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England v South Africa | 1st Test | The Oval | Jul 19-23, 2012 | Days 2&3

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It goes down a drop but just a half chance really, it was flying. Anderson is three inches taller than Strauss so might have had a better chance. Overall South Africa's day quite comfortably, but England can come right back into the game in the morning session with two or three wickets.
 
Just seen the highlights of the wickets. What a dreadful non-shot that was from Bopara. I would have struggled to get out to that ball.
 
I predict a Kallis failure whenever he bats. hope I am wrong, but that is what happens usually in Eng to him after a top order stand.
A good day of test cricket though, much better than yesterday.
 
Poor bowling mixed with good bowling. Atleast they kept it very tight. SA a little ahead I think.
 
Prior coming again to England's rescue - after a near collapse.

Saffer bowling has imrpvoed from Day 1.

Will be a good series, that is.
 
Great fightback from the Saffers. The way Amla and Smith were concentrating it seems they looking for long stays at the crease. It's going to be a long, hard day for England in the field on day 3. I expect SA to gain a smallish lead by the end of the day.
 
SA slightly ahead in this game. Fascinating day ahead. Now this is test cricket. How anybody could prefer some one-day game to this beautifully poised situation is beyond me.
 
Match is well poised. Don't think SA is ahead. Morning session would be crucial for both teams. Great comeback from SA though.. and poor captaincy from Strauss. Why would you bowl swann more than bresnan with new ball? Botham rightly ripped through Strauss's captaincy.
 
From SA perspective, see off 10 more overs in the morning, then grind England for whole day, equal the score. Let Lower order and tail score rapidly on 4thday. Declare by Lunch on 4thday with 150+ lead.

From England perspective, Must not let either of Smith and Amla to stay till Lunch. They must take wicket of either of them or both before lunch. Don't let Kallis get his eye set in. Swann will be bowling against Two left handers Rudolph and Dumminy ... means he must keep pressure on. All-out SA under 300 .... bat again post rapid 300 again .. declare. Last day ball will turn a lot.

At the moment, SA is slight ahead but all can change if England keeps taking wickets tomorrow. If they do, England will not lose this test at least for sure.

And for cricket sack please NO MORE RAIN!!
 
Anfield said:
Match is well poised. Don't think SA is ahead. Morning session would be crucial for both teams. Great comeback from SA though.. and poor captaincy from Strauss. Why would you bowl swann more than bresnan with new ball? Botham rightly ripped through Strauss's captaincy.
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Personally, I think it was good decision by Strauss seeing amount of dust that was coming off when they were cleaning pitch.

Swann will play very big part if England is to win this test.
 
cricketworm said:
Personally, I think it was good decision by Strauss seeing amount of dust that was coming off when they were cleaning pitch.

Swann will play very big part if England is to win this test.
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I think it was a bad decision because:
1) He brought swann very early as if he was bowling on subcontinent pitches. If you're not going to use the new ball in England then where would you?
2)My biggest beef.. he didn't attack when he brought Swann. Fielders were patrolling the boundary which makes no sense.. He needed to attack not defend.

Agreed Swann has a big role to play.
 
Strauss has had a very poor test so far. Needs an Oval 2009-esque turnaround from him in the field to get England back in it here.
 
Anfield said:
I think it was a bad decision because:
1) He brought swann very early as if he was bowling on subcontinent pitches. If you're not going to use the new ball in England then where would you?
2)My biggest beef.. he didn't attack when he brought Swann. Fielders were patrolling the boundary which makes no sense.. He needed to attack not defend.

Agreed Swann has a big role to play.
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Actually, Swann was going to come on to bowl regardless as when Broad and Jimmy finish of their spell your next two top bowlers come on to bowl. So may be Bressy came late like for 3-4 overs, if he was indeed late. That's not big difference.

I have seen Swann taking lots of wickets in his first over (in odis though) so I am not sure if it was such a bad call.

And besides both were playing Jimmy and Broad alright anyway.
 
