Sth Africa V England

[ledge]

Just thought i would enjoy the victory the poms had today, beaten Australia and now looking ok to beat Sth Africa, must be moving up the ranks.

Swann seems to have come on and can bat, average around 40 i believe, not bad for a number 8.

Just who are the powerhouse test teams now, its a lot closer than it been has for years and seems 3 or 4 teams are competing for top spot

Personally i think England are a very good side but do tend to have one bad game in a series.

Sth Africa, well they are just so unpredictable, whether home or away.

Australia looking at results are as good as ever but watching games dont look very settled at all.

India? Need to get them out of the home wickets to have a serious look.

[Remi Moses]

Re: Sth Africa V England

Haven't seen any of this Test but watched a fair bit of the first where Graeme Smith cost his team any chance of victory with an incredibly conservative declaration. Giving the poms 360 in a day and a bit on a pitch giving the bowlers assistance was mind boggling.
Just imagine the outrage here if Ponting had done the same thing

[The Coon Dog]

Re: Sth Africa V England

Funny game cricket.

Once again South Africa dominate England, as they did in the first test, but trail 1-0 in the series. An absorbing, tense final day of test cricket.

When Smith declared his 2nd innings England required 465 runs, a target they were never going to get. South Africa had given themselves just over 10 hours to bowl England out.

When Morkel captured the prize scalp of Bell England were 9 down with just 17 balls in the match remaining. Swann & Onions held out for a nail biting draw, despite some hostile bowling at the death by Morkel & Steyn.

Some great rear guard action by Paul Collingwood (40 runs in 276 mins of 188 balls), Bell (78 runs in 286 mins of 213 balls) & even Broad who made a duck, but importantly faced 22 balls.

Very similar to the first test where once again South Africa dominated, but failed to bowl England out in the 4th innings, (9 wickets down) with Onions & Collingwood surviving the final 19 balls. Collingwood batted for 159 mins for his 26* & Trott spend over 5 hours at the crease compiling a patient 69.

As you can imagine, elation in the England camp, utter devastation in the South African camp. At least Smith won't be criticised this time for batting too long.

[hujsh]

Re: Sth Africa V England

Amazing how England manage series wins as the worse team in the series. (assuming they win of course)

[Sedat]

Re: Sth Africa V England

Once again South Africa dominate England, as they did in the first test, but trail 1-0 in the series. An absorbing, tense final day of test cricket.

And just as they did in the first Ashes test in Cardiff. That's 3 get-out-of-jail cards used up by the Poms in 7 months. Pretty impressive effort to bat for 139 overs in the 4th innings to save a test - about 100 overs more than the Pakis could manage in Sydney and with the pitch in far worse condition.

Did you see Steyn's post lunch spell against Bell and Collingwood? Some of the best fast bowling not to take a wicket you'll ever see. They were simply not good enough to get bat on ball.

[ledge]

Re: Sth Africa V England

Isnt Sth Africa number 1 team now in the Test playing nations?

For what its worth I dont think the english are a bad side when they knuckle down, beating Australia and now at least leading S.A in S.A means they deserve to be wary of.

Collingwood is very good with back to the wall, Strauss seems to be liked as a captain with his team mates and they fight to the wire.
Could be a very interesting ashes series in Australia which i think is great for the game.

[GVGjr]

Re: Sth Africa V England

Did I hear that England have been found tampering with the ball again?

Standing on the ball with their spikes, picking the seam and deliberately bouncing the ball into the keeper is certainly not in the spirit of the game. SA should have made an official complaint.

[ledge]

Re: Sth Africa V England

No idea i have heard nothing, obviously didnt work, would of thought thats pretty obvious to see by an umpire though.

[GVGjr]

Re: Sth Africa V England

No idea i have heard nothing, obviously didnt work, would of thought thats pretty obvious to see by an umpire though.

From what I have heard, They have a heap of visuals of the stomping on the ball, the picking of the seam and bouncing the ball into the keeper to rough it up from 30tmrs but SA didn't make it an official complaint. It's about time these guys started to pay for these acts.

[GVGjr]

Re: Sth Africa V England

No idea i have heard nothing, obviously didnt work, would of thought thats pretty obvious to see by an umpire though.

South Africa accuses England again of cheating

South African batsman AB de Villiers reignited controversy over ball tampering when he said an official complaint should have been made during the third Test at Newlands.

