***Official*** South Africa in England

[Goughy]

I fear that when/if Jones returns, he could be exposed as actually being not quite as good as we remember him being, .

Unless he takes a fifer and breaks down then that is bound to happen. One decent series and the longer he is injured the greater the legend grows.

Very much a supporting bowler.

Hard to disagree with him coming back though. Looks to have earned the opportunity.

 

[Jono]

Good to see a South Africa comeback - even better to see that my prediction of South Africa scoring big in this innings is coming to fruition. Looks like England merely got a day where the pitch became somewhat lively and it has returned to its original state.

Yeah it was just magic

 

[pasag]

'm re-reading Gideon Haigh's book on the last Ashes series ...

Have that on the bookshelf, any good?

 

[Burgey]

It's just a collection of his writings on the series as it went along. If you like his style (as I do) you'll enjoy it, but I think it's a little lazy as a style of book - someone with his intellect ought to produce something with more continutity, imo.
Still well worth a read.

 

[Langeveldt]

C'mon Neil.. Nice to see a bit of fight.. We've been embarassing for so long in this match.. Yesterday was a demonstration of why test cricket will always be better than T20, and why I don't even consider the latter to be part of the sport.. Enthralling day, and by no means are we out of the woods yet..

 

[Langeveldt]

Aw, it was only for a few seconds - emphasis is still on the player, as it should be - but I think it makes them seem more human somehow.

It's Mrs McKenzie.. They can show her instead of the cricket if they want..

 

[zaremba]

He has been taking them by the bucketful in domestic cricket and has been going in the high 80s in limited overs cricket covered by Skysports.

All true. I'd be pleased to see him back. But the deification of Jones has been a bit OTT if you ask me.

 

[wpdavid]

All true. I'd be pleased to see him back. But the deification of Jones has been a bit OTT if you ask me.

Agreed, especially as a lot of his wickets this summer have been lower order guys after Kabir has shifted most of the top order.

Interesting selection for Friday Sidebottom is unfit though.

 

[social]

Must say that Amla has improved a lot as a player.

Couple of years ago, he was one of the worst technical players I'd ever seen at international level but now he's not that bad.

Still be interesting to see how he goes on anything other that a dead-pan track

 

[Manee]

Yeah it was just magic

Or a light rain shower, or some humidity in the air, or a combination of many factors.

 

[zaremba]

This is dull.

someone please wake me up when they show Mrs McKenzie again

 

[_Ed_]

This is dull.

Strongly agree.

Don't often turn off live cricket on TV, but I just can't watch this.

 

[Richard]

The short stuff was boring as, but it's been vaguely interesting that aside.

We now have Collingwood bowling to look forward to again.

 

[Richard]

Went to bed early last night so didn't see much of this at all.

Obviously some great concentration fromt eh batsmen, but how was the bowling and fielding? Any/ many chances go down, etc?

Nah, no dropped catches of any significance. Smith was missed by Ambrose (first Test catch he's dropped UIMM) but he gave another chance that was taken almost immediately after. There were, however, two n\os that should have been out. Smith nicked one and no-one appealed, and McKenzie was lbw to one that Hopeless Harper didn't give. Given he's still going strong now, we can only wonder what might have happened had that been given.

None of the bowlers have really looked threatening though - Smith edged a rank bad delivery from Anderson when no-one appealed and McKenzie just missed a ball that did nothing from MSP. Neither was a case of good bowling being denied.

How was Anderson?

Better than usual but pretty unthreatening.

 

[Richard]

I fear that when/if Jones returns, he could be exposed as actually being not quite as good as we remember him being, well though he played in three and a half Tests in 2005. The hype to achievement ratio can rarely have been this pronounced for a fast bowler aged nearly 30.

That's my fear. My hope is that he can find pace, accuracy and reverse swing. England could have done with more of these things today.

Unless he takes a fifer and breaks down then that is bound to happen. One decent series and the longer he is injured the greater the legend grows.

Very much a supporting bowler.

Hard to disagree with him coming back though. Looks to have earned the opportunity.

All true. I'd be pleased to see him back. But the deification of Jones has been a bit OTT if you ask me.

Agreed, especially as a lot of his wickets this summer have been lower order guys after Kabir has shifted most of the top order.

Interesting selection for Friday Sidebottom is unfit though.

Yeah people certainly have overstated Jones' actual achievements in Tests to date. There's no question he was magnificent in those two first-innings' in the middle Tests in 2005, absolutely unplayable. And it's far from OOTQ that, should he come back, he'll start off where he left off.

He should be back in very soon for mine if he stays fit much longer, his figures this season have been sensational. Maybe even before this summer's out. But no-one should just be expecting more of 2005 immediately.

BTW Sidebottom has looked absolutely fine so far today so maybe it was just a short-term niggle.

 

[open365]

Must say that Amla has improved a lot as a player.

Couple of years ago, he was one of the worst technical players I'd ever seen at international level but now he's not that bad.
/QUOTE]

I think he's definitely toned down his unorthdox backlift a bit recently and looks a lot better for it, but yeh that may all change when playing on a surface that isn't flat.

Given he's still going strong now, we can only wonder what might have happened had that been given.

Meh, it's not that big a wonder, the pitch is ridiculously flat, I don't think South Africa would be in any more trouble if they were 2-3 wickets down, especialy with Kallis.

 

[Richard]

Thing is, though, that would've been an early-ish wicket. IIRR the total was barely 50 at that time. It was more than quadrupled by the time the first wicket finally fell.

I'm not suggesting there is any real likelihood either way because Jacques Kallis could easily have saved this match off his own bat had McKenzie been fingered and Amla fallen 1st ball. But you just never know, when someone gets a let-off and makes 110 (currently) more after it.

 

[GIMH]

Fair play to the Saffies for coming back into this the way they have done. Apologies if it's been said (haven't read back, just this page) but surelythis is the excuse the selectors needed to pick Flintoff?

 

[Richard]

Being talked of by DIG, Ath and Nass AWS.

Flintoff to replace Collingwood, seems the consensus. If so, it's breaths held.

 

[GIMH]

I think I said this earlier in the thread - Flintoff is in as bad a trott with the bat as Colly, but will likely take you a few wickets each match (as well as being good at slip, with him and Strauss back in the side we can go back to having a decent cordon). Go for it IMO.