Cricket: South Africa vs Eng

[Dean]

My nipples are tingling, and its not because my torrent is almost finished.

They looked pretty good against WI in the first test, but there really are no demons there. Man for man, we should pomp them and I am just praying, PRAYING, we dont go into this series underdone like we have had a habit of doing the last few years.

Pity its only 3 tests, series deserved 5.

In the mean time, Tahir will spend time with Qadir

"It will be a very big series and if I do something special it will be one of the biggest achievements of my life," Tahir said at the Wanderers Stadium, his new domestic home

I love this oke hey. He is so hungry.

[SoopaJuice]

I can't wait either. The English batting still looks very fragile and their own commentators and ex-players have been talking them up big time.

I can't wait to hand out a couple of fuck you's to some of them, with Vaughn on the top of my list.

I think our batting line up makes the difference, I don't really think Broad is as good a bowler as what he's made out to be and Anderson can get really deflated and wayward if you go after him. We're not as fragile in the batting dept as they are so I think we will look to attack early on.

I'm going to be really gutted if weather plays a part and we don't get a result from a test or 2, especially as it's a 3 test series like you said.

I'm also hoping Morkel has grown up a bit at the IPL and bring some confidence and fire to the series.

I'm salivating at the thought of Steyn swinging it at 150kph, Morkel making it break fingers, chins, jaws and cheekbones off a length and Philander plugging away and taking 5'ers like they're free condoms at a whore house.

[Jay]

I honestly cannot believe that poes Vaughn thinks England have the better attack because of Swann. It blows my mind. Just because Broad can bat a bit, doesn't make him a better bowler. Anderson has been fantastic the past two years. Apart from him, there's nothing. Swann and Broad are not as good as they're made out ot be.

[Dean]

Swann is someone everyone has seen enough of now. A few years back, I dont think there was ever an English spinner that warranted video analysis.

Maybe Phil Tuffnel, but that was the police, not the opposition.

So Swann is hardly going to rip us to shreds and there are few surprises there. If anything, South Africa plays spin very well these days, and England should be more worried about Tahir than South Africa should be worried about Swann. Englands issues with spin have been quite obvious.

Vaughn is also so blinkered he does not realise the attack the Poms faced up to, and should have lost to, was injury ravaged. Sure, Steyn was there, but so was fucking Friedel de Wet and Paul Harris. Steyn, Philander, Morkel, de Lange and Tahir though?

Smells like sex to me.

We have them in the batting stakes, although their tail is far better. I would have felt more comfortable with a better batsmen replacing Boucher, but its not to be. My biggest concern is their preparation, but they do have two three day games before the first, and another in between the first and second.

4 or 5 test match series and I would expect it to be South Africas series. 3 tests though will suit England, not us. If Steyn and Philander fire, there are going to be sessions where those cunts lose 4-5 wickets. Count on it

[WiK1d]

I can not wait for it to get going. Still seems so far away, but it's going to be a goodie!

[Solo]

Add in Kallis to the mix as a bowler who comes on for a couple of overs and normally breaks partnerships...... England should be sweating. But like you said, hopefully we are not going into this underdone. I hope we just fuck them up from the first ball.

[Bodhisattva]

I'm sure you've all seen the SA squad announced for the test series.

I would've considered taking Faf though ..maybe in Rudolph's place.
I would also loved to have seen an extra young non-playing wicket keeper who could practice with the squad and learn all the tricks of the trade from Boucher and get used to the team set-up and philosophy.

[SoopaJuice]

I'm sure you've all seen the SA squad announced for the test series.

I would've considered taking Faf though ..maybe in Rudolph's place.
I would also loved to have seen an extra young non-playing wicket keeper who could practice with the squad and learn all the tricks of the trade from Boucher and get used to the team set-up and philosophy.

Faf hasn't done much in the 4 day arena over an extended period of time and Rudolph has dominated in country cricket for the last 4-5 years. He also hasn't been given a proper chance yet.

