***Official*** South Africa in England

[Goughy]

Insert a team and you want to bowl them out for 250 or less. After lunch I was thinking 320 was a good score for England with each extra run a bonus.

In that context, it was a great day. 320 will hpefully be easily acheived and if they get to 400 then that is a fine effort

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

On this pitch England should disappointed to go for less than 500, even with 3 wickets down. Without help from the batsmen, South Africa would have to bowl out of their skin to stop a 500+ total.

 

[Uppercut]

As poor as it seems, i still think Smith made a good percentage call when choosing to bowl this morning. If he'd batted on a morning like this and the pitch had turned out to full of demons, England could conceivably have the match won already. As it is, South Africa still have a small chance of victory and an excellent chance of a draw.

 

[steds]

As poor as it seems, i still think Smith made a good percentage call when choosing to bowl this morning. If he'd batted on a morning like this and the pitch had turned out to full of demons, England could conceivably have the match won already.

Can't remember too many Lord's pitches where the ball has swung around corners or turned square, though. Likelihood of it having demons was well down, I reckon.

 

[Richard]

Can't remember too many Lord's pitches where the ball has swung around corners

Leaving aside that swing has nothing to do with the pitch... 2007? 2008? 2000? 1999? 1998? 1997?

Swung plenty in all 8 Tests then. And probably in previous games too.

 

[steds]

Leaving aside that swing has nothing to do with the pitch

Has alot to do with the ground, though.

 

[Richard]

Well... it has something to do with it. Pretty debateable that it has "a lot" - generally, good cricket-ball + good seam-position of the bowlers = swing (and it'll increase depending on how overcast the weather is, the time of day, etc.), regardless of the ground. Certainly, though, at certain grounds for whatever reason sometimes it's impossible to get. Lord's, generally, isn't one of them though. About the only ground in this country I can remember being such a thing is Old Trafford.

What you meant, in short, was "Lord's matches". Did you watch the games in the years I mentioned? 'Cos it sure as swung plenty in all of 'em.

 

[popepouri]

The pitch looks like a road. I'd like to see how SA perform with that bat before making calls on how bad SA played.

 

[Nishant]

The pitch looks like a road. I'd like to see how SA perform with that bat before making calls on how bad SA played.

true say...bt u cnt run away frm the fact that SA did bowl wayy 2 wide at times...it wasnt good consistent bowling. They also didnt take advantage of picking up 3 wickets in quick succession...they should really have made that count TBH

 

[Neil Pickup]

Did you hear about the South African who scored centuries against South Africa before he was dismissed for the first time by them in both ODIs and Tests? And did you hear they were 2-and-a-half years apart?

2005 was three years ago, Richard.

 

[steds]

What you meant, in short, was "Lord's matches". Did you watch the games in the years I mentioned? 'Cos it sure as swung plenty in all of 'em.

At times I struggle to remember what I ate for tea the previous day. How I'm supposed to remember pre-2000 with any great accuracy, god only knows.

 

[zaremba]

Pietersen's going grey!

Yes I saw this too. A bit premature but doubtless a contract will follow with some hair dye company...

The time has come, imho, to acknowledge this man as one of England's greatest ever players. 13 Test centuries in 40 games, a record only bettered by Herbert Sutcliffe. And he tends to deliver when the pressure is on, and he tends to do it in thrilling style. What a player! England is very lucky to have him. I will stop now in case I start sounding like Mark Nicholas.

 

[Prince EWS]

Awesome to see Bell scores runs under a bit of pressure like that. Good foundation set by the openers but he came in after England had lost 3/3 against a good attack and was part of a huge unbeaten partnership. Admittedly the bowling was poor and I think South Africa will be very disappointed with their efforts but it was a hugely important innings for Bell. Hopefully he reaches his hundred tomorrow.

 

[Prince EWS]

Sorry for the typo, watching youtube in the background.

Harris really does suck, lets all be honest. He's just not very good.

