Twenty20 is not exactly taxing, as a lot of the bowlers in the IPL have testified!



No doubt its Collingwood's head is on the block if its a batsman, but Anderson has done well in this test match. He's not spraying it all over the shop like he used to. Much improved.
Sidebottom's "niggle" might let everyone off the hook and let Flintoff in that way. The lads on TMS were mentioning it today, when Sri Lanka followed on the other year at Lord's and Flintoff bowled trojan-like, but all it did was upside his ankle, and has not been right since. If Flintoff was bowling for 20-30 overs two days in a row, what state would his ankle be in now?

Ideally, Flintoff would come back as a 5th bowler, and replace a batsman. But only if his batting is up to it.

Also. Tim Ambrose is goosed.

+1 Jimmy Anderson has been impressive for a long time now. Tim ambrose should not play another test match ever !. he has been found out, he's no better than a number 11 who can bat one shot over and over again. Who though ? Phil mustard has been in poor touch for Durham in first class cricket. Chris Read ? he has been playing well for most of the season. Matt prior ? has his wicket keeping improved ?

Flintoff , is a tough one, i definitely think he should come back in , but for who? Collingwood i really believe is an option , with Broad scoring runs well they might feel Flintoff/Broad will score enough runs to off set losing Collingwood.

dfx-

308-1. Amla with 50 now.

Still the Proteas can collapse better than anyone else, as Smith said.