Re: Super Cricket- England in SA : Wed Jan 06, 2010 3:52 pm  

Blobbynator wrote:

F*cking Pietersen again!

Steyn seems to have his number.

Re: Super Cricket- England in SA : Wed Jan 06, 2010 4:28 pm  

132-3 at the close. One wicket too many being honest, had KP still been there I would have been more optimistic.

Re: Super Cricket- England in SA : Wed Jan 06, 2010 5:16 pm  

flipper wrote:

101-1 Cook gone for 55

Unfortunately 50's & 40's wont do it. We need at least one batsman to get a really big ton.

Re: Super Cricket- England in SA : Wed Jan 06, 2010 5:22 pm  

Cibaman wrote:

Unfortunately 50's & 40's wont do it. We need at least one batsman to get a really big ton.

Ian Bell your time has come Anderson won't last long so we'll be 4 down early on.

Re: Super Cricket- England in SA : Wed Jan 06, 2010 7:31 pm  

PAUL M wrote:

Steyn seems to have his number.

He bowled well. Got something out the wicket. Smashing celebration aswell!

Re: Super Cricket- England in SA : Wed Jan 06, 2010 8:10 pm  

Can't see anything other than a SA victory here. And well deserved too.

That said, it would be nice if two of Trott, Collingwood or Bell could hang around until tea tomorrow. The pitch is starting to go, but it's still possible to get going if you concentrate early on (and keep on concentrating FWIW Cook and Strauss). The SAs don't cope well under pressure, and we bat long so if two of those three can get centuries and Prior and the tail are't given too much work, we could still get a draw. Highly unlikely though.

I'm unconvinced with the 6 batsmen and only a 4 man bowling attack, but I think it's worth persevering with. However, the bowlers must be royally f*cked off when they have to work so hard (mostly this series with success) to see so many of the top 6 give their wickets away so often. It's time for more of the top 6 to make a big score.

Captaincy wise, Strauss has been very good this series (possibly not a great decision to bat last on this strip, but I think our bowling performance in the first two sessions justified his choice to field), but he needed to have a 'captain's innings' today and he didn't do it. In fact, he's been disappointing with the bat all series.

Still, well done to SA and Smith on a superb knock (deserving of a double ton) and bring on the decider.

Re: Super Cricket- England in SA : Wed Jan 06, 2010 10:56 pm  

Hmm, England's recent knack of being able to save tests when they really shouldn't do will be tested here.

Jimmy won't be around for too long so it'll be 4 down soon enough. I can see a heroic stand by someone (probably Collingwood again or Prior) and the tail, but falling with a couple hours left.

On the flip side, the remaining batsmen can get 334 runs in a day, you never know

Re: Super Cricket- England in SA : Thu Jan 07, 2010 1:52 am  

Prince of Denmark wrote:

It's a confident declaration by Smith, becasue he's left us plenty of overs in which to get them. It's only a fractionally higher total than what they've just posted and we wouldn't need to score so quickly. Their seam attack has more depth than ours given the extra pace of Steyn & Morkel and Kallis's availability as a fourth seamer, but Harris isn't as threatening as Swann. Odds clearly still heavily in SA's favour as it would require us to set a new world record for highest fourth innings run chase in Tests, but not impossible. There's the possibilty of a very exciting finish with all four results still feasible until the final session.

I'm sure Graeme Smith is confident England will not set a new world record and will not hit 466 runs to win this test match. He has left us so many overs to get them in because he is not too confident his bowling attack can take the 10 wickets required in 3 or 4 sessions!

In the unlikely event that England did hit the 466 required he would simply shrug his shoulders and accept that a world record has been broken to win the game (and series) and congratulate England for doing so. However with 3 down and still needing 350+ on the final day, there is only one winner here

Re: Super Cricket- England in SA : Thu Jan 07, 2010 9:36 am  

Jimmy gone

Re: Super Cricket- England in SA : Thu Jan 07, 2010 9:36 am  

158-4 Anderson really unlucky with his dismissal.

This is the crucial partnership of the day for me, both Colly and Trott can bat for long periods of time and if they can stay together for this session and a good portion of the afternoon session then we might just have a chance.