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[Manormanic]

According to the forum
We have an opener that shouldn't be near test cricket.
A number 6 allrounder that's an limited overs hit and giggle player
A stumper that's not good enough with bat or gloves
A spinning allrounder that bowls pies and shouldn't even bat at 8.
And a bowler who shouldn't even be in the squad.

And yet at the end of day 3 against the worlds no1 test side, and we have a lead of 261 with 7 second inning wickets remaining.

What do we know about cricket eh???

Not sure anyone has expressed that weight of opinion regarding Stokes.  Of the others - Hales wouldn't be my pick but deserves a chance now he has been, Ali...seems to be the selectors man and whatever else you may think is a decent, likeable bloke, Bairstow would be great if he wasn't been treated like a 90s selectorial throwback.  Woakes...nope, I'm still gonna say it - should be nowhere near. 

[smilley792]

Christopher (and others) - I do not have Sky - how did Finn bowl?  Some of the Cricinfo commentry said he bowled some tasty spells?

I have only been getting up for the afternoon and evening session. So haven't caught much of his bowling. Looked good in the little I saw. Nice bounce.

[smilley792]

Not sure anyone has expressed that weight of opinion regarding Stokes.  Of the others - Hales wouldn't be my pick but deserves a chance now he has been, Ali...seems to be the selectors man and whatever else you may think is a decent, likeable bloke, Bairstow would be great if he wasn't been treated like a 90s selectorial throwback.  Woakes...nope, I'm still gonna say it - should be nowhere near.

Not really my opinion, just off others.

Anyway this is what one said before he quit the Internet.

maybe I should join the bandwagon that believe Hales to be a saviour.. Jos to be the next world superstar.. COok to be hte greatest captain ever, Stokes to be a world class number 6 all rounder.. moeen to be a brilliant spinner  then???


Jesus, disagree with you guys and you are hung drawn and quartered. I think I'll just not bother then if we have to just blindly believe that because they are picked they are awesome.  Old ball, crap attack, tired. Fair play stokes has cashed in.. you really think he'd do this against a decent attack? last time I checked he kept failing barring the odd flash.

meh, sod it. NOt worth even bothering anymore if all we are allowed to say is 'woo, ECB are great' 'woo, STokes is world class'  'woo, Buttler is so talented' 'woo, Hales will save us'.

I quit

[Seniorplayer]

Although I read it when it was 1st posted didn't think Adi had quit for good shame really has i thought he's posts were constructive.

[edge]

I've yet to see anyone think of what it is they actually don't like about Woakes... Good article by Dobell on it http://www.espncricinfo.com/south-africa-v-england-2015-16/content/story/955639.html

[wally]

I Think England have been very impressive so far in this match but I think the biggest problem South Africa got is the Titanic had a better captain ! Amla clueless.

[sanredrose]

De villiers- I'm to tired and need to lessen my workload.

Your idea, remove keeping and add captaincy?? Not sure that'll help.

SA commentators said they don't want rousow or de kock opening as it hasn't worked in passed. Either should be down the order and Stephen cook open.

Be interesting to see what changes are made. They'd need some injuries to bring people in though. You can't randomly call up for a series otherwise can you?

SA team can experiment with ideas here. Amla is the ODI opener for SA. He can probably take the opening slot and lead the team as Cook does. Riley or De-kock could bat at no 5/6/7. The replacement players whom we are talking about need to just contribute 30~40 odd runs. Couple of such contributions would make SA reach 300. Bavuma & Van Zyl are not really contributing much and moreover losing a home series will be bigger headache for a team which stood strong at the top for so many years.

AB as a captain might not reduce his workload, but it will provide some space for the clueless captain - Amla. Indian tour seems to have really troubled Amla. He seems to be running through a bad patch in batting as well. If he can off-load the captaincy to AB or Faf for this series and re-discover his form it would help SA enormously.

[JB]

Is Root wearing pink NB gloves?

Root was wearing them this morning, definitely pink! He's just given first slip catching practise off Abbott, let's hope stokes picks up the run rate

[rickjames]

He's still obviously been consistent but I hope Root knocks off this trend of 70s/80s and not putting up tons

[iand123]

Silly dismissal from stokes, already had taken one 4 from the over. A collapse here from England makes a very interesting finish to this game

[kdale6]

Another 50 for root not converted, comfortably England best batsmen but this is the difference between  him  and  Smith and Williamson

Don't want to sound negative about him as he's propped up the middle order for a while now but as a fan I'm just wishing he'd convert a few more of those 50s into tons

[brokenbat]

What happened to Simon Harmer? He was good

[Johnny]

How come Duminy hasn't bowled? Didn't he used to be their "all rounder"?

[northernboy1987]

How come Duminy hasn't bowled? Didn't he used to be their "all rounder"?

I was wondering the same, he often used to bowl didn't he?

[Seniorplayer]

I've yet to see anyone think of what it is they actually don't like about Woakes... Good article by Dobell on it http://www.espncricinfo.com/south-africa-v-england-2015-16/content/story/955639.html

Well we could start by looking at his  test matches bowling averages : 5 Matches  6 wickets at an Ave of 56.83