The Cricket Thread

[Who Needs Mourinho]

Holding talks some absolute toilet he really does.

 

[Skinner]

Woakes has been decent and deserves that wicket.

Be interesting to see who gets MOM from this one.

There's been no standout performers, could go to any of Ali, Finn, Broad or Compton

Ali has cleaned up their middle, Broad took big wickets, as has Finn. Compton with two good knocks

 

[JJH]

Holding talks some absolute toilet he really does.

Are you referring to his love in of Finn?

If so - I agree with him on this case. He's been arguably our best bowler in this test match, and his averages and balls per wicket at Test Match level are phenomenal. You can't drop Finn instead of Woakes for Cricketing reasons; unless it's that he's still not fully fit, otherwise he has to play in Cape Town.

 

[Ciderhead]

Williamson has an average of 90.15 this year

But yeah, I'd go along with that order. I'd opt for Root because I'm English and Smith is detestable, summed up by sending himself in during the second innings against WI rather than others for some crease time.

Right with you on Smith, such a punchable face.

Yeah fair hint of bias involved, an Aussie would have them the other way round I imagine

 

[Baz]

Been a bit too easy hasn't it? I know South Africa are in transition but they still shouldn't be rolled over this easy. We should win this series from here.

 

[JJH]

Finished!!!

What a superb morning, and a super performance. Fantastic.

SA's biggest loss on this ground in their entire history.

 

[Ciderhead]

All the talk in recent times has been home advantage and the toss have too much of an impact. We're away, we lost the toss and we've gone and thumped em. Great stuff

 

[Who Needs Mourinho]

Are you referring to his love in of Finn?

If so - I agree with him on this case. He's been arguably our best bowler in this test match, and his averages and balls per wicket at Test Match level are phenomenal. You can't drop Finn instead of Woakes for Cricketing reasons; unless it's that he's still not fully fit, otherwise he has to play in Cape Town.

I love the new and improved Finn and he definitely deserves his place in the side, ahead of Woakes and ahead of Mark Wood if he was fit as well, but Finn will admit himself that he at times has been nowhere near International standard at times in the last few years and the selectors did the right thing in telling him to go away and sort his action out and build his confidence back up. Holding seems to think he should have just have been an automatic pick for the last five years for some reason.

He was also chatting rubbish saying that it was "understood" that Woakes was ahead of Finn in the pecking order.

 

[JJH]

I love the new and improved Finn and he definitely deserves his place in the side, ahead of Woakes and ahead of Mark Wood if he was fit as well, but Finn will admit himself that he at times has been nowhere near International standard at times in the last few years and the selectors did the right thing in telling him to go away and sort his action out and build his confidence back up. Holding seems to think he should have just have been an automatic pick for the last five years for some reason.

He was also chatting rubbish saying that it was "understood" that Woakes was ahead of Finn in the pecking order.

Finn's gone and worked on his action and it's served him well - with the position we were in we could afford to do so as we had other fast bowlers who could come and fill that role.

When Finn used to knock the stumps now and again when he went through with his action, Holding said if he was a West Indies bowler he would have been allowed to just get away with it, because even at the expense of conceding a few runs everytime he knocks the stumps, he took wickets. It doesn't surprise me he said this, but I don't think you can put into comparison the difference between the England bowling attack and the West Indies bowling attack over the past 5 or 6 years, so it is a silly thing to say really.

 

[blademan89]

Sat in birmingham airport now the 1st beers going down well and another performance like this one from england and il be one delighted man in cape town.

 

[Saddlerrad]

Brillant performance. It's certainly a novelty and a nice one for England to be able to chose from about 3-4 players for man of the match in this game? Great start this morning, glad that Mo has taken some wickets as he had a poor tour to the UAE. If we can start getting more consistent runs from Taylor/Stokes/Bairstow/Ali then we are looking good going forward. A fit Finn makes such a difference to the team - bit of bounce and pace. Anderson and Broad are normally superb and Ali took 7 wickets in this game. I'm not a huge fan of Woakes, never have been, said before this series that he's not a new ball bowler and he doesn't threaten enough to take wickets - keep him for the ODI stuff.

