England's Winter

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New Zealand

T20 Internationals

Friday November 1st - Christchurch
Sunday November 3rd - Wellington
Tuesday November 5th - Nelson
Friday November 8th - Napier
Sunday November 10th - Auckland

Squad
Eoin Morgan (Middlesex) captain
Jonny Bairstow (Yorkshire)
Tom Banton (Somerset)
Sam Billings (Kent)
Pat Brown (Worcestershire)
Sam Curran (Surrey)
Tom Curran (Surrey)
Joe Denly (Kent)
Lewis Gregory (Somerset)
Chris Jordan (Sussex)
Saqib Mahmood (Lancashire)
Dawid Malan (Middlesex)
Matt Parkinson (Lancashire)
Adil Rashid (Yorkshire)
James Vince (Hampshire)


Tests

Wednesday November 20th - Tauranga
Thursday November 28th - Hamilton

Squad
Joe Root (Yorkshire) captain
Jofra Archer (Sussex)
Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire)
Rory Burns (Surrey)
Jos Buttler (Lancashire)
Zak Crawley (Kent)
Sam Curran (Surrey)
Joe Denly (Kent)
Jack Leach (Somerset)
Saqib Mahmood (Lancashire)
Matthew Parkinson (Lancashire)
Ollie Pope (Surrey)
Dominic Sibley (Warwickshire)
Ben Stokes (Durham)
Chris Woakes (Warwickshire)



South Africa

Tests

Thursday 26th December - Centurion
Friday January 3rd - Cape Town
Thursday January 16th - Port Elizabeth
Friday January 24th - Johannesburg

Squad
TBC


ODI
Tuesday 4th February - Cape Town
Friday 7th February - Durban
Sunday 9th February - Johannesburg

Squad
TBC



T20 Internationals

Wednesday 12th February - East London
Friday 14th February - Durban
Sunday 16th February - Centurion


Sri Lanka

March 7th - Warm up 1, Katunayake (3 day)
March 12th - Warm up 2, Colombo (3 day)
March 19th - 1st Test, Galle
March 27th - 2nd Test, Colombo

OK , not Stokes ...Root. Not sure about this : presume Ben is a bit proppy and they are not wanting to bowl him today. Also will help the over rate...
Damn near got a wicket too ! Loose from De Kock , just got away with that.

Duty281 wrote:Looked like a gap between bat and ball for the Du Plessis appeal, so I was ok with it being overturned.

 ...

Agree about the apparent gap and so feel the right decision was probably reached. However, it's concerning - to me at least! - that a mark was shown on ultra edge. If that technology is regarded as flawed and going to be disregarded by the third umpire, what's it doing there?

Fifty for De Kock

SA needed that. Fair to say he's had a good ration of luck but the counter attack has given a fast fifty stand from these two and Root has decisions to make as his bowling is proving expensive - though he might easily have had his wicket a couple of times.

guildfordbat wrote:

Duty281 wrote:Looked like a gap between bat and ball for the Du Plessis appeal, so I was ok with it being overturned.

 ...

Agree about the apparent gap and so feel the right decision was probably reached. However, it's concerning - to me at least! - that a mark was shown on ultra edge. If that technology is regarded as flawed and going to be disregarded by the third umpire, what's it doing there?

I think the "mark" - which wasn't very big in any case - didn't coincide with the time the ball passed the bat ; and so was rightly disregarded. At least that's how I understood from the replays and the commentary ? I am a little agnostic on the technology ...have seen too many small squiggles on those ultra things to believe they are all bat on ball whatever the techno freaks say...

Great counter attack from these two to alter the balance of the game. Agree that de Kock has had some luck, the chance that Stokes took did look out even if the fielder himself didn’t think so, but he’s also played some sparkling shots.

It’s the usual problem for England. When the wickets aren’t coming, they find it hard to tie down the run rate and bowl consistent line and length. It’s a key factor that separates them from better teams like New Zealand.

Over rate is so slow that Root will probably be hauled up for punishment.

Funny one that Stokes "catch" . He obviously wasn't at all sure - in fact seemed to think it had bounced ; so hardly surprising the soft signal was " not out". Even so they didn't seem to look too closely as the second angle , apparently not checked in time ? strongly suggested it was a fair catch. Must admit I thought it had carried live but assumed from Stokes' demeanor that I was wrong...now not so sure.

