South Africa vs England - T20,One Dayers, Tests.

Allforone said:
Well what i will say is Englands batting line up is nowhere near the strength of Indias who have by a country mile the best batting top 7 in world cricket right now, thats undisputable...but after that id say its as good as any other....Swann coming it at number 9 averages over 35 with the bat...broad at 8 averages over 30...Prior batting at 7 averages 45...thats a hell of a lower order line up straight away...then you have collingwood in the middle order averaging over 45 and obviously Pietersen who is one of the best batsmen in world cricket......Strauss is as good an opener as there is on current form maybe only Gautam Gambier surpasses him right now so id say barring Inida its as good as most others...what it lacks i think is 'star names' more than anything....Collingwoods a prime example of this, a very simple unflashy type of player yet averages over 45 with the bat....a world class batting average.

Australias batting line up has a lot of stella names but i dont think its that great when put under pressure we saw that countless times in the ashes where England bowled them out very cheaply on numerous occasions...same goes for this south african one who really bottle it under pressure....Sri Lanka are soley reliant on 2-3 players to namely Sangakara and Jayawadena.
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Fair enough if you think that and there is no doubting the strong depth in England batting but Bell and Pietersen are really too inconsistent(Collingwood's consistency negates that sometimes), your middle order is not so strong or weak as compared to the rest of the teams. I would rate Lanka's middle order(Sangakarra, Jayawardene and Sameeraweera), India, Australia(Clarke, Hussey, Haddin) and possibly South Africa over england.

As I said earlier England have got the foundations of a very good team i.e Reliable openers, good captain, good fielding and very good bowling, if their middle order improves than they can become an excellent team in the future
 
Karan Mittal said:
Swann has surprised me the most, thought he was just an average off-spinner when first saw him play but he has improved and turned into a very good spinner, the fact that he is a good batsman also makes him a very useful player and Broad is class, just absolutely class. He is not the next Andrew Flintoff but he can turn into a very good all-rounder. Finally it seems that England are turning into a very good team, although I still think their batting isn't all that good compared to the top teams.
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Interesting you say that, because Sky showed a comparison between Broad and Flintoff after their first 24 tests (the number Broad has now played, I think), and Broad is way ahead in both runs and wickets. Flintoff had the knack of performing when the chips were down but I think his overall record in test cricket was not great.
 
Northstand said:
Interesting you say that, because Sky showed a comparison between Broad and Flintoff after their first 24 tests (the number Broad has now played, I think), and Broad is way ahead in both runs and wickets. Flintoff had the knack of performing when the chips were down but I think his overall record in test cricket was not great.
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Flintoff didn't perform that well in the beginning but once he matured a little bit, he showed the world class talent that he had, I mean the guy was world's best allrounder for two-three years, I know it's too early to say but I don't think Broad can achieve that level. Let's hope I am wrong for England's sake
 
Broad's OK. Handy player seeing he can bowl 140+ and bat a bit, but he's hardly the next Flintoff.
 
Clique said:
Who in blue blazers is Canberry?

Is he Bruce wayne's butler?
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Michael Carberry has been Hampshires most consistent batsmen for the past 2 county seasons and was impressing with the Englands lions squad so i suppose hes a logical call up as cover for Collingwood....crossing fingers collys fit though...would be a massive blow to lose him now and its not really the time you want to be giving a young lad his debut.
 
Northstand said:
Interesting you say that, because Sky showed a comparison between Broad and Flintoff after their first 24 tests (the number Broad has now played, I think), and Broad is way ahead in both runs and wickets. Flintoff had the knack of performing when the chips were down but I think his overall record in test cricket was not great.
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He had that golden period when he was absolutely amazing

Between 03 and 07, he averaged 32 with the bat, and 28 with the ball.

Highlights being in 2004 and 2005, where he averaged

2004 - 898 runs at 52.82, and 43 wickets at 25.76
2005 - 709 runs at 30.82, and 68 wickets at 24.41
 
Disappointing day today, and Broad has just got out as well

Trail by 66 with 4 wickets remaining, hopefully we can get parity
 
A very bowler friendly pitch, hopefully tomorrow Prior wont do anything silly early on and go for a "big shot", as he tends to do. bat steadily,and try and get to 300, any lead over 50 will be a bonus on this pitch.
 
'Twas looking good at 100 or so without loss but not much hope for England now. 132-3.
 
Yep was looking good with Cook and Strauss but you always felt it wasnt going to last unfortunatly, and Pietersen needs to get his act together no more excuses hes supposed to be the teams king batsmen and hes playing like a ponse, Kallis is the prime example of a top batsmen doing his job, Pietersen should take note we needed a big knock from him to have a chance in this one i always felt.

Will lose it now, cant see us batting the day out im afriad....1-1 going into Jo-berg.
 
Allforone said:
Will lose it now, cant see us batting the day out im afriad....1-1 going into Jo-berg.
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Of course no early wickets is a must but if we're going to single out a player who will likely be fundamental in our chances of saving the game then it is Collingwood IMO.
 
TheReligion said:
Just cause India are shit :lol:
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Ignoring the fact that we're #1 in the world, i'm not allowed to say england are getting twatted when they are getting twatted?

heading into a good finish again..
 
It's days like this that make me see why t20 has become so popular. Watching a whole day of "heroic" (dull) defensive play is pretty shit.
 
me i'm loving this hoping we hold out ,good test match this has been
T20 to test cricket is like hole in the wall to the wire
 
There have been some great tests recently.

Hopefully it reduces the T20 obsession.
 
yep been 3 closish shouts that have sent my nerves jangling ,ouch inside edge no wicket 4.3 overs left
 
Bell gone 290-9
2 overs left
Cracking finish
 
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