2nd T20I: England v South Africa

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2nd T20I: England v South Africa at Old Trafford.

Match scheduled to begin at 18:30

This series will once again end up with one team either retaining or becoming the No1 ranked team. After being soundly beaten in the Tests and drawing the Odi's England will be hoping for victory against South Africa to give them a confidence boost before heading off to the World Cup later this month.

Other than a series winning confidence boost this is a big chance for a few players to stake their claim for a starting spot in the World Cup and also for one or two {Broads pace, Boparas batting} to try and regain some sort of form.

England need to bounce back to stay in the series after the shambles at Durham.



Squads

England; SCJ Broad {c}, JM Anderson, JM Bairstow, RS Bopara, TT Bresnan, DR Briggs, JC Buttler, JW Dernbach, ST Finn, AD Hales, C Kieswetter{w}, MJ Lumb, EJG Morgan, SR Patel, GP Swann, LJ Wright

South Africa; AB de Villiers{c,w}, HM Amla, F Behardien, J Botha, JP Duminy, F du Plessis, JH Kallis, RE Levi, JA Morkel, M Morkel, JL Ontong, WD Parnell, RJ Peterson, DW Steyn, LL Tsotsobe

Still an injury concern for Tim Bresnan though.


Good luck to both teams.

Swann and Broad showing how to do it.

Eng finish on a very average 118-7. Steyn

118 the final score then. Let's get early wickets and we may have a chance.

119 to win under 6 an over for South Africa. Despite the pitch offering a bit of turn and a bit of movement, it never looked like a 118 pitch. South Africa's game to lose.

Early wicket for Dernbach, 9/1.

And now Du Plessis gone, 14/2. Come on England!

14/2 is a decent start from England with the ball...

Now if Kallis and de Villiers were to get out cheaply we might have a game on

That's why we're champions! Dernbach roots out De Villers, 29/3. Let's get Kallis out lads!

Well there goes de Villiers ...SA making hard work of this ...

Can they really fail to chase 118 ?

big wicket that, Dernbach has been superb this summer, another couple here before they reach 50 and we're in business. Need that Kallis wicket!!

Would anyone else rather see this version of Finn bowling at 90mph+ for a 4 over spell in a test match rather than the 8/9 over spells at 85-88?

Or is it just down to the inconsistent speed guns?

I guess if Broadus hits 90 then it'll have to be the speed gun.

Hibbz wrote:Would anyone else rather see this version of Finn bowling at 90mph+ for a 4 over spell in a test match rather than the 8/9 over spells at 85-88?

Or is it just down to the inconsistent speed guns?

I agree, said that for a while, have him bowl flat out at 90mph for overs and keep rotating. Clarke has done that well with his side, bowling them in 4/5 over spells but having them bowl flat out to the best of their ability.

Eng were 40-1 after the p/p. SA are 40 -3.

Some hope i guess. Come on lads.

Swann to come yet, perhaps he can get a bit of turn out of the pitch. Duminy in as well so and Swann likes his lefties

rubbish from bopara, too short and then too short AND down leg side. His braisn scrambled, he's put of nick. His mental side of his game is shockingly weak, it really is worrying.

South Africa seem to be experimenting with their combination, can't explain the absence of Morne Morkel, and Hashim Amla for that matter otherwise. Amla for Ontong and Morne for Tsotsobe. Think they would need both Petersen and Botha in Sri Lanka, so Tsotsobe will have to sit out.

10 of Bopara's first over.

Swann's into the attack. He will have to nip a couple out soon if England have to make a game of this one.

I agree MSP, swann needs a couple of wckets to give us any chance. Duminy looks in decent nick.

Good over that from Swann, just the 3 of it.

They've scored quickly enough , so there isn't really a lot of pressure on the batsmen.
Unless England can somehow nip out Kallis and another pretty soon this is going to run away from them quite fast.
Batting second in this sort of game is an advantage.

Enough of Bopara, captain Broad is back on.

bopara just doesn't seem with it. drop him for the next game. Even his fielding has been ordinary.

Just the one of the Broad over, but South Africa still in control.

Broad seems refreshed by his little rest...that was a very good over , bit more pace than he was showing in the Tests.

Patel into the attack and Duminy reverse sweeps first ball for 4. Another boundary next ball!.

Duminy milking Patel cleverly there ...running out of runs to play with.

Think we can call this one...SA by 6 wickets in the eighteenth ?

