Off Topic England v S Africa Test Series

Just seems a matter of how many England lose by, SA could declare now as England won't get anywhere near 400 on this pitch...

 

Proper test cricket for those last few overs, with England's openers somehow surviving against Morkel and Philander. It'll be easier tomorrow - but not much.

 

4 down at lunch with both Skip & Cook back in the dressing room, the other 2 wickets of Jennings & Ballance were predictable.....

England might struggle to get this into a 5th day.....

 

England must be hoping Haseeb will be ready for the next Test, also Hales should be given a run in the side, he couldn't do worse than those two...

 

Was wondering what had happened to Haseeb, is he still recovering from the broken hand he got in India?

 

They want a day off by the look of it

 

Useless

 

Pathetic.

 

I'm backing the ladies tomorrow in the semi's

 

The Saffers were a different side in this test, with a lot of credit due to Du Plessis, who batted well and captained brilliantly, and Philander who shone with both bat and ball.

England were awful and changes will have to be made. Dawson was a baffling selection as a second spinner at a venue that rarely gives much turn and Chris Woakes will come back in if fit. Jennings will have to be dropped, with maybe Hameed coming back in, although he hasn't been scoring many runs for Lancashire. Perhaps one more chance for Ballance, probably at number five with Ali at 3, which is where he bats for Worcestershire. Wood was ineffectual, so probably a chance for Rowland-Jones next time. A big early test for Root's captaincy coming up and all the batters will have to show a lot more resolution.

 

We were ****!

 

We are not a very settled unit at the moment are we? Too many players who don't deliver often enough, or at all in some cases. Broad, Anderson and Cooke can't have too many tests left in them, hope a few get bedded in before they go.

South Africa are a decent side, they had an off day(s) first Test.

 

Terrible batting 'display' from England. Interesting talk about how we don't seem to be able to play the 'red ball' and act like we are trying to play test cricket 'white ball' fashion. Now I never found some of Boycott's slow displays very endearing, but when needs must you should be capable of switching to slow the match and defend the wicket. Our boys seem to want to only slog the ball. Very poor match for England after such a good first test. However, nicely poised for the third test now as Root will have to show his mettle as captain to bring the team to the match. It will be very interesting (I hope).
Not a massive cricket fan, but I shall be looking forward to listening to the next test.

 

Doubt worry chaps, come on down to Oz and we'll give the Ashes.
In fact, just make yourselves nice and comfy in one of our magnificent pubs and its' yours!
No questions asked!
You only have to turn up.

Oh, by the way................. the Barmy Army, having taken many a deposit for the Ashes series, are bout to declare bankruptcy, so you may want to throw some odd coins their way, you know, help out a mate when their down sort of thing.

Someone pass the tanning butter, will you?

 

Tomorrow sees the start of the 3rd test at The Oval which is staging a test match for the 100th time, joining Lords, SCG &MCG on that milestone. To get things started try this interactive test on your knowledge of The Oval, I only scored a measly 4/10.....Good Luck.

http://www.bbc.com/sport/cricket/40720980

 

6!
For some reason I'm not too keen on the Oval, though I haven't been for years.

 

7/10 for me.

Always preferred Lord's to the Oval, although I did see Gower and Gooch take the Aussies apart there in the 80s. I also remember seeing Phil Tufnell taking 6 for not very many against the West Indies - they seemed to have decided he couldn't bowl and a succession of batsmen tried to hit him out of the ground, unsuccessfully. Oh, and I saw The Who there too, but that wasn't a test match, so doesn't count.

 

7/10 for me, it was my 'home' ground for 30 odd years so I should have done better...