South Africa v England, 4th Test, Centurion, 22-26 January, 2016

Changes? I reckon England will give Footitt a debut in place of the injured Finn. If they're not going to play him here in a dead-rubber, then they're never going to play him, and questions will be asked as to why he was picked for the tour if there's seemingly no chance of him playing a game.

For the Saffies, well I guess there's the potential for a few changes. Cook for Van Zyl is one possibility. Also, de Kock's knee should be ok, and he'll come back in for Vilas. I doubt Steyn will be ready, but Abbott may come in for the quick but wayward Viljoen. I reckon Faf is struggling to hold his spot as well. They could replace him with Duminy, or retain Morris and have five specialist bowlers with a slightly long tail.

Possible-

Elgar
Cook
Amla
de Villiers (c)
Bavuma
de Kock+
Morris
Abbott
Rabada
Piedt
M.Morkel

Parnell?

Faf has to be dropped....van Dill must also go. Snorkel must be hanging on by a thread

And agree re Footsy. Am worried for Monkeys mental health if Woakes gets the nod.

Danny's already conceded (without breaking into a hysterical cackle) they will go with Woakes. May just be steeling himself, but I suppose we all suspect they will take the duller option.

Well they used the excuse of Woakes being a "like-for-like" for Anderson when the grumpy Lanc got injured. They can make no such excuse for Finn and Woakes.

Stephen Cook added to the squad so one assumes he would play instead of Van Zyl. Vilas released so de Kock must be back up for selection.

Stop the qota. Enough of van Dill.

PeterCS wrote:Danny's already conceded (without breaking into a hysterical cackle) they will go with Woakes. May just be steeling himself, but I suppose we all suspect they will take the duller option.

He's Ian Bell II: The All-rounder. Wait... does he play for Warwickshire too? Well I'll be...  

He bowled about 4 jaffas, a dozen or so decent balls and didn't bowl much filth. From what I saw, though, the batsmen had little trouble negotiating him. Metronomically unthreatening.

Insane to think they may not take this opportunity to see what Footitt can do, for variety's sake if nothing else.

Oh well.

horace wrote:Stop the qota. Enough of van Dill.

?

How does the quota help van Zyl?


Much as Arsenal had to play with Dicks out, South Africa might have to keep playing the de Kock out.

Mindless van-Dill-ism!

Jaaps and elite pte schools appears the basis of the quota in saffie selection. Do not know what Nigel is whining about.

Van Dill has been a walking wicket.

PeterCS wrote:Mindless van-Dill-ism!

It is as well the Van Dils and Goughs are not playing together. The current state of South African cricket seems parlous without such travails.

Are the sides confirmed?

Grim for SAf that Steyn is still missing.

And Philander.

There is talk that de Kock may open to accommodate Duminy but surely Cook is in the squad to open and dk will bat down the order. Rilee R. has been released to his domestic team. He is unlucky.

what happened to De Lange?

Nath wrote:what happened to De Lange?

Still playing for franchise.

SA to bat. 5 changes.

I'm glad they dropped faf, his mindset has been way too negative of late.

Great to see duminy back, the team looks a lot more balanced with him in it.

Naeem wrote:I'm glad they dropped faf, his mindset has been way too negative of late.

Great to see duminy back, the team looks a lot more balanced with him in it.

Going to disagree there. Rilee should have played.

Proper opener, proper score. Job done.

Chris Woakes. Not Footitt. 6 overs for 30 runs, no wicket. Top business.

Brass Monkey wrote:Proper opener, proper score. Job done.

Strange that. Probably never happened in one of Linda's 3 FC games.

Proper keeper and we would have them two down. Wonder how many runs Bairstow will have to score to make up for that dismal effort off Broad's bowling.

Well I hope this has silenced all those naysayers who said Cook would not reach 50 in this series.

Mention has been made of the fact that he holds the FC record in South Africa (390). But interestingly that is the _only_ FC score over 350 in South Africa.

His father also had to wait until quite a mature age before his Test debut, but for different reasons.