South Africa v England: 2nd Test: 26-30 December

[Notts Exile]

Originally Posted by Pete

Officially Cape Coloured, like Gibbs.

You're right Pete, I stand corrected. For some reason his name seemed very Afrikaaner to me!

"The modern Cape Folk (Cape Coloured) are most directly descended from the mixed race slave population of South Africa. Dutch Calvinist settlers came to colonize and work the land of the Cape of Good Hope in the middle of the 17th century. They relied heavily on slave labor, drawn from a mixture of Malay, Malagasy and Khoi people. The Malay came from the Dutch spice islands in South East Asia, the Malagasy were brought from the island of Madagascar and the Khoi were living in South Africa when the Boer farmers arrived. The various groups of slaves intermarried freely, and were augmented by quite a few marriages and informal partnerships with Dutch settlers. Sociologically the Coloured community has been more open than any of the other racially based communities and has welcomed all persons of mixed ancestry"

[Mike_Hock]

Madagascar - Isn't that a new Guns n Roses song?

O.K, enough about the SA squad, it doesn't matter who they pick, if Eng perform to at least 90% of their potential they will win.

Will Eng stick with the same XI? I've read in a couple of papers that Anderson may come in for Jones as Durban tends to favour orthodox swingers of the ball. I can't see this happening but if it does Jones would be entitled to be slightly peed off as he turned the 1st match. Only other question mark will be over Butch. Mixed 1st match for him with 79&0 plus he missed a sitter.

I think the same XI will be selected but I would like to see Key in for Butch. Give us a chance to see what he can do before the ashes.

[R W S]

Originally Posted by Mike_Hock

Will Eng stick with the same XI? I've read in a couple of papers that Anderson may come in for Jones as Durban tends to favour orthodox swingers of the ball. I can't see this happening but if it does Jones would be entitled to be slightly peed off as he turned the 1st match. Only other question mark will be over Butch. Mixed 1st match for him with 79&0 plus he missed a sitter.

I think the same XI will be selected but I would like to see Key in for Butch. Give us a chance to see what he can do before the ashes.

G'Evening Mike,
Same again for me too. If I were to play Jimmy I'd seriously think about replacing Hoggard before Jones the Knee.
As to the No.3 spot - Butcher for me, and at the end of the test I'd take all four innings into consideration and then make a choice whether Key gets the rest of the series or Butch get let of his current probation.

I concur - England at 90% are better than the Saffers at 100%.

[Ernest]

Yes sure was Mike "Madagascar" is a Guns n Roses song, from a time when music had a twang with it, Metallica, Megadeath ect.

Yes England will stay with the same X1, bit 50/50 over Key I think, but why split a winning team?.

[Mike_Hock]

Evening RWS, I can't see them replacing either Jones or Hoggard with Anderson as they were the best two bowlers for England. I really think Jones is going to kick on now (injury permitting) and prove how good he really is. It wasn't that long ago McCullum couldn't get a bat on his reverse swingers when he was in the 90's! He also hit 93mph in the last match and now he has a beautiful slower ball in the bag.

Evening Ernest, Guns N Roses are still together as you may already now - although Axl is the only original member.

[Pete]

After what Ray Jennings said about our batting being undercooked I won't say much, but hopefully his bad trott will continue.

Angus Fraser - The Independent

In an attempt to prove he has recovered from the hand injury which kept him out of the first Test, Gibbs yesterday played for his province in a one-day match in Cape Town but only faced five balls and scored four runs before he was trapped lbw.

[Ernest]

I wonder, will the next Test at Durban starting on Boxing Day be harder?,we can expect a hard pitch, full of pace and bounce.

I wonder if they will leave some green on the pitch?,and if they do, who will it suit the most Pollock or Hoggard?.

We need Harmison to be back at least to be near his best, and Jones will probably bowl with more speed than Port Elizabeth, were the odd delivery reached 87mph.

The South Africans have brought in a specialist spinner, but that not be the best of ideas on such a pitch.

Gibbs is back, so our bowlers will have to be accurate, he can alter a game in half an hour or so.

As for England, we need to see a bit more from the batting, wake up calls for all I think, to shake of the rust.

It will be more difficult on paper at least, but I would still expect us to go 2 up.

[Pete]

Just saw part of an interview with Kev Pietersen on SkySports News. He was saying that this next pitch in Durban will be bouncy and that Harmison and Flintoff should have good success there.

[R W S]

Ge the Durban weather from the beeb here

[Ernest]

Originally Posted by Pete

Just saw part of an interview with Kev Pietersen on SkySports News. He was saying that this next pitch in Durban will be bouncy and that Harmison and Flintoff should have good success there.

Yes I agree Pete, but I bet they doctor the pitch to suit Pollock as well, still he is not going to knock antones block off, is he?

Originally Posted by R W S 30100

Ge the Durban weather from the beeb here

Tell you what R W, have you seen the humidity for Sunday 100%, bad to play in that sweaty heat.