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

[Zamee]

And Steyn wanted to scare the sh*t out of the English batsmen!

Haha.. Thats why they say, you let your performances do the talking..

He will.

 

[James]

The psychological balance of the day may well have hinged on South Africa's failure to give Steyn the new ball. No offence to Philander but he is a fast-medium line and length bowler, he is the kind of bowler that English batsmen often encounter. Without Steyn at their toes and their throats straight away, England were allowed to settle and Steyn ended up having one of his less effective days. Steyn may be a class act but he still has to be used properly by the captain.

As for today, a cluster of wickets is more than possible, but come on England!!

 

[Amjid Javed]

I can understand why the neutral would be feeling slightly underwhelmed, but from our perspective it was the ideal first day for England. All of the pre-series hype surrounded the South African pace bowlers and how they were going to blow away our top order and win the series, and yet England provided them with a strong foil, progressing quite serenely with flashes of high class to register a solid first day total. Advantage England in not merely the Oval test match (marginal), more so the mental stakes at this stage.

With two of the three tests at Oval and Lords (Both batsmen friendlu surfaces) all it could take is one under-performing inns or collapse by either side and series could be lost. Such are fine margins between these two sides. So may get alot of chess like cricket which to some will appear boring but to the purist its ulitimatley good viewing.

I dont think either side is going to be blowing away the other on these sort of batting surfaces.

 

[Amjid Javed]

This is the earliest ive ever seen the Oval used as a test match in an english summer (Technically 4th test) and i wonder wether the schedule picked was something england looked into as england have a good record v S.A here and maybe wanted to make the most of that by playing 1st tests here.

Also interesting to note also that since south africas re-admission england have never taken a series lead against them in tests played in the UK. England have always had to come from behind in series, in a 3 match series room for maneouvre is always less restrictive

 

[JibranAnsari]

I expect collapse in the first session.

 

[Amjid Javed]

The South Africans look undercooked to me - their scheduling and also the weather hasn't allowed them a great deal of match practice. They may improve as early as tomorrow but make no mistake, either way they will enjoy the conditions at Headingley. England then have to make their current decent position at the Oval count.

South Africa bowled almost as if they were playing at home or even at trent bridge/Headingley. Everything from a bowling point of view was either outside off-stick or back of a length. Both of which arent suited to the oval. Pretty much bowlers should be looking to attack the stumps at the oval as any movement at all would be better directed at the stumps then a yard outside off-stump.

Interest to see how S.A try and bowl this morning. Also will england try and score quicker? or is the aim just to get 500 by the last session and have a go at S.A for the last hour?