England V South Africa - battle of the giants

[mousemat]

Time to get down to the serious business of test cricket and the battle between the top two nations.

 

I have been looking forward to this series all year - the fixtures are as follows:

 

 

Thursday, 19 July 2012

Test match series

First Test Match

England v South Africa, The Oval, 11:00

 

 

Thursday, 2 August 2012

Test match series

Second Test Match

England v South Africa, Headingley, 11:00

 

Thursday, 16 August 2012

Test match series

Third Test Match

England v South Africa, Lord's, 11:00

 

I'll be there next Thursday at the Oval and it will be my first opportunity to see the fantastic South African team live.

 

I predict a drawn series (0-0) as the weather will play a massive role over the next month. However if the sun does finally hold out for 15 days of test cricket then I see a narrow 1-0 England victory.

 

On a seperate note its sad to see Boucher being forced to retire from test cricket due such an freak injury.

[rudolfg]

Yes it will be a good series , pity about Mark Boucher .

I predict a South African win because they are " hungry" for that No 1 ranking in test cricket .

[mikeyboy]

Thanks for the info Mousemat.

 

Firstly , yes , a sad way for a long and successful test career to end . Hope he makes a full recovery . Tough competitor and will be missed by SA .

 

Enjoy your day at the Oval , fingers crossed on the weather .

 

One thing i must take issue with . The worlds 2 best test sides playing each other in a 3 match series -- come on . 5 tests would be a true series . The 5 odi's against Oz were about money number 1 . Complete irrelevance otherwise .

ECB should be ashamed .

 

Steyn , Morkel and Philander match up well against Englands seamers . SA havn't had a top class spinner since their re introduction to test cricket , so England have a big advantage with Swann and Monty if required . spinners wickets groundsmen please !!

 

England have the edge on batting i would say , pressure on Smith , Amla and Kallis to produce . Should prove a better series than the WI's effort , and i predict England to edge it 1-0 or with decent weather 2-1

 

Mikeyboy

[pointer]

Thanks for the info Mousemat.

 

Firstly , yes , a sad way for a long and successful test career to end . Hope he makes a full recovery . Tough competitor and will be missed by SA .

 

Enjoy your day at the Oval , fingers crossed on the weather .

 

One thing i must take issue with . The worlds 2 best test sides playing each other in a 3 match series -- come on . 5 tests would be a true series . The 5 odi's against Oz were about money number 1 . Complete irrelevance otherwise .

ECB should be ashamed .

 

Steyn , Morkel and Philander match up well against Englands seamers . SA havn't had a top class spinner since their re introduction to test cricket , so England have a big advantage with Swann and Monty if required . spinners wickets groundsmen please !!

 

England have the edge on batting i would say , pressure on Smith , Amla and Kallis to produce . Should prove a better series than the WI's effort , and i predict England to edge it 1-0 or with decent weather 2-1

 

Mikeyboy

I'm an aussie but i can't wait for this series. Agree with everything you have written especially giving England the advantage with Swan (not a huge Monty fan).

Both sides are good in the field and i give England a slight advantage with the bat.

England have great depth with their fast bowlers and hopefully with decent weather we should see attacking cricket.

Can't wait for Anderson and Steyn to go head to head, they are by far the best bowlers in the world at present. They attack the stumps with late outswing.

Makes a cricket tragic like myself lick my lips with anticipation.

As stated why the fuck isn't this a 5 test series, just so they can squeeze more meaningless one day and twenty twenty crap in

[batista275]

England have advantage with Prior and their tail and of course Swanny and a more settled batting line up.

 

A lot will depend on Philander's form and how he bowls since he loves these conditions.Eng are tough to beat at home

 

2-1 woould be epic

 

any of u guys going for the games?Lords is sold out I heard

[mousemat]

England have advantage with Prior and their tail and of course Swanny and a more settled batting line up.

 

A lot will depend on Philander's form and how he bowls since he loves these conditions.Eng are tough to beat at home

 

2-1 woould be epic

 

any of u guys going for the games?Lords is sold out I heard

 

I've got a ticket for Thursday - cant wait. They still had a few tickets available at the Oval last week if you are interested.....

