English cricket 2015 - NZ, The Ashes, Pak and SA

Tremendous from Stokes.

I was baffled when Stokes wasn't getting a game a few years ago. He didn't even go to the WC did he? That was unbelievable.
 
South Africa still in it, need a blistering hour after the lunch. I fancy AB to chase down say 180 in 30 overs.
 
Whilst the draw is the most likely conclusion, this is what makes Test cricket brilliant. Mammoth batting efforts for the first 4 days & now trying to bat out the day to save the match. Love it.
 
Won't be enough I think. Amla's tortoise innings took too much time out of the game.
 
Will be a draw. But the momentum for the rest of the series has definitely shifted towards SA.
 
Never was going to be a result anyway given England's score at tea imo.

Nicely poised, reckon if England bowl as well again as they did in the South Africa innings on a more receptive pitch we'll win the series. Need more from Cook and Root though.
 
NinjaFletch said:
Never was going to be a result anyway given England's score at tea imo.

Nicely poised, reckon if England bowl as well again as they did in the South Africa innings on a more receptive pitch (and take their bloody catches) we'll win the series. Need more from Cook and Root though.
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Minor addition.
 
Amla resigning as captain is a bit random.
 
So De Villiers is made captain a test after complaining he had too much responsibility/work by playing as a keeper? Not sure I'm following the logic there but then again you'd look very silly to turn the captaincy down.
 
What is it with cricketers and resigning posts mid-series? Seems to be a trend over the last couple of years for players to quit the game or resign captaincy posts after 2/3 Tests rather than waiting until the end. I guess Amla must be extremely fed up with the role to leave after half the series.
 
ArmchairCritic said:
So De Villiers is made captain a test after complaining he had too much responsibility/work by playing as a keeper? Not sure I'm following the logic there but then again you'd look very silly to turn the captaincy down.
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Its temporary till the end of the series.

I think he wanted it when Amla was given it though, so don't think he'll complain too much.
 
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ArmchairCritic said:
So De Villiers is made captain a test after complaining he had too much responsibility/work by playing as a keeper? Not sure I'm following the logic there but then again you'd look very silly to turn the captaincy down.
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Isn't that why they played De Cock in this game? Think he complains about the keeping because of the physical toil it has on the body. Captaincy is mostly just mentally challenging and from what I've seen he seems to be a natural leader.
 
ArmchairCritic said:
So De Villiers is made captain a test after complaining he had too much responsibility/work by playing as a keeper? Not sure I'm following the logic there but then again you'd look very silly to turn the captaincy down.
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Standing WK in a test match is both physically and mentally draining. He was right to complain IMO. We need de Kock to be exposed to test cricket in any event. Captaincy is not physically draining. I think he will be made permanent captain after the series.
 
ha_rooney said:
Whilst the draw is the most likely conclusion, this is what makes Test cricket brilliant. Mammoth batting efforts for the first 4 days & now trying to bat out the day to save the match. Love it.
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No idea why but the bolded part reminds me of a mate who became a massive cricket fan after bad breakup with his girlfriend. Someone told him playfully to watch and follow Test cricket so he'll get over the breakup quickly, which he inexplicably did and the rest is history. His Instagram indicates that he was in Cape Town last week! :lol:
 
Looks like Hales and Compton have both shaken off stomach bugs for England to go in unchanged tomorrow.

South Africa looking like they're going to go with a four pronged pace attack with De Kock opening and Van Zyl dropped.
 
Good start by SA. Need to make it count and put 450 on board at least.
 
Good start to this one.

Good start to the series, really. Well poised with 'the underdog' having a narrow lead and all results still possible.

England need to get rid of Du Plessis pretty sharpish, I feel, if they are to have a decent chance of getting ahead on first innings.
 
In getting Alastair Cook out, Hardus Viljoen became the 20th bowler to take a wicket with his first ball in test cricket.
 
Mitchell Nicholas said:
In getting Alastair Cook out, Hardus Viljoen became the 20th bowler to take a wicket with his first ball in test cricket.
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One of the other 19 is Nilesh Moreshwar Kulkarni, who dismissed Atapattu with his first ball and then Jayasuriya and Mahanama had a partnership of 570+ runs. Jayasuriya 340, Mahanama 220 odd. Aravinda had then joined in fun with a hundred. SL scored 950+.

Nilesh Kulkarni only picked 1 wicket in his career afterwards, which spanned just 3 tests. Cricinfo tells me, with avg of 166 and SR of 369!
 
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