England 2012 Cricket Thread

[PaulWinch again]

Great day from England and it sets a good marker for the series.

[PaulWinch again]

Bad time to lose Cook. Right Ravi time to step up.

[jcsutv]

Can that be the last time we give Bopara a chance. It's Ramprakash all over again.

[PaulWinch again]

That is appalling from Bopara. We're in trouble here now, what a terrible terrible start to the morning.

[PaulWinch again]

Sort it out England, this has been a shambles this morning.

[Villan For Life]

That is appalling from Bopara. We're in trouble here now, what a terrible terrible start to the morning.

Plenty of batting still to come and Bell is the right man to bat with the lower middle order and the tail.

[Villan For Life]

That is appalling from Bopara. We're in trouble here now, what a terrible terrible start to the morning.

Plenty of batting still to come and Bell is the right man to bat with the lower middle order and the tail.

Until he gets out that is!

[Dave Cooper please]

We're not in trouble!
We bat down to number 10 and I fancy out bowlers to give us a first innings lead as long as we get somewhere near 350. Then this pitch will start wearing and Swann will rip through them in the fourth innings.

Bopara has probably blown his last Test chance though, might as well let some of the youngsters have a go at number five to get used to Test cricket than just keep letting Bopara fail.

[PaulWinch again]

Well regardless of the context of the whole game, this has been about as bad a first hour as possible. Really really poor, but this England team has shown resilience in the past and needs to fight back hard.

[Chris Smith]

Test cricket isn't supposed to be easy so in the context of the series I'm pleased that SA are showing some fight. The game is nicely poised now and my chances of getting anything done today have been reduced significantly.

[Dave Cooper please]

South Africa have a superb bowling attack, and with overcast skies and a new ball it was never going to be easy against them, at some point there was bound to be a small clatter of wickets. What differentiates this England team from the horror shows of the past is their ability to not let small clatters turn into massive collapses.

[PaulWinch again]

Come on Prior dig in, you've had some serious luck but we need a good score here.

[PaulWinch again]

Well that's a pretty horrendous session from us. Need a good afternoon session to fightback now, if we could somehow fight to 400 that'd be good.

[Villan For Life]

We really need Swann to hold up and end to allow Prior to nudge and nurdle another 30-odd runs and the score to 400. That will put down a marker for the series.

[Villan For Life]

385 all out. Disappointing when you consider we were 250 - 2.

Time for the bowlers to work their magic.