Earlier in the day the matter appeared to have been laid to rest when the South Africa team management confirmed it had not made an official complaint.

The International Cricket Council issued a statement saying no action would be taken against England players.

"I think there should be a formal complaint. We spoke about it at Kingsmead because I look after our ball when we bowl and the captain asked why they get the ball to reverse a bit earlier," said De Villiers, who also claimed that there was "tension" between the sides. "The questions had been asked a few days before this Test and they still got it to reverse a bit quicker. Maybe they just have more skills."

Asked why South Africa had not made an official complaint, De Villiers said: "I'm not really sure, I thought we did. [The coach] Mickey Arthur actually told us he sent an email through, but I'm not really aware of that. I think there should be a formal complaint because the ball did reverse after that and there was quite clearly a piece of leather off the ball after he'd [Broad] stepped on it and it's not the first time it happened. It's a little bit naughty. I wouldn't say he deserves to be banned but it should be looked at definitely.

Television pictures captured Broad stopping, stepping on the ball with his spikes, while fellow fast bowler James Anderson appeared to be manipulating the seam.

"We all like to get the ball to reverse and to swing all over the show as long as you do it in a legal way,'' said De Villiers, who added that, as the fielder designated to look after the ball, he had been asked by captain Graeme Smith why the ball did not swing as early for South Africa as it did for England.

De Villiers said he had not seen anything illegal himself but referred to the television footage of Broad stepping on the ball.

"I think there should be a formal complaint because the ball did reverse after that,'' he said.
Source Daily mirror

[ledge]

Re: Sth Africa V England

So its got leather hanging off it and the umpires said nothing?
Besides SA made 400 odd runs and declared, how did the ball tampering by England help?

More the fact SA hasnt been able to get England out is the problem which has nothing to do with ball tampering.

Sounds like BS to me.

[GVGjr]

Re: Sth Africa V England

So its got leather hanging off it and the umpires said nothing?
Besides SA made 400 odd runs and declared, how did the ball tampering by England help?

More the fact SA hasnt been able to get England out is the problem which has nothing to do with ball tampering.

Sounds like BS to me.

They might have made that score 10 overs quicker and had more time bowling.

England have been taking short cuts with ball tampering for years and using every other questionable tactic and it's about time they paid something for that.
It's very fortunate for them that SA didn't make it an official complaint because with the evidence being overwhelming a couple of their guys and their captain might not have been playing in the next match.

[ledge]

Re: Sth Africa V England

Now thats clutching at straws, I still find the leather hanging off the ball a bit hard to fathom.
As far as taking short cuts, what does that mean?

Must say I loved the mint accusation, what a laugh, since i was a kid (played cricket for 35 years) and it was always recommended to chew something to keep your mouth moist.

Biggest load of rubbish i ever read.

England get reverse swing better than us so they must be cheating! Look at England conditions of course they will swing it better, they play in cloudy green pitches all the time, as India and other asian countries always have great spinners, look at the conditions they are bought up in.
So if a team can do something better than another team its cheating?

[GVGjr]

Re: Sth Africa V England

Now thats clutching at straws, I still find the leather hanging off the ball a bit hard to fathom.
As far as taking short cuts, what does that mean?

Must say I loved the mint accusation, what a laugh, since i was a kid (played cricket for 35 years) and it was always recommended to chew something to keep your mouth moist.

Biggest load of rubbish i ever read.

England get reverse swing better than us so they must be cheating! Look at England conditions of course they will swing it better, they play in cloudy green pitches all the time, as India and other asian countries always have great spinners, look at the conditions they are bought up in.
So if a team can do something better than another team its cheating?

Why would a bowler pick the seam?
Why would bowlers stamp their spiked shoes onto the ball?
Why would fieldsman deliberately bounce the ball back to the keeper from 30 meters away?

In case you still can't fathom what that means, it's to gain an advantage that otherwise might take many more overs to occur.

England are a good enough side without taking the short cuts.

[mighty_west]

Re: Sth Africa V England

So its got leather hanging off it and the umpires said nothing?
Besides SA made 400 odd runs and declared, how did the ball tampering by England help?

More the fact SA hasnt been able to get England out is the problem which has nothing to do with ball tampering.

Sounds like BS to me.

I only saw the spikes go into the ball in one of the news highlights packages, but it doesn't matter if it helped them or not in this case, ball tampering is ball tempering and will get outlawed, it's a blight on the game.

That said, with all the camera's these days, why even put themselves in that position?