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Result : South Africa v England | 2nd Test | Jan 2-6, 2016 | Cape Town | Match Drawn

As for SA let's see how Amla, AB and Faf responds. They have had it all too easy these years playing in a very strong batting line-up. Real test for them has begun.
 
First session is crucial...couple of quick wickets SA will right back to match otherwise England will get huge first innings score.
 
400+ and SA look in deep trouble as there should be turn late.

They probably have an hour to produce something special and stay in the match.
 
I think by now it's unanimous, Amla is not captaincy material. He's been woeful. What's worse, it's now affected he's own batting.
 
Stokes absolutely creaming it again already...

We are soooooooo winning this match!
 
Run a ball hundred for Stokes!

Even Morkel being made to look like a trundler now.

Bad times to be a Saffa.
 
What a hundred and what a way to silence the critics from PP


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The longer they play it will be better for SA.In the last couple of years, SA have been good only in blockathon while saving the game.Amla, AB, Faf and co have played more blockathon knocks than centuries during this period.
 
80 runs off 10 overs of the new ball. ROFL are we playing a village charity side or something?
 
All England fans were expecting a Flintoff out of Stokes but we might have got a mixture of Flintoff and KP.


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It's 97/0 in 12.1 of the second new ball.

And Bairstow got to his 50 as well.
 
Chris Morris 1 for 126 off 24 overs, in danger of becoming a one Test wonder here :|
 
Still remember people calling Stokes 'rubbish' because of a few ducks early in his career, lol.
 
The Saffers are bowling tripe though, they are making it so easy for Stokes to hit fours.
 
It's scintillating batting but, yes, the bowling is as bad as it gets at this level**


** for the purposes of this discussion I'll assume the Windies are not of this level.
 
Man we'd kill for a Stokes like player atm for our test side.

That's like the missing link for us. A Batting allrounder who can more than just hold up his end in the middle order, and then chip in with some decent bowling, would make our team complete, but batting pace allrounders like this are hard to find.

I hope he doesn't turn into a Watson though (in tests obv).
 
70 runs off the first 40 minutes of play.

This is like watching Adam Gilchrist bat with Michael Slater.
 
One thing that has characterised Saffer teams since readmission is the is ability to, when under the cosh, bowl a dry off-side line with a packed off-side field. There just appears to be no plan here.
 
Robert said:
The Saffers are bowling tripe though, they are making it so easy for Stokes to hit fours.
Click to expand...

They have spent four years messing around with Kleinveldt and a zipless (in both senses of the expression) Philander for colour reasons and now Abbott, Viljoen and De Lange aren't ready.

They have done to their cricket team what Robert Mugabe did to Zimbabwe's farms. And it is increasingly obvious that the double role of Jacques Kallis was papering over those self-drilled cracks.
 
Stokes is destroying SA here. Maybe [MENTION=7774]Robert[/MENTION] is right and he is the new Botham. Either that or SA are utter rubbish now :facepalm:
 
I'm tuning in first time this series, and it feels so weird seeing South Africa get battered like this at home. India was one thing, at least it was away, but this..

A runrate of 4.03 vs SA in SA?

And then no Steyn as well...

How the mighty have fallen. All good things do come to an end.

And to think just about 3 years back (almost said 2 years... 2015 afterthought :P) they were demolishing us and NZ in 2013 like crazy.

Painful yet liberating to watch.
 
Never seen SA beaten like this before in their backyard, it looks like their fall from the top is going to be quite a big one.

They could potentially find themselves behind Aus, India, NZ, Pakistan and England.
 
So who deserves to be the actual world No 1 (forget the rankings)?

World's greatest mystery.

Maybe England is the most versatile team out there but they haven't been getting results away (0-5 Aus, 1-1 WI, 0-0 NZ).

Man....very hard to say.A world test championship would have been sooo awesome.
 
sensible-indian-fan said:
So who deserves to be the actual world No 1 (forget the rankings)?

World's greatest mystery.

Maybe England is the most versatile team out there but they haven't been getting results away (0-5 Aus, 1-1 WI, 0-0 NZ).

Man....very hard to say.A world test championship would have been sooo awesome.
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On recent results, I'd say Aus or India.

England would be defeated 0-5 in Aus and 0-4 in India.
 
Aman said:
On recent results, I'd say Aus or India.

