2nd T20I: England v South Africa

2nd T20I: England v South Africa at Old Trafford.

Match scheduled to begin at 18:30

This series will once again end up with one team either retaining or becoming the No1 ranked team. After being soundly beaten in the Tests and drawing the Odi's England will be hoping for victory against South Africa to give them a confidence boost before heading off to the World Cup later this month.

Other than a series winning confidence boost this is a big chance for a few players to stake their claim for a starting spot in the World Cup and also for one or two {Broads pace, Boparas batting} to try and regain some sort of form.

England need to bounce back to stay in the series after the shambles at Durham.



Squads

England; SCJ Broad {c}, JM Anderson, JM Bairstow, RS Bopara, TT Bresnan, DR Briggs, JC Buttler, JW Dernbach, ST Finn, AD Hales, C Kieswetter{w}, MJ Lumb, EJG Morgan, SR Patel, GP Swann, LJ Wright

South Africa; AB de Villiers{c,w}, HM Amla, F Behardien, J Botha, JP Duminy, F du Plessis, JH Kallis, RE Levi, JA Morkel, M Morkel, JL Ontong, WD Parnell, RJ Peterson, DW Steyn, LL Tsotsobe

Still an injury concern for Tim Bresnan though.


Good luck to both teams.

The return of Kallis would South Africa the balance that they lacked throughout the ODI series. Rechard Levi, other than that one explosive innings, hasn't done much of note since, and he would need a good series to cement his position at the top in the world t-20.

If Steven Finn's back problems do not completely go away, I don't think they should risk him. That might provide James Anderson his long awaited comeback opportunity in T-20Is.

No way should they risk Finn, /bresnans injury is a good excuse to leave him out

They will play Bopara but he really needs to justify a place come world cup timer.

Hales Lumb Mogs RBop Bairst Briggs/Patel Keisw Broad Swann Dernbach Anderson

I dont see England winning this if SA pick their best side

I'd expect Buttler to play instead of Lumb maybe, and with Kies moving up to open.

Perhaps moving back to the lumb/kieswetter partnership? Would preferably like to see butler in the side but not opening. Hope Briggs plays he looks a superb player.

I would name this team for today:

Hales, Kieswetter, Morgan, Bopara, Bairstow, Butler, Patel, Broad, Swann, Dernbach and Anderson.

I forgot about hales duty, I do like that side

Hope Briggsy gets a chance today, fully deserves it

ABDV wins the toss and SA will have a bowl.

England go with 1 Craig Kieswetter (wkt), 2 Alex Hales, 3 Ravi Bopara, 4 Eoin Morgan, 5 Jonny Bairstow, 6 Jos Buttler, 7 Samit Patel, 8 Graeme Swann, 9 Stuart Broad (capt), 10 Steven Finn, 11 Jade Dernbach

And for South Africa 1 Richard Levi, 2 Albie Morkel, 3 Jacques Kallis, 4 AB de Villiers (capt & wk), 5 JP Duminy, 6 Justin Ontong, 7 Faf du Plessis, 8 Johan Botha, 9 Robin Peterson, 10 Dale Steyn, 11 Lonwabo Tsotsobe

Finn must be OK, they would not take a chance on him .

So Bopara at 3, should be a quick innings from him. Maybe the shorter format may take the pressure off him.

Looking forward to this, should be a decent game and with the pitch turning Swann could be in with a chance for a few.

Kieswetter does this far too often for me. 1 from 7.

Now 2 consecutive boundaries for Kieswetter!

I got him going

Hales run out and it's 27/1, let's see what Bopara will do.

Oh dear, silly run out, such a shame.

Eng 27-1.


Bops in

Kieswetter riding his luck here, keep it going.

A pity Hales got run out ...he had started very nicely. Kieswetter rather using up a good ration of the team's luck here but runs are coming.
Fingers crossed for Bopara.

40/1 after 6 overs. Good start for England.

PP 40-1, so so.

Duty281 wrote:40/1 after 6 overs. Good start for England.

Nice one, Duty!

Sorry. Look on the bright side, Morgan's coming out now.

Kieswetter gone. Plumb lbw, playing across the line.

Eng 40-2

CW gone and SA are right on top.

Need something from Morgan today. At least he is in with plenty of overs to bat.

Bopara gone, GTFO Ravi.

50-3, Steyn doing the biz. I am staying quiet.

Bopara's horror trot continues.

Not looking good for England. The two gingers will have to put a partnership together now ...

Classy shot from JB.

64 after 10, SA ahead at the moment.

64/3 at halfway. We'll need at least 150 here.

And Morgan's chopped on. That could be the game right there.

64-4, come on Buttler.

Oh dear ...Mogs gone now

KP fan will be on soon to tell us what we're missing

(Must say I do not like Botha's action , but he has certainly done a job for SA today)

England slipping big time. Buttler has got great reviews regarding his ability to hit the long ball, England badly in need of his very best today.
Another very poor batting effort from Ravi Bopara.
Oh Buttler gone, Petersen with the wicket. Poor from England.

I'll get you Buttler. Eng 76-5

SA spinners have made a right mess of England here : 76/5 and even 130 looks a long way off...

Come on England, sort it out!

Bairstow out !

Don't think they will even bat out the overs...this one has gone...

England going down from poor to down right pathetic, Jonny Bairstow gone, hitting one straight to long on.

Eng 80-6, just one of those T20's

80 -6 . Poor effort. Lack of thought from the batsmen. Too many soft dismissals.

Swanny to save the day for England anyone?

Can't read too much into one t20 match , but they'll need to play the spinners with a bit more thought if they're to get anywhere in the Cup.

Patel gone now.

Should have picked Luke Wright

Patel gone, will England make 100?

In fairness to England , I don't think this is a very good pitch for stroke play. But that isn't going to bother SA too much as they'll only be chasing 100 or so.

Couple of boundaries there so they might yet get 120 ?

100 up for England! Every run is a bonus now, we should try and make 120.

Superb stuff from Swann and broad, giving England some sort of a score to defend

Some good batting from Swann here...sees England to the semi-respectable heights of 115 with three balls left...

Final total. 118 More than it might have been ...

Be surprised if SA don't get that at a canter.