[batista275]

I've got a ticket for Thursday - cant wait. They still had a few tickets available at the Oval last week if you are interested.....

 

Thanks mate,but I am in Sri Lanka.Some of my friends in London want to go.

 

Are u Eng or a Saffer?

 

Predictions?

 

Btw does any of the pattaya pubs show cricket?

[aussieman8]

 

Time to get down to the serious business of test cricket and the battle between the top two nations.

 

ICC rankings for Tests, ODIs and Twenty20

 

Saffa's aren't in top 2 test nations...FYI....

ICC Test Championship

 

 

 

1 August 2012 Team Matches Points Rating England 32 3893 122 Australia 34 3952 116 South Africa 21 2364 113 Pakistan 29 3148 109 India 29 3004 104 Sri Lanka 29 2834 98 New Zealand 18 1568 87 West Indies 25 2098 84 Bangladesh 12 0 0

[mikeyboy]

 

 

ICC rankings for Tests, ODIs and Twenty20

 

Saffa's aren't in top 2 test nations...FYI....

ICC Test Championship

 

 

 

 

1 August 2012 Team Matches Points Rating England 32 3893 122 Australia 34 3952 116 South Africa 21 2364 113 Pakistan 29 3148 109 India 29 3004 104 Sri Lanka 29 2834 98 New Zealand 18 1568 87 West Indies 25 2098 84 Bangladesh 12 0 0

 

Weird , back in the spring England and SA were 1 & 2 . since then england beat Windies 2-0 but not sure who SA have played since then to allow their ranking to drop below OZ . Have oz beaten anyone of note since the spring ?

 

Stats are a guide anyway and most people ( myself incl ) look on this series as 1 versus 2 .

 

Australia test side need a complete overhaul before they will be contenders for number 1 again .

 

Mikeyboy

[nice to visit]

Have oz beaten anyone of note since the spring ?

 

Am thinking your spring is our autumn so only the Windies in April 2-0. Stitched up the indians in Dec/Jan though 4-0.

 

I agree with you though. I would pick England and SA to be the top two at the moment. The rankings dont mean too much and the lack of test cricket makes it hard to judge as well. Should be a very good series.

[aussieman8]

Good preview here from Michael Vaughn for those interested. I agree that England are good value to win series and at $2.05 I will be ON!

Australia have one year to find a couple of dominant batsmen otherwise with pretty boy Clark and accompanying geriatrics, they will be....gooooooooone!

 

 

 

 

"If this were a couple of weeks ago I'd be saying these sides were very hard to split. But two very significant things have happened since then. Firstly, Mark Boucher has suffered a freak injury during the week which has meant he's retired from international cricket with immediate effect. People talk about Matt Prior being the engine room in the England side but Boucher had a similar role within the Proteas' team. His was arguably an even more important one because he'd been around for so long and had seen it all before. His keeping was exceptional and his energy levels immense. Not to mention his job behind the stumps in terms of working out how to get batsmen out and constant communicating with the bowlers. Ok, his batting wasn't quite what it was over the last few Series compared to a few years back but even recently you knew you had to work hard for his wicket. He's a massive loss to the team.

 

The other thing that's happened is that South Africa have had very little chance to play on this Tour because of bad weather. Readers of this column will be tired of hearing me talk about getting familiarised with the local playing conditions but any cricketer will tell you that it really does make a world of difference. Even if you're Jacques Kallis or Graeme Smith and have played over here plenty of times before you need to spend time in the middle in the build up to a Test match. Same thing for a bowler: you need to get used to what lengths to bowl and to what you need to make the ball do to dismiss international batsmen.

 

But even without these two factors, I think England had the edge anyway. They have the better bowling attack, partly because it contains Graeme Swann and South Africa don't have a spinner of that calibre. But also because England's pace attack is a ferocious one in great form. That said, Dale Steyn is capable of destroying any batting line-up in any conditions and England may be more vulnerable than most because they don't have any left-handers in the middle order. If the two openers go cheaply and Steyn gets in the groove, the hosts could be in trouble. But rather than relying on the rest of the team to back him up, I'd rather just take Dale Steyn at 3.42/1 to be top SA wicket-taker over the series.

