Cricket

[Ferret]

A story on the Beeb site suggests Mark Boucher had successful surgery on his eye yesterday, and that he should regain some vision in it. Best wishes to him.

 

[General Zod]

I think Jonathan Agnew summed it up perfectly in saying the SAf bowlers lacked aggression. They all seemed to bowl well within themselves with Steyn bowling too wide outside off stump. He was swinging the ball away at great pace but simply lacked the accuracy. Tahir looks out of his depth ; shame really as test cricket could do with a good leg spinner to keep the tradition going. Watching him bowl yesterday reminded be of a county version of Abdul Qadir. Having said that Cook played magnificently. Excellent judgement and shot selection , playing each ball on its merits. Although the pitch was subdued he batted in the mould of his mentor GG. KP and Trott had hundreds for the taking.

 

[Ferret]

I'd agree with that - even Morne Morkel who I expected to bowl back of a length all day only managed an aggressive over late in the day, although he was still easily the best bowler on show. I think with Tahir, for a start he'd be better off going over the wicket to Cook. But, there always seems to be a drag down ball or a full toss around the corner - a release ball. One wonders if Paul Harris is around and fancies a bowl at Pietersen!

 

[General Zod]

LOL ! The deadly Paul Harris - South Africa's secret weapon ! The odd ball from Tahir was turning and bouncing and judging how the game is shaping out I think Saf may have a tough ask to bat out the final day on a worn pitch against Swann. Mind you, didn't Smith and McKenzie bat England into oblivion in similar circumstances in 2008 ? Can't see further than an England win or a draw.

 

[ATW Alex 101]

Not my kind of sport im afraid

 

[Johnuk123]

England all out for 385, after yesterday would have hoped for another 100 on that score.

 

[ainsworth74]

Yes a slightly disappointing score in the end but if you'd offered me 385 at the start of the game I'd have been hard pressed to say no. If a team makes 385 that's definitely a reasonable performance. Moving on to the Saffas innings, I'm disappointed that we only picked up the one wicket before the close but there's still plenty of work for them to do before they can claim to be level, let alone in front of the game. One suspects that tomorrow will be the decisive days play.

 

[David]

Beautiful delivery from Anderson to take the wicket! Although after that, I don't know what happened as the ball simply stopped swinging. :?

 

[Ferret]

Beautiful delivery from Anderson to take the wicket! Although after that, I don't know what happened as the ball simply stopped swinging. :?

Noted - straight up and down. Hopefully Cook can get the thing in condition to reverse swing today, otherwise on a dead flat pitch, they'll get 600!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Not my kind of sport im afraid

Yes, thanks for that outstanding contribution.... *facepalm*.

 

[EM2]

If anyone's on Virgin Media and doesn't have Sky Sports already, ALL the channels are available free all weekend, so I for one will be gorging on the Test Match!

 

[gswindale]

The same goes for customers on the SKY platform itself, so I caught up with the cricket last night.

Might watch the F1 as well!

 

[LE Greys]

It's all getting a bit depressing now, but it's good to know there's one team out there that can present a real challenge. Hopefully, the fightback will begin soon.

 

[ainsworth74]

Well we've at least got Smith now. Though that's only gone and brought Kallis to the crease!

 

[Ferret]

Well we've at least got Smith now. Though that's only gone and brought Kallis to the crease!

Exactly the man you want to see when you've just broken a partnership of 260. Somebody said after day one that SA had a pop gun bowling attack. Hmmmmmmmmmm!

 

[ainsworth74]

Indeed, I thought we'd done well on day one and we were in the stronger position. But SA having a pop gun attack or England being in total control (or dominating as Sky put it)? I think not...

 

[Ferret]

Nope. It's a flat wicket, and it's slow. If you're a good batsman, you should make runs on that. So, why did ours not get more than 380?!

 

[Whistler40145]

What's going wrong at Lancashire this season?

How on this planet did they win the County Championship, but have gone into a decline throughout this season.

Is it time for changes in the squad?

Should Chapple retire at the end of the season & Croft takeover as Captain?

I look forward to your views.

 

[Ferret]

Simple - they were lucky to win the Championship last season, and have been found out this year! They need to rebuild.

 

[Oswyntail]

Simple - they were lucky to win the Championship last season, and have been found out this year! They need to rebuild.

They always admitted that. Yesterday's performance was very poor, but it can't be easy seeing how little play they are getting - again.

 

[Whistler40145]

They must be very desperate if Steven Croft was bowling!

 

[Ferret]

Apparently it was a right old turning pitch. Somebody unkindly suggested that even Mike Yardy would've got it turning square. Of course, I seem to recall a similar turning pitch helped Lancs to nobble Hampshire in the penultimate match last season, which handed them the title, after Warwickshire failed to bowl out Hampshire on an absolute road at the Rose Bowl.....

 

[Johnuk123]

Only one team is going to win the first test and that is not England.

 

[LE Greys]

Only one team is going to win the first test and that is not England.

Depends on when Smith declares. All credit to him, Amla and Kallis, though, an excellent batting performance. England will just have to dig in and play for the draw, not much choice about that.

 

[Johnuk123]

Depends on when Smith declares. All credit to him, Amla and Kallis, though, an excellent batting performance. England will just have to dig in and play for the draw, not much choice about that.

Had our batsmen done a proper job we would have got 200 more runs.

I think we saw the new no.1 test team today.

 

[Arglwydd Golau]

Had our batsmen done a proper job we would have got 200 more runs.

I think we saw the new no.1 test team today.

Well, we should wait and see, there are, after all, three matches! (tho' there should be five!) As L E Grey has said, it was extremely good batting from Smith/Amla & Kallis....remember Hussey & Haddin walloping the England attack at Brisbane in the first innings in 2010? Look what happened next!
If England have a fight to save the game on the last day - say 250 or 300 behind, it will be good to see if they have remembered how to do so...

 

[Oswyntail]

There has been one session when the track has not been useless for bowling, and SA used it admirably. I would be very surprised if this were not a three innings draw.

 

[Whistler40145]

Doesn't seem to be much life in the wicket at the Oval for the England bowling attack.

 

[ainsworth74]

Draw written all over this game I have to say. Certainly I think it's a bit soon to be rolling out the defeatist talk.

 

[Oswyntail]

.... Certainly I think it's a bit soon to be rolling out the defeatist talk.

Come on, we're British. Nothing we love better than rubbishing people.:roll:

 

[Johnuk123]

That bloke with the most stupid beard in the world - Amla has just got the highest score ever for a S.A. in a test match as he powers towards 300.

You will go a long way to see a more one-sided couple of sessions that todays two.