: Sun Nov 22, 2009 5:00 pm  

Great display from England, quality partnership from Colly and Trott.

: Sun Nov 22, 2009 5:09 pm  

Botham made a point about how good the England one day side actually will look once Broad and Swann come back in.

The top 6 looks very good and then we have the likes of Wright, Broad and Swann that keep us solid down to 9 and in Jimmy Anderson we have a lad thats picking up regular one day wickets.

Good stuff.

: Sun Nov 22, 2009 6:41 pm  

Looks as though we have picked up another cracking player in Trott from South Africa.....looked at home in the 5th test v Aus and is scoring runs on tour already....be good to see how he handles the pressure in the tests but is looking very good and could be the answer at no3...just need another quality opener for Strauss.

: Mon Nov 23, 2009 1:35 pm  

Well that was all a bit easy in the end really.

Good bowling in the middle overs, taking the pace off the ball well. It does look like the Saffers have decided to target Rashid though based on the two games so far, and with the pitches not turning it's difficult for him.

Trott and Collingwood made the likes of van der Merwe and Albie Morkel look very, very ordinary cricketers when England batted.

: Mon Nov 23, 2009 1:43 pm  

Andy Gilder wrote:

Well that was all a bit easy in the end really.

Good bowling in the middle overs, taking the pace off the ball well. It does look like the Saffers have decided to target Rashid though based on the two games so far, and with the pitches not turning it's difficult for him.

Trott and Collingwood made the likes of van der Merwe and Albie Morkel look very, very ordinary cricketers when England batted.

They are...I still stand by my pre-tour prediction that we have nowt to fear bowling-wise from this lot as Steyn apart they have no real pace and/or cleverness/variety...I know this may well bite me on the anus later on in the year but I still say if our batters can fire we can take them very close.

: Tue Nov 24, 2009 9:57 am  

OrdsallRed wrote:

They are...I still stand by my pre-tour prediction that we have nowt to fear bowling-wise from this lot as Steyn apart they have no real pace and/or cleverness/variety...I know this may well bite me on the anus later on in the year but I still say if our batters can fire we can take them very close.

Agreed.

When we come to the tests they have an amazing top 6 but their bowling department isn't all that. Alot will depend on how our bowling attack preforms and how much pressure they can keep off our batters.

If our batters keep having to face upto scores of 600 law of averages say we'll crumble under the pressure at some point.

: Fri Nov 27, 2009 12:18 pm  

OrdsallRed wrote:

They are...I still stand by my pre-tour prediction that we have nowt to fear bowling-wise from this lot as Steyn apart they have no real pace and/or cleverness/variety...I know this may well bite me on the anus later on in the year but I still say if our batters can fire we can take them very close.

Albie Morkel our for his brother Morne and Wayne Parnell replaces Langeveld for the 3rd ODI.

Unfortunately we have lost the crucial toss and will have to bat under the lights.

: Mon Nov 30, 2009 9:21 am  

Boycs

Boycs

: Mon Nov 30, 2009 11:57 am  

A great display from the side yesterday, Anderson was excellent and the catching was top notch.

: Mon Nov 30, 2009 12:52 pm  

PAUL M wrote:

A great display from the side yesterday, Anderson was excellent and the catching was top notch.

The seamers - Wright apart - figured out where to bowl very early on in the innings and exploited the movement that was available. Thought Bresnan deserved much more reward for a very impressive spell.

One particularly alarming point ahead of the Test series is just how badly out of nick Pietersen looks. Unless he plays himself back into form it's going to put a lot of pressure on the rest of the top order and might necessitate an extra batsman being played to shore up the batting.