 

I've said before that any chance to back England at home at odds-against to win a Test series is one we shouldn't turn down and this is the case here."

[pointer]

Am thinking your spring is our autumn so only the Windies in April 2-0. Stitched up the indians in Dec/Jan though 4-0.

 

I agree with you though. I would pick England and SA to be the top two at the moment. The rankings dont mean too much and the lack of test cricket makes it hard to judge as well. Should be a very good series.

I can't follow the ranking system.

I prefer the old way, as in the aussies didn't become number one until they beat the windies in the windies.

You got to knock the champs off on their own dung heap before you overtake them.

These two sides are clearly one vs two.

[mousemat]

Thanks mate,but I am in Sri Lanka.Some of my friends in London want to go.

 

Are u Eng or a Saffer?

 

Predictions?

 

Btw does any of the pattaya pubs show cricket?

 

I'm English.

 

I was at the game today - there are loads of touts outside the ground so tickets are available at inflated prices.

 

Average first day but it was great to see Cook hit a well deserved ton.

[mousemat]

 

 

ICC rankings for Tests, ODIs and Twenty20

 

Saffa's aren't in top 2 test nations...FYI....

ICC Test Championship

 

 

 

 

1 August 2012 Team Matches Points Rating England 32 3893 122 Australia 34 3952 116 South Africa 21 2364 113 Pakistan 29 3148 109 India 29 3004 104 Sri Lanka 29 2834 98 New Zealand 18 1568 87 West Indies 25 2098 84 Bangladesh 12 0 0

 

 

Point taken - but we all know how useless official rankings are - even FIFA have the English footy team ranked 4th - now we all know that that is a lie

 

In my opinion - Eng & SA are the best teams in the world

[mikeyboy]

I'm English.

 

I was at the game today - there are loads of touts outside the ground so tickets are available at inflated prices.

 

Average first day but it was great to see Cook hit a well deserved ton.

 

Good day Mousemat ? 90 overs played which is great after the crap weather recently . Just watched highlights on C5 after work . 267-3 England looks a tidy start against an undercooked SA. Jacques Kallis's new hair looked impressive ,, also Hashim Amlas beard . .

 

Reports say Oval wicket is very dry , which leads generally to it turning later in the match . Good for Swann , and an important toss to win . Need to get up to 500 to put pressure on SA so more solid batting needed tomorrow .

 

Rain around friday , but good forecast for sat, sun .mon

 

Mikeyboy

[mousemat]

Good day Mousemat ? 90 overs played which is great after the crap weather recently . Just watched highlights on C5 after work . 267-3 England looks a tidy start against an undercooked SA. Jacques Kallis's new hair looked impressive ,, also Hashim Amlas beard . .

 

Reports say Oval wicket is very dry , which leads generally to it turning later in the match . Good for Swann , and an important toss to win . Need to get up to 500 to put pressure on SA so more solid batting needed tomorrow .

 

Rain around friday , but good forecast for sat, sun .mon

 

Mikeyboy

 

 

It was an average 1st day but very tight - I expected a faster run rate from Eng.

 

The first session was very slow and the dark weather made it difficult for me to see the ball so I can only imagine how the players survived.

 

After lunch the weather picked up but the game lacked any real sparkle - but I guess as its the first day of the series players are trying to keep it tight.

 

For me the the highlight of the day was 2 live Q&A's, one with Shane Warne at tea and the other with Devon Malcolm during the lunch break. It was great to hear Devons opinions on his international career and how Phil Tuffnell was scared of fast bowling.

 

I was sat in the Peter May stand - during the last session Morkel was fielding in the deep and he was on the receiving end of some abuse from some slightly drunk spectators

 

Chants including "you'll never play for England" - "we got 10 rand to the pound" . After 10 minutes of mindless chanting the crowd started to turn against the drunken idiot and politely asked him to shut the **** up!.

[batista275]

I'm English.

 

I was at the game today - there are loads of touts outside the ground so tickets are available at inflated prices.

 

Average first day but it was great to see Cook hit a well deserved ton.

