England v South Africa, 2nd Test, Old Trafford, 25-29 August, 2022

Not for long… the tail subsides very quickly, and it’s one innings victory apiece.

Set for an Oval decider then, always good when the last Test series of the summer comes down to that. Let’s hope it’s a competitive game that lasts more than three days - they might have to prepare an absolute motorway to achieve that, though.

Well done England.

All ended quickly after Tea, after a stubborn stand between Petersen & van der Dussen was broken.

skully wrote:Well done England.

All ended quickly after Tea, after a stubborn stand between Petersen & van der Dussen was broken.

Yes. England too good but Elgar's footprints are all over this loss. They dropped their impressive quick Jansen for a yeoman spinner. He elected to bat first and so in both innings faced challenging conditions - variable movement in the second dig. He made a pair of twelves. Pretty ignominious performance compared with his captaincy counterpart who was named MOTM. If SA bring this batting lineup to Australia it will be a shocker of a series. Maybe they have to go for youth and promote the supposed next AB - Dewald Brevis.

Can Butthead be far behind him?

A poor performance from SA - Elgar had enough 'what were you thinking' moments in this match to last other captains a career.

Currently in solitary with You Know What & with the insomnia that goes with it, so some proper cricket tonight with the tennis not starting till tomorrow & no footy would heve been bloody handy.

As I said last time, and do every time there’s a three-day Test - they should play an ODI (with Test XIs) on the scheduled fourth day, for the benefit of the ticketholders, hosting ground and broadcasters.

Fred Nerk wrote:Can Butthead be far behind him?

A poor performance from SA - Elgar had enough 'what were you thinking' moments in this match to last other captains a career.

Currently in solitary with You Know What & with the insomnia that goes with it, so some proper cricket tonight with the tennis not starting till tomorrow & no footy would heve been bloody handy.

One of his 'what was he thinking' moments was when England slumped to 5/140 odd and he decided it was time to unleash the spinners.

Fred Nerk wrote:Can Butthead be far behind him?

A poor performance from SA - Elgar had enough 'what were you thinking' moments in this match to last other captains a career.

Currently in solitary with You Know What & with the insomnia that goes with it, so some proper cricket tonight with the tennis not starting till tomorrow & no footy would heve been bloody handy.

Belgian GP might put you to sleep ...

lardbucket wrote:

Fred Nerk wrote:Can Butthead be far behind him?

A poor performance from SA - Elgar had enough 'what were you thinking' moments in this match to last other captains a career.

Currently in solitary with You Know What & with the insomnia that goes with it, so some proper cricket tonight with the tennis not starting till tomorrow & no footy would heve been bloody handy.

Belgian GP might put you to sleep ...

With Verstappen and Leclerc starting at the back it might be interesting.

I'm rather glad Elgar had his arse handed to him in this match after his rather pompous comments about the "purity" of test cricket before the start of the series.

beamer wrote:As I said last time, and do every time there’s a three-day Test - they should play an ODI (with Test XIs) on the scheduled fourth day, for the benefit of the ticketholders, hosting ground and broadcasters.

They used to. That was how international one-day cricket started.

A year later the 71-72 World XI were bowled out for 70-something in about 20 overs in a 50-over match, then gallantly defended that total for about 12 overs without looking like taking a wicket. The game was over before 2.30 in the afternoon.

The players returned ten minutes later and played a 15-over scratch match, in which Graeme Pollock scored 50 in under half an hour and John Benaud, 12th man in the scheduled game, smashed a quick-fire 30 including a massive six which hit the 'Southern Stand' sign about a metre and a half from the clock which has long had a bounty on it. That 30 over slog-off turned a comprehensive flop into a very entertaining afternoon for all.

Apparently Ollie Robinson took some health and fitness advice from Chris Martin before the match… and that’s the Coldplay frontman, not his coach’s former NZ team-mate!

beamer wrote:Apparently Ollie Robinson took some health and fitness advice from Chris Martin before the match… and that’s the Coldplay frontman, not his coach’s former NZ team-mate!

That was just before Kim Kardashian told him how to bowl a knuckle-ball.