Jeor Posted January 8, 2018 Share Posted January 8, 2018 And it's all over, 4-0. Bright spots for England are that Anderson had a good final tour of Australia, Cook signed off on Australian soil with a double. Malan looks to be a good Test-level batsman with him and Bairstow getting centuries. Root still has his conversion rate problems but 5 half-centuries not much to sneeze at. Australia do have weaknesses, England just weren't able to fully exploit them. While the bowling attack is top class, the batting does have some holes in it. Opener, Khawaja at 3 is not convincing (notwithstanding his excellent knock in this Test, there was not much confidence in him until then) and No. 6 will also take more than a couple of good knocks from Mitch Marsh to nail down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Winged Shadow Posted January 8, 2018 Share Posted January 8, 2018 Waiting on memes about the short-leg helmet outscoring quite a few English batsmen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular John Umber Posted January 8, 2018 Share Posted January 8, 2018 21 hours ago, The Winged Shadow said: Steyn injury is a bit of a blow for South Africa. It will be a big boost for India for the next innings. I wonder what the Proteas will do, get another bowler or go for a specialist batsman? Considering how good India's batting can be (if they ever fire overseas.....) Saffers might be in need of another batsmen to solidify their lineup. Or stick to the aggresive option of going for another express fast bowler (if they have one in the bag). I'm pretty sure it will be an alrounder, most likely Morris on his home ground. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Winged Shadow Posted January 8, 2018 Share Posted January 8, 2018 Wow South Africa....just wow. edit: Wow South Africa! Just Wow! (India 39-3, this is getting good!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular John Umber Posted January 8, 2018 Share Posted January 8, 2018 44 minutes ago, The Winged Shadow said: Wow South Africa....just wow. to be fair, it was more 'Wow India', that was great bowling. This is going to be a thrilling finish; you're never in on this wicket. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Consigliere Posted January 8, 2018 Share Posted January 8, 2018 Very entertaining Test that with a good contest between bat and ball. SA batters did quite well considering that they had to weather the worst of the batting conditions - 1st sessions on day 1 and day 4 when the pitch was at its most lively. Our bowlers performed admirably against the strongest batting lineup in world cricket especially after being a man short for most of this Test. Vern has lost some pace but he still remains lethal in these conditions. And now for my bitch and moan against the ICC. Technology has been embraced (even India have started to come around) but common sense seems to be not so common afterall. It makes no sense whatsoever for a team to be disadvantaged due to an injury. Common sense dictates that an injured player be replaced - a like for like replacement (i.e. seamer for seamer, spinner for spinner etc.) would ensure that the makeup of the side remains the same. It is beyond stupid that this is still not allowed in cricket, especially when that injured player is a bowler as this just puts a bigger workload on the rest of the bowling unit increasing the risk of further injuries. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ski the Swift Posted January 10, 2018 Share Posted January 10, 2018 See as though I am particularly lazy, what is the Australia line up for the ODI's? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
williamjm Posted January 10, 2018 Share Posted January 10, 2018 England have announced their Test squad for the NZ tour, and they've certainly not made dramatic changes with only Ballance, Curran and Ball being dropped to be replaced with Mark Wood and the uncapped Liam Livingstone. Wood should strength the bowling attack if he's fully fit, but I think James Vince is very lucky to still be in the squad and I think they should probably have brought in a new spinner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeor Posted January 11, 2018 Share Posted January 11, 2018 I guess it's a two Test series. You can properly drop Vince after NZ - if he gets a full run of 7 Tests then you'd think that's it for his career. Same with Stoneman. Seems weird to drop Ballance without him ever having played. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
williamjm Posted January 11, 2018 Share Posted January 11, 2018 21 hours ago, Jeor said: I guess it's a two Test series. You can properly drop Vince after NZ - if he gets a full run of 7 Tests then you'd think that's it for his career. Same with Stoneman. Seems weird to drop Ballance without him ever having played. I'm not entirely sure why Ballance was picked on the tour in the first place, unless the idea was that they wanted someone with some experience in case they needed a mid-season replacement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljkeane Posted January 13, 2018 Author Share Posted January 13, 2018 Good start for South Africa in the second test despite just losing Elgar in slightly unfortunate fashion. Markram looks like he could be a decent player. ETA: Having said that there’s a bit more in the pitch for Ashwin on day one than South Africa would probably prefer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeor Posted January 14, 2018 Share Posted January 14, 2018 England with a comfortable victory in the first ODI vs Australia. Goes to show how much T20 has done for the one-day game - a chase of 305 was made to look like a complete cakewalk. Hopefully it turns out to be a closely contested series. