Sth Africa v England Dec 17-Feb 13

[R W S]

After a break from international test cricket since September it was good to see England in competive action again. And they pretty much took up from where they left off. Winning the first session with the crucial wickets of the Saffers skipper Smith and the ever threatening Kallis. The middle session went to the home side but credit must be given to Vaughan for drying up the runs and increasing the over rate. All South Africa's good work came undone in the evening session with Hoggard the pick of Englands bowlers getting the ball into the right areas to induce the errors that left the score on 272/7 with all hopes resting on Dippenaar who, along with Rudolph, presented the only significant resistance.

The spread betting companies expect a total of around 340 whilst England will be hoping to be batting by lunchtime today.
Advantage England, but we have yet to see just how undercooked their batsmen are and it will be a big day for Butcher who is surely in the last chance saloon.

[fair_&_balance]

I guess this test is going to be end of 8 winning streak.
Time for English players to get back to reality !!!

[fair_&_balance]

Originally Posted by fair_&_balance

I guess this test is going to be end of 8 winning streak.
Time for English players to get back to reality !!!

OK...I was wrong.

[Mike]

Mmmm, I'm not sure a series thread is a good idea because it allows new topics to be started which may be confusing. Thread titles are also a great way to find new topics, however, a new topic in a series thread won't be easily found.

Here's my new topic - I've never witnessed anything like I saw on the Sky broadcast as Pietersen and Bell walked off together at the close of the England innings. I'll quote cricinfo - "The one downer was the sight of large swathes of the Bloemfontein crowd turning their backs on the South African-born Pietersen as he walked off. A case of bad sports at Goodyear Park." I've seen quite a few one-day centuries in my time but Pietersen's century was simply awesome as he played a mixture of deft and power shots. His ability to rotate the strike was punctuated with 42 singles.

A Flintoff                                               KP Pietersen
Right Hand Bat                                           Right Hand Bat

Runs: 104                                                Runs: 108 
Balls faced: 91                                          Balls faced: 96 
Strike rate: 114.29                                      Strike rate: 112.50 
Scoring shots: 48                                        Scoring shots: 67 

 
0s     43                                                0s     29 
1s     23                                                1s     46 
2s     12                                                2s     13  
3s      1                                                3s      0  
4s      9                                                4s      6 
6s      3                                                6s      2

Compare Pietersen's century with Flintoff's last century against Sri Lanka in the Summer and you can see clearly that Pietersen is not all brute power. In fact, his ability to nudge the ball into gaps to rotate the strike is one-day batting at its best. Flintoff, on the otherhand, tends to block balls whilst waiting for the one he can score fours and sixes off. Can't wait to see them playing together in the Summer. Together, they have the potential to demoralize any attack in the world.