Doing well against a county side is no means a statement that you will win. Doing poorly is almost always a bad sign.
If you're talking about slow starters, I can understand it against England. Not a county team who has lost more matches than it's won, missing a few of its top players, who's bowling attack ranks nowhere near the top of the bowling attacks in the county and batting is mediocre, though well led by Tresco.
I'm just saying that your treatment of the issue is utterly mindboggling. How do you come out with statements like, England beware, we're going to win the rest now? After what can only be described as a battering, English fans would criticize the team sorely, acknowledge our faults and then plead, and ask them to take notice and improve. Here every statement I see is now confident of doing well, that it means nothing. That attitude is completely and utterly stupid. I wont say that India will lose because they did badly here, I will say that they need to be kicked up the rear and told to get themselves in order. We do that to England when they get a draw and outperform the opposition marginally. And its not to say English fans are worse than Indian, we follow them to ends of the globe to support them, though we are less in number. We're realistic, and if anything, we don't degrade our opponents unless they prove to be useless as many of you are so quick to do.
And MMHS - In regard to Strauss. I applaud him wholeheartedly. Why should he cater to India and offer them batting practice. Blame the BCCI for organizing one tour match, resting part of their playing XI, and refusing to bowl Zaheer who went wicketless! As a captain, that was the correct move by Strauss, calculating, but why should Strauss do his best to support the Indian contingent? It's their prerogative to look after their own warm ups. And what do you mean South African reject? He went to uni in England and played much of his later teenage+ years here, he grew up here. Sure he's South African by birth, but he learned the majority of his cricket here, would you want him to have left his family as a kid to go back to South Africa?
"Hey Mum, Dad, I know I'm only 16, but I've decided, I'm going to play for my country of birth, even though we're pretty settled here in England and I'll be a citizen here. Yeah, so I'm off to go live in Johannesburg, by myself, and one day get selected to be Graeme Smith's understudy."
This talk of nationalities is stupid. He's not a South African reject.
Sorry, I should explain you. I was talking about the Somerset bowler Charl Willoughby. He played 2 Tests & 3 ODIs for Saf & then became Kolpack. At almost 37, he had a bowling figure of 20-7-76-6, including Gauti, Mukund, Rahul & Yuvi in opening spell. At almost 35, another SAF Kolpack Alfonso Thomas shared the new ball with him. In that bowling line up, there are 2 teenagers, having in total 5 FC matches between them previously.