2017: England V South Africa & West Indies

[AndyT]

Just watched the first 30 minutes of his innings.

Leaving the ball really well and has played some nice shots, when given the chance. :thumbsup:

Think it's helping him having Cooky at the other end, as well.

 

[Grayson]

Spending today sat at work, upset at my lack of awareness and planning, having not realised until today that England v South Africa at The Oval and Middlesex v Essex at Lords are on at the same day. What a day out that would have been.

 

[superblue24]

We're bloody useless.

 

[AndyT]

We should agree to start our innings at 100 for 4 every time we go out to bat.

Be a great time saver!

 

[mattitouk]

Early close of play, due to rain: England 171-4.

Cook has been our only ray of sunshine with he's 82 not out on this rainy day. Also good to see our own Essex lad overtaking Allan Border in the test runs scored list, taking him to 9th position. Hopefully with some decent scores in the remainder of the SA test, as well as against the West Indies and the ozzies in the ashes, he can overtake other legends such as Jayawardene, Chanderpaul & Brian Lara.

 

[AndyT]

Top stuff from England over the last couple of days.

 

[The Big Dady]

Westley with debut test 50.

 

[BrettieAngell]

6 wickets needed today to wrap it up, forecast looks fine so shouldn't be a problem.

 

[MK Shrimper]

6 wickets needed today to wrap it up, forecast looks fine so shouldn't be a problem.

And done, with the first Test hatrick at The Oval for Moeen Ali. :clap:

 

[BrettieAngell]

And done, with the first Test hatrick at The Oval for Moeen Ali. :clap:

In the 100th test at the Oval aswell!

 

[Uncle Leo]

An excellent day all round really.

 

[mattitouk]

Bit of a mixed day for England today in the final match of the test, I feel we should have done better than closing on 260-6, but things are looking a bit more promising now, then when we were 92-3 earlier in the day.

Lets see what tomorrow brings & hopefully between Bairstow, Roland Jones & Ali they can bring us over the 300 mark.

 

[mattitouk]

Great innings for the lads today to finish on 362!.. I was hoping for 320 & dreaming of 350. Gutted for poor old Bairstow though finishing on 99.

I thought Roland-Jones should have done better than he's 4.

That being said, our bowling was superb (especially in the afternoon) to finish the day with South Africa 220-9 (with them trailing by 142 runs) Jimmy Anderson is really relishing running into he's newly named end!

Ideally, if we can kill of their final wicket first thing tomorrow, & then put in a decent batting score & have around a 400 lead by lunch on Monday, we should win this series, and a real confidence boost for the lads going into the West Indies test in about 10 days time.



Update: Sadly rain stops play early (Typical Manchester Summer!).

Just when Moeen was finding his form (#67 n/o). Other than him, not a great day with the bat for England, especially the top order (cook only got 10 runs, Jennings 18 runs & Westley 9 runs). I feel we played to defensive & to many dot balls / maiden overs.

At close England are 224-8 (360 runs ahead). I would be surprised if we declare tomorrow morning, I would imagine Moeen will be given his shot at a centuary & if he falls next, Broad & Anderson will be quick to follow behind him & SA will be back in bat before lunch.

 

[mattitouk]

And just minutes after that great Essex Win... England follow Suit!

South Africa 202 all out

England win by 177 runs, (and the first time we have beaten them at home since 1998)

England climb to number 3 in the world rankings (above Australia)..... Just in time for the ashes! :smile:

Whats not to like about that.
:happy::happy:

 

[mattitouk]

For anyone that might have missed Bairstow's catch from the team balcony when Moeen hit a huge 6. It's quality.... great banter from Joe Root also taking the **** out of him (from behind the window in the background).


http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/40845101

 

[Uncle Leo]

➡️ In: Stoneman, Crane & Woakes.
⬅️ Out: Jennings, Dawson & Finn.

Good.

 

[Perth Bambi]

Its a small worry that going into the Ashes (after this series) we still have a fairly unsettled batting line up. Jennings certainly had to go.

 

[Shrimpers are Magic]

I would have given Hales a go at batting five - when he gets going there is no one more destructive in our game. Surely he's a better option than the Middlesex lad? Also agree with the above post, team should be much more settled by now.

 

[number11]

I'd agree, give Hales a go. Not checked their first class averages but surely Malian (who I'd always considered a short form player) doesn't have much better pedigree than Hales but Hales's potentially could be higher, given he has proven he can mentally hack it in the international game (in the short format).

 

[Bearded Shrimper]

It's defo a worry that we don't have a settled top three. I'd imagine that having some worries lower down isn't the end of the world if the top 3 is alright, but our top 3 is all over the place.

Malan seems to have been picked purely off the back of one decent 2020 innings. Hales must be a consideration for 5, he isn't an opener in Test cricket.

There is a worry that players who do well outside of the England team come in and don't do well. Is there a problem outside the England test team, inside it or is it coincidence?

I'm not sold on Crane, is he really ready? No point rushing the lad, don't destory him before he's ready