England v South Africa 1st Test, Lords

kristinson

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Iv been really looking forward to this series, I reckon it is going to be a very tough and keenly fought contest.

SA only have 2 games under their belt coming into this, whilst England are coming in on the back of a good win over NZ. However SA are a much better and more rounded team than NZ.

Englands batsmen need to score runs, although they beat NZ it was never by a massive margin, if they are to win this series the middle order need to man up as well as the lower order trying to chip in with the odd 20 or 30 here and there.

If the weather holds up I reckon this could be a fast paced exciting test with England just coming through, however even though SA have played very little cricket (esp Smith and Ntini) they always get pumped up for this series.

Cant wait.
 
I have seen very little of Steyn's bowling so far but his figures look ridiculously good.
An average of 21.6 and a strike rate of 35.8.
That is the seond best strike rate in history. Only bettered by some bloke in the 1800s back when pitches were like minefields.
 
Should be a class series, SA seemed to e of made slight favourites, which i find suprising.

Weather's absolutely shite at the minute, so the first test may well end in a draw (i've got tickets to the 4th day aswell:()

Alot will rely on Englands batsmen, if SA's bowling attack is as good as they say it is...which i doubt.
 
teague said:
I have seen very little of Steyn's bowling so far but his figures look ridiculously good.
An average of 21.6 and a strike rate of 35.8.
That is the seond best strike rate in history. Only bettered by some bloke in the 1800s back when pitches were like minefields.
Click to expand...

yea pretty good, he topped the bowling ranks this week overtaking muraly.

Looking foward to seeing freddy back in a week or two
 
I don’t understand SA. They’ve packed their side with out & out quickies, yet the conditions in England favour swing and spin. Old Trafford isn’t even a test venue. I think SA have missed a trick here, surprising since they all seem to play in the county championships.

Proof? England 70-0. Even the Kiwis caused us more problems….
 
185-3

Good days test cricket thus far. England will be the happier, although a wicket will bring a run of dodgy batsmen in.
 
SA have to be the most overrated team, ever. And they've got an awful record in England. I for one, can;t understand why people thought it'd be a difficult series.

I dislike SA. . .more than any other team.
 
Pietersen taking the piss out of SA now :D

236-3

I did warn you all that SA's pace attack is over-hyped.
 
Got a South African colleague at work, when Pietersen score his fifty I just shouted "our South African's better than yours!"
 
great knock KP, I fancy we will stuble to 520, and hopefully knock a few over later on tonight. Time is my only main worry
 
Bell and Broad need to lash out for their century/double now. If they do it, then we have a massive total, if they fail we've got plenty enough to declare now anyway. One thing they ought not do is hang around - we should get a few balls in at SA this evening...

Think we may not be seeing much more of Collie in test cricket for a while (or ODIs, as it happens). Can't see how Freddie can take Broad's place at the moment.
 
Ambrose is in the squad purely as a keeper, not a batsman. I personally believe that if the batting has this much depth anyway, this is the way forward. I do not however think that Ambrose has impressed at all with the gloves- the only reason he is in the squad. Can't see his position under threat though, as the management understand that they need to keep faith in their keeper for once.
 
Don't think I've ever seen this before but spinners are opening the bowling after South Africa follow on
 
In the past 3 test matches England's bowling & fielding has started to look as good as it was in 2005. And we've still got Flinthoff and Jones coming back to their best.
 
Yeah looking forward to Jones coming back, he's probably been the most missed of all our players though Tres runs him pretty close on this. Your right about the fielding been top draw of late..!

RSA have looked completely out of practice thus far so expect a tougher game in the second test once their bowlers sort things out..!
 
I think that Tres is missed mostly in the one dayers. One of our best one day players of all time, but in tests Cook appears to have taken over his role well.
 
bumble asking pollock if he was straight or bent and pollock replying he was bent. :lol:
 
242 for 1

Decent recovery that.

A bang on draw, unless they collapse spectacularly...
 
im sensing a drawn test match. remember you all heard it here first.
 
its the 2 days we've just had that makes it hard to explain to non-believers why test cricket is the ultimate. they should really sort the pitch out.

anyway maybe freddie in for collingwood, get some real pace in (or at least the pace we have at our dispossal!)
 
fred is a must for the next test. we would have taken more than 3 wickets in two days with fred playing, even on that pitch.
 
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