*Official* South Africa in England Thread

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

No, no one has..but a couple of people have seemed fairly optimistic that England will survive South Africa's bowling attack.

I beg to differ.

You mean South Africa's deadly "survive-the-new-ball" attack?

 

[Tim]

Well its obvious that this current S.A attack is probably their worst since they were allowed back into cricket but I still think they are good enough to bowl sides out.

 

[V Reddy]

I dont't think batting under pressure will be that easy. With Pollock,Ntini and Pretorious in their attack, i think Eng will have a tough time and Trescothick may not bat too.

 

[Mr. P]

i dont think their bowling is that bad...what do you think is wrong?

 

[marc71178]

Pollock aside, the SA attack is not that good, as shown by the fact they picked a bowler to replace Kallis.

Every team has an off day, and I'm glad England have got theirs out of the way!

 

[Mr. P]

i think their 'day' has surpassed bad.

 

[Craig]

It wasnt excatly's Anderson's day as well. I know he didnt play cricket for 12 days but surely he bowled in the nets during his time off? If not, he is an idiot.

I think people are being harsh on Gough here, South Africa are still batting and one wicket down so anything can happen. And for the record, I did watch it.

 

[nibbs]

This morning while driving to school I heard the score. I laughed and laughed and laughed and laughed and laughed and laughed and laughed and laughed. And then I laughed some more.

Good stuff South Africa, keep it up

 

[luckyeddie]

This morning while driving to school I heard the score. I laughed and laughed and laughed and laughed and laughed and laughed and laughed and laughed. And then I laughed some more.

I didn't realise that cars ran on nitrous oxide.

Is it a school of dentistry?

 

[full_length]

"
Every team has an off day, and I'm glad England have got theirs out of the way!
"

Thats a nice positive way of looking at things Marc.
I thought that this was bound to happen. England does have a rookie attack- they are unsure of who's going to bowl for them next match.. so this was only a matter of time.
IMO, England has talented bowlers. But it will probably be a year or more before one can say they have a good bowling attack.

IMO, as things stand the attack is decidedly ordinary.

SA attack is definitely much better.

 

[luckyeddie]

SA attack is definitely much better.

Who?

Pollock, sure - world class.
Let's look at the others...

Ntini?
Peterson ?
Pretorius?
Willoughby?
Rudolph?

No, let's not look at the others.

What a silly statement to make.

 

[Swanny]

I went to edgbaston yesterday and a number of things struck me about the day. The first was thank god i changed my mind and went instead of today, what a wasted 300+ mile round trip that would have been. Second Harmison. I always thought he looked useful but after yesterday i'm sure this guy can be a star. How on earth he made the team of players who shouldn't be playing at international cricket elsewhere on this site is beyond me. In the morning he was by far the pick of the England bowlers, (not difficult but still Gibbs never looked that comfortable against him.) and also how much quicker he was than the rest of them. It isn't going to take a huge improvement before this guy becomes unplayable, steepling bounce and pace. He was the only one of the england bowlers I hadn't seen and have to say i was impressed.
The third thing that hit me was i've never seen a guy make 178* and be quite so overshadowed. Smith played ok but Gibbs was on another level. With the exception of Ponting I've seen all the top batsmen make 100's and I think Gibbs yesterday looked the best i've seen. I never thought i'd see anyone look better than Lara in 2001 but yesterday Gibbs did. As an Englishman it was at times awkward to watch, as a cricket fan it was more joy.

 

[Rich2001]

Who?

Pollock, sure - world class.
Let's look at the others...

Ntini?
Peterson ?
Pretorius?
Willoughby?
Rudolph?

No, let's not look at the others.

What a silly statement to make.

Well I'll take that one step further for you.

S Pollock - Indeed World Class and you don't get 285 wickets @ 20.47 if your bad!

Ntini - Showing promise 32 matches 100 wickets @ 28.39, not too bad.

Now for the rest, just 7 matches at Test level between them with just 7 wickets between all of them.

Peterson - 5 wickets @ 13
Pretorius - 1 wicket @ 132
Willoughby - 1 wicket @ 79


I don't think anyone is saying England will destory them and score a hatful of runs, just that the attack is vastly inexperianced and will be very tough to take wickets on the slow pitch, England could crumble or we could score 500 runs ourself. It's immposible to know until both sides have batted.....

One thing for certain with two days gone there is no way England can win, but a draw is very much on the cards espically with the weather.

 

[V Reddy]

Well I'll take that one step further for you.

S Pollock - Indeed World Class and you don't get 285 wickets @ 20.47 if your bad!

Ntini - Showing promise 32 matches 100 wickets @ 28.39, not too bad.

Now for the rest, just 7 matches at Test level between them with just 7 wickets between all of them.

Peterson - 5 wickets @ 13
Pretorius - 1 wicket @ 132
Willoughby - 1 wicket @ 79


I don't think anyone is saying England will destory them and score a hatful of runs, just that the attack is vastly inexperianced and will be very tough to take wickets on the slow pitch, England could crumble or we could score 500 runs ourself. It's immposible to know until both sides have batted.....

One thing for certain with two days gone there is no way England can win, but a draw is very much on the cards espically with the weather.

I heard Donald and Symcox saying that Pretorius is the fastest of the SAF bowlers and he had a very good county stint and so he must be used to the conditions by now. Willoughby is mainly a new ball bowler who swings it like Vaas but doesn't have the same control and bowls around the same speed at which Pollock bowls. So he is mainly a new ball bowler. I'm not so sure about Peterson . The ball is spinning but i don't expect him to take more than two in an innings in Eng. The bowling attack of Pollock,Pretorius and Ntini is a good one and if Willoughby and Petersen can provide decent support then SAF has a very good chance of bowling out Eng twice but rain will most probably turn it into a draw.

 

[full_length]

I wasn't speaking in terms of this test alone. I considered Jacques Kallis in there.

Pollock is a few notches better than anyone in the English attack. Ntini too, IMO, is better than any of the English bowlers operating currently. Gough was a class bowler. But he's not been around for a while. Considering the others from both sides are either decidedly ordinary or relatively new to intl. cricket....SA'ans to me are the better bowling attack!

England don't have a single world class bowler in the side. Like I said earlier, they are quite unsure about their entire bowling attack.. SA are just short of one bowler with Pollock, Ntini and Kallis already in. To me, that gives the Africans the advantage.

[As for the spinners both sides have on the sidelines,
Giles is lucky to have played international cricket- very lucky. I dont rate any of the SA spinners including Adams and Boje, but both are way better than Giles. I don't know how good/bad Peterson is. ]

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

I would only call Pollock world class of the South African bowlers. Ntini is getting there, but he's not there yet. Kallis is a very good bowler, but I wouldn't say that he's better than the English bowlers.

 

[full_length]

Naah I wouldnt say that about Kallis either.
I do think Ntini is a very good bowler, and better than any of his English counterparts. Though I do think he's a nasty fellow :P

 

[marc71178]

I'm now waiting for the flames to hit Swanny!

 

[full_length]

Flames? for what? I thought that was a good post by swanny there.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

I do think Ntini is a very good bowler, and better than any of his English counterparts.

I would agree that he's better than Harmison, Anderson, Kirtley and Johnson, but he's probably on par with Gough. A fully able (mentally and physically) Gough would smoke Ntini though. No contest.

Also, Anderson, with the right training, will become a far better bowler than Ntini will ever be.