Cricket

[Zapater]

Well played, Wood was particularly good on a very hot day. Always rated him highly, pity that he's always injured.

Quality knock by van der Dussen. Everyone else probably 10 to 20 short. England deserved the game but should have been closer. Donated around 100 runs in the first innings through **** bowling, wickets on no balls, dropped catches and lack of intensity then got bowled out for 100 shy of par. You can't only play for half a game and that's what made the difference, should have been a tight game.

[labourRed]

Rassie played at our local club.

[Shaggy]

I love Mark Wood. Such a shame he's always injured and he didn't lengthen his run up sooner. He's 30 now ffs.

[Cormack74]

Sadly he's nailed on to get injured again any day soon.

[Cormack74]

What's even more shocking about that is that we were beating India and Australia in series before that. How the mighty have fallen. Guess losing Amla, AB, Morkel with Philander going, Faf out of form and the way out would make a dent in any team.

Smith said that they're going they're going to discuss the Kolpak situation with the ECB to try to find some solutions - it's really cannibalised the game. That list above is frightening and doesn't include poached players who played for England like Dawid Malan and Keaton Jennings for example. Even though I don't think most of those players improve the Proteas starting XI, it would make domestic competition much better resulting in better players.

Then we get back to politics and could ask would most those players be playing domestic cricket here because every team is forced to select a minimum of 4 black African players per game. Bavuma is the only one on the list who fits that category. So that's 7 spots for other players per franchise per game which means you couldn't fit all of those players into the structure with the existing player pool.

Kyle Abbott is a big loss IMO.

Saw him bowling on flattish pitch in the County Championship last year and he still had no trouble picking up 5 wickets in the innings.

Also gave the Aussies a fair bit of trouble when SA went over there and won a couple of years back IIRC.

[Zapater]

Sadly he's nailed on to get injured again any day soon.

Should be fine between the him and Archer providing they manage their workloads. Think Archer was overbowled a little and that's why he ran into some issues now. I'm pleased to see that Rabada won't be playing in these ODIs. Even though it's really tempting to play the best fast bowlers in each game across formats it seldom works out like that, bowling fast is very taxing on the body and international selectors need to take responsibility for maximising the length of their careers.

Kyle Abbott is a big loss IMO.

Saw him bowling on flattish pitch in the County Championship last year and he still had no trouble picking up 5 wickets in the innings.

Also gave the Aussies a fair bit of trouble when SA went over there and won a couple of years back IIRC.

Most of the players, I understand their reason for going Kolpak, Abbott I cannot. It's usually in one of two camps - Amla, Philander and Morkel who are finishing their careers or Viljoen, van Zyl, de Lange etc who were given a chance and probably aren't quite good enough for international cricket and I understand that.

Abbott on the other hand was unfortunate with timing because he had outstanding established bowlers like Steyn, Morkel, Philander etc ahead of him and then Rabada flying onto the scene. Thing is, he did his spell and would have been first choice for the last several years - he did the hard yards on the fringes and it was all coming together. Same thing happened with Olivier although Olivier is relatively young and was playing every match, so it also makes no sense. Abbott's contract in the UK is apparently on about parity on with his SA contract so it doesn't even make financial sense. He said that he's keen to play for the Proteas again and I think his contact is up soon, so it's definitely something they should look into. Hendricks is an okay backup, but Paterson shouldn't be playing too much test cricket based on this series.

A little part of me is happy that Olivier went because I don't think Nortje would've played otherwise and I think the latter will be a better player in the long run. Ngidi also looks like he can be a decent player if fit and he knuckles down. So there are opportunities for talented players to move up the queue but it's getting a bit ridiculous. I know Russell Domingo, the former coach who is with Bangladesh now (along with McKenzie and Otis Gibson) was furious about it. There was an interview a few years back where he explained the vast resources they invested in guys like Rossouw for example only for them to go a couple years down the line.

[Shaggy]

Sibley definitely has a place nailed down - Crawley or Burns to partner him?

Move Crawley to 3 instead of Denly?

[ame]https://twitter.com/NedHolmes_/status/1223311640885592066[/ame]

[SB]

Do you guys get the BBL T20 matches from Oz over there?

[Cormack74]

Yup.

Been enjoying Hales form especially.

[Yozza]

1st ODI

Eng 214-6 after being 83-4...

[Zapater]

Even though it looks like England have slopped away, barring a get massive final few overs you'd take it.

See Tom Curran is back in the team. Again, not a player that's particularly noteworthy, but another one who only left South Africa 7 years ago.

[Yozza]

258 - for 8 wickets (50.0overs)

We'd have taken that at 131-6

Soon see if it's gonna be enough - it is a slow pitch

[Zapater]

258 - for 8 wickets (50.0overs)

We'd have taken that at 131-6

Soon see if it's gonna be enough - it is a slow pitch

Should be enough. We're 6 all out, such a long tail and ordinary and inconsistent batting overall.

[Yozza]

You should do this easily....

South Africa

117 - for 1 wicket (22.5overs)

South Africa need 142 runs to win from 27.1 overs

[Cormack74]

Even though it looks like England have slopped away, barring a get massive final few overs you'd take it.

See Tom Curran is back in the team. Again, not a player that's particularly noteworthy,

Not especially noteworthy yet for England but his time could still come. He's been one of the best bowlers in the Big Bash for the past couple of years.


but another one who only left South Africa 7 years ago.

His dad is Zimbabwean and played much of his cricket in the UK so presumably was only in SA because the situation was better than in Zimbabwe.

He (Tom) also had some of his schooling in the UK.