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Posted

All square after day 1. Aus will want 3 wickets in the first session, Eng will want 500 on the board before they bowl. Lets see who sleeps better tonight.

Posted

All square after day 1. Aus will want 3 wickets in the first session, Eng will want 500 on the board before they bowl. Lets see who sleeps better tonight.

The Roses have the runs on the board

They'll feel they have the advantage

Superb recovery after losing 3 early wickets

Posted

The Roses have the runs on the board

They'll feel they have the advantage

Superb recovery after losing 3 early wickets

best batting conditions will be day 2 and 3. Anything less than 450 and England will feel like they missed out.
Posted

 

Whether Eng get there is really down to how well Ali and Broad go with the bat.

 

Three things I noted with the first day's play: if Eng is to be competitive then both Cook and Bell need to be scoring more than a combined 21 runs. Root can't bail them out indefinitely. Catches wins matches or as in the case today will prevent the opposition's best batsman from getting a hundred. Root & Eng got a "get out of jail free" card from Haddin with that drop. Aus may have been batting already if not for that drop. The Aus bowling unit is not quite as strong as many would like to believe. Harris was rather important to the balance of the unit and with him gone Clarke struggled for control once Root, Ballance & Stokes got set. However Starc and Hazelwood have shown that they'll make a great pairing with the new ball but struggle with having to keep the run rate in check which hurt Johnson imho.

All square after day 1. Aus will want 3 wickets in the first session, Eng will want 500 on the board before they bowl. Lets see who sleeps better tonight.

Posted

The Roses have the runs on the board

They'll feel they have the advantage

Superb recovery after losing 3 early wickets

That they do. And definitely a great recovery from Eng. Root is a rather special young batsman and the English batting does seem better when they bat with positivity and try to take the game by the horns.

 

However Aus still need to bat. It'll be interesting to see how they go and in particular Smith especially if there's an early wicket.

Posted

The Aussies were given a proper hiding. Imo it almost looks as if Aus only wants to play on fast bouncy pitches - on any other type of surface they look below par. I wonder if they thought that Johnson would run through England every time they played - Siddle would have been a better option. The Starc injury will not help their cause.

Posted

The Aussies were given a proper hiding. Imo it almost looks as if Aus only wants to play on fast bouncy pitches - on any other type of surface they look below par. I wonder if they thought that Johnson would run through England every time they played - Siddle would have been a better option. The Starc injury will not help their cause.

That's what makes the current Proteas team do excellent - adaptability and reading conditions.

 

I reckon the Aussies thought it'll be like taking a lollipop from a 4 year old.

England has organized themselves well.

Posted

Lets see how SA goes in tests this year. The potential is there to dominate.

But if Dale Steyn bowls like he did at the wc and ipl, and matches are played on pitches that does not have something for Vern, our attack would lack some sting.

Imo our selectors should look enlarge the pool of players they choose the test squad from, particularly bowlers.

Morris and Wiese could be developed into bowling and batting all-rounders. Abbott has been a bit hot and cold lately. Rabada is a good prospect, but I think he should be given another 2 years to mature.

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