There's a difference between sucking and not being "very good". He's not "very good" but he certainly doesn't suck AFAIC. He's done very well at First Class level and despite the fact that his bowling action looks pretty damn dire, he seems a pretty smart bowler to me with good variation in pace and very good accuracy.

He seems to get a bad wrap for what he did in India but that was only one series. Lets not forget what he did in South Africa against the same team; I'd argue they could have lost the series if they didn't play him. He had good returns in Pakistan too.

 

[open365]

I reckon Bell will definitely get there tommorow, I really really hope he doesn't give it away after making it through the evening session.

 

[Prince EWS]

Reckon that if we had a full five days this match just might be a cracker. If, that is, bowlers can strike with the new ball.

Sadly, however, there's almost certainty that we won't get full days' play tomorrow and the next day.

Nah, DWTA. You have too much faith in weather forecasts. The amount of times I've been told that he skies will be clear and we'd "almost certainly" get a full day's play only to have a washout is ridiculous so I'm going to assume the opposite could well be true as well.

Hate all the weather forecast talk on CW ITBT. Should just cop it as it comes.

 

[Goughy]

To stick my neck out here and risk copping some flack, I quite like Harris and I dont mind his action at all.

Im sure Ive said all this before but Ive no issue with the round arm action. He gets good angles and he does try and rip it.

The low arm slants the ball into the right hander and then looks to take the ball away. The best SLA I played with did exactly the same. Its different but can be very effective. The first 6 KP hit of him was not easy. The ball was slanting into him and any turn would have made him look foolish. I think he offers something interesting and more effective than traditional SLA

The problem is that people want him to be a 'holding bowler' and keep it tight. He isnt that type of player. He is a front line bowler in his own right.

He may not be the best ever but Ive seen plenty worse SLA in international cricket.

 

[Manee]

There's a difference between sucking and not being "very good". He's not "very good" but he certainly doesn't suck AFAIC. He's done very well at First Class level and despite the fact that his bowling action looks pretty damn dire, he seems a pretty smart bowler to me with good variation in pace and very good accuracy.

He seems to get a bad wrap for what he did in India but that was only one series. Lets not forget what he did in South Africa against the same team; I'd argue they could have lost the series if they didn't play him. He had good returns in Pakistan too.

Maybe it is his action, I haven't persued him statistically. It just pains me to watch him bowl. It just looks so uninspiring, and then he catches the edge.

 

[Manee]

To stick my neck out here and risk copping some flack, I quite like Harris and I dont mind his action at all.

Why would you cop flack - preferring actions is opinion based and you can't argue with something like that.

 

[Prince EWS]

To stick my neck out here and risk copping some flack, I quite like Harris and I dont mind his action at all.

Im sure Ive said all this before but Ive no issue with the round arm action. He gets good angles and he does try and rip it.

The low arm slants the ball into the right hander and then looks to take the ball away. The best SLA I played with did exactly the same. Its different but can be very effective. The first 6 KP hit of him was not easy. The ball was slanting into him and any turn would have made him look foolish. I think he offers something interesting and more effective than traditional SLA

The problem is that people want him to be a 'holding bowler' and keep it tight. He isnt that type of player. He is a front line bowler in his own right.

He may not be the best ever but Ive seen plenty worse SLA in international cricket.

The round-arm action isn't really what bothers me; it's the non-use of his front arm to get him through the crease. It "should" cause him accuracy problems and prevent him from getting over the ball. If you combine that with his bowling arm (which is partly a result of the way he "uses" his front arm in itself) it "should" mean that he rolls the ball as such more than he rips it.

However, as I said, while it looks dire, it works for him. He still manages to get over the ball (although admittedly not as much as most other Test spinners) and put some revolutions on it. He certainly doesn't have accuracy problems either. I'm not sure he's what they'd call "Test standard" but as you said, a lot worse have played recently. I certainly rate him a class above Boje, Botha, Petersen and Adams as bowlers.