England v South Africa at Southampton, 2nd ODI

First topic message reminder :

With the wash out at Cardiff, this fixture has no less the importance of that as regards to whoever wins either keeps/gains the number one International ODI team position in the world. Both will give it everything they have.

Likely teams i would think pretty much as the first ODI, ie:

England.
AN Cook, IR Bell, IJL Trott, RS Bopara, EJG Morgan, C Kieswetter†, TT Bresnan, CR Woakes, GP Swann, JM Anderson, ST Finn.

South Africa.
GC Smith, HM Amla, D Elgar, AB de Villiers*†, JP Duminy, F du Plessis, R McLaren, WD Parnell, RJ Peterson, M Morkel, LL Tsotsobe

Patel to bowl out then.

good over from Patel though pulls it back a touch, just 4 from that.

No wkts but fairly economical from Patel.

south africa bat relatvviely deep as well..


Morkel at 10 is no mug....only Tsotsobe cant really bat..

Mclaren at 7 as well.

Yeah our rugby players are neanderthalic thugs and our cricketers choking cheats.

amla was quickest to 3000 odi runs..

he averages 58 in odi's!

Bresnan with more rubbish, why can't we bowl properly at the death?

The pitch doesn't look that easy to bat on, it is really only Amla who seems to have taken a liking to it

Biltong wrote:Yeah our rugby players are neanderthalic thugs and our cricketers choking cheats.

you have to admit the shoulder rubbing was very poor form?

Bresnan - you are rubbish. Time to ditch him from all formats, I feel.

Amla is absolutely brilliant isn't he? Bludgeons a full toss over mid-wicket for four one ball and caresses one past the keeper for four the next.

Awesome.

Fists of Fury wrote:Bresnan - you are rubbish. Time to ditch him from all formats, I feel.

#overreaction

rubbish fielding, how can we allow two runs when it's hit hard and barely makes it out of the circle?

Mad for Chelsea wrote:

Biltong wrote:Yeah our rugby players are neanderthalic thugs and our cricketers choking cheats.

you have to admit the shoulder rubbing was very poor form?

I agree if his attention was to deliberately dupe the umpire, but it looks like his bat hit the ground as well, so I will givevhim the benefit of the doubt, he might not know he hit the ball

Mad for Chelsea wrote:

Biltong wrote:Yeah our rugby players are neanderthalic thugs and our cricketers choking cheats. :shock:

you have to admit the shoulder rubbing was very poor form?

I think the point is not to tar a nation with the actions of one man. Heck would you like to be thought of in the same light as a Jeremy Kyle contestant?

Hibbz wrote:Amla is absolutely brilliant isn't he? Bludgeons a full toss over mid-wicket for four one ball and caresses one past the keeper for four the next.

Awesome.

A lot of high quality batsmen can be if you drop them once or twice every time they come out to bat. We have been our own worst enemy as much as anything else.

CF wrote:

Fists of Fury wrote:Bresnan - you are rubbish. Time to ditch him from all formats, I feel.

#overreaction

A hashtag on here? No thank you. Leave that nonsense to Twitter.

Biltong wrote:

Mad for Chelsea wrote:

Biltong wrote:Yeah our rugby players are neanderthalic thugs and our cricketers choking cheats.

you have to admit the shoulder rubbing was very poor form?

I agree if his attention was to deliberately dupe the umpire, but it looks like his bat hit the ground as well, so I will givevhim the benefit of the doubt, he might not know he hit the ball

I respectfully disagree with you, I think he knew full well he hit the ball. It's a tendency that has crept into the game and that I really dislike (like the imaginary card waving in rugby). This is better from Finn, just four singles so far. Unfortunate boundary off the last ball though

South Africa aren't able to manage that one big over that would take them to 300. Think they are set to end up between 280 and 290. But a superb innings from Amla. 270-4 after 48.

Depending on the last couple of overs I think England have got away with this a bit.

When an opener scores 140 at quicker than a run a ball then I'd have thought that team would score 300 more often than not.

As I say that a Chinese cut for four moves SA to 270.

the 'Discarded Monster' is 120 not out by the way!.

Biggest run chase in ODis @ Southampton: 274 by Pakistan
Buggest run chase in ODis @ Southampton by England: 268

I'll never understand why those fielders aren't trying to save the single, even at this stage.

more great fielding from Patel, he's probably cost England ten runs in this innings alone.

England ground fielding, like their catching has been pretty ordinary throughout the match.

This is a massive score given the two new balls now. And who have we got to chase it down: Cook, Trott and Bopara!

Nope, this game is gone - our gameplan to restrict the opposition with tight bowling (utilising those 2 new balls) is out of the window and way beyond.

Amla is once again having a great tour.

Last over coming up, South Africa 280-4.

Beautiful, brilliant AMLA

150 for Amla

off yet another misfield by England I'm afraid, how has our fielding become this poor?

150 for Hashim Amla!!.

gone, Bresnan takes the easiest of catches as Finn out-thinks Amla with a lovely slower ball.

And he's gone now.

England's fielding, and catching in particular, in 2012 has been nothing short of urine poor - we have let numerous batsmen have several lives through our inept basics.

This, along with the total hash of the KP situation that the ECB have contrived to make, leaves me not feeling sorry for them in the slightest. You reap what you sow.

