England 2012 Cricket Thread

[PaulWinch again]

These dropped catches are killing us.

[PaulWinch again]

Needed that wicket badly. Need to knock a couple more down now.

[PaulWinch again]

Great delivery from Finn to get rid of Steyn, we're fighting back finally.

[PaulWinch again]

Broad finally bowling properly.

[PaulWinch again]

They fought back well, but we need to do what South Africa did to us in the last test. We have to find our rhythm like we did towards the end of the day.

[PaulWinch again]

Oh and I think not playing a spinner is a mistake. I would either have moved Prior up to six and played 5 bowlers, or dropped Bresnan for Finn. England need to win every session well tomorrow.

[PaulWinch again]

Bowled well this morning but no reward I fear for us now.

[PaulWinch again]

Struggling in a big way now.

[PaulWinch again]

KP strikes we don't need a spinner. In all seriousness maybe Swann might have been a shout.

[Rip Van We Go Again]

I smell a follow on here.

[taylorsworkrate]

Very poor again today.

Oh, and a big well done to the headingsley groundsman for producing a flat pitch in a match England had to win.

[paul_e]

I don't think we've been that poor to be honest.  The drop of Peterson when he was in the 20s has cost us massively, ironically dropped in the spot where Swann would've been stood if he'd played.

Swann has been missed at times though and I'd probably have just pushed everyone from prior down up a place to bring in Finn for Bopara.  We really need one of Bresnan, Swann or Broad to start batting like a genuine all-rounder, they're all good with the bat but need to be a bit more consistent and, more importantly, be able to bat to the situation, if one of them does that we can easily accommodate Finn who is a great option with the ball.

[PaulWinch again]

It's still winnable, lucky for Strauss there. We have to bat and bowl very well.

[OzVilla]

Still surprised we dropped Swann and changed a bowling attack that's been doing the job consistently for 2/3 years.  England blinked so kudos to the Saffas.

It'll be a hard road now with 400+ on the board but the batters need to show some grit here and not throw their wickets away - the saffa attack is good enough without that already.  Parity or above gives us a chance but that would take until the morning/middle session of day 4 against this attack - time not on our side and would require a fantastic bowling performance.

[Chris Smith]

Rain forecast all weekend, it will be a surprise if there's a result in this one.