England v SA. 4th ODI, Lords

Now that England have the number one position back, SA will be keen to beat them at Lords to regain the #1 spot and England will be desperate to consolidate the #1. This has the makings of a very good match.

I cant see any team making any changes from the third ODI.

England 1 Alastair Cook (capt), 2 Ian Bell, 3 Jonathan Trott, 4 Ravi Bopara, 5 Eoin Morgan, 6 Craig Kieswetter (wk), 7 Samit Patel, 8 James Tredwell, 9 Jade Dernbach, 10 James Anderson, 11 Steve Finn.

South Africa 1 Graeme Smith, 2 Hashim Amla, 3 JP Duminy, 4 Dean Elgar, 5 AB de Villiers (capt, wk), 6 Faf du Plessis, 7 Wayne Parnell, 8 Robin Peterson, 9 Dale Steyn, 10 Morne Morkel, 11 Lonwabo Tsotsobe.

Cook wins the toss and send SA in to bat

Good man Billy.

Morne Morkel rested for Ryan McLaren.

Yeah just saw that

Just got his name right too...

Which shows exactly how seriously both teams are taking this series.
Again raising the question....why only 3 tests? Even a T20 series wouldve had more relevance with the world cup not so far off.

The T20s start next weekend.

5 Tests would have been better for sure. When do England tour SA again?
Is it next year or 2014?

Linebreaker wrote:The T20s start next weekend.

5 Tests would have been better for sure. When do England tour SA again?
Is it next year or 2014?

I think England next tour SA in 14-15.

Tredders has just dropped Amla, hope it won't be costly.

Cheers Shelsey.

England have just wasted their only review.

Smith and Amla have done really well here so far. Nothing flashing just solid scoring.

Fielding is again woeful

Kieswetter holds on and Smith is out, 68/1.

Finally

If there is a major problem in Hashim Amla's batting, its about his calling and running. He's been a very levelheaded cricketer, but his running and calling has absolutely nothing of it whatsoever!!.

South Africa has JP Duminy in at 3 and he has looked good so far.

Duminy is very much a handy batter. He will keep the scoreboard working.

Amla goes, Ravi Bopara it is and he's bowled him!!.

Its not Elgar its AB de Villiers the captain promoting himself. He was criticised by some that he wasn't taking enough responsibility despite being a world class ODI batsman.

Seems Albie Morkel isn't fit enough to play as yet. Good move from South Africa to bring McLaren back in, this pitch is doing a fair bit, and they need all the batting depth available.
Duminy goes, stumped of Tredwell for 18. South Africa in serious trouble now.

2 quick wickets and suddenly it's 106/3. England on top.

Faf du Plessis is the new batsman. This pitch has a lot for the seamers, and the ball is turning for Tredwell as well!.

Good afternoon all, one more wkt and we are into Elgar and then the tail, a lot riding on these two for SA.

Another one for Bopara!. du Plessis goes bowled!.

Bopara gets his second wicket of the match, Du Plessis is gone. 115/4.

Magic, Bops gets his second. F du Plessis b Bopara 1.

SA 115/4 and now in serious trouble.

Frig his batting, Bops for Eng for his bowling

Massive responsibility here on the captain. AB had a quiet test series and he hasn't done much in the ODIs so far, he really will have to stand up if team has to have any bit of chance.

Well, they say double the score at the 30 over mark, which was 118/4. But with four down, i think SA would be glad to get to 236.

Can't understand de Villiers's tactic of switching the batting order round each game which he also did in New Zealand.

Considering that Kallis would come back into the strongest XI in place of Elgar you've got to say that they would be better placed going in Smith, Amla, Elgar (Kallis), de Villiers, Duminy, du Plessis.

With what they've done today they've let two of their dangerous finishers (Duminy and du Plessis) get in and out before even the start of the powerplay, and left the slower scoring Elgar have to attack at the end of the innings rather than build a platform for the others, which is surely what he was brought into the side for.

Aye 2nd odi, bat 4th- 15 off 29. 3rd odi, bat 3rd- 42 off 88 and now 6th. Not as though he was rubbish. Maybe a tad slow though.

Still plodding along in the batting pp.

Obviously SA do not want it to go the same way as the last Odi, and are saving wkts for a huge last 5-7 overs. ABDV can be as destructive as the next.

Just 22 runs from the P/P. Good from Eng.

160/4 with 10 to go.

Good day all...missed most of this , only came in to see Du Plessis go and this rather scratchy partnership....

Which might be over ...yes good work Kieswetter !

So five out and even the 211 they got the other day looks a long way off yet...

On the other hand the pitch looks a bit more bowler friendly ...what is a good score do you all think ?

Good afternoon/evening Alfie. Good timing

Another stumping and ABDV's plan just stumbled. AB de Villiers st Kieswetter b Tredwell 39.

SA 165/5.

I think they will be well short whatever they set. Should be easier batting second. They need at least 240.

As long as we keep them below 250, very probable at the moment, we will win. Good bowling display by England so far.

Did'nt know Simon Taufel was soon to be retired. Big loss.

Tredwell getting his 3rd victim. Shame about the drops earlier.

The 3rd stumping and boy did that spin.

Apparently can't catch but pretty nippy with the stumpings our keeper

176/6 and six to go ...doesn't seem England will be chasing much over 200 again.

Not a big Tredwell fan, but he seems to always do the business.

Elgar seriously struggling, maybe thats why he is batting 6th.

WoW 4, then a huge switch hit SIX from Peterson off Tredwell.

Some inventive batting from Peterson ! Puts pressure on Taufel , never mind Tedwell...

skyeman wrote:Not a big Tredwell fan, but he seems to always do the business.

Think these two matches have shown that a fit Tredwell is better than a Swann with a damaged wing.

Who agrees with Holding on the switch hit issue?? If you are good enough to do it??