England's Summer test matches, 2012

[Fishtigua]

All over.

[AndySA]

Well done Phillander, well deserved 5 for

[Cheib]

We gave it a go in this test but that was ultimately a comprehensive series defeat...out played in all areas of the game. No complaints!

[MiniMan64]

Whats really depressing is that if our openers had just survived the night and put a few double figures on the board.....


...damm it would have been close!

[AndySA]

Thanks for all the banter, I really enjoyed this series and the spirit it was played (and watched) in.

[mantis84]

Such a shame we don't have 2 more tests to play, but well done to South Africa. We were outplayed in every area of the game, so they definitely deserve the #1 spot.

[DJRC]

AndySA said:

Thanks for all the banter, I really enjoyed this series and the spirit it was played (and watched) in.

Pleasure Andy and that final day felt like it should when a Championship or batton is passed...the new Champion has to *win* it from the old, not just be given it. A proper contest out there and its fair to say you deserve your reward.

We'll be back though We dont have to wait something silly like 3 yrs before we play you again do we?

[tommy vercetti]

Had the openers contributed 20-30 more runs, I reckon England would have done it

[AndySA]

Thanks DJRC it was a great game and fantastic fight in the last session. Really looking forward to Biff and the boys taking on the crims next.

[chimster]

Yep well played. It was simple; you batted, bowled and fielded better than we did. You deserved it, we gave it a go from 5 on Trott too, but your bowlers particularly VP were immaculate, you took some great catches and Amla was the stand out bat. Out top order was disappointing if they had supported the lower order then it might have made a difference. KP is gone for now and I was so pleased for Jonny. He has got the slot by right. Great effort under tough circumstances. Thoroughly enjoyable 3 Tests(wish it was 5) fought tooth and nail the way it should be. England can and will regroup and come out of this stronger. South Africa were a powerful unit. Hats off to them. For now.....

[spikeyhead]

Just back home from Lords.

What a fun day it was. only a naive child thought at the start of the day that we had any hope of chasing that down, and fortunately there were 10,000 naive English children in adult bodies cheering away. Some excellent bowling in the gloom in the first session with a lot of movement of the pitch and in the air.

If we'd hung on to a couple of catches earlier or. ...
if Skip and Chef had scored a few or ...
if Taylor hadn't been run out going for a fourth

however the sun came out in the afternoon, the crowd lined up, Swann, Broad, Bairstow and Prior all entertained and gave the crowd a lot of entertainment.

We've not done the basics well this series, or in the sand through the winter. Hopefully the closeness of that final game and the fresh blood in the dressing room will be enough to get the engine firing on all cylinders again.

[Podie]

Closer than I thought.

No excuses for run outs lke than - talk about giving it away.

[Gargamel]

Time for a bit of a re think, some players are getting in the team based on past performance. An objective view us required now befor ethe India tour.

Bairstow looks good, I wonder how he will adapt to Indian spinners.

Well played SA. England a good 20% off their best performance level

[Cheib]

Gargamel said:

Time for a bit of a re think, some players are getting in the team based on past performance. An objective view us required now befor ethe India tour.

Bairstow looks good, I wonder how he will adapt to Indian spinners.

I think the big question is whether they go with five bowlers in India....you have to go with two spinners in India and just having two seamers is risky. It didn't work in similar conditions this winter just gone.

Player they have missed most this year is Tremlett.....most under rated England player by a mile. Broad and Jimmy A get the plaudits but he was fantastic last year...proper handful.

The batting order picks itself with Bairstow at 5....they've had enough upheaval. Prior should bat at 6...the argument for having six specialist batsmen is weak when we don't have anyone to grab it. It's a shame Bopara just hasn't push don as he would be very useful at six with the ability to bowl a bit.

[DJRC]

But it did work in the sand in the winter. The bowling attacked knocked them over just fine. It was the abysmal batting performance that lost the matches and again this summer, it has been the absymal batting performance that has lost this series.

The bowling attack couldnt actually have done much more!

[johnfm]

DJRC said:

But it did work in the sand in the winter. The bowling attacked knocked them over just fine. It was the abysmal batting performance that lost the matches and again this summer, it has been the absymal batting performance that has lost this series.

The bowling attack couldnt actually have done much more!

Well, apart from the SA tail hitting piles in this test. How many did Philander score? 90+ in the two innings? Steyn nearly 40?

England just couldn't kill an innings when into the tail.

Desperately unlucky with the bat in the end today. Nearly a fairy tale win today. Good effort.

[chimster]

DJRC said:

But it did work in the sand in the winter. The bowling attacked knocked them over just fine. It was the abysmal batting performance that lost the matches and again this summer, it has been the absymal batting performance that has lost this series.

The bowling attack couldnt actually have done much more!

Not sure that is true. What happened in the first test knocked the stuffing out of us. What was it 600 odd for 2? We had no chance of getting 20 wickets in that test whereas I think SA attack did look like they would get wickets. In fact the stats show that their wicket taking ability against the top order was much better than ours. Broad blew hot and cold and Jimmy couldn't take the volume of wickets we needed. Swanny hardly took any at all. We didn't stack up that well against their attack in my view. If you add on the catches dropped and our weak batting, there is your answer.

[Podie]

Could really do with a batsman who is capable of trundling the odd ball, when nothing else is working... or a proper all rounder.

[DJRC]

chimster said:

DJRC said:

But it did work in the sand in the winter. The bowling attacked knocked them over just fine. It was the abysmal batting performance that lost the matches and again this summer, it has been the absymal batting performance that has lost this series.

The bowling attack couldnt actually have done much more!

Not sure that is true. What happened in the first test knocked the stuffing out of us. What was it 600 odd for 2? We had no chance of getting 20 wickets in that test whereas I think SA attack did look like they would get wickets. In fact the stats show that their wicket taking ability against the top order was much better than ours. Broad blew hot and cold and Jimmy couldn't take the volume of wickets we needed. Swanny hardly took any at all. We didn't stack up that well against their attack in my view. If you add on the catches dropped and our weak batting, there is your answer.

1 test out of 3 and we could afford to lose it.
The bowling put us in positions to win both tests 2 and 3.

In fact we *should* have won both tests 2 and 3, we simply didnt deserve to though and had no chance with two top order collapses in both innings in this last game. In all the games in the end, our bowling put us into very winnable positions and our batting lost them and in the last 2 tests in this series our bowlers again put us into match winning positions.

It has been England's batting that has been the problem in the last yr and as I highlighted earlier in the summer and again a page or so ago, the problem stems from the very top of the order, namely Strauss and his lack of runs/form over the last yr.

[Cheib]

DJRC said:

1 test out of 3 and we could afford to lose it.
The bowling put us in positions to win both tests 2 and 3.

I disagree with that. Yes we had them 54-4 in the first innings at Lords but we let them off the hook in what were the best bowling conditions of the match. Whenever we had SA under pressure in the series we didn't follow through with it. South Africa's lowest score was 250 odd declared in the second innings .

Looking at the second test SA made 400 plus in the first innings and they lost their first wicket at 120 in both innnings. We weren't ever really on top in that game either.

We have great bowlers but SA batted better than we bowled at them.