England would be defeated 0-5 in Aus and 0-4 in India.
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Us? :))) Australia yes I'd have to agree. Although I must say this English team looks pretty ruthless especially the bowling.
 
I thought we'll lose a wicket early and crawl ourselves towards 400 all out but Stokes had other ideas. It seems he can't hold himself.
 
Nikhil_cric said:
Us? :))) Australia yes I'd have to agree. Although I must say this English team looks pretty ruthless especially the bowling.
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When you have 8 players in the side who can bat, you can get yourself into these types of positions.
 
Aman said:
On recent results, I'd say Aus or India.

England would be defeated 0-5 in Aus and 0-4 in India.
Click to expand...

On principle, I won't give it to Aus or India.

Aus get whitewashed in Asia. They don't even put up a fight.

India atleast fights outside Asia (post 2011/12 twin tours) but the way we lost in England (no fight post Lords) and our inability to win even a single test in SA and NZ (last tour) really doesn't go well for me.

Looks like no team really deserves No 1.

No matter which option we take, its hard to justify it. :facepalm:
 
Nikhil_cric said:
Us? :))) Australia yes I'd have to agree. Although I must say this English team looks pretty ruthless especially the bowling.
Click to expand...

How can you agree to Aus?

Make them tour India, UAE again and they will get whitewashed.

Without a fight.

India & SL put up way more fight in NZ than Aus does in Asia.
 
sensible-indian-fan said:
How can you agree to Aus?

Make them tour India, UAE again and they will get whitewashed.

Without a fight.

India & SL put up way more fight in NZ than Aus does in Asia.
Click to expand...
Aus have the ability to win in NZ, WI, SL, SA and England (won 2 out of 5).
 
Stokes continuing his demolision job.

Cmon Saffers put up some fight.

You are taking the sheen away from our victory (a bit) with this embarrassing performance at home.
 
sensible-indian-fan said:
How can you agree to Aus?

Make them tour India, UAE again and they will get whitewashed.

Without a fight.

India & SL put up way more fight in NZ than Aus does in Asia.
Click to expand...

Because AUS will get beaten only in UAE and India. They'll win in SL and theyll compete everywhere else I reckon.
 
Wow! Absolute carnage. Brilliant from Stokes and Bairstow.
 
Current partnership 197 runs, 32.1 overs, RR: 6.12 (Bairstow 65, Stokes 122)
 
Yes, England have batted really well but we need to consider the quality of this SA attack.

It's nowhere near the quality we're use to seeing.
 
Aman said:
Aus have the ability to win in NZ, WI, SL, SA and England (won 2 out of 5).
Click to expand...

Don't say in England.

They weren't competitive at all in Ashes despite the scorecard being 2-3.

Last time they were more competitive and they lost 0-3 then.

Anyways....even if we take a few of their victories in England....Asian sides put up more fight outside Asia compared to Aus in Asia.

So that offsets it.

Hard for me to give them the best tag when all they win is on flat tracks (even in Eng) while getting routed on any track with a bit of life (barring Adelaide 2015 NZ game).
 
People really have to start understanding that being number 1 doesn't mean you are a great or even very good team, it's all about context and the strength of the era you play in, being 1 right now just means you are the best smelling turd in the bowl but hey you're a still a turd at the end of the day.
 
C'mon [MENTION=100030]trogger[/MENTION] don't be such a party pooper :))
 
sensible-indian-fan said:
Don't say in England.

They weren't competitive at all in Ashes despite the scorecard being 2-3.

Last time they were more competitive and they lost 0-3 then.

Anyways....even if we take a few of their victories in England....Asian sides put up more fight outside Asia compared to Aus in Asia.

So that offsets it.

Hard for me to give them the best tag when all they win is on flat tracks (even in Eng) while getting routed on any track with a bit of life (barring Adelaide 2015 NZ game).
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Nobody is saying they are far ahead of the competition SIF. There is no such team now. If AUS win in NZ in their next series I'd say they are the best among the test teams playing currently. Not that it means much though. And one thing you forget is that playing 5 match series or 4 match series away in England and India is much harder than playing 2 or 3 match series.
 
trogger said:
People really have to start understanding that being number 1 doesn't mean you are a great or even very good team, it's all about context and the strength of the era you play in, being 1 right now just means you are the best smelling turd in the bowl but hey you're a still a turd at the end of the day.
Click to expand...
Cricket is really in for a tough period.