Well that's not how things roll. One bowler bowls a longer spell and you change the bowler from the other end.. this way your pace bowlers bowl more overs with the new ball. Swann should have came around 17th 18th over but he was bowling the 13th over of the innings. Plus what's the use of introducing a spinner when you're not even going to attack? Even mid-on and mid-off fielders were deep and batsmen were fetching easy singles.
 
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Btw. same Biffy would have hailed Struass if Swann would have taken a wicket. I don't rate Biffy the analyst at all. :D
 
Anfield said:
Well that's not how things roll. One bowler bowls a longer spell and you change the bowler from the other end.. this way your pace bowlers bowl more overs with the new ball. Swann should have came around 17th 18th over but he was bowling the 13th over of the innings. Plus what's the use of introducing a spinner when you're not even going to attack? Even mid-on and mid-off fielders were deep and batsmen were fetching easy singles.
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I am not sure field was defensive that much. May be I must have been sleeping ... I watched on mute. Swann gave only 12 runs btw. with 5 maidens.
 
To be fair Botham wasn't criticizing the introduction of the spin.. He was mad at the field setting. Strauss had point fielder on the boundary even during the last over of the day. You think Amla was going to play a big reverse sweep or what?
 
cricketworm said:
I am not sure field was defensive that much. May be I must have been sleeping ... I watched on mute. Swann gave only 12 runs btw. with 5 maidens.
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He had a point fielder on the boundary even on the last ball of the day.
 
Well, sadly, deep point is the most famous position of modern day cricket. I have rarely seen any captains not use it as soon as they can. Smith did the same thing ... so did MSD.
 
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not when they have 400 runs on the board and batsmen are not settled yet..
 
Agreed then. Apparently, all captains do this mistake nowadays. Deep point fielder has become sad reality of test cricket.
 
Anfield said:
Well that's not how things roll. One bowler bowls a longer spell and you change the bowler from the other end.. this way your pace bowlers bowl more overs with the new ball. Swann should have came around 17th 18th over but he was bowling the 13th over of the innings. Plus what's the use of introducing a spinner when you're not even going to attack? Even mid-on and mid-off fielders were deep and batsmen were fetching easy singles.
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I don't think it was such a bad call either. You risk tiring your bowlers out by making them bowl long spells, especially with the amount of cricket played these days. It seems like a bad decision because England don't have the luxury of a Kallis. If you have 4 frontline seamers then it becomes easy to make the best use of the new ball, while giving your bowlers sufficient rest. I suppose they could have used Bopara, but really, I think Swann is a better bowler than he is even with the new ball.

The problem with Strauss's captaincy was his field, not his use of the bowlers.
 
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It wasn't about giving his bowlers rest either.. They just came back after a delay of 2 hrs. I believe he should have carried on with his pace bowlers.
 
Sun is out!

Looking forward to a great days cricket. Day 3 usually sets up the match for one side.

England will have to work hard but are more than capable of taking wickets in bunches. South Africa will be looking for a couple of big hundreds from the top 7.
 
Would be great if Graeme Smith gets a hundred here on his 100th test. Exciting day ahead.
 
Weather is set fair for the rest of the match which makes a result reasonably likely. South Africa are in control at the moment but if England get them out for around 300 then they will have a handy lead on this pitch.
 
Swann v Amla already looking a good contest. Amla is a very good player of spin, arguably the best in the Saffer team. Swann to apply plenty of pressure from one end and the pacers to attack from the other end. England certainly have come out with a plan of action.
 
Jimmy has been excellent this morning, tight line, occasional beauty.
 
England looking for the early break. SA on the other hand, have been cautious.

If England could not get into that middle order of SA by 1st session, then it may be a long and hard day for them in the field.
 
England need to stick to it. Broad could be a good option, he can break partnerships.
 
Swann looking dangerous esp against Smith. Not too sure, the wide, outside off stump line to Smith is a good idea. Cut away for 4. 100 partnership up.
 
So far it's just a repeat of the first innings. England need a bowler like Steyn to break the partnership and get everybody pumped. I think it will be Broad.
 
