England v South Africa 1st Test

[Withdean Wanderer]

No rush Ian, it's not as if the forecast is rain and we've spent all day getting 250...

 

[Uncle Buck]

No rush Ian, it's not as if the forecast is rain and we've spent all day getting 250...

He seems to be holding an end up well at the moment.

 

[Marc]

he's in his danger zone at the moment as nassar just showed us, obviously nervous and knows he needs a ton to keep his place safe

 

[Grendel]

What? He's playing a great innings totally blocking up one end and scoring steadily, if a little slowly I admit.

A strike rate around 50, as Bell's is in this innings, is pretty much the norm for a specialist batsman in test match cricket.

 

[Withdean Wanderer]

What? He's playing a great innings totally blocking up one end and scoring steadily, if a little slowly I admit. With Pieterson on form at the other end there's no need for Bell to try and provide the fireworks.

It's the 'slowly' bit I was getting at.

Pietersen is doing well, but you don't want to fanny about too much when the forecast for the weekend is CRAP and you've got quite a few runs on the board/wickets in hand.

He's doing alright, but it would be nice if he could speed up just a little, to give us the best chance of bowling them out twice.

 

[Barrel of Fun]

KP seems to enjoy batting against his country of birth. An average of 114 (8 innings) vs S. Africa in ODIs and 104* in his sole test innings.

God bless Cricinfo.com - The Home of Cricket

 

[Pavilionaire]

Great day for England.

Kallis, Ntini and Steyn are no mugs so to post 309 in 90 overs at more than 3.4 per over is a good effort, plus the fact that 4 of our 5 batsmen have posted decent scores.

Pietersen is amazing, that's now tons against every proper test-playing nation (Zim and Bangladesh apart) in just 40 tests.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

Great job by BOTH batsmen. Anyone suggesting otherwise has very little understanding of test match cricket.

 

[Withdean Wanderer]

Great job by BOTH batsmen. Anyone suggesting otherwise has very little understanding of test match cricket.

I agree, however around the point of Bell's 50 he was scoring slower than I run. And that's bloody slowly! That was the only point being made.

Still, can't argue with 300-3 against quality (alledgedly anyway) opponents.
It'll be a draw though

 

[hans kraay fan club]

Good. it wasn't a DIG at you particularly, anyhow. 300 in a day on a slow pitch is perfectly quick enough scoring.

People have seen too much one-day bollocks, and think that 3.4 an over is unnacceptable. Some players get caught up in that, which is why you see so many test innings where they rush as quickly as they can to 300 all out. Which is f*** all use to anyone. It means a. you have a shit total, and b. you've left your opponents forever to chase it.

Today's England performance was nothing short of IDEAL

 

[Marshy]

bell was terrific. when he came in we were in the shit.
he scored runs very fluently at the start of his knock and immediately took the pressure off.

then supported KP perfectly, a perfect partnership

 

[Milton Keynes Seagull]

What REALLY fucks me off is that Vaughan is back on the balcony. He should be in the nets learning how to get forward so he doesn't get bowled all the f***ing time. He's done 5 minutes 'work' today and it's feet up time.

No f***ing wonder our batting is so brittle.

I remember Geoff Boycott batting all day at Hove for 150 odd, and he got out just after tea. Ten minutes later he was in the nets ironing out the little inconsistency that got him out. A self righteous twot, but for dedication to batting perfection, he's up there right at the top! Vaughan could learn from his example.

 

[Basil Fawlty]

I thought Smith decision to bowl first, was totally ludricous. I can actually imagine Vaughan laughing in the dressing room. The seam attack of SA, was totally rubbish. Way to much width and their lines were dreadful. Strauss and Cook batted fantastic, terrible umpiring decision for Strauss LBW. After a little collapse, I thought Bell and Pietersen took the game to SA, straight from the off. His 100, was superb. Hopefully Bell will get there tommorow, and hopefully 500+ will definitely be a match winning total.

 

[Marshy]

England would have bowled also for sure.

 

[Lady Whistledown]

Agreed, when it was discussed before the game, there seemed to be a consensus that the winning captain would choose to bowl, as the pitch is likely to get easier to bat on as the weekend goes on.

 

[severnside gull]

Indeed Vaughan has already said that he would have put them in had he won the toss.....a lucky captain is always an asset

 

[Lady Whistledown]

Pietersen took the game to SA, straight from the off. His 100, was superb. Hopefully Bell will get there tommorow, and hopefully 500+ will definitely be a match winning total.

A more likely outcome of course is that both will be out in the first half an hour, and England will collapse to an ultimately disappointing total of around 360...


...but fingers crossed!

 

[Barrel of Fun]

A more likely outcome of course is that both will be out in the first half an hour, and England will collapse to an ultimately disappointing total of around 360...


...but fingers crossed!

Never the optomist, ever the realist. As you say, I can just see us celebrating a galiant effort tonight, heading out tomorrow with a victorious swagger, only to undo all our good work within half an hour to an hour.

 

[Lady Whistledown]

The question then, of course, is that whether we'd have taken 360 at the start, given that SA clearly fancied their chances on that pitch, and the alleged brilliance of their bowling attack?

Not sure what to expect of their batting line up, Smith I can't stand, but has a good record against England, Kallis is tedious, Prince and Amla aren't renowned for their Pietersen-style quick scoring. I'm not that familiar with the rest. Is there anyone in their line up you'd pay good money to watch bat?