Anyway England need to get back on top in this session. The heat seems to have rather drawn their fangs - along with Root's bowing perhaps releasing the pressure . Although if De Kock had got out as he so nearly did it would have been a captaincy master stroke

No idea why Curran was so animated for that LBW appeal. Nowhere near out and a review is squandered.

But he gets a wicket next ball! Funny old game.

Well well what a funny game this is

Moments after wasting a review on a daft lbw (what were bowler captain and keeper thinking ?!) Curran gets the wicket they desperately needed...

Three catches for Root...three wickets for Curran Pretorious was looking quite dangerous after he'd got himself in.

Now would be a good time for Archer to bowl some sustained threatening stuff instead of the rather random mixed bag he's produced so far today. His pace has been OK so he must be feeling all right ...but he's been all over the place - and rather expensive.

Philander is no mug with the bat so England will want to nip him out early. If they can do so they might fancy getting the others, heat and tiredness notwithstanding ...
De Kock will keep playing shots regardless so they need to get the wickets if they want to hold this score to a sub-par total.
I would love to see a Stokes burst but not sure he is up to it today ?

Apparently Stokes is struggling with dehydration. Doesn’t sound good at all!

alfie wrote:Philander is no mug with the bat so England will want to nip him out early. If they can do so they might fancy getting the others, heat and tiredness notwithstanding ...
De Kock will keep playing shots regardless so they need to get the wickets if they want to hold this score to a sub-par total.  
I would love to see a Stokes burst but not sure he is up to it today ?

Sounds suspiciously like Stokes might be coming down with this lurgy that’s been going round - dehydration he’s suffering from according to TMS...hopefully that is all it is though

Rudolphin Ziggler wrote:Apparently Stokes is struggling with dehydration. Doesn’t sound good at all!

Hope he hasn't caught the swine flu...

Anderson back again. Good move I think. But the Stokes problem has rather messed with the five bowler plan... And if they don't strike again soon the tiredness effect could spell big problems for a team without a proper spin option.
At least they've slowed de Kock down lately so if they can get a wicket this score could still be kept down...
Broad on again too. Important spell... For both of them.

Already starting to see the first signs of uneven bounce, which is expected and another reason for why it was poor for England to field first. You might get away with it if you bowl the opposition out for fewer than 200, but that was always unlikely on this pitch.

Hope Stokes is well enough to bat.

Duty281 wrote:Already starting to see the first signs of uneven bounce, which is expected and another reason for why it was poor for England to field first. You might get away with it if you bowl the opposition out for fewer than 200, but that was always unlikely on this pitch.

Hope Stokes is well enough to bat.

Yes batting on day five might be very tricky. Whenever they get SA out , England will reallyneed to bat well. And long.

Surely they can't have decided to bowl first knowing Stokes had a problem ? That would have been insane , no ?

Pretty poor day as others have said, put them in and then bowl badly. Archer the wicketless wonder is really odd after how good he was In the Ashes

Aha ! No century for de Kock as Curran finds his edge ...245/7.

That came out of the blue ! What a good day Curran is having

Curran’s golden arm is second only to the impact Swann used to have in the opening over of a spell.

Three more to go. Need them all today!

I don't really agree that England have bowled badly today , as some have suggested. True , Archer has been rather disappointing - a few good balls among too much dross ; and Broad has clearly tired as the day wore on : but despite the expectation from the decision to send SA in , the pitch really hasn't offered much and they've battled away pretty well to reach this position. A quick clean out of the tail,would make it a decent days work.
That will be tough though because the effective loss of Stokes has left a lot of tired bowlers out there now...

Imagine how good Curran would be if he could bowl overseas

Five for Curran ? Or has Maharaj got an edge...Yes he has - saved.

Still young Sam continues to impress. Still getting movement with this very old ball...

Need Archer to produce something now .

Imagine how good Archer could be if he was as good as hes supposed to be.
Only able to catch up in passing. Any word on why Stokes hasn't bowled...his knee?

Hard to know what a good total is in SA, low scoring games are very common here but England look set to limit them to well under 300 which is never a bad day in the office first up on someone else's home turf. Assume it must have a fair bit of green though as England chose to bowl first which is always a bad idea.

Not entirely surprising, Broad and Archer, who’ve been bed ridden by flu (Atherton said earlier for 6 days each) are tiring as part of what is essentially a 4 man seam attack as the day goes on. According to cricviz Archer has drawn the highest percentage of false shots of all England bowlers today - a bit of luck and fitness/match practice evading him today it seems

What a difference an extra couple of MPH can make to a bowler.

