2nd Test, South Africa vs England; Cape Town 2nd-6th January

First topic message reminder :

South Africa (from):
H Amla (c), Q De Kock (wkt), AB De Villiers (wkt), K Abbott, T Bavuma, JP Duminy, F Du Plessis, D Elgar, M Morkel, C Morris, D Piedt, Rabada, R Rossouw, S Van Zyl, H Viljoen.

England (from):
A Cook (c), A Hales, N Compton, J Root, J Taylor, B Stokes, J Bairstow (wkt), M Ali, C Woakes, S Broad, S Finn, J Anderson, S Patel, C Jordan, M Footitt, J Butler, G Ballance.


Umpires: A Dar (Pak), B Oxenford (Aus)

Third umpire: R Tucker (Aus)

Match referee: R Madugalle (Sri Lanka)

Hmm I see a few comments saying England shouldn't have declared as early as they did, but I don't see it. 600 is more than enough runs in any not completely crazy circumstances to not lose a game, and on a flat pitch you need to give yourself time to et the 20 wickets. Also bare in mind England declared at a good time, i.e. shortly before tea (and indeed picked up a wicket in that mini-session) and I just don't see what the point in batting on would have been.

It wouldn't IMO have increased their odds of victory, since I don't think England would have enforced the follow-on had it been available, provided SA got past about 350 or so (flat pitch, again, and bowlers being asked to do a lot of work in back-to-back tests), and I'm not sure batting onto 700 or 750 would change that. What it would have done of course is tire out the SA bowlers a bit more, but given the long break to the next Test I'm not sure another 6-8 overs each would make much difference.

No, for me England declared at the right time, but SA were good enough with the bat to force a situation on day 5 when they were the only team who could reallistically win (helped by poor catching from England), which will always make the batting team a bit nervous. Add to it some helpful-ish conditions (though still not nearly enough deterioration for a day 5 pitch) and some tired minds producing some rather careless shots (Compton especially) and you get the few jittery moments that you saw. Pitch won in the end though.

On Amla giving up the captaincy, not really surprised, though perhaps a bit by the timing, mid-series, when SA are very much in it. I remember back when Hussain resigned the captaincy over to Vaughan after one Test (2002 series?). Hussain in his autobiography - worth a read, one of the better sporting ones - says that, when he came in as captain after Vaughan had captained the ODI side to a tri-series win, he felt the dressing room had changed, and was no longer responding to him the way they had previously.

Wonder if there's a bit of that here, obviously different circumstances, but there's been the odd rumour of discontent in the SA dressing room... Fairly wild speculation, but as I said it is unusual to see a resignation mid-series like this (when the series hasn't been decided yet).

I don't know if he didn't want to captain, but I would say the criticism was disproportionate to the actual results. A bad Indian tour and a bad first Test here is the extent of his "Failures". Certainly Graeme Smith had rougher periods as captain (from 2003-2006 we only beat the West Indies and Bangladesh in Test series, including a 5-0 beatdown from Australia). Initially captaincy didnt seem to affect him and it's really only been the Indian tour and the first Test where ge didn't get runs. A drought lasting all of five Tests. Criticism of him has been beyond insane.

As for AB, I suspect captaincy will in fact improve his batting. Its his character. He's the "I'll jist do it myself" kind. He'd probably average 80 if he could convince CSA to make him team manage, convener of selectors and bus driver.

I said at the time it was somewhat aggressive from Cook to declare then. Bairstow was set on 150 and it was day 2. No great rush.

Obviously losing after scoring 600 would've taken something special though.

South Africa unchanged for the last 2 tests!
The SA selectors should know something that none of us do about Styan van Zyl, perhaps they see the next Bradman in him! Incredibly lucky to stay in the side......