Teams like SA, WI, SL and possibly Pakistan (once Misbah and YK retire) don't have much talent coming through to replace the great players they've lost or are about to lose.
 
trogger said:
People really have to start understanding that being number 1 doesn't mean you are a great or even very good team, it's all about context and the strength of the era you play in, being 1 right now just means you are the best smelling turd in the bowl but hey you're a still a turd at the end of the day.
Click to expand...

I know trogger.

But we are talking about No 1 where it feels right. Somewhat right.

Hence the discussion.

Currently the No 1 will be based on who plays home tours, who tours which countries, etc.

If England beat SA, we move to No 1. But it doesn't feel right. Nor can I say with authority we are the best among the other turds.

See the dilemma?
 
Aman said:
Cricket is really in for a tough period.

Teams like SA, WI, SL and possibly Pakistan (once Misbah and YK retire) don't have much talent coming through to replace the great players they've lost or are about to lose.
Click to expand...

Still when we were clear number 1 but cricket still had strong chasing teams like SA pakistan ect everybody whinged about our dominance killing the game, the overall quality of test cricket is very very low right now but it is at least competitive so you would the people that sooked then would be happy now.
 
Nikhil_cric said:
Stokes is destroying SA here. Maybe [MENTION=7774]Robert[/MENTION] is right and he is the new Botham. Either that or SA are utter rubbish now :facepalm:
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He's batting like Botham in his pomp today.

Of course Botham took a lot more test wickets in his first twenty tests than Stokes has taken so far.
 
South Africa are mentally zeroed here.

Given that they have not crossed 250 many times in the last year, chance of an innings victory for England.
 
Nikhil_cric said:
Nobody is saying they are far ahead of the competition SIF. There is no such team now. If AUS win in NZ in their next series I'd say they are the best among the test teams playing currently. Not that it means much though. And one thing you forget is that playing 5 match series or 4 match series away in England and India is much harder than playing 2 or 3 match series.
Click to expand...

I know nobody did.

Talking about marginal cases too.

Its not about 4 tests or 5 tests.

Ashes Test 1 - Aus got routed.
Test 2 - Romped home
Test 3 - Got routed
Test 4 - Got routed
Test 5 - Romped home

Its not a case of losing track due to longer tours.
 
sensible-indian-fan said:
I know nobody did.

Talking about marginal cases too.

Its not about 4 tests or 5 tests.

Ashes Test 1 - Aus got routed.
Test 2 - Romped home
Test 3 - Got routed
Test 4 - Got routed
Test 5 - Romped home

Its not a case of losing track due to longer tours.
Click to expand...
Looking back, the series was decided by Haddins dropped catch in the first Test.
 
Ben Stokes 100 off 105 balls is fastest by an England batsman against South Africa in Tests. Previous: 112 balls Andrew Flintoff Lord's 2003

Ben Stokes 9th Englishman to make 3 or more Test 100s and also take 45+ wkts in Tests!
 
sensible-indian-fan said:
I know trogger.

But we are talking about No 1 where it feels right. Somewhat right.

Hence the discussion.

Currently the No 1 will be based on who plays home tours, who tours which countries, etc.

If England beat SA, we move to No 1. But it doesn't feel right. Nor can I say with authority we are the best among the other turds.

See the dilemma?
Click to expand...

Nope, if we are going back the last 5 or so years to justify number 1 then SA and only SA "deserve" it as simple as that but the rankings don't work like that so somebody(maybe a few somebody's in the next few years) with an inconsistent record will reach number 1 just the reality of the overall quality of test cricket being played.

In one era a strong team will be 4th in another an average team will be number 1, all sports have these ups and downs.
 
Eng record for fastest double ton - Botham's 200 off 220 v India in 1982

Should be able to top that easily if he hangs around
 
Ben Stokes 150 off 135 balls is the fastest 150 by any England batsman in Tests. Prev: 146 balls ME Trescothick vs Bangladesh, 2005
 
From cricinfo:

Border: "Seriously though, what's the biggest partnership between two gingers in cricket? This has to be it" Not sure statsguru has a filter for that

:))
 
Not watching the game.

Is Stokes really just batting that well or is the bowling crap?
 
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