South Africa v England

Beasty

So, after a break of 5 weeks, England are back in South Africa for a 2 and a half month tour.

The series starts off with 2 T20 internationals, then 5 ODIs and finishes with 4 Test Matches

The first T20 is tomorrow in Johannesburg. It's a day-nighter starting at 4pm GMT. Collingwood is captaining the T20 team. Live coverage is on Sky Sports 1.

My feeling is SA will be too strong in the shorter formats, particularly with Kevin Pietersen not yet fully fit.

Dozen Wicked Words

Think SA will probably be too strong in this format, bit of grudge later down the line when Smith meets Strauss again after the non-runner incident.

Not really convinced Collingwood is up to it as captain either, but then again, not many other candidates.

The wonders of sky + mean I can watch it when I get in from work, happy days.

Still, always hope for an England win.

Beasty

SA win the toss and bowl first.

Cook is fit, so no match for Strauss

England team:
Cook, Denly, Trott, Collingwood, Morgan, Prior, Wright, Bresnan,Swann, Mahmood, Anderson

Royale with Cheese

Denly out LBW, very first ball of the tour. I have a feeling that could be symbolic.

Beasty

Royale with Cheese wrote: »

Denly out LBW, very first ball of the tour. I have a feeling that could be symbolic.

A bit like Harmison's first ball of the last Ashes tour in Australia - we are doomed:D

England are looking a bit ropey at present!

Royale with Cheese

Hmm England are actually doing alright here. 97/3 off 11 overs. Morgan at the crease.

Wow, Morgan just hit it out of the ground. Massive 6.

kyp_durron

Morgan just put one into orbit!

England on for 200 perhaps?

Beasty

Tremendous fightback by England, and Morgan and Collingwood in particular. Both have reached fifty, and they have put on a partnership of 88 in 8 overs - 149/3 after 15

kyp_durron

England 202 in the first innings.

Some crazy shots by Morgan. 5 sixes 7 fours. 85 not out off 45 balls. What a knock.

Beasty

202-6, with Morgan 85 no, having a strike rate of 193 with 5 sixes and 7 fours - what an innings!!!!

Beasty

Rain comes. South Africa fail again to get ahead on DL method, and England win by 1 run, with SA 127-3 after 13

Great performance by (some of) the batsmen, and Anderson for stopping them getting the 7 they needed in what turned out to be the last over

HonalD

Thanks for the updates guys - I hear that Morgan's innings was the highest individual score by an England player in Twenty20 games - not bad for an Irishman :D:D:D

d'Oracle

As much as I understand his decision, my heart sinks when I see Morgan do that for another country.

f1dan

d'Oracle wrote: »

As much as I understand his decision, my heart sinks when I see Morgan do that for another country.

I know exactly the feeling.

I saw the highlights last night. Fantastic batting from Morgan. I just hope he doesn't become labelled as a one-day specialist.

Beasty

f1dan wrote: »

I know exactly the feeling.

I saw the highlights last night. Fantastic batting from Morgan. I just hope he doesn't become labelled as a one-day specialist.

Perfomances like that (and the ones in the recent Champions Trophy) will just accelerate his elevation to the test team

randomer

f1dan wrote: »

I know exactly the feeling.

I saw the highlights last night. Fantastic batting from Morgan. I just hope he doesn't become labelled as a one-day specialist.

To be fair, at the moment he is a one day specialist. And a bloody good one. They mentioned on Sky yesterday that he averaged 22 in first class cricket last year, and that is in Division 2.

I think when the IPL comes around he is going to get a big pay day.

Royale with Cheese

South Africa destroying England so far in the second game. 94/0 off just 7.2 overs.

Dozen Wicked Words

Mahmood just isn't up to International standard no matter how many times they select him. Particularly in limited overs, he is too wild/inaccurate/crap.

Royale with Cheese

dooferoaks wrote: »

Mahmood just isn't up to International standard no matter how many times they select him. Particularly in limited overs, he is too wild/inaccurate/crap.

Yeah I was fairly surprised to see he'd got himself a place on this tour. Are there really no decent young bowlers in England? After calling up and dropping Harminson about 50 times, they've gone back and called up another reject from years gone by.

Dozen Wicked Words

Although to be fair to Mahmood, he is just part of a particularly pitiful bowling attack today. Only Anderson can take anything out of this so far other than embarrassment.

Beasty

Collingwood injured, Cook captain and Pietersen back slightly ahead of schedule. KP has never really adapted to this format, as he normally needs a couple of overs to settle in.

Great catch by Bresnan, but it still looks as if England will be chasing 250+. If this is the case I would be tempted to open with two of KP, Wright and Prior with Morgan at no.3

Royale with Cheese

Trott and Pietersen at the crease. Everyone on the pitch is South African!!

Beasty

Only mistake SA have made is getting Cook out. The first 2 wickets have effectively wasted half the overs, increasing the required run rate to nearly 3 a ball!

Beasty

First ODI abandoned without a ball being bowled

Beasty

2nd ODI today. England win the toss and bowl. SA 120-3 after 25 overs. Collingwood took a fantastic catch to dismiss de Villiers, but Strauss dropped a sitter!

Dozen Wicked Words

SA made 250, 6 above par for centurion. Should be a good game if someone can hang about for a big score. Rashid isn't really doing it with the ball yet, and if they are only going to give him 3 overs he is never going to click. All it will do is drain his confidence.

Beasty

England's batsmen made it look pretty easy in the end, getting their target with 4 overs to spare having only lost 3 wickets. Man of the match Collingwood scored 105no, and Morgan came in at the end to score 27no off 18 balls. Trott scored 87.

