Well played Essex Eagles, first time they've made it into the T20 final and they beat Worcs off the very last ball. Sterling effort from Ravi Bopara and captain Simon Harmer
78 n.o. for Jonny Bairstow in the first T20 warm up game in New Zealand. Meanwhile, David Warner scored 100 out of the 4th highest ever T20 team score of 233/2 - Sri Lanka managed just 99 all out in reply
Nice The team however seem to be yellow belly cowards! Good grief all the top order bar Crawly got in, how many gave it away? Unbelievable if it wasn't so common!
Well credit where credit is due, the team did much better the final three tests, but boy South Africa were shell shocked by the end. We still have a very inexperienced team, but slowly, slowly we are getting the batting sorted and the bowling has been pleasing too. Stokes though, what a game changer!
Great to see Sibley and Crawley coming to the party - adios Joe Denly, I reckon once Burns is fit again. And Ollie Pope....Awesome stuff and a number six batter for years to come. Need to reassess the wicket keeping options - Buttler has been poor with the bat, but the makings of a young team with the nucleus pretty much in place. All a far cry from the first test outcome at Supersport Park, Centurion on boxing day!
I think that Foakes needs to be given a good go as wicket keeper as Buttler has been poor and Bairstow seems to have completely lost it.
Stokes is well on his way to being our best allrounder of all time. The great Botham is still No 1 imo
I was following it on ESPN the morning and up until the drinks break in the afternoon and then I needed to go to bed. Stokes is a phenomenal player. The thing I find interesting is that it's not just the runs and wickets he takes, but his impact on games. He can turn a game and has done it very often in recent years. That is something that stats don't always convey. He's not a flat track bully like Shane (LB)Watson. Broad also had a good test, I wonder who is going to bowl in the decider, a few juicy options.
Took him a while, but bowling fuller in English conditions consistently he can do what Caddick did at times and just run straight through teams
Pundits claiming this may be our best bowling attack of all time. What? Bess is a very average spinner and Archer is still raw and unproven. Flintoff, Harmison, Jones, Hoggard and Giles, Trueman, Statham, Laker, Lock. Can't t remember a/the third seamer in that era.
Sorry what!? Anderson and Broad are still world class and getting better abroad in their averages over the past few seasons, but the backup is very short of experience. Archer and Bess are still raw and need to prove themselves at Test level. Woakes and Curran are very good in home conditions and Stokes (when fit) can have a huge impact, but to say this is the best England attack ever shows how infantile the British media is, what short memories they have!
Agree, but they were talking about the attack, which by definition should include all the front line bowlers in the side, not just the two fast bowlers.
Apologies for interjecting an O/T comment ZK, but couldn't help but say that, unfortunately, it isn't just our media who are infantile and with short memories!
Do you remember when we won in India in 2012/13, Swann and Panasar doing the damage, Anderson did well for Indian conditions too in a couple of games and then the Indians (being the sports that they are) took it out on the Australians that toured next with crumbling dust bowls? It was about as bad sportsmanship that the Aussies deserved. Turned square from day 1 and crumbled to dust by day 3, kept me amused though. Nearly as good as Karachi 2001 with Pakistan delaying until it was almost dark when It was probably Thorpe who cracked a 4 and the fielder didn't see it at all