South Africa v England, 7th ODI, Centurion, Sunday 13th Feb.

[tigerlillythe7th]

If we take a wicket now though it'll be close..

[John]

Nice game developing. Some poor shots by Smith and Kallis. Joining some of the English batsmen.

[tigerlillythe7th]

Shame we couldn't have added another 30 or so runs - this could have been a very good contest...

[tigerlillythe7th]

Well game over - but given we were 68-6, we did really well to make a match out of it.

[Zainub]

Yeah, it was as I said earlier too quite a remarkable come back by England. They did well from the position they were in to make the game as competetive as it turned out to be in the end, credit for which goes to Pieterson and Giles.

The total I thought though not small wasn't quite here or there, ideally you'd want at least 30 or more runs to make it a par score, but from the position England were in, even 240 was a bonus. Early wickets were needed to give them a chance with the ball, but that didn't happen, and even though SA wobbeled a little in the end, the good start from Hall and Smith, and later a good partnership between Smith and Kallis always meant SA had the advantage runs wise running into the final overs. Deserving winners the Proteas were here, as they have been, in all matches of this series, barring 1.

Congrats SA, comiserations Eng.

[Occasional Fan]

Congratulations to South Africa. This was a much closer game than I thought it would be after 15 overs. I wish I'd stayed with it. Instead, I went to the pub to see England v France in the rugby, which France deservedly won by 18 to 17. (Gosh: that word "deservedly" was hard to type!) Another rotten weekend for England's sports, it seems. But we were beaten fair and square, both in Pretoria and at Twickenham. Well done to the winners in both cases.

[Paoli]

4-1 is an apt result.

Very few touring teams, especially in long tours, barring Australia, take out both the ODI and Test legs. Well done to Kevin Pietersen....the best young player I've seen, in my eyes streets ahead of Clarke. Lets wait until he plays Australia.

Not alot of positives really for England from the ODI leg apart from Pietersen. There was the King of Spain, who puts in one regal performance after another and Kabir Ali looks promising.

For RSA, Smith has regained form, as has Gibbs and Ashwell Prince is looking nice. They can be disappointed yet the biterness will subside after an ODI victory.

[Notts Exile]

Originally Posted by Ernest

Good gob we had NEs Pieterson.

He he he !

Now can someone listen to me and pick a wicketkeeper who can keep and bat on one day matches instead of that muppet from Kent ?

Oh .... and I wonder how Hampshire fans and management must be feeling now. Fans will rarely get to see KP and the management paid a decent sum of money to get him there!!!!

[Glamorgan Wanderer]

Originally Posted by Occasional Fan

Another rotten weekend for England's sports, it seems.

Disappointed with the cricket OF (we have played poorly throughout this series, KP excepted) but more than happy with the rugby results! Remember the England cricket team is not the same as the rugby and football sides!

[Lee Johnson]

You right its all Jones fault, the fact that Strauss, Tresco, and Vaughn were awful. The bowlers bar Gough and Giles didnt have a clue what they were up to and we were poor in the field missing the stups almost every time and mis fielding regularly. Yep all Jones fault, he made the england management bat him at 2 when he had been doing well at 7, he made the england management stick with the plan even though it clearly wasnt working. He has obviously been planted by the Aussies to undermine our current good form, because after all he is an aussie anyway.

The answer is obvious, bring back Chris Read who will score a tenacious 12 coming in at 8. With his tremendous batting ability he will no doubt teach Tres how to move his feet, Vaughn to score quicker than a run every 2 balls and help Strauss regain his form. As for the bowling, he will probably take off the pads and bowl the death overs himself as hes obviously the answer to all our problems.

BRING BACK CHRIS READ NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!