Cricket - England Winter Tour - NZ & SA

[Gargamel]

Maiden Century from the Pope, just 22 and 15 days old. Youngest since Cook waaaay back in 2006 !

Great innings, well played

[Gargamel]

Bess currently has 4 wickets for 9 runs....

Conditions right in our favor today.

[Gargamel]

Gandahar said:

Considering the amount of "Delhi Belly" for this tour the performances are good with the new guard standing up to the mark with bowling and batting.

I wonder if Anderson will call it quits soon? He's done great service over the years but when the bell tolls?

Interestingly, Broad was written off before James, but still going strong !

The England Bowling line-up looks fine going forward.

Same for the batters who seem to be be melding well at the top end.

Happy optimism ....

Given the amount of breakdowns (physically) Wood has had, it is madness to think he will regularly play a five match series for England. M When fit though he is excellent.
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[Gargamel]

All jolly good fun, would have only mattered if we didn’t close out to win by an innings.

I am sure the team backed Root to get a fifth, just for the stats, and I am sure he is getting plenty of stick for going for 28 in one over....

Broad cleaned up the tail the other morning, looked like they all learned something since then.

[Gargamel]

Smollet said:

England win toss and bat. Archer still unfit. Woakes in for Bess

Edited by Smollet on Friday 24th January 11:06

I think he was in the tem to play, but seems to have upset his elbow again in the warm up.

At leats batting first, Wood can get another day of rest in (hopefully)

Closing in on 500,000 test runs.

[Gargamel]

Nortje has some serious wheels.

Close to 150kph !

Screw that, I am happy I am not facing....

[Gargamel]

Will Stokes be out for a ban?

Bit of a slip on the veneer of respectability. This is why Stokes can’t ever be captain.

I get it, just out, fiercely competitive, dhead guy in the crowd..

But still, don’t go and offer them a fight, just ask them how many test match hundreds they have.

[Gargamel]

spikeyhead said:

Whilst we're showing some signs of progress, we really need to get into the groove of playing boring cricket until we know how to avoid crashing

I prefer Broad & Woods batting approach

[Gargamel]

50 Partnership in five overs.... too funny.

Usually a few hits makes Broad bowl a yard quicker too.

they won’t get 400 though.

[Gargamel]

Root is a conservative character, and Wood is physically not the most robust.

I don’t think Root will want to have to risk chasing a low score batting fourth, with Nortje steaming in on an increasingly uneven surface.

Bat, put on 200 today and rest the bowlers and bat about an hour tomorrow - just enough to squash any SA hope

Well on top in this one, great Michelle from wood

[Gargamel]

This is a bit odd, we are 465 in front, and Broad is out to bat...

Well whatever Joe, I know there are 180 overs left to play, but it would be a world record chase already by about 150 runs...

[Gargamel]

Think this pair can bat us out of the game.

Fag looking limpet like, and RdV seems to have become a cross between Bradman and Dravid.

[Gargamel]

thegreenhell said:

Gargamel said:

Think this pair can bat us out of the game.

Fag looking limpet like, and RdV seems to have become a cross between Bradman and Dravid.

Excellent work, sir.

Well its irrelevant now, as with QdK at the crease we may as well hand SA the win, he is immoveable and certainly set to eclipse his previous career best of 129. A great looking batsman, and I have heard he is quite the sensitive lover too.

[Gargamel]

QdK falls, start the car

[Gargamel]

Shame Wood didn’t get 10. But it’s a great win and an away series too.

[Gargamel]

thegreenhell said:

It's amazing how a captain can suddenly be made to look good when the batsmen are firing properly, taking the pressure off the bowling attack.

Agreed, but I think Root did a better job of sticking to simple plans and not getting funky too quickly. Also, he still doesn't know how to captain Archer, so we played better without Archer in the team. I am not sure on the solution, I will come as Archer finds his own way at this level.

Think Buttler is done as Wckt Batsman, but he should probably go to Sri Lanka anyway, since last time he did he averaged 77. So ig anything is going to get him back into form, it must be that series.

Good progress in the openers, and Pope/Bess both look like good additions.

[Gargamel]

jbswagger said:

First ODI has started.

At 83 - 4 we aren’t quite hitting the WC high notes.

Roy and Bairstow hit loads in the last warm up, so I was hoping for something more crushing.

In Denny we trust...

[Gargamel]

warch said:

No Stokes, no Buttler. Don’t feel too bad if we don’t win this.

Its traditionally a slow pitch, so a low scorer could still make a good contest.

[Gargamel]

Yep a pretty bad day all round, but a changed side with lots of new faces.

Bowling unit more at fault than batting I would say. Curran remains pretty easy to hit when it doesn’t swing.

[Gargamel]

warch said:

That was too much of a weakened side for me to be all bothered about the outcome. Shame really, I thought the idea was to play our best squad in these sorts of games, especially as we're the World Cup holders? That bowling attack was all at sea. No Moeen, Rashid, Woods, Plunkett or Archer, and no Buttler or Stokes.

It is, but this series for whatever reason is not included in the ODI rankings. So gave the management a chance to look at a few new faces. I don't like it either.

Perhaps its ok on a long tour, but I'd be annoyed as a ticket payer to pay to watch such a depleted team.