England vs South Africa: 2nd Test Match Thread

[Guest]

First topic message reminder :

Here is the match thread for the 2nd test at headlingley

Likely teams

England: Strauss,Cook,Trott,KP,Bell,Taylor,Prior,Bresnan,Swann,Broad,Anderson

S.Africa: Smith,Peterson,Amla,Kallis,AB,Rudolph,Duminy,Philander,Steyn,Morkel,Tahir

Although massive rumours going around that, england will play 4 quicks and leave out swann!

DISCUSS MATCH HERE

[alfie]

Look like getting a lead anyway which is more than a lot of people were saying on day two

Pity KP got out first thing today , but Prior Bresnan and Broad are all capable of scoring quickly. First thing is to get in front ...I wouldn't be doing anything silly yet. Time enough to push on after lunch if they're still there...

After all the only way England can hope to win is to shoot SA out cheaply second time around ( unlikely but possible I guess ) in which case it won't matter if they bat for most of the day !

...and as I type Bresnan is gone so the above might be a bit academic

That came rather out of the blue really...

[eirebilly]

I say again, first lets just see them past SA's score

[GSC]

Players off the field cannot bat until the time missed has gone while their team bats, or 5 wickets are down.

I.e Peterson can't open and Kallis might be in trouble too.

[eirebilly]

Bad news for SA but i am not complaining

[GSC]

Guessing Amla or AB to open.

Smith with a knee problem too

[eirebilly]

With a bit of cloud cover, SA may be there for the taking...

[Gregers]

A bit of Sussex's finest from Matty P today

[GSC]

Broad

[eirebilly]

Broad gone now. Can England beat SA's total?

[GSC]

They'll get past it but probably not by much.

Difference in cricket brains, Taylor sits in while the other guy flays the attack, Broad goes for shots on 1.

[eirebilly]

It was a really ugly shot from Broad, he should have anchored the inngins a bit. This is what i worry about when calls to hit out arrive.

[GSC]

Calls for hitting out are rather silly, especially first thing in the morning.

[eirebilly]

I was hoping that they would first get past the SA score with no loss of wicket and then maybe have a swing in the second session to put some pressure on them.

[GSC]

This attack is too good for that. Well now we have time I guess, but it invites SA back in a little

[eirebilly]

I would be happy with any lead at all right now to be honest. Cant apply any pressure on them from this position.

[alfie]

I was hoping that they would first get past the SA score with no loss of wicket and then maybe have a swing in the second session to put some pressure on them.

Yeah they should have listened to us , Billy

At least they will have plenty of time to get SA out now...comes down to a one innings match.

...and an Anderson nibble for four puts us in the lead ...

[eirebilly]

And there goes Prior.. Early lunch?

[GSC]

Might get a couple in before lunch

[mystiroakey]

All about time- good attacking approach england- If we had played slow and steady on the 4th day i would have broke my telly. There is not enough time left in this test match so better to just crack on

[GSC]

Lead by 6. Still time for an over or 2 before lunch I reckon

[eirebilly]

I would like to get a couple in but its close enough to be offered to SA...

[GSC]

How is this preferable to a 150 run lead at tea?

[eirebilly]

You asking me GSC?

[mystiroakey]

It is what it is gsc- more chance of a result

[eirebilly]

Personally i would have liked a more steady approach and tried to get a lead of around 100. Hitting out now has done nothing but cost wickets and removed any pressure that could have been built.

[mystiroakey]

Yeah well - id rather bring the win into play. clearly we didnt want to only score the same as they did. But at least we showed intent

[eirebilly]

So Smith can open. If England can get one of these out before lunch then its still on

[KP_fan]

all results are possible.......

the most likely one in my view is followign:

Eng can still fold within 50 to a 100 runs.........SA bats a second time and gives Eng 250ish to chase.......in about 80 overs.........Tahir and 4 pacers cause misery on D5 pitch........will make for a tight and all 3 scenarios likely finish thoeritically....however if SA is able to put Eng in this situation.....ifrom what I saw of Eng's resolve in UAE and Lanka in D5 chases....win is highly unlikely.

Eng's only realistic shot at a win is if KP gets a big 250 today with the help of lower order

--so far it's gone top the most liklely script i thouhgt it will........Eng added 74 this morning...
--Prior is a good no.7 for Eng.......but below that all the so called bowling allrounders have turned into tail-enders as the quality of oponents as increasesd.
--76 overs today and about 10 tomorrow.......SA will get about 250 to 275 and give Eng 80 overs to chase in the battle of single innings.
--Will the No.1 team take the challange to restore their pride ?

[mystiroakey]

that was some delivery from anderson!

[mystiroakey]

waste of a review though

[GSC]

Raining so that'll be lunch

[Duty281]

Shame about the rain, Jimmy was swinging it round corners. The forecast is better for this afternoon/evening and so hopefully England can still force the right result.

[msp83]

Don't think England's fall today morning was the result of any particular effort to hit out. Only Stuart Broad played a rather senseless shot, and Prior anyways just played his natural game again the sensible thing particularly as KP went in the first over of the day and he had only the lower order for company.
Good effort from South African bowlers today, tellingly enough Imran Tahir got some pretty decent turn. Will Strauss-Flower have the humility to admit they got it absolutely wrong? Idiots!.

[msp83]

Wonder what the impact of this silliness will be on Swann.

[Duty281]

We need to roll them out for under 250. Otherwise, it'll be an uphill struggle.

[eirebilly]

Its still very much game on, its all douwn to how England bowl and SA Bat next session. I can imagine that SA will be very interested in attacking the bowlers as there is no need to so that leaves the work cut out for England.

[eirebilly]

Doesnt look like we will see much more cricket today

[Duty281]

England starting to warm up, forecast is good for the rest of the day so hopefully we'll get 4 more hours in today. Quick wickets are needed, an England win is now more likely than a Saffer win given the time constraints.

[Duty281]

From Cricinfo:

"Good news everyone, we're going to restart at 2.55pm. The timings have been shifted around, tea will now be taken at 4.55pm-5.15pm with the close at 7pm and the extra half hour available too to get 59.3 overs in. "

[eirebilly]

So close for Broad there.

[Duty281]

SA scoring slowly - 24/0 after 13 overs. England have got a great chance here.

[Duty281]

Rain coming down again with SA 39/0.

[mystiroakey]

i think thats this game done lads. the weather hasnt helped cricket this year- bad timing for so much home stuff

[alfie]

So a draw tomorrow eh...ah well , not able to watch too much of this match with all the Olympic action .

Will settle for a draw and England to win at Lord's and square the series

[Duty281]

Our only hope is that England bowl like they did at the MCG in the last Ashes Series.

[Biltong]

This looks like it will be a draw.

[KP_fan]

Rain saves Englamd the misery of surving 80 off overs on D5 against balls ^keeping low at 140+ kph.....and spinning 45 degrees with occasional jump off a length

[Duty281]

We've have to bowl South Africa out in under 3 and a half hours to force a result IF there's no rain. We can do it lads!

[Biltong]

Smith and co is just going to drag this out to fight another day, with their injury concerns I doubt they will be focused onnworrying about anything else.

When you consider how many overs it took thus far to bowl teams out, I can't see it happening tomorrow.

[eirebilly]

SA will just plug along and protect their wickets, they are in no hurray as a draw suits them alot more than it does England. On the bright side, England did bowl them out in the first innings, thats a plus to take to Lords isnt it?

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