As a die hard cricket fan and a passionate Australian spporter I do get frustrated with comments coming from frustrated Australians clinging to once dominance, when truth be told we've got the worst stocks and team on par with say, th English Team of the 90s, we need new effetive players in all honesty.
As a cricket fan I do think the English teamis hyped up a lot, there is truth when saying Broad is rubbish, Finn who is taller and faster could play and intimadory role much better, sand frankly looking at Bresnan you can see the smart variotions he puts ona ball. Simply when you look at a bowlers you can tell how effrective and how serious a threat they are, sort of how i feel about HILFY likewise. However bashing comments about Anderson are unwarranted, you don't need averages to look at a bowler and say "WOW, the batsmen are in trouble here". I think he was av eraging 40 at one stage, anyone who knows how averages work will know it's going to take a long time for them to gradually go down.
All said and done, this English teamis Organised, do they have talent? Yes, but truth be told they have many weaknesses, mainly for me, both Styruass and Cooks problem of driving the full ball, they're not particualrly strong drivers, more of the cutting or pulling type, other than that the rest of the batsmens problems, Pietersen especially are lacking temprement and that's all, coupled with Swann and Bresnan wit the bat they're a formidable prospect, not to mention Anderson being a thorn to remove 
Are they the best side in the past 3 years? Well they're pretty close, and this series should answer this, so sit back and enjoy, there's no doubt England will put up a fight in the nex test, intresting to see if they stick with Bopara who could do with how the Australian selectors have approached young, very capable batsmen, communication and faith 
"On a par to England in the 1990's"
You are kidding me right? Right???
We have risen to #2 in the world.
This time last year we were #5 with most predicting with glee that we would be battling it out with Bangladesh and Windies for the bottom spot for years to come.
After this current series where England will surrender top spot, we will drop to #3 - a more accurate reflection of where we presently stand.
The fact remains that in the 1990's England did not have Pattinson, Cummins, Starc, Hazelwood, Cutting, Coulter-Nile, Lyon, Wade coming through the wings to rebuild with.
It is true that we do not exactly have a stream of promising young star batsmen coming through bashing the door down....but neither do England. They have the benefit of utilizing the ECCB Talent Identification Officers based in Cape Town to top up their batting order as required....if you were to take out Trott and Pietersen...England would be even more vulnerable than they are now.
The South African poster in this thread who mentioned promising young batsmen Levi, Miller, Quinton de Kock, Dean Elgar, Faf du Plessis, Stiaan Van Zyl and Reeza Hendricks knows only too well as indeed the English posters on here do, that at least two of those lads will be approached to play for England when the current England batting order starts retiring or losing form.
That is the English way.
We will find young batsmen to compete with the best, and they will be sons of the Southern Cross...not speaking with the accent of the High Veldt and referring to their newly acquired co nationals as "you people".
Have faith.
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Topic: Eng v SA.........let the battle commence! (Read 83924 times)