In what should be the series of the year (dismal English summer permitting) South Africa meet England starting in about 4 hours. Personally I think Philander, Morkel and Steyn can skittle the English. However, South Africa have never won at the Oval, and have lost Boucher in a freak accident in a tour match, a heavy blow indeed. What say the cricket fans on the Dope?
Oh, and you have to love the glorious indifference to everything not cricket showed by the ICC to schedule this series to coincide with the Olympics.
I say it’ll be close. I think that the English attack shade SA, as does the deep batting line-up.
However in order to make the most of that they need to hit form. Any dip in quality and SA will have us.
The thing that the English with ball in hand have going for them is English conditions. The bowling attack has become extremely skilled at home. That said, the SA attack is probably the best in the world right now and will be fired up to knock the English over. I predict a relatively low scoring series.
I make SA mild favourites. Perversely I think Boucher’s injury might make SA slightly stronger, as it means that they can include an extra bat with AB De Villiers taking the gloves. Practically speaking it might mean that the odd chance goes down behind but the extra runs that they should get from a bat better than Boucher over the course of 6 innings could well swing the balance. It also means England have to keep plugging away at the SA batsmen for longer.
I have a ticket for Saturday. Massively looking forward to it; hopefully the rain is going to hold off.
On the cricket v Olympics thing - well, the 1st Test is usually at Lords and they can’t do that due to the Archery. So they have moved some stuff around to accommodate. The real travesty is that this is only a 3 match series. Should have been 5 - but instead we decided to chuck in some meaningless ODIs against the Aussies to fill the coffers. Utter madness. We’d have filled two more test grounds for 8 days (and whatever you get on Day 5 is a bonus) easily for this series.
So they don’t just insult holy ground by not making it the Olympic Stadium as was proper, they desecrate it further by having some other sport there, and worse a sport whose adherents once got cricket banned?
Do those torture racks at the tower still work?
Also can we get Atherton, Hick and Ramprakash as they tagets?
England bat very deep. SA’s tail starts from number 8 while England’s number 10 can bat.
Even though my favorite players are more from SA - dE Villiers, Steyn, Amla, Kallis than from England- Anderson, Cook, Bopara, I will still want England to win and come as No. 1 side to tour India in November. My prediction - 2-0 win for England.
Yeah, works out quite nicely - one of my mates is a member at Surrey and, as a result, gets first crack at international tickets so there are 4 of us going along. We’ve got damn good seats - Vauxhall End behind the bowler’s arm - which at £60 for a full day is, I think, really good value for a game between two of the best nations in world cricket.
I doubt we will be in the fancy dress brigade though - usually my group of mates are in the group of people grumbling about the silly music played after boundaries get scored at T20 games (leading to us not going to them ultimately). Wandering into a random 4 day match after work for a fiver or so for the final session is slightly more our scene - barely anyone there and an opportunity to sit wherever you like in the peace and quiet (did I mention that I am 31 - the above makes me sound like I am 63).
They’re probably feeling overCooked already, since he’s just made his 20th international hundred - and with a little luck he’s a good many more Test tons in him as he’s still well short of 30.
Once again I’m reminded why I never bet on sport, as England proceeded to a nice first day total of 267 for 3.
Lord’s as the Olympic stadium would be a terrible idea, wouldn’t they have to tear up the boundaries to lay a running track? And imagine watching the javelins and discuses landing onto the wicket block.
I’m also against the silly music thing. Over here they even do so at rugby games. I’m attending to watch the game, not hear 20 second snippets of old top 40s tunes played over the loudspeakers. I almost wish the recording industry would raise their licencing fees to stamp out this pernicious practice.
England are 19-3 in the opening hour this morning so at 286-6. Cloud cover has helped a touch but the Saffers have bowled a hell of a lot better too to take advantage. The game has really been set on it’s head. England needs to drag themselves up to 400 I think - looks like they’ll fall short though.
I’m in Vauxhall, about 5 mins walk from the Oval. It’s always a bit disheartening knowing you’re missing a good match, but it’s peculiarly painful when you’re in such close proximity. But for certain technicalities about tickets and conditions of my employment, I could walk over after lunch and see Anderson bowl.
(Weather watch - very overcast but no imminent rain).
It’s a nice thought, but my understanding is that very short snippets of tunes (less than 30 seconds?) are fair use and don’t require licensing. Could be wrong, though.
This is where we really need that tail to wag - is it as strong as it looks?
The series has definitely come alive this morning. If we can get another 50-60 runs I’ll take that. South Africa have to bat last on a pitch expected to wear.
The tail is strong, but they aren’t worth their averages against a good attack on form.
Done - at 385. Good stuff from SA today. England will be disappointed they didn’t make at least 400, given they were 251-2 at one point in this innings. Not great.
At least England can have a go with the still overcast conditions. The bowlers could really do with getting a couple of quick wickets to get us back in the driving seat.
