Re: Super Cricket- England in SA : Wed Dec 30, 2009 8:39 am  

129 - 9

Now down to batsmen 10 and 11, hopefully over in the next few minutes.

Re: Super Cricket- England in SA : Wed Dec 30, 2009 8:44 am  

133 All Out.

Swann getting his 5th wicket.

Re: Super Cricket- England in SA : Wed Dec 30, 2009 9:16 am  

Great win, glad Bell and Cook got runs and Swann is upto 3rd in the world now!

Re: Super Cricket- England in SA : Wed Dec 30, 2009 11:04 am  

A great all-round performance....I'm definitely eating my words!! (See post from day 1!!... ).

I must admit though to being slightly baffled by the South African's display.....Is this really the same side that beat us and the Aussies just over a year ago and were seemingly all set to conquer the cricketing world????....Hansje Cronje's bookmaker would have been proud of that 2nd innings batting display...

Re: Super Cricket- England in SA : Wed Dec 30, 2009 12:16 pm  

Our best overseas Test victory for about five years I reckon. Centuries for the two batsmen who most needed one, a useful fifty from the keeper and the four man bowling attack did the job handsomely. Every member of the XI has now had at least one good match.

Only negative was that Collngwood apparently dislocated a finger in fielding practice. It hasn't received a lot of media attention that I've seen so hopefully won't keep him out of the next match starting on Sunday, but if it does we'll have to draft someone in from the shadow squad that is out there at present or use Steven Davies, or even Adil Rashid, as a specialist batsman, or alter the whole balance of the side. I don't think the selectors would want to go with five bowlers now we've established a lead in the series.

Re: Super Cricket- England in SA : Wed Dec 30, 2009 12:36 pm  

Prince of Denmark wrote:

Our best overseas Test victory for about five years I reckon. Centuries for the two batsmen who most needed one, a useful fifty from the keeper and the four man bowling attack did the job handsomely. Every member of the XI has now had at least one good match.

Only negative was that Collngwood apparently dislocated a finger in fielding practice. It hasn't received a lot of media attention that I've seen so hopefully won't keep him out of the next match starting on Sunday, but if it does we'll have to draft someone in from the shadow squad that is out there at present or use Steven Davies, or even Adil Rashid, as a specialist batsman, or alter the whole balance of the side. I don't think the selectors would want to go with five bowlers now we've established a lead in the series.

The one thing we mustn't do is go negative and simply try to defend a 1-0 lead....This South African side is shell shocked and we have got to stay on top of them while we can.

Who is our spare batsman out there at present??....I'm not a massive fan of the 6 specialist batsman plan, but its massively unlikely England will change that system, even if Collingwood is injured.

Re: Super Cricket- England in SA : Wed Dec 30, 2009 12:50 pm  

The Angry Pirate wrote:

The one thing we mustn't do is go negative and simply try to defend a 1-0 lead....This South African side is shell shocked and we have got to stay on top of them while we can.

Who is our spare batsman out there at present??....I'm not a massive fan of the 6 specialist batsman plan, but its massively unlikely England will change that system, even if Collingwood is injured.

I think the Barmy Army will go some way to helping that happen in Cape Town. They were saying on the radion that all five days have sold out and 2/3rds of the tickets have been sold to Brits so it'll be like a home test in that respect

Re: Super Cricket- England in SA : Wed Dec 30, 2009 2:04 pm  

The Angry Pirate wrote:

The one thing we mustn't do is go negative and simply try to defend a 1-0 lead....This South African side is shell shocked and we have got to stay on top of them while we can.

Who is our spare batsman out there at present??....I'm not a massive fan of the 6 specialist batsman plan, but its massively unlikely England will change that system, even if Collingwood is injured.

There isn't a spare batsman out there, they only took 6 specialists presumably on the basis that Prior would be batting at 6 in the Tests.

Collingwood's injury is a simple dislocation with no break so it's unlikely he will miss the 3rd Test, but if he did then England would realistically have no alternative but to play the extra bowler or play Prior as a batsman and bring in Davies to keep wicket.

Re: Super Cricket- England in SA : Thu Dec 31, 2009 8:56 am  

Michael Carberry has been called into the squad as cover for Collingwood.
Must be the biggest touring squad we've had for years and years with all the extra players coming in!!

I think he's been picked as he can either open (which he won't now) or bat in the middle order whereas someone like Denly or Moore are specifically openers. Where this leaves Bopara though is another matter....

Re: Super Cricket- England in SA : Thu Dec 31, 2009 9:48 am  

OrdsallRed wrote:

Michael Carberry has been called into the squad as cover for Collingwood.
Must be the biggest touring squad we've had for years and years with all the extra players coming in!!

I think he's been picked as he can either open (which he won't now) or bat in the middle order whereas someone like Denly or Moore are specifically openers. Where this leaves Bopara though is another matter....

There's a development squad playing matches against local teams in South Africa right now, which is where all these short term replacements are coming from at a moment's notice. Bopara isn't in this squad, he's playing domestic cricket in NZ. I assume the bowlers who came in a couple of weeks back (Tredwell & Mark Davies) are back in the development team, meaning Carberry will now be the only additional man with the Test squad. He's a terrific fielder and will be the ideal twelfth man even if not required in the XI.