The scoring rate will increase as the day goes on and the bowlers tire. Although a little more positive against Swann would be a good tactic. Swann in total control is a lot more dangerous.
 
Swann can bowl for most of the day but it seems Amla and Smith are trying to be more positive against him now, 10 off the last over. Strauss should stick with him imo.
 
SA 126/1 in 53 overs.

Swann has been able to trouble Smith. But Smith has somehow managed to keep him at bay.

Other bowlers need to up their game, or else...
 
Game is evenly balanced. Despite Fact S.A are 1 down they are still 250 runs behind and thats still alot of runs, a couple of wickets could easily fall and games back in favour of england. Pretty Much S.A plan should be to bat once and bat big, doesnt matter how long it takes but if they can some how post 500 that would them push pressure on england. I think come end of days play game will still be level pegging.
 
At the moment, it's Swann vs SA to say the least. Smith is looking to dominate Swann, who wishes to do the same.

Fascinating stuff
 
England seem to have got enough runs to put South Africa under pressure and probably make them bat again. Even if SA get up to 3 an over, they'll have to bat all day today and well into the evening session of day 4 on a wicket increasingly conducive to spin to get a lead of 250, then bowl England out for less than that in a day and a bit.
 
Smith holds the bat with a very tight bottom-handed grip which 'chokes' the blade, turning it inwards so the face of the bat is closed towards the legside. He is inclined is to hit everything to leg, balls on off stump tend to go through square leg. England bowlers should go round the wicket, angle the ball in and try and move it away and catch the edge.
 
Markhor said:
Smith holds the bat with a very tight bottom-handed grip which 'chokes' the blade, turning it inwards so the face of the bat is closed towards the legside. He is inclined is to hit everything to leg, balls on off stump tend to go through square leg. England bowlers should go round the wicket, angle the ball in and try and move it away and catch the edge.
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Ok. And what if the ball does'nt move away? A boundry towards the square leg :facepalm:
 
For some reasons I find bowlers like Bopara, Steven waugh, Nathan astle etc. very annoying from a batsman's point of view.
 
England finaly being tested against a high quality opposition.

Loving the contest right now.

Beauty of test cricket in full show right now.

Some of the drives by Amla, wooooo!!!!
 
style_guru said:
Ok. And what if the ball does'nt move away? A boundry towards the square leg :facepalm:
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England bowlers keep bowling into his pads, if they can't get the ball to move away then go for an off-stump line. Smith has an unorthodox technique which restricts his gameplay but he knows his scoring areas and doesn't bother to play where he can't, making the England bowlers bowl to him.

SA 162-1 | 60 overs
 
The ball's not doing anything. It's not swinging and it's not seaming but credit to the South African batsmen who have been very solid against this English attack. 20 overs until the new ball - where is the wicket going to come from ?

BBC Test Match Special's Michael Vaughan
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"If England knew beforehand what they know now about how this pitch has played, would they have gone in with two spinners? I wonder if England have asked for slow, turning wickets throughout the series. It's hindsight; I certainly wouldn't have played two spinners if I had to chose on the first morning."
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100 up for Graeme Smith. Brilliant innings from a brilliant captain.
 
After Colin Cowdrey, Javed Miandad, Gordon Greenidge, Ricky Ponting and Inzamam, Smith joins the elite club of centurions who did it in their 100th match:bow:
 
It was a poor delivery from Bresnan giving Smith his hundred, short and wide.

And that's lunch.

SA 187-1
 
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James said:
This is looking a bit pitiful isn't it.
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James (as you call yourself)

England's bowling is looking a bit flat at the moment. Broad & Bresnan need to run in hard and bend there backs a little bit more. At the moment they are just putting the ball up there.
 
Lunch on Day 3, South Africa 187/1, trail by 198!

Smith gets to his 25th test ton. Amla on 80*. Smith 103*.

A lot to worry about for Strauss
 
Weird field placements by Strauss for Smith against Swann. Should have forced him to play offside cause that's his weak point.
Anyways well played Smith. One of his better hundreds.
 
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