This SA side remind me of the Australian side we played in 2010/11. Few big players who look low on confidence, short of runs, bowlers in Morkel and Steyn who aren't quite firing on all cylinders after quite a few niggly injuries - no Kallis, no Smith from the yesteryear. Some promising youngsters around who aren't quite consistent enough yet. A side in transition currently.

As I say, if we can get some consistency to the middle order and take all of our chances - then we really have a good shot at getting back to number 1 in the next 2 years or so. We should really win next year's test matches to nil in both series.

 

[Saddlerrad]

Anyone detect a bit of tension between Botham and the other South African commentators?

I noticed that Bumble kept shouting 'Oi, Oi, Oi' to someone in the commentary box and then a few seconds later he said 'That's naughty' - 2 minutes later Pollock and Beefy came on and before Botham could get a word in edgeways Pollock said something like 'I'll get something in before Botham crows up like he has been all morning'. Then when it went live for an interview at the end of the day, Botham was concentrating on something in the stands and he said something like 'sorry, I'm getting a glare from a South African commentator' - seemed a bit weird as he looked very serious.

Wonder if some #comboxbants has gone too far?

 

[EricSabin]

Think Taylor will give you consistent runs when he gets a run in the side. Top batsman and looks very comfortable at test level.

 

[Who Needs Mourinho]

Anyone detect a bit of tension between Botham and the other South African commentators?

I noticed that Bumble kept shouting 'Oi, Oi, Oi' to someone in the commentary box and then a few seconds later he said 'That's naughty' - 2 minutes later Pollock and Beefy came on and before Botham could get a word in edgeways Pollock said something like 'I'll get something in before Botham crows up like he has been all morning'. Then when it went live for an interview at the end of the day, Botham was concentrating on something in the stands and he said something like 'sorry, I'm getting a glare from a South African commentator' - seemed a bit weird as he looked very serious.

Wonder if some #comboxbants has gone too far?

No I think it all just is "Bantz" - the biggest argument this morning came between Smith and one of the other SA commentators. I've actually really enjoyed the supersport/skysports combination, I think Sky should consider doing something similar when England have home series.

 

[blademan89]

Just come out of hotel that was 1 fucking long journey. No good at all on a plane that long when your 6 foot 5. Anyway on to the nye party.

 

[Baz]

Just come out of hotel that was 1 fucking long journey. No good at all on a plane that long when your 6 foot 5. Anyway on to the nye party.

At least you got there haha enjoy the atmosphere and bring on Saturday.

 

[Super_horns]

As expected Anderson is fit (although tough on Woakes) whilst South Africa lose Steyn and it seems De Villers will be relieved of wicket keeping duties?

 

[Baz]

As expected Anderson is fit (although tough on Woakes) whilst South Africa lose Steyn and it seems De Villers will be relieved of wicket keeping duties?

Yeh De Kock will take over the gloves. Abbott is struggling for them too so they could have a few changes.

 

[Matt_]

Rabada will probably come into the South African side. The lad has got wheels and could be a surprise package.

 

[Who Needs Mourinho]

Rabada will probably come into the South African side. The lad has got wheels and could be a surprise package.

I've heard good things about him but realistically he isn't going to be an upgrade on Steyn.

 

[Super_horns]

Solid start but Cook just gone to a great catch at slip.

55-1

 

[JJH]

Bollocks - what a catch.

Good toss to win, need to bat big on this.

 

[Saddlerrad]

We need a good solid 400 on this wicket. With the speed of the outfield and pace of the wicket, keeping a team down could be very hard, with the likes of ABDV in the SA line up. Here comes Compton to put us all back to bed.

 

[JJH]

That's one way to bring up 100! Shot Compton.

 

[Saddlerrad]

COMPTON JUST HIT A SIX!!!!

AND THEN A FOUR

 

[blademan89]

Only just woke up better start making me way to newlands.

 

[Who Needs Mourinho]

Bloody hell what has Compton had for lunch

 

[JJH]

Only just woke up better start making me way to newlands.

'kin hell mate, heavy night last night?!

 

[Saddlerrad]

Hales out for 60.

Please, please please don't collapse and waste this pitch/position the first time round.

 

[JJH]

Hales gone, annoying he couldn't turn it into something big, but it's an excellent ball for the dismissal.

Need a big innings from one of these here, got to be looking at a minimum of 425 on this pitch, it's really offering very little.