The International Cricket Thread

[PaulWinch again]

Brilliant 2nd half of the day.

Hopefully we can keep Mark Wood fit as him and a fired up Jofra in the same team is a great prospect.

Thought Woakes bowled beautifully and deserved more than 1 wicket. Granted its a pretty poor SA team, but poor performance in the 1st test aside, England have been very good.

If, and it’s a big if, Archer and Wood are fit and firing in Aus in 18 months we’ve got a chance of being in the contest.

[Villan For Life]

As a cricket fan it’s sad to see such an underwhelming South Africa side. They’ve been blessed with some fantastic players over the years, players who transcend rivalries. That said they’re making us look fantastic.....we’re not but we’re making progress.

[PaulWinch again]

Yes it’s a shame. Ideally you’d have strong South African, West Indian, and Pakistani sides to give the world game some real depth.

[manic-road]

SA all out and England don't enforce the follow on and bat again, currently lead with 235 for 0 wickets.

[paul_e]

SA all out and England don't enforce the follow on and bat again, currently lead with 235 for 0 wickets.

No great shock, by batting again they should completely remove the possibility of a SA win, thereby confirming the series victory. Lead is, effectively, 292/2 with Crawley and Denly gone. That's already a tough chase on this wicket. I can imagine England going for something like 450 by about lunch tomorrow and then give themselves 5 sessions to seal the victory.

[Risso]

All done today, 466 lead.  Shame Buttler couldn't get some runs, but he still looks out of sorts.

[Steve67]

Our bowlers will be nice and fresh tomorrow morning.

[PaulWinch again]

Wood has been terrific.

[tomd2103]

Wood has been terrific.

Interesting interview with him after the close of play today.  Michael Holding was there as well and he said he had taken Holding's advice to lengthen his run up, as his previous shortened run up was causing too much stress on his body. 

Holding did some good analysis on him during the last test, showing the awkward position he gets into delivering the ball and it wasn't hard to see from that just why he picks up so many injuries. 

[tomd2103]

As a cricket fan it’s sad to see such an underwhelming South Africa side. They’ve been blessed with some fantastic players over the years, players who transcend rivalries. That said they’re making us look fantastic.....we’re not but we’re making progress.

Agree and can't see them improving any time soon really.  There has been huge turmoil behind the scenes recently, leading to members of their board being suspended and their main sponsor pulling out.  Their domestic game is in tatters, with arguments about which sides should be granted first class status and the new 20/20 league they have set up has received little support.

The Kolpak situation might change though after Brexit and that might stem the flow of players leaving somewhat, but the financial situation in South Africa puts them at a major disadvantage when trying to keep players there. 

[Villan For Life]

A pretty spectacular collapse by South Africa, losing 6 for 40-odd to give England a win by 191 runs and the series 3-1.

I reckon that if the squad hadn't been decimated by illness then we may have won the first test too.

[paul_e]

A pretty spectacular collapse by South Africa, losing 6 for 40-odd to give England a win by 191 runs and the series 3-1.

I reckon that if the squad hadn't been decimated by illness then we may have won the first test too.

Agreed, I think the illness factor was under played in the first test now we can see how these 2 teams look at full tilt, it was 3 comfortable wins really.

[paul_e]

England having a rough time in the first ODI.

Currently 131/6 after 27.5

Lots of starts but some awful batting, particularly against a very average spinner, has screwed the middle order.

[UK Redsox]

Our Chris in to bat on his 100th ODI appearance

[paul_e]

Our Chris in to bat on his 100th ODI appearance

He did a great job to get us into position to post a competitive target, as did Denly. I'm worried we're a little short here (270-280 would be par I think) but batting out the overs and having a score that gives us a chance is a good result given where we were after 25.