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljkeane Posted January 14, 2018 Author Share Posted January 14, 2018 15 minutes ago, Jeor said: England with a comfortable victory in the first ODI vs Australia. Goes to show how much T20 has done for the one-day game - a chase of 305 was made to look like a complete cakewalk. Hopefully it turns out to be a closely contested series. I didn't even notice that was today, shows how much I've been paying attention. In fairness to Bayliss, while he's not added much to the test side, he's done a good job with the ODI team. I suspect, with the World Cup in England in 2019, that might be the ECB's priority at the moment however much England fans might not like it. It seems like both sides have misread the conditions at Centurion going into this test. The pitch probably suits India but they could probably have done with picking Jadeja and it's definitely not a pitch suited to picking 4 fast bowlers for South Africa rather than going with the extra batsman or at least an allrounder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
williamjm Posted January 14, 2018 Share Posted January 14, 2018 1 hour ago, Jeor said: England with a comfortable victory in the first ODI vs Australia. Goes to show how much T20 has done for the one-day game - a chase of 305 was made to look like a complete cakewalk. Hopefully it turns out to be a closely contested series. I think England would once have seen chasing 305 as a daunting prospect, but the way their batting has (belatedly) become more aggressive in recent years they probably saw it as a below par score. It was a spectacular innings from Roy. He did ride his luck at times - even when he miscued shots the ball always seemed to be just out of reach of the fielder - but even with a bit of luck it was a huge score. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeor Posted January 15, 2018 Share Posted January 15, 2018 I think the ODI game has now moved on to the extent that it's all about keeping wickets in hand, which is why the Root/Roy partnership was so good - as well as keeping wickets in hand they kept it up at a good rate too. Even if the rate had gotten a bit tricky, getting 8 an over is considered standard in a chase so long as you have wickets in hand. This Test between South Africa and India is shaping up to be a good one. Great to see a Test where the bowling is going to be doing the talking rather than the bat. India would be complete toast if not for Kohli's big century. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeor Posted January 17, 2018 Share Posted January 17, 2018 India in all sorts of trouble at 3/35 chasing 287 on a pitch that is playing some tricks. Still, they have two batsmen at the crease and three decent ones still to come (Rohit, Pandya, Ashwin) so it's not a completely forgone conclusion, although you'd have to say South Africa should have no trouble wrapping this up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Consigliere Posted January 17, 2018 Share Posted January 17, 2018 Another competitive Test. I thought SA fell a bit short in the 1st innings considering the position we were in - a few batters got in but didn't fully capitalize. We bowled well throughout this Test and India would have been in serious trouble in the 1st innings if not for a masterclass from Kohli. A bit disappointed that India capitulated in the 1st session but the pitch was doing a bit and a day 5 pitch is often not easy to bat on. Ngidi bowled brilliantly in that 2nd innings. Very happy that we have wrapped up the series. I was not at all confident about our chances going in to this series despite India being poor travelers - their batting lineup is world class, they have quality seamers, better spinners than we do and they were the in form side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular John Umber Posted January 17, 2018 Share Posted January 17, 2018 What was particularly satisfying is that we won on a pitch that wasn't a tailored, green, fast bowlers paradise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Consigliere Posted January 17, 2018 Share Posted January 17, 2018 It was an atypical Centurion wicket. Quite a bit slower and drier than one would normally expect. Both sides were probably expecting a green top with pace and bounce. Seamers of both sides were good but India will be very disappointed that their star-studded batting lineup failed in conditions that were much more favourable than Newlands. Sunil Gavaskar made a good point about the scheduling not helping India. Going into a Test with no warm up game(s) is not great preparation especially when India's Test record outside the sub continent isn't that good. Hopefully the BCCI hears his comments and schedules at least two tour matches prior to the Test series' against England and Australia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular John Umber Posted January 17, 2018 Share Posted January 17, 2018 It felt a bit arrogant, like they weren't taking it seriously.No way they don't learn from this. This really sets up the Aus series though - a fit-again Steyn doesn't necessarily have a guaranteed spot in this team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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