Dozen Wicked Words

England hammered by SA in the 3rd one dayer. No big surprise, SA batting first in a day nighter at that ground is a guaranteed win for the home team.

Generally, in day/night games, I think batting second is such a disadvantage at the best of times the ICC should consider giving the team who have to bat under lights a 20 or 30 head start.

Dozen Wicked Words

England go 2 - 1 up in the series after hammering SA in 4th one dayer. Restricted SA to 119 all out and England knocked off the runs without any problem, Morgan finishing it off.

2 teams with such up and down form is making it difficult to call every game. Kallis is a big miss for SA though.

Beasty

Quite interesting that SA won the toss and elected to bat. Adds weight to dooferoaks previous comments re day-nighters. This was played in daylight, and batting first was no advantage whatsoever.

The bowlers won it for England, with Anderson taking 5 wickets and being well supported by Broad, Bresnan and Collingwood.

TrueDub

Beasty wrote: »

This was played in daylight, and batting first was no advantage whatsoever.

Indeed, it was quite the opposite apparently. There appeared to be some swing early on, which England took full advantage of.

Beasty

Final ODI is due to start at 12.30 GMT. However it has been raining all week, and prospects for play look gloomy. If the match is abandoned, England will win the series 2-1

Dozen Wicked Words

Covers back on again, if they get any game at all it will be a 20/20 slug fest. Shame if they don't get a game on, but looks unlikely now.

Beasty

Washout confirmed, so England take the series

Beasty

1st Test at Centurion started this morning. England won the toss and elected to field. Broad had Smith caught by Prior for 0. SA are currently 40/1

England Team
Strauss
Cook
Trott
Pietersen
Bell
Collingwood
Prior
Broad
Swann
Anderson
Onions

dfx-

Kallis is back :cool:

Royale with Cheese

Ian Bell shows his worth again. Why's he back in the side?

Beasty

Bell should be well suited to the SA pitches, if he could only remember to play a stroke, rather than simply stand back and watch the ball hitting his stumps!

The good news for fans of Morgan is Bell has been given more than enough rope, and seems hell-bent on hanging himself. Having said that, he'll probably get a hundred and fifty in the second innings, saving the match for England, and guaranteeing his place for the rest of the series:)

Royale with Cheese

Beasty wrote: »

The good news for fans of Morgan is Bell has been given more than enough rope, and seems hell-bent on hanging himself. Having said that, he'll probably get a hundred and fifty in the second innings, saving the match for England, and guaranteeing his place for the rest of the series:)

Well he was out just short of that 150, on 2.

dfx-

England do it again and hold on..

Beasty

Royale with Cheese wrote: »

Well he was out just short of that 150, on 2.

Exactly - those two runs and the 9 balls he survived proved crucial in saving the match for England:D

boksmashoffice

The best players in the English team are South African. Shame with teh nonsense quota sytem we have where we are losing our top players due to them having the incorrect skin colour. Shame but we shall keep on going

kyp_durron

boksmashoffice wrote: »

The best players in the English team are South African. Shame with teh nonsense quota sytem we have where we are losing our top players due to them having the incorrect skin colour. Shame but we shall keep on going

I presume you are talking about de Wet not getting a place ahead of Ntini. I think it would be unfair to drop Ntini after one bad game, his experence is important and he's not bowled that badly since his awful first spell. Having said that, surely you can't keep playing him if he keeps under preforming?

On your point about the South Africans playing for England, they didn't look too clever today. :pac:

Mothman

A couple from Cricinfo text

"INCREDIBLE !!!!!!!!!!!" exclaims Chetan. "Both teams have scored 343 in exactly 108.3 overs

Quintin found this in his Christmas cracker: "Q. Why are English cricketers cleverer than Houdini? A. Because they can get out without even trying." Guffaw.

Beasty

Great performance by England. Bell has cemented his place for the rest of the series with his 141. The top 4 scorers were all English - not a South African in sight (in fact, Cook and Bell each scored more than the 3 SA born players in the England team combined - who said all the best players in the England team are South African?):rolleyes:

Swann and Broad have decimated the SA batsmen - 3 wickets apiece with SA 76/6 when bad light stopped play. Looks like Swann could be the MoM if he picks up another couple of wickets tomorrow.

Royale with Cheese

Beasty wrote: »

Having said that, he'll probably get a hundred and fifty in the second innings, saving the match for England, and guaranteeing his place for the rest of the series:)

Ha, one match later and you're pretty much spot on.

Beasty

Royale with Cheese wrote: »

Ha, one match later and you're pretty much spot on.

Better late than never:)

He lacks consistency (which has been a problem with a number of England's batsmen), but when he is good, he is very good. He is also still only 27 (a year younger than Trott). However he needs to show he can do it higher up the order (ideally at No. 3), rather than staying down at No 6 (where he avoids too much exposure to the new ball).

I suspect he will never quite cut it at No. 3, and could eventually settle into the No. 5 slot, once Collingwood retires from Test cricket (although the way he is playing, that could be some way off yet)

boksmashoffice

The best team won the test. I hope this is a kick up the ass for the SA selectors. Our all round game was not up to the standard. We need De Wet back in place for Ntini who I believe should be dropped. No more sentiments. Ashwell Prince also looked out of touch. The team meeting should be fun.

The Nation

Should van der Merwe be given a go instead of Harris?

boksmashoffice

Van Der Merve should be in for Harris. Good end end for the South Africans after the Brits got off to a good start. The Cape Town wicket has a reputation for being unpredictable and it should be fun when England bat.

Mysterypunter

Even match, 17 wickets in 2 days, morning session has produced wickets on both days, England could get a lead of 30 to 40 and probably need it. Also Harris is a much better cricketer than Roelof van der Merwe.