 

 

Cooks really has improved.He is an old fashioned,classic grinding opener

 

Cook,Trott and Kallis are prolly the of the most boring batsmen to watch and all 3 playing together

 

Is the Oval sold out?

 

Btw I heard that there isnt much hype for the games cos of the Olympics,pity that this collides with the Olympics

[batista275]

It was an average 1st day but very tight - I expected a faster run rate from Eng.

 

The first session was very slow and the dark weather made it difficult for me to see the ball so I can only imagine how the players survived.

 

After lunch the weather picked up but the game lacked any real sparkle - but I guess as its the first day of the series players are trying to keep it tight.

 

For me the the highlight of the day was 2 live Q&A's, one with Shane Warne at tea and the other with Devon Malcolm during the lunch break. It was great to hear Devons opinions on his international career and how Phil Tuffnell was scared of fast bowling.

 

I was sat in the Peter May stand - during the last session Morkel was fielding in the deep and he was on the receiving end of some abuse from some slightly drunk spectators

 

Chants including "you'll never play for England" - "we got 10 rand to the pound" . After 10 minutes of mindless chanting the crowd started to turn against the drunken idiot and politely asked him to shut the **** up!.

 

Trott and Cook are relatives of Boycott,these guys will bat for days

 

Steyn on Fire,the only true great pacie of the 2000s

[mikeyboy]

 

 

Trott and Cook are relatives of Boycott,these guys will bat for days

 

Steyn on Fire,the only true great pacie of the 2000s

 

Trott and Cook do bat for days , and thats one reason England are winning test matches now .

 

Agree Dale Steyn is a top bowler , but there are others that could match him in the last decade .

 

ENG 385 SA 27-1 rain stopped play ,, damn .

 

Mikeyboy

[batista275]

Trott and Cook do bat for days , and thats one reason England are winning test matches now .

 

Agree Dale Steyn is a top bowler , but there are others that could match him in the last decade .

 

ENG 385 SA 27-1 rain stopped play ,, damn .

 

Mikeyboy

 

Pace bowlers after 2000s - Anderson come a little close,cannot think of many pace bowlers

 

England have the best WK batsman - Prior is amazing plus they have the best tail out of all teams

[pointer]

Pace bowlers after 2000s - Anderson come a little close,cannot think of many pace bowlers

 

England have the best WK batsman - Prior is amazing plus they have the best tail out of all teams

When the windies were at their top they had Dujon as the leading wicket keeper/batsman and a good tail.

Then the Aussies had Healy and then Gilly and always squeezed runs from the tail.

I think it is one of the reasons a team becomes number one, a very good keeper/bat and runs from the tail.

England have that now

[mikeyboy]

South Africa 86-1 end of day 2 , game on .

 

3 decent days forecast now and a pitch that isn't doing very much . Hashim Amla looked in ominous form .

 

England need to make early inroads this morning , or the SA are very capable of posting a big score .

 

The ball stopped orthodox swinging yesterday , so reverse swing is what England will be looking for , and a decent spell from Swann . I reckon it might start turning today .

 

Mikeyboy

[jocky king]

On the third day , A draw will be likely outcome unless England bowlers will do a damage today but very much doubtful. A Draw is it.

[batista275]

When the windies were at their top they had Dujon as the leading wicket keeper/batsman and a good tail.

Then the Aussies had Healy and then Gilly and always squeezed runs from the tail.

I think it is one of the reasons a team becomes number one, a very good keeper/bat and runs from the tail.

England have that now

 

What I meant was eng have the best tail,Only Anderson cannot bat.swanny,bresnan,broad can all bat

The WI after Dujon and Maco didnt bat alot,they didnt have to with the King,Greenidge and Lloyd scoring at top pace

 

Aus had Gilly(one in a million player) but he didnt have a great tail to support,Warney could bat but others were just tail enders

[mousemat]

Looks like SA will rack up a massive score then maybe put us into bat with 4 sessions left - gonna be a very tough 1st test as they are setting the standards.

 

Amla is on fire - double ton on the way......

 

Its a free weekend for sky sports HD, so I taking advantage of the high quality picture