Tsolekile is there to take over from Boucher, it's very rare to take 2 keepers, even for them to just learn and experience the setup.

[Dean]

Nothing unexpected really.

Although all the talk of Tsolekile makes me sick.

I also see that Prince had his contract extended. Maybe the quotas are being measured by contracts instead these days. One can hope

[WiK1d]

Yeah it's a pretty solid side so you can't expect too many changes. I still believe in Rudolph, when the guy is on song he's unstoppable. I just wonder what he's been doing now, was he in England playing county cricket? I also really do like Faf and he's in fantastic form at the moment, he'll get his chance soon enough.

Tsolekile can fuck right off.

[SoopaJuice]

I still believe in Rudolph, when the guy is on song he's unstoppable. I just wonder what he's been doing now, was he in England playing county cricket?

Yup, he had a short stint recently.

[Garion]

Boucher is out for the first test, probably the series. So it looks like tsolikele will come in, we should have taken a better up and coming keeper. But maybe he is the business, i don't really know cause i don't follow first class cricket.

I feel for boucher though, not only is it probably his last series but getting injured like that must SUCK!

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[Dean]

We had better options in Kuhn and Vilas, both who are 27. Tsoelekile is a quote selection unfortunately, and being 32, one of the most fucked up decisions we have seen.

I expect he is as good in bed as Wayne Parnell

[Jay]

Hudson was interviewed on the radio this morning and said that he still needed to discuss it with the other selectors before they commit to a replacement. It might just be dodging the issue but you never know.

Tsolekile is a quota selection, yes, and after being given a national contract there might be a lot of political whinging if he isn't picked. But having said that, there's a big argument to be made for the fact that England is a tour you take experienced players on, not to blood new players. I honestly wouldn't be surprised to see someone like Morne van Wyk get called up or even to see AB take the gloves and Duminy roped in as an extra batsman. I would far prefer the former to the latter option though.

[Jay]

Mark Boucher has retired from international cricket after undergoing surgery on the severe eye injury he sustained on the opening day against Somerset.

well shit...

[Dean]

Worst fears imagined.

Boucher got injured, how do they leave Tsoelekile out? That motherfucker is going to cost us big time :/

Must have been a major injury though. Christ, retirement from a knock to the eye?

[Jay]

It ruptured his eyeball. He's going to need more surgery to sort it out and at this stage they still don't know if he'll retain his eyesight. So yeah. Kinda major.

As for leaving Tsolekile out, read my previous post.

[Jay]

South Africa's team management announced that the versatile AB de Villiers, who has previously provided cover behind the stumps in both Tests and one-day internationals, will replace wicketkeeper Mark Boucher for the first Test at The Oval next week.

See?

[Dean]

Boucher deserved better than this :/

Hope it does not affect the side too much, and losing him like this was much worse than dropping him because it screws with preparation, but also focus with everyone who is worried about what sounds like a freak accident. And a bad one at that, chances of him losing vision in the eye might be quite high the way they are carrying on.

De Villiers at keeper means we can select Duminy to bat at 7. Thats a scary thing for England. He is a great fielder, he can bowl some pretty decent spin and we all know his potential with the bat. This is a massive boost to balance and why you would want to bring Tsoelekile in now I dont know. I would rather complete the series like this and make a plan to bring in Vilas or Kuhn against Aus.

Concerning though was the 2 day game. Morkel went for almost 7 an over, and out batsmen were iffy. We had two academy players score hundreds I think.

I have this horrible feeling we are going into another fucking series under prepared and I was moaning about this months ago when I looked at the schedule. Surely during the off season we could have arranged a few more 3 days games? We are our own worst enemies sometimes, and the series is not off to a good start. Being so short, before you wake up you could be down in the first, rained out in the second, headed into the third chasing a win to draw the series.

[spikey]

Well, it's official, Boucher has now retired. What a kak way to end for someone that's played for his country for so long

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