Cricket

[Shaggy]

Dodgy looking technique never stopped Steve Smith.

I like the look of Sibley - just wants to bat all day. That'll do for me.

[Zapater]

There will always be some freak like players like Smith or Amla who can overcome deficiencies to have successful careers or grinders like Graeme Smith, Elgar or Cook but this is much more the exception than the rule. Especially when you need to face up against the new ball when you're playing the majority of matches on English pitches which nip around a bit. Maybe he'll prove me wrong, but I'll be surprised. As I say he did really well yesterday, but the ball wasn't doing a great deal off the pitch.

[Zapater]

Didn't think these guys had it in them, but saving the match is very much on the cards being 5 down at tea with Philander and Pretorius in the shed. 180 balls left to survive, would be a top notch achievement. You'd think we should do it, but England will come hard and collapses do occur in cricket. Should be a really tight final session. If this test is saved, it would do wonders for SA cricket moving forward and would be a huge statement about the new leadership.

[Buzzo]

3 wickets required in 19 overs. But no recognised batsman at the crease...

[Shaggy]

"****ing move"

"****ing knobhead"

Etc

[ame]https://twitter.com/Skinnzy2001/status/1214554078811832320[/ame]

[Chazza]

Stokes

[Shaggy]

Stokes man. ****ing unbelievable. What a champion.

[Cormack74]

Not trying to be funny, but I think he looks ****, don't see him sticking around for too long at this level based on NZ and SA tests. Awful technique, Burns might be the only worse looking test player. Very unorthodox with lots of moving parts will make it difficult for him to be successful against the new ball..

A mate told me today that Sibley faced something like 1500 more balls in the county championship last season than the next guy (and not because he had loads more innings in case you ask).

So he may look a bit **** in his set up but he's currently our best hope in terms of being the dour obdurate opener that we've been missing for the past few years.

[Zapater]

This is perhaps the most angry I've been about a cricket match in many a year. Complete bottle job. The captain and specialist in these situations slaps an unnecessary sweep straight at a fielder and de Kock picks out midwicket from a long hop delivered by a part-timer when England looked demotivated. The pitch flattened out and inexperienced players lasted long periods of time. 5 wickets in a session when Anderson was not at the races is unacceptable, particularly the nature of some of those dismissals. If I were Malan, I'd be waiting for de Kock in the dressing room with my mouth piece in after batting for 6 hours to save a game and him exposing the tail like that.

I know I said that I wanted some fight yesterday and they did provide that, but throwing it away like that is disappointing. Wickets were given away, not earned on too many occasions. And I don't know how people think useless ****s like Pretorius and previously Parnell are allrounders, they score **** all every time at the crease.

Went to the Centurion test, missed the Newlands test for the first time in 4 years because I didn't fancy going to Cape Town... I'm relieved because that final day would have killed me. Expect us to lose in PE as we always do (I hate the band too) and level it at the Wanderers. Will definitely attend the Wanderers test despite the disillusion.

Obviously Australia are the biggest rival, but hate losing to England, almost nothing worse, especially how smug the media and ex-pros get. Really thought this game would be revenge for this match and particularly this game which was crazily over 10 years ago now. Swann and ****ing Onions saving it. Remember watching it in a pub in Sydney with my Proteas shirt on and a bunch of Aussies giving me all kinds of grief. 2 wickets away from winning a series 3-1 but its a draw in the books.

A mate told me today that Sibley faced something like 1500 more balls in the county championship last season than the next guy (and not because he had loads more innings in case you ask).

So he may look a bit **** in his set up but he's currently our best hope in terms of being the dour obdurate opener that we've been missing for the past few years.

Let's see how he gets on. Won't be surprised if he's on top of that scrapheap (along with Crawley) in the next couple of years. What you do at other levels is irrelevant in test cricket. Jennings was SA U19 captian destined for stardom, he must be the only opening batsmen in the world whom is a spin specialist. Not an opener, but I was very impressed with Pope, looks like he has the potential to be a quality player.

[Zapater]

"****ing move"

"****ing knobhead"

Etc

https://twitter.com/Skinnzy2001/stat...54078811832320

See some people are getting on their high horse about this. Who actually cares, no one would have said anything 15 years ago. Keepers have said much worse things to batsmen. I doubt Philander cares too much, he's been around the blocks in the semi-pro, county, international and SA domestic scene for the better part of 20 years. Would have heard much, much worse.

[Buzzo]

Anderson ruled out of the rest of the tour.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/51038748

[RichC]

280-4 so far today. Dare I say we could actually get near a 400 first innings total (waits for the usual collapse!)

[Shaggy]

Stokes

[Buzzo]

Getting done for that brawl has been the absolute making of him.

[RichC]

Rabada banned from the next test