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*Official* South Africa in England Thread

Top_Cat

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Flintoff has certainly not had the luck he deserves of late and has bowled quite well. Mind you, I think he needs to decide whether he wants to be a bowler who hits the seam at pace or slows it up a bit and swings the ball. Considering his height and build and the speed he CAN get these days, he should go with the former. the English attack needs someone who can bang the ball in and get some movement on decks which don't swing. It's a more aggressive style of bowling and they could use a bit of that too. I couldn't imagine Flintoff being happy with floaty meds up on a lengths. :)

As for Harmison, as I've said, he needs to be bowling the hip-to-heart length and moving the ball off the seam, particularly while he's still young and quick. Jimmy Anderson could potentially be the fast swing bowler (his action is similar to Pollock these days, even) who gets the new-ball and puts it up on a length to get some swing.

These guys will develop and they look quite good too but if there is one area England are sorely lacking, it's in finger spin. It's quite amazing because over the years, England have produced some of the best finger spinners of all time (Rhodes, Verity, Laker, Lock) yet other than Giles, there is nary a Test-class one to be found.
 

Craig

World Traveller
England have no decent spinners. Croft is up there as well as possibily a better spinner then Giles (judging by his record in the subcontent).

I dont see much point in Flintoff banging the ball in, he could be so much better if he pitched it up, bowling short to Ponting and Gilchrist for example - the only results will be the umpire signalling fours and sixes.
 

marc71178

Eyes not spreadsheets
Craig said:
England have no decent spinners. Croft is up there as well as possibily a better spinner then Giles (judging by his record in the subcontent).
Croft's record in the Subcontinent is based on a grand total of 3 games. Hardly enough to say it's that much better than that of the man in possession (who is also a better batsman)!
 

Mr Mxyzptlk

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Craig said:
bowling short to Ponting and Gilchrist for example - the only results will be the umpire signalling fours and sixes.
Actually I think well directed short bowling and a thinking field setting would get Gilchrist out early in his innings.
 

Rik

Cricketer Of The Year
marc71178 said:
Croft's record in the Subcontinent is based on a grand total of 3 games. Hardly enough to say it's that much better than that of the man in possession (who is also a better batsman)!
I'd say it's neck and neck on the batting actually. Bowling side it's Giles only just, Croft is nowhere near International class but then, at the moment neither is Giles...
 

Rik

Cricketer Of The Year
Neil Pickup said:
Me, for one.
Hmmmm well since Harmison hardly did any better than Gough and they were really seriously flat pitches, I'd go with the man with 229 Test wickets still. If the pitches had given any help I'm sure Gough would still be playing for England.
 

marc71178

Eyes not spreadsheets
Rik said:
I'd say it's neck and neck on the batting actually. Bowling side it's Giles only just, Croft is nowhere near International class but then, at the moment neither is Giles...
I expect we will see Giles get a fair number of wickets in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka (if he's used in the right way) - he has fond memories of the last SL tour, and doesn't seem to get too carried away by criticism of him (judging from interviews I saw in the summer) so won't care that much about his figures this summer.
 

marc71178

Eyes not spreadsheets
Rik said:
If the pitches had given any help I'm sure Gough would still be playing for England.
If we hadn't been hit by injuries at the wrong time, I think he'd still be there to be honest.

Apparently he didn't want to play in the 1st 2 matches as he didn't really feel fit enough, but injuries meant the call was made, and he couldn't really turn it down!
 

Rik

Cricketer Of The Year
marc71178 said:
If we hadn't been hit by injuries at the wrong time, I think he'd still be there to be honest.

Apparently he didn't want to play in the 1st 2 matches as he didn't really feel fit enough, but injuries meant the call was made, and he couldn't really turn it down!
The thing is though that if he had turned it down and got fit then he probably wouldn't have played whilst not fully fit and bowled without the "spark" and then retired. If only...
 

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