277/9 at stumps. Advantage narrowly with South Africa. England bowled well in patches, especially Curran, but quite a few of the wickets came about because of South African ineptitude.

Whatever South Africa end up with, England will need a 75+ first innings lead to be favourites. Terrible decision to bowl first and surrender first and best use of the batting track.

One fancies Mr Philander will go very well on a surface like this - a little nibble off the pitch and in the air, good carry. His sort of surface

Who's this Michael Vaughn clown, moaning about NZ's ranking. What an idiot. Better things to do pal? He of the single flukiest win of the millenium in the one dayers, refs, runs, fluke hits to the boundary ...by a kiwi none the less.... turn it up Mike. Stop embarrassing yourself.

I don't disagree Vaughan is a clown, but is that comment wrong thread perhaps? Also not sure what Michael Vaughan had to do with the World Cup win, though I wouldn't put him beyond claiming it by "setting the template in 2005"

Taylorman wrote:lStop embarrassing yourself.

Yeah, you probably should.

VTR wrote:I don't disagree Vaughan is a clown, but is that comment wrong thread perhaps? Also not sure what Michael Vaughan had to do with the World Cup win, though I wouldn't put him beyond claiming it by "setting the template in 2005"

#giveVaughanhisworldcupwinnersmedal

Ben Stokes is feeling better and is at the ground ahead of day 2.

But @MAWood33 joins @chriswoakes, @OPope32 & @jackleach1991 in quarantine plus two members of the support staff Sam Dickason, security manager & Greg Stobart, digital manager.

284 all out. England need 350+.

Not long this morning then...four for Broad , 284 all out. Sent in and you'd think Root wont be too unhappy with that though at 111/5 he might have fancied getting them out closer to 200.

Pitch expected to wear so England will want to get a decent lead. If they can get 400 (big IF!) they'll probably win. But the pitch looks fairly blameless at the moment so it's hardly mission impossible. We will see.

Have to say Broad did really well in that innings , by the way. Looked very tired after his second spell but he came back extremely well and was good value for his four

Burns had a right scare first up then !

Burns given out first ball, reviewing it

Bat on pad is the sound. Would have been the two first balls of the innings. Rory reprieved

Reprieve doesn’t last long as Philander’s nagging line and length reaps a reward.

This doesn’t look a pitch that is easier to bat on on day two!

Burns gone now...

Still got a bit to prove as a Test opener. Two centuries and five fifties but only averaging 32 - which is good , by recent England standard but not exactly Gooch/Tresco/Strauss /Cook. Was a good ball , to be fair ; but he does look a candidate to nick off early. He will get tested on this tour with Philander and Rabada coming at him.

Uneven bounce causing all sorts of issues already.

Sibley gets one that keeps low, then is undone by extra bounce a few balls later. Poor call from the umpire and bizarre behaviour by Sibley.

Trouble, lads!

Not the start they wanted...

Both openers gone already. Ominous.

Good bowling from these two

Skipper needs to dig in here now...

The garbage decision to bowl first already being exposed. Use your luck winning to toss to hand the match to the opposition, more dreadful captaincy I'm afraid

Thankfully we chose to bat last on a wicket that’s already going up and down on the morning of day two.

It was just ridiculous, if I had any time I'd work out some stats on England choosing to bowl first, and I'm sure it wouldn't make good reading. That plus the locals were pretty much laughing at it kind of screams wrong decision

Lucky escape for Denly ! That should have been caught.

Rabada very threatening...quick , and making them play a lot. Now the change bowlers will be looking to keep the pressure on : one more wicket would see SA in a very strong position...

Would like to see the batsmen start taking some singles. Can't be just sitting in.

60/2 at lunch...the two Joes restoring a bit of calm to the innings.

Hot day again and a big difference between the SA opening pair and their back up so far too early to say how this is going to go. That drop of Denly might prove a big moment.

Anybody know if Ngidi is due back during this series? Nortje is quite the drop off from him, despite clearly being very sharp!

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:One fancies Mr Philander will go very well on a surface like this - a little nibble off the pitch and in the air, good carry. His sort of surface

  Mr Philander most definitely went well in the first session.

guildfordbat wrote:

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:One fancies Mr Philander will go very well on a surface like this - a little nibble off the pitch and in the air, good carry. His sort of surface

  Mr Philander most definitely went well in the first session.

Not too shabby after lunch either.

Root always plays at short balls in that area because he loves the square cut so much. Soft dismissal, all in all, just as England were starting to assert control.