South Africa v England, 2nd Test, Capetown, 2-6 January, 2016

Oui, they are rudderless.

Morris been going at ten per over during his last spell. He is cannon fodder!!!!!!!

Will be interesting to see if this carnage impacts their batting too. The England attack is far superior though.

Stokes - better than Flintoff already?

It's becoming a massacre.

Terrific supporting knock from the maligned here's Johnny

Feel sorry for Morris.

This SA attack is arguably worse than the current Windies one.

Hundred in the session from St. Oakes.

Can only hope the batsmen show some balls.

Looks like he's going for the all-time record. The attack might be terrible but this is some effort!

taipan wrote:Can only hope the batsmen show some balls.

The pitch is good but there are plenty of instances of demoralised batsmen succumbing after witnessing their team 'mastermind' such carnage.

Red wrote:This SA attack is arguably worse than the current Windies one.

Agree. Snorkel has failed to step up in Steyns absence.

Maybe he is carrying an injury.

Stunning knock by Stokes. Totally Napeshit

Awesome stuff. Incredible.

Hey ginger haters talk nah!

Great knock by Piggsy...Heres Jonny really deserves a ton here.

196 in the session. Insanity.

Rabada is the only Sa bowler who can hold his head ul.

Brass Monkey wrote:196 in the session. Insanity.

There are constantly new benchmarks being set in this era of bat dominance over ball. Stokes entered the test with an average of twenty-seven.

Wow.

That was a mental session.

Great batting - guileless bowling.

It felt like watching Eng v Aus from late 90s early 00s where we would be bowling in a situation where you thought if we get a couple of quick wickets we have a sniff here. Then we turned up and people like McCague, Tudor just got carted around by Gilchrist and co and the bowling just looked totally amateurish.

This innings from Stokes is reminding me of Gilchrist at the Wanderers in 2002.

Unless he is injuuredd, Snorkel has damaged his reputation. Maybe he he has piggy backed on Steyns effort.

2nd fastest double century in terms of balls faced. A cracker, whichever way you look at it.

horace wrote:Great knock by Piggsy...Heres Jonny really deserves a ton here.

Agree - Jonny has batted really intelligently in support of Stokes here.

He is beginning to cement his place bigtime. Still think he's got a dodgy technique that can be exposed but he does appear to have a stronger attitude or degree of self-belief than Buttler. Buttler has great talent but seems to be just a touch too diffident at the moment to stamp his class at this level. From his ODI/T20 stuff we know he has the game to do what Stokes has just done - but at test level it's like he doesn't quite back himself to do it.

horace wrote:Unless he is injuuredd, Snorkel has damaged his reputation. Maybe he he has piggy backed on Steyns effort.

WTF are you on about? He's taken 14 wickets @ 19 before this Test, since Steyn has been injured.

horace wrote:Unless he is injuuredd, Snorkel has damaged his reputation. Maybe he he has piggy backed on Steyns effort.

He was grabbing at his side yesterday - so I think (and the comms guys hinted at it too) that he may have some sort of strain. Morkel is an odd character - capable of being a destroyer, but all too often it's like he flatters to deceive. Also, he doesn't strike me as a guy who is comfortable being the leader of the attack (similar to a Harmison perhaps). I wouldn't say he piggy backs off Steyn as that is probably too harsh, but it certainly feels like he operates better when there are other guys who are the notional spearhead of the attack with him in the role of no. 2 or back-up.

Brass Monkey wrote:

horace wrote:Unless he is injuuredd, Snorkel has damaged his reputation. Maybe he he has piggy backed on Steyns effort.

WTF are you on about? He's taken 14 wickets @ 19 before this Test, since Steyn has been injured.

That is a damn good record and kind of undermines my previous post. However, looking beyond the headline stats I'd suggest the matches in India were good for bowlers as the pitches were a bit fruity to say the least. But from the stuff I watched he did bowl very well over there - and I certainly don't think he has piggy backed off Steyn rather he just doesn't strike me as guy who likes to be top dog.