*Official* England in South Africa Thread

[Richard]

i think he should be taught to bowl more back-of-a-length

If only it were that easy, everyone who wanted to could be as accurate as Pollock.

 

[Richard]

I think Mahmood appears to have been almost written off far too early,and has a hell of a lot of potential

I don't think Mahmood should have been picked and I'm glad he played as sparely as he did.
I'm struggling to work-out how he got selected ahead of Richard Johnson.

 

[Richard]

surely they must be someone whos at least done something in domestic cricket and not been a proven failure in ODIs?
even sajid mahmood wouldnt be a bad choice.

Because Sajid Mahmood has done brilliantly in domestic cricket, hasn't he?
There are hardly any bowlers who've not played ODIs who're successes in the domestic game. English OD cricket is in a terrible state at present.

 

[Richard]

Ok i'm not the biggest Hoggard fan or anything but come on give the guy a break. He's out of the side for 2 years gets picked and doesn't do too well....what was everyone expecting? Hoggard has come on leaps and bounds as of late, I say he deserves another chance.

If Hoggard "needs to go" then so does Harmison.

Yet Harmison's ODI record since NWS2004 still reads 23.25 at 4.33-an-over - not a bad ER with that average.
I don't think he's going to be a good ODI bowler as long as he's bowling like he is at present but there's no denying he bowled pretty well in ODIs last summer, albeit usually in seam-friendly conditions.
Hoggard, though, has had plenty of chances in ODIs and has never looked like being up-to-standard. It's about time he was discarded, it won't do him or England any good for him to be picked again.

 

[Richard]

"England's hard-hitting talisman Flintoff, who missed the 4-1 series defeat for ankle surgery, sent Pietersen a text message saying he is looking forward to "doing some damage together"."

Can't wait

I think people are talking about this prospect too much.

 

[Richard]

Correct thats what I'm referring to. India have been on one hell of a Oneday slump in the last year.

More since the Asia Cup (last 8 months).

 

[Richard]

However, it's easily forgotten that if Flintoff had played then Pietersen wouldn't as he only flew out as a replacement for Fred.

Not true, and I don't know why everyone is saying it - Pietersen was added before Flintoff was withdrawn injured.

 

[Richard]

where have you been? tresco has always had form slumps, hes either extremely poor or extremely good, its the story of his career- inconsistency.

Yep, and that's why I said "oh, well, he's had form slumps before".

 

[Richard]

perhaps this series explains thoroughly my claim(before this series) that england are a one man team(led by flintoff)

Depends on whether Trescothick is blowing hot or cold at the time.
If he's blowing hot, he's better than Flintoff.

 

[Richard]

I think Nel is a really good cricketer now.. i thought his antics in some of his earlier tests were out of order, but he is a genuinely nice guy who bowls his heart out for South Africa.. I don't think we will be seeing much more stupidness out of him.. I hope not at least..

I just hope he manages to do better in West Indies than he did in NZ... and that we don't see Steyn again in the immidiate future.

 

[Richard]

i recall the Micheal Atherton saying that he has a totally different technique in FC cricket where he looks to play straighter without as much of a walk across his stumps as in ODIs.

Several people have said it - and I hope they're right, but I've seen too many correspondants try to downtalk relevant failures and fail to stop them existing.

 

[Richard]

thinking of Jennings' effect on players, it is interesting that since that shot at Smith's head, Smith has been turnung in some fine perfomances.

Even if he did risk his life batting in the second-innings of that match.
And I seriously hope you're not suggesting Jennings deliberately did something that might have killed Smith.

 

[wpdavid]

Not true, and I don't know why everyone is saying it - Pietersen was added before Flintoff was withdrawn injured.

Then let me explain. To be exact, Pietersen was added before Flintoff's withdrawl was publicly announced, but that doesn't equate that he wasn't chosen as a replacement. By the time Pietersen was added to the squad, Flintoff was injured, relying on injections to play, and known to be in need of surgery ASAP if he was to have any chance of playing in the Ashes.

 

[marc71178]

Because the bowlers aren't good enough at present to keep it down to that.

No, because the regulations have made it into a batsman's game where 5 an over is the norm.

 

[marc71178]

I think people are talking about this prospect too much.

Why?

 

[Richard]

Then let me explain. To be exact, Pietersen was added before Flintoff's withdrawl was publicly announced, but that doesn't equate that he wasn't chosen as a replacement. By the time Pietersen was added to the squad, Flintoff was injured, relying on injections to play, and known to be in need of surgery ASAP if he was to have any chance of playing in the Ashes.

Hmm... up until the last minute there was definate consideration of Flintoff playing in the ODIs from what I understood.

 

[Richard]

No, because the regulations have made it into a batsman's game where 5 an over is the norm.

Yet the bowlers who've been around as these regulations have supposedly kicked-in still manage figures similar to those before the sea-change in scoring-rates.
And old bowlers have left, and it's newer bowlers who've been unable to follow-suit.

 

[Richard]

Why?

Wow - two players are going to bat together.
The way people are going on about it you'd think it was Bradman and Headley coming together.