Dogface Pringle is just typing an article about how the "elephant in the room" has been sending texts telling Amla how to bat against the England bowlers all whilst scoring (as I type) 133 out of 254 batting at No 4.

good finish from Finn. 287-5

big score, but not impossible to chase by any means.

287 it is, England will have to score 288 to win, won't be easy at all although there is no Dale Steyn or Jacques Kallis. I think the pitch has enough life to make scoring a touch dificult.

Hibbz wrote:Dogface Pringle is just typing an article about how the "elephant in the room" has been sending texts telling Amla how to bat against the England bowlers all whilst scoring (as I type) 133 out of 254 batting at No 4.

Well, it was the tea break not long ago

Hibbz wrote:Dogface Pringle is just typing an article about how the "elephant in the room" has been sending texts telling Amla how to bat against the England bowlers all whilst scoring (as I type) 133 out of 254 batting at No 4.

Don't get me started on that 30 test trasher. Obnoxious little idiot he is.
But good work from Pietersen, reminding them what they are missing. This is the only way he can turn things around, score runs and more runs, although his run scoring ability was never in question throughout the saga.

Pietersen not out 139 in a Surrey total of 265-6. His runs have come almost at a run a ball.

Sky delighted in showing KP getting out for a duck during the last test so I was pleased that they were at least even handed in showing him getting to 100 during this match.

msp83 wrote:Pietersen not out 139 in a Surrey total of 265-6. His runs have come almost at a run a ball.

He should play for England

Biltong wrote:Beautiful, brilliant AMLA

Agreed. Superlative summer. If he's not Wisden Cricketer of the Year... I'll eat someone else's hat.

If he's not, I'll eat his beard.

Linebreaker wrote:

Biltong wrote:Beautiful, brilliant AMLA

Agreed. Superlative summer. If he's not Wisden Cricketer of the Year... I'll eat someone else's hat.

I doubt Fists have any left though, I have to send you one of mine.

Right 288 to chase to retain our No.1 Ranking. It's doable, we need someone to play an Amla-esque innings and, quite frankly, any of the top 5 English batsmen are capable of doing that. Come on England!

England's fielding has really been poor this summer hasn't it? It's not only the dropped catches and missed run-outs, it's all the extra runs given away (by my reckoning the fielding score was - 16 today, with only a Morgan stop a net positive)...

I thought Finn bowled well at the death, and Swann and Patel did ok, but that's about it. Luck, as it has a tendancy to do favoured the side playing the better cricket.

Cook looked confused and lost at times, first time I've seen that from him as captain.

Amla played supberbly, nothing else to add. Smith did well to get through the new ball, we know how crucial that is, but apart from that it really was a bit of a lone hand.

AB de Villier, well I'm going to say it, that was disgraceful, but here is a batsman (brilliant player, one of my favourites to watch) who in the past has stood his ground when edging to first slip, so perhaps we shouldn't be that surprised. I actually think he should have walked for that, but I know I'm in the minority on that. And the worse decisions I've seen Taufel (who is a fine fine umpire) make for a long time. However overall it didn't have much of an effect.

288 is a tough chase, but not makeable. This is not the best South African attack I've ever seen. 200/4 off 40 has to be the aim I would guess. We've seen with South Africa's innings that a quick start isn't all that necessary, Cook and Bell just need to do what they've done all summer so far.

Duty, you have no batsman like Amla unfortunately. He's head & shoulders above the rest. Don't worry I'm sure the top 5 will give it their best but it looks like SA will be No.1 in all 3 formats in a few hours..... maybe.

Damn....! (We're next on the get skillfully hammered by Amla list)

Biltong wrote:

Linebreaker wrote:

Biltong wrote:Beautiful, brilliant AMLA

Agreed. Superlative summer. If he's not Wisden Cricketer of the Year... I'll eat someone else's hat.

I doubt Fists have any left though, I have to send you one of mine.

Haha! I rarely have to eat my hats, Biltong I just offer to do so rather a lot.

Which reminds me...if England win this I will eat my hat and anyone elses that they wish to offer up for sacrifice.

I'm back on board after a weekend in rainy Glasgow!

My verdict on that innings is that it is over par, but not by as much as it perhaps could have been. Neither AB nor du Plessis ever went into full-on destruction, meaning that the last 15 weren't quite as devastating as they could have been.

Amla was absolutely magnificent. He has become a sensational player, and other than dropping him twice it is difficult to see how else England could have changed things.

There were a couple of talking points. One is Bresnan's form. I don't think he's bowled that well lately, and whilst I rate him highly this becomes more of an issue when there is no Broad to bowl at the death. If the pitches continue to be like this one I can see Woakes or even Dernbach getting a go soon.

The second one is Kieswetter's 'keeping. He's a decent keeper, but you simply can't drop good batsmen like that. He's in the team for his batting, and he's done nothing wrong with the bat this summer, but when you see how well Prior's playing his absence becomes a difficult issue. I can't decide where I stand on that right now.

This is well chaseable though. Cook, Bell and Trott are capable of doing Amla's role. If one of those can anchor, then Morgan and/ or Kieswetter will have a platform on which they can win the game for us in the last 15.

SA's bowling attack in this game looks mediocre once you get past Morkel and Tsotsobe. You never know what you're going to get from Parnell, McLaren isn't a wicket taker particularly and Peterson should be relatively easy to maneuver.

Looking forward to the chase.