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Sven Roeder 2:33 Wed Aug 24
England v South Africa Test Series

First Test Aug 17-19 (Lords) - S Africa win by an innings & 12 runs
Second Test Aug 25-29 (Old Trafford)
Third Test Sep 8-12 (The Oval)

England team for Second Test
Zak Crawley, Alex Lees, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes, Ben Foakes, Stuart Broad, Jack Leach, Ollie Robinson , James Anderson.

Robinson replaces Potts, Crawley continues

Sven Roeder 3:51 Wed Sep 14
Re: England v South Africa Test Series

David Saker & Mike Hussey added to England's coaching staff for the upcoming t20 World Cup

MAAAAAATES

Sven Roeder 3:59 Tue Sep 13
Re: England v South Africa Test Series

BATTALION OF FAST BOWLERS
Havent even given Boyd Rankin a chance this summer

Jonathan Agnew on the bbc website reckons that after winning 6 Tests out of 7 that England have a BETTER chance of doing well in the Ashes next summer.
No shit Sherlock

Same old story ... there are Tests v Pakistan coming up and then a visit to NZ early next year.
Concentrate on and pay respect to your NEXT opponents

Far Cough 12:12 Tue Sep 13
Re: England v South Africa Test Series

stewie, sign him up for England?

stewie griffin 11:50 Tue Sep 13
Re: England v South Africa Test Series

Meanwhile, Sam COOK passed 200 first class wickets yesterday , becoming the first English bowler in more than 50 years to reach 200 wickets at an average of less than 20.

Phenomenal achievement from a fine young man

Sven Roeder 10:23 Tue Sep 13
Re: England v South Africa Test Series

England now have two bowlers in the top 5 Test wicket takers of ALL time .... and the top 2 seam bowlers as Broad goes past McGrath.

Top 6 are now:
Murali 800
Warne 708
Anderson 667
Kumble 619
Broad 566
McGrath 563

After Anderson & Broad the next ACTIVE players are
Ashwin 442
Lyon 438
Southee 347
Boult 317
Starc 287
Rabada 257

Sven Roeder 11:03 Mon Sep 12
Re: England v South Africa Test Series

The Oval pitch was unique.
Usually has more pace than most and a bit more bounce but true enough for stroke players. This one played like Headingley on a cloudy day.
SA obviously fucked up at Old Trafford. Imagined the pitch being dry meant that two spinners and bowling last was the way to go. Unfortunately their batting is fragile (Amla and DuPless have gone & DeKock is chasing money) and they couldnt cope with the first day conditons. Dropping Jansen was nonsense

England went to Robinson after the first Test. Potts is ok but now (& maybe permanently) Robinson is better.
Still say a variety of types is better on MOST wickets.
McDermott, Gillespie & Hughes were FAST ENOUGH for the 1990's Australians .... the early 2000's with Brett Lee added to McGrath & Gillespie were probably the best balance. With that blonde spinner added.

Westside 10:31 Mon Sep 12
Re: England v South Africa Test Series

There seems to have been a bit in the wicket, or it's swung at the right time and I think that's why the 80mphers have thrived.

More double centuries scored in the County Championship this season, since 2016, so not so sure the wickets have been too helpful (although certainly so in this test).

Pace isn't everything. The great Aussie team of the 90's didn't have express pace. The England team that got to number 1 in the world had Anderson, Broad and Bresnan, no pace there.

Mark Wood 's test wickets in England cost 41. Why would you pick him (when not broken) ahead of Broad and Anderson?


SA's attack is undoubtedly quicker than England's. Didn't do them much good.

England have done well to win the SA series, especially with Root only averaging 11.5 with the bat.

England have a long way to go, batting is still too fragile, but I don't think the new management and the results the team have achieved, are getting the credit they deserve.

zebthecat 10:23 Mon Sep 12
Re: England v South Africa Test Series

VirginiaHam 10:08 Mon Sep 12

I have a feeling that Ollie Robinson will be a handful on dry wickets with his high release point, relentless accuracy and now keeping it up in the mid 80s consistently through the matches. OK the matches were short.
Apparently he learned the both wobble seam deliveries in the last two weeks - helps having Jimmy and Broad in the squad. He was also talking about intesifying his gym and fitness work to try and add a few mph.
England have been bloody good fun to watch but Stokes needs to calm his batting down early on. Charging quicks and clothing the ball to mid on/off is not a good look. His best innings by a mile was at Old Trafford where he played himself before going ballistic. ALso good to see that he has remembered that he is bloody good swing bowler when he puts it mind to it. Hope his knee holds up long term.

VirginiaHam 10:08 Mon Sep 12
Re: England v South Africa Test Series

Westside 6:07 Mon Sep 12

It's been an intriguing summer featuring some insane cricket. NZ managed to lose the plot a couple of times (Trent Bridge rings a bell) and we've got through the summer with a couple of 30+ 80 mphers and whomever else is fit. Some of our batting has been somewhere between thrilling and reckless but generally thrilling.

There seems to have been a bit in the wicket, or it's swung at the right time and I think that's why the 80mphers have thrived. Between Broad and Anderson we have two of the best on juicy pitches and humid conditions, but when it gets hot and dry we will need a bit more pace.

Let's enjoy this summer, because it's been brilliant, but there are some very different climatic conditions ahead........need to get our 90mphers fit and ready to go.

SurfaceAgentX2Zero 6:13 Mon Sep 12
Re: England v South Africa Test Series

VH

So it seems it's the ICC.

