England v South Africa, 2nd Test, Trent Bridge, 14-18 July, 2017

beamer wrote:Yeah, if Wood isn't bowling at 100% he's not worth having in the side.

SA ahead of the game at the moment, it's not a ground where teams typically score 450-500. Likely to be some weather interruptions early on, probably a trickier day for batting overall.

350+ would be good recovery from where we were.

Saffies are right in the game with 350. Will be cloud cover all day today it would seem.

I'm looking forward to seeing Olivier bowl. I hear he's the new Kyle Abbott. Let's hope he's not discouraged too quickly from trying to play regularly for the Saffies.....

Or is he considered 'coloured'? It's depressing and wrong that it's relevant.

Henry wrote:Saffies are right in the game with 350. Will be cloud cover all day today it would seem.

I'm looking forward to seeing Olivier bowl. I hear he's the new Kyle Abbott. Let's hope he's not discouraged too quickly from trying to play regularly for the Saffies.....

Or is he considered 'coloured'? It's depressing and wrong that it's relevant.

Not colur d as far as I know.

Anyway the ball seems to be doing a bit this morning.

2 in 2 for the Saffies.

Game on. Series on.

England smashing the SA bowlers around the park atm.

SA missed a trick yesterday when QDK fell to a loosener.

Well that was a pile of shit

This has been a breathtaking fifty from Root. Sure, some of the Saffie bowling has been poor, but some of those cover drives and cuts that Root played were simply exquisite.

Saffies seemed to miss the steady consistency of JPD

Bet they were glad to see the back of Root. Rabada a loss this test, so Horace's quota and Philander are having to do the lion's share of the work.

Good second session for the visitors after they were a bit rooted towards the end of the first.

Situation curiously mirrors the First Test, with sides reversed.

Not the arithmetical scores, but the situation with the first two and a bit innings.

They've already got enough, only a couple of days of rain could save England here.

Actually bringing in a specialist batsman or two would be a sensible idea. Without Root we would have been following on.

Engulund skittled for 205. Goodness.

Morris attributes the fightback to Faf's captaincy.

If they can fashion a win here and replace Olivier with Rabada, the series could be robustly competitive.

Pollock has his say on political meddling.

http://www.sport24.co.za/Cricket/Proteas/graeme-pollock-slams-political-meddling-in-sa-cricket-20170714

Who cares what Pollock thinks. Yet another BOWB

Still, this is a cracking match and the Poms are not out of it. Great to see good bowlers having conditions that are fair. The better batsmen are also making runs.

probably a bit harsh on Pollock, whose main point seems to be that because FC cricket has been weakened, even the white players chosen aren't good enough ...

>>>

Pollock was one of several leading players involved in a brief walk-off protest during a Rest of South Africa v Transvaal match in 1971 but he conceded this was not much in the context of apartheid.

"We had a walk off in 1971 and we were told 'stick to cricket'. We genuinely wanted to try to do something.

"But overall...we didn't do enough".

<<<

If we don't find a top order then the Ashes whitewash is a certainty before they even get on the plane.

The top three is too similar- Cook, Jennings, and Ballance are all crabby nudgers and nurdlers who will put no pressure on the opposition. I think we need at least one strokemaker in the top three. Stoneman may be worth a try. Or perhaps Hales will back his natural game if given another chance? They should also consider Dawid Malan. But he bats at four or five for Middlesex. He'd need to bat at three for England.

Root at 3, surely.

We talk about top three putting "no pressure on" then watch the whole batting line-up get out to reckless shots. Ideally we want people who can rotate the strike well, but the main requirement is that they can see off the new ball and not leave us 3 down inside 15 overs every innings. Hales can't rotate the strike, he only has block or bash, which works in JAMODIs but not really in Tests. Malan has been viewed as a white ball specialist for years and not sure what he's done to get himself in the Test frame to be honest.

A good point made on the Cricinfo discussion video, "Remember when the biggest problem with our top three was Trott batting too slowly?" On the other hand, we could just play our one-day side and they might get 350 instead of 200 when bowled out in 50 overs...

lardbucket wrote:Root at 3, surely.

Could be, but the fact is, he doesn't really want to bat there. Statistics say he's good at three, but even better at four.

I'm not sure how many would agree with me, but I reckon the best option for number three in Aus would be Ben Stokes. He plays QUICK quick bowling better than any other England player, is good against the short ball, And he's a counter-attacker. Why not?

We need three specialist openers, in effect. Unfortunately we can't find more than one who is up to the task seemingly...

What about Compton? Sam Robson?

Robson was jelly last time he played. Compton's dropping was unnecessary. Couldn't score quickly, bet England will take anyone who can stay 10-15 overs now.

What a heroic saviour of English cricket Liam Dawson is.

lardbucket wrote:probably a bit harsh on Pollock, whose main point seems to be that because FC cricket has been weakened, even the white players chosen aren't good enough ...

>>>

Pollock was one of several leading players involved in a brief walk-off protest during a Rest of South Africa v Transvaal match in 1971 but he conceded this was not much in the context of apartheid.

"We had a walk off in 1971 and we were told 'stick to cricket'. We genuinely wanted to try to do something.

"But overall...we didn't do enough".

<<<

I can remember making that point on the weakening of FC cricket back on C4