The game has slipped away now. Still 4 games to go until the World T20 starts so plenty of prep time left for England.

Oh Finn's done it again, knocking the stumps down. But they have warned him first time, next time it will be a no ball. Finn wouldn't have mind a dead ball call this time though as Duminy had hit it for 4!.

Oh he does it again and this time it indeed is a dead ball.

Swann continues. Finn's done for the day and so no more dead balls.

Duty281 wrote:The game has slipped away now. Still 4 games to go until the World T20 starts so plenty of prep time left for England.

Agreed. Not really too bothered about losing this one ...on another day the opener doesn't get run out and you have a whole different game...

Bring on Afghanistan

That's Swann done for the day, no wickets, but he kept things quite. there was no obvious indication of any discomfort with that elbow of his.

Fine hand from Kallis here, he does make a world of difference to the balance of the side.

20 of Bopara's 2 overs. Surely its time someone else gets a look in? I know he scored 50 in the last match, but that was months ago and he's been dreadful batting form and although he did bowl well in the last couple of ODI matches, is not that good either. Wright? Lumb? Wright can bowl as well, and anyone can be better than Bopara with the bat at the moment.

That's it!. South Africa win by 7 wickets!.

Poor England performance.

Bopara especially disappointing. Anyone can have a bad game - especially in t20 - and so it would be rash and unfair to try and draw conclusions about his cricketing ability based just upon today.

However, for me, it again confirms that we can't rely upon him for crucial balance. That's a comment not so much on Bopara but on the make up of England's one day sides.

There are some players who look disastrously out of their depth. Can't really believe people think we have a chance in the WT20.

Bopara need to have time off, he's shot mentally and he's no good to the England team atm, let's bring in taylor or someone, he's mentally not with it atm.

Joss Buttlers record for england makes Ravi look like Sachin Tendulkar when he was still good.

10 international innings, 31 runs.

Former darling of the internet, apparently not Chuck Norris

Wright in for Bopara, "proper" batsman in for Buttler (Lumb?) Screw just for a real knee jerk reaction Briggs for Fatel

Just catching up...

A very poor display from England yesterday, and I must say I'm starting to doubt our credentials in this tournament.

Shot selection needs to be much better, particularly when we get down. As a point of contrast between the sides I think England tend to do well leading from the front, but struggle when they get off to a bad start. SA are the other way round - they're able to pick themselves up and change matches round (see the 1st Test, the 5th ODI and even the T20 once they were 3 down).

Bopara looks shot (not too worried about how he bowled in that match - he's a part-time option, won't come off every time and is in any case best when the pressure is on). Wright needs to come in - it has to be Wright as with Lumb we'd only have five bowling options and I don't know where we'd go if someone got injured. I'm no big Wright fan but he is at least in very good form.

Buttler is a slight concern. He's a great finisher but hasn't had his best year in 2012 and hasn't exactly done well for England thus far. No real other options though - perhaps Lumb to three and Wright to six? Not for me.

There's another T20 today, isn't there?

Aye 18.30BST Old Trafford;

Today i would go for.

Lumb
Hales
Kieswetter
Morgan
Bairstow
Wright
Patel
Swannn
Broad
Briggs
Finn

skyeman wrote:Aye 18.30BST Old Trafford;

Today i would go for.

Lumb
Hales
Kieswetter
Morgan
Bairstow
Wright
Patel
Swannn
Broad
Briggs
Finn

I'd rather keep Buttler to be honest - he has great potential and delivered for the Lions in Sri Lanka last year.

Definitely no need for three spinners, and Dernbach at the death will be critical in SL.

skyeman wrote:Aye 18.30BST Old Trafford;

Today i would go for.

Lumb
Hales
Kieswetter
Morgan
Bairstow
Wright
Patel
Swannn
Broad
Briggs
Finn

Swap Wright and Kieswetter around and you're there for me.

Bopara is playing, I'm told.

Fists of Fury wrote:Bopara is playing, I'm told.

A mistake I'd say.

There is an argument that you should play him to help him find some form if we need to put him in the team in SL. But right now I think he's more likely to find form out of the team than in it.

Fists of Fury wrote:Bopara is playing, I'm told.

Now that'd be ludicrous.

Give it a go i say with the spinners. Spin at the moment seems to be the way to go. The top four bowlers in the ICC T20 rankings are spin bowlers and eight in the top 10.

No to Bops, pleaseeeeeeee

Looking forward to it, hopefully we can perform again.