Well, India doesn't seem to give a fuck whether test cricket lives or dies, so there's our answer I suppose.

Westside 6:07 Mon Sep 12
Re: England v South Africa Test Series

After the 1st test against SA, quite a lot of vitriol against England. Such as:-

After a break from those 4 Tests (4 wins on the bounce), it's back to the old routine. You simply aren't going to be a top test team with shit openers and 3, 80mph bowlers (2 of them as old as the hills in Cricket terms), and your captain running down the pitch no matter what, especially with a Bob average spinner who doesn't contribute with the bat.
They're the main issues, then you have Pope never looking secure regardless of how many runs he's got, Bairstow never being consistent over a long period of time, and Stuart Broad batting at 8. You done out on 4 Tests though, mate.

So, 6 wins out of 7 now. In the previous 3 home summers, England won 7 test matches in total.
Those 3, 80 mph bowlers, seem to have done ok. Pope a match winning innings this test.. A century in the 2nd test from our running down the pitch captain. One of our old as the hills bowlers has taken 27 wickets this summer at an average just under 18. The other 29 wickets at 27.

Series win against the number 3 ranked test side. Long way to go, but signs of progress at least. Need to learn how to win away, a long time England problem.

Northern Sold 12:44 Mon Sep 12
Re: England v South Africa Test Series

Glad the selectors kept faith with Creepy… absolute class in a glass when he plays like he did last evening…

Sven Roeder 10:13 Mon Sep 12
Re: England v South Africa Test Series

Am guessing the below is the up to date ICC Test match playing conditions with the stuff about light meters & light at section 2.8 on pages 5 & 6

https://resources.pulse.icc-cricket.com/ICC/document/2021/05/23/33c2d68e-8b38-4804-bcc4-daa8da8ad362/ICC-Standard-Test-Match-Playing-Conditions-May-2021.pdf


With all the talk of the threat to Test cricket from t20 etc you have to say this summer the 7 Tests have been far more entertaining than some pretty dismal white ball cricket. Especially the Hundred which was pretty turgid.
6 wins out of 7 for England ....series victories v NZ & SA & victory in the Test to finish the India series.

VirginiaHam 3:18 Mon Sep 12
Re: England v South Africa Test Series

I'll try and keep this short.

I have no experience of international umpires, although I have the impression that Gunner Gould found it easier to get along with the players. At first class level I never found the umpires to be jobsworths, and could be fun, but I'm fairly certain today's international umpires are closer to jobsworths than fun.

Today showed that cricketing commonsense went out of the window......yet again. Stokes was demonstrative about his view of coming off, but I know ICC rules are not debatable and the rules get applied. In the era of pursuit of unbiased umpiring and equality for all there's a set of rules that apply and that's the end.

How there's no flexibility within the LAWYERS' rules to allow commonsense is beyond me. That was just stupid today........it may be that Elgar would not agree to finishing tonight, in the desperate hope it rains tomorrow, but surely the question should have been asked between the umps., captains and match referee.

SurfaceAgentX2Zero 2:47 Mon Sep 12
Re: England v South Africa Test Series

VH

This nonsense has been going on for 50 years. Claims by the authorities that they don't want to short-change the spectator combined with regulations that increasingly take the piss out of the paying spectator.

Who is it who is so resistant to genuine change.

Obviously not the spectators.

The players? I understand why a losing team might seek to gain short term advantage in a particular situation, but presumably these players are on winning teams in the same situation.

The umpires? It always looks like it's the umpires. Are they ALL jobsworth twats?

The broadcasters? They moan about it, but who knows?

The ground authorities of the actual venues? Makes sense from a financial perspective, but I don't see they have the power.

I suspect the higher authorities who are keen to maximise revenues by stretching matches out for as long as possible.

What say you?

VirginiaHam 1:40 Mon Sep 12
Re: England v South Africa Test Series

Terrible day for cricket, due to the ICC. They are the ones who make the rules regarding light....but let me add this.

We're trying to sell test cricket around the world (aren't we?) and this test was turned into a 3 day test due to weather and the Queen.

Why wasn't the match referee empowered to create a more flexible set of rules that the captains and umpires agreed to that avoided precisely the cunty farce of tonight, after a test was reduced to 3 days?

Be willing to start earlier and finish later. The paying spectators will be short changed because of light readings otherwise, and you'll end up with that utter farce tonight.

Mind bogglingly stupid.

Alex G 11:43 Sun Sep 11
Re: England v South Africa Test Series

... and this is exactly why test matches should have five scheduled days of play!

Sven Roeder 10:11 Sun Sep 11
Re: England v South Africa Test Series

I dont disagree with the idea of the umpires taking a reading on the first day and that level becoming the standard for the subsequent days but was said yesterday that it was certainly playable when the umpires went off with England 7 down.
Should tweak it back towards the old rule and OFFER the light to the batsmen when it gets to the level set previously.
Obviously England would have stayed on to knock off the 30 odd needed.
Test cricket needs to do better at keeping the players on if its at all possible.

Troy McClure 9:55 Sun Sep 11
Re: England v South Africa Test Series

Went today. Great crack. Shocking to end it when they did. Steaming

only1billybonds 8:55 Sun Sep 11
Re: England v South Africa Test Series

I was wrong,umpires have decided its stumps because of the light with England needing 33 to win.

Athers called it right, ending play because of poor light with the floodlights on full is a bad look for cricket.

The Stoat 8:53 Sun Sep 11
Re: England v South Africa Test Series

Bloody Umpires

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