"Stupid, reckless and complacent"

[Rachael]

Dear old Geoffrey doesn't hold back in his assessment of the English 1st innings batting performance in today's Torygraph.. and the headline quote on the front cover is a gem "It was like watching lemmings walking over a cliff edge".

ON talksport yesterday the commentators were noting that this wasn't just the 2nd such 1st innings display in 2 matches.. but almost the 3rd in 3consecutive matches as the team contrived to get itself from 238 for 1 to 353 for 7 (yup, 115 runs for 6 wickets) with no top order bats remaining at the crease to bat with the tail.

Thing is... with the notable exception of Kallis... the suggestion that the SA side has done any better doesn't really hold water either: lots of starts, lots of partnerships that got going.. and gifted wicket after gifted wicket: even with batting right down to 9 the side has contrived to lose one Test it should have been able to draw and to almost lose a second where a draw or win had seemed the only likely outcomes... and hasn't exactly been cruising in this 3rd match.

Looking further afield.. the Aussies hve contrived to dig themselves into a couple of holes recently against Pakistan (though they ultimately had little trouble digging themselves back. A few months ago even India managed to do the lemming thing quite embarrassingly well.. capitulating to the Aussies in double quick time...

This is all before we consider the more predictably abject capitulations of the likes of the WI and Pakistan in recent times: capitulations now so widely expected that they merely bring resigned shrugs...

We're used to hearing that were in a lull in world bowling... and no-one has been suggesting that any of the above has been due to extreme pressure on batsmen: it's just as if there's a tendency towards capitulation spreading insidiously through world cricket.

Any explanations, anyone?

[Zainub]

Hmm...Boycott, one really does start getting the feeling listening to him and reading his view that he's getting old. This time, though, I agree with Boycott. England's recent batting colapses have all been down to complacency, in some ways over confidence even. I do still think thouh that Geoffry has an increased tendency to get too skeptical, before the series started he said England would be "lucky" to get a draw and that Simon Jones "should not be in the team". Those predictions if you want to call them haven't exactly been spot on. So, I'm still positive England can come through this patch as the did in Durban. We should never count the chickens before the eggs hatch.

Back to your question though, "capitulations" as you call them are getting somewhat wide spread Rachael, you are right, my personal opinion is that all barring Australia most teams tend to struggle when they are asked to play under real pressure, it is for my reckoning a phcyological thing. Most of our recent batting collapses for instance have occured in the 2nd innings, when we were batting in the face of big deficits, totally out of the game, or in the mid way through a first innings when Austraia drawed us into soft dismissals via building pressure by bowling dot balls. Mark Richardson use to write wonderfully about how Australia exploited other teams' inabilities to cope with such pressure.

Originally Posted by Mark Richardson on NZ's performance in the 1st test against the Aussies this summer

In this game the momentum swing was like a snow ball that just hurtled down hill gathering size and speed.We are determined to succeed and put a hell of lot into our cricket but I feel we have a tendency to get mentally exhausted. What people might not realise is that even in a five-day game the instances that shift the balance of the game can be as short as one ball. A great team can identify these times and capitalize if they go in their favour or have something extra to dig in with to gain parity again.

Originally Posted by Justin Langer on the same test match

..we turned our momentum into a hurricane which simply blew New Zealand into oblivion in two days of Test cricket. Again, a classic display of fast and spin bowling was witnessed as everyone of the 11 players on the park surrounded the New Zealanders like bees surrounding a honey pot. The pressure was immense and all encompassing. It feels like you are standing in the middle of that hurricane watching the opposition simply succumb with very few answers.

It's all about team unable and ill equipped too handle pressure situations.

[Shaka]

WRT Pakistan I just don't think we play enough test match cricket these days. Very few of our batsmen seem to know how to build an innings and the gradual improvement since the 1st test in Australia seems to back that view.

It's no coincidence that Kallis has been the main man for SA though. There's a guy who puts a price on his wicket.

[Beny]

I watched the english collapse in the second test and a few things really stuck out for me.

1. Flintoff loseing patience and going for a hook shot that was'nt there, getting out. This after reciving a big roar from the English Fans who must have thought he was here to save them.

2. Vaughn doing exactly what needed to be done but getting no support for players who were not content to wait for the safe shots.

I must say it... AND THIS IS THE TEAM THAT IS GOING TO RECLAIM THE ASHES?
Australia rarely 'collapses' bacuse our middle order will stand up and do the job they know they have to.

[Seamer]

Vaughan must have watched Flintoff and figured "Thats the way to go! Bugger poking around for forty minutes to just to lamely nick one to slips. I,m going down in a blaze of glory next time!" (See how he got out in England second innings in the third test-Flintoff all the way)

[Rahul_Dravid_is_No.1]

Boycott was on sky news blaming england's defeat mainly on the hectic schedulelast time i check, south africa were ALSO on the same schedule and had as much time to rest as the english although i could be wrong and the saffers may have had a few extra days inbetween

[Pete]

Originally Posted by Rahul_Dravid_is_No.1

Boycott was on sky news blaming england's defeat mainly on the hectic schedulelast time i check, south africa were ALSO on the same schedule and had as much time to rest as the english although i could be wrong and the saffers may have had a few extra days inbetween

Eng had been stuck out in the field alot longer. So the South African bowlers had more time to rest.

Plus, whatever players they bring into their team have all had match experience in the domestic games. England's fringe players haven't played for months.

God forbid we should ever have to bring Jimmy Anderson into the team

[Rahul_Dravid_is_No.1]

and the reason english players were on the field more? because they couldn't bowl the saffers out quick enough. that is THEIR problem. not the schedule and boycott should not blame the hectic schedule as it was the same for both teams

[Pete]

Originally Posted by Rahul_Dravid_is_No.1

and the reason english players were on the field more? because they couldn't bowl the saffers out quick enough. that is THEIR problem. not the schedule and boycott should not blame the hectic schedule as it was the same for both teams

Playing back to back matches on flat pitches in massive heat, it's not ideal. Anyone would tell you that.

[Maranello]

Sure but the point is that the conditions are exactly the same for both teams, so there is no point in making these type of excuses after a defeat. England agreed to the playing conditions as did SA, and they lost because SA batted much better - as simple as that. England probably would not be complaining of the fixtures if they had won comfortably. Why complain needlessly now and appear a bad loser?