England v South Africa test series

Trott KP and co are about as South African as Imran Tahir is a Pakistani or for that matter Tenda Mtawarira a Zimbabwean..they have moved on,adopted a new country and all no doubt have earned the right to represent said countries...

i hv no problem with kp,trott,kieswetter and whoever else from good old rsa representing england.imo people in this day and age are free to do whatever is best for themselves.im actually glad these former south africans hv strenghtened the english cricket team and helped england take the ashes away from arrogant aussies.all i know is even with these imports england can and will never be better than our proteas and that is my belief.this team we hv now will dominate world cricket for the next few years of that i hv no doubt.

winzip Wrote:

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> i hv no problem with kp,trott,kieswetter and
> whoever else from good old rsa representing
> england.imo people in this day and age are free to
> do whatever is best for themselves.im actually
> glad these former south africans hv strenghtened
> the english cricket team and helped england take
> the ashes away from arrogant aussies.all i know is
> even with these imports england can and will never
> be better than our proteas and that is my
> belief.this team we hv now will dominate world
> cricket for the next few years of that i hv no
> doubt.

England are currently World Number 1. That makes them, at least prior to the start of the current series, better than SA.
That is of course on paper only but it is the way things are done.
SA have, I believe, a record since 2009/10 of drawing a home series with England, drawing with Australia (who England thrashed), drawing two series with India (who England thrashed), beating the West Indies (who England thrashed) drawing with Pakistan (who thrashed England), beating Sri Lanka (who England drew with) and beating NZ (who England also beat last time they played). There is nothing there that states SA are much the superior side, infact it could be argued to the contrary.
I don't think you are necessarily wrong and in some ways your somewhat tunnel-vision style support for the Proteas is admirable but your arguments must have the substance to support them, currently they do not. If SA win the current series they will be world number one, if they don't then they will have to wait until they achieve the results which take them there. Whether you and I think that overall they have the better players is irrelevant, its about results. And if they do win the current series I will be one of the first to congratulate them and acknowledge them as world number one. Until then, should that happen, England have the number one beside their name and fully earned that priviledge.

not to harp on abt this topic you forget to mention we beat england in england in 2008 and we only team to win 2 consecutive series against india at there home,which not even the mighty aussie team which included s warne,hayden,glen m,a gilchrist could do.i will however grant you that england are currently ranked no 1, so until the proteas take away your no1 ranking, good luck to england while it lasts, because come end of lords test there will be a new number 1 test team.

winzip Wrote:

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> not to harp on abt this topic you forget to
> mention we beat england in england in 2008 and we
> only team to win 2 consecutive series against
> india at there home,which not even the mighty
> aussie team which included s warne,hayden,glen m,a
> gilchrist could do.i will however grant you that
> england are currently ranked no 1, so until the
> proteas take away your no1 ranking, good luck to
> england while it lasts, because come end of lords
> test there will be a new number 1 test team.

Perhaps Winzip There was no forgetting mate, I simply did not go back that far because at the time neither side were considered close to being number one as the Aussies were so far ahead, I simply went back to the last SA-England series which seemed reasonable.

Kallis could be out of the rest of the tour with a bad back spasm.

chicken 'n chips Wrote:

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> Kallis could be out of the rest of the tour with a
> bad back spasm.

That would be BAD !!

@Englander the ranking system needs review...India were number 1 under Kirsten even thou they have never performed in Aussie or SA..in fact they were easily beaten by both England n Aussie recently......England in their last few tests have been (not beaten) but humiliated by both Pakistan n SA...how can they be no. 1???

FC Wrote:

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> @Englander the ranking system needs review...India
> were number 1 under Kirsten even thou they have
> never performed in Aussie or SA..in fact they were
> easily beaten by both England n Aussie
> recently......England in their last few tests have
> been (not beaten) but humiliated by both Pakistan
> n SA...how can they be no. 1???

I said thrashed (not beaten) FC
I did not feel humiliated by the SA defeat, they are a fine side and that can happen, you have to accept such defeats and nod your head in the direction of the opposition in acknowledgement of their performance. Pakistan was unacceptable, the result was bad enough but it was some of the poorest cricket I have seen from anyone in a long time, the basics were just not applied. However, England are No 1 FC because the system is based over a prolonged period of time. If England thrash SA in the last test would that suddenly make them worthy No 1 in your opinion? Prior to this series, that defeat you speak of to Pakistan is England's only series defeat since they lost 1-0 to the Windies in 2008/9, since that series and before the current SA series, from a total of 39 tests England have won 26, drawn 8 and lost only 5. That is a pretty sound record by anyone's standards FC and it is no surprise to me that it elevated them to No 1 status. You don't become champions of the EPL by winning your last 6 games, you win it over 38 games played over 8 months or whatever. Same logic (tu)

Some extremely poor decisions giving the English some hope - Smith never got bat to the ball, but somehow the 3rd umpire did not uphold the review, then AB given out LBW (no reviews left for SA) where the ball would not have hit another stump, then Duminy is given out LBW after hitting the ball :S

Frodo Wrote:

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> Some extremely poor decisions giving the English
> some hope - Smith never got bat to the ball, but
> somehow the 3rd umpire did not uphold the review,
> then AB given out LBW (no reviews left for SA)
> where the ball would not have hit another stump,
> then Duminy is given out LBW after hitting the
> ball :S

As things have turned out Frodo, if (and it is a HUGE if) England have any hope it is because Smith has declared.

There is a rumour that there was a hotspot mark of some sort, any uncertainty and the 3rd umpire can't advise the onfield ump to change the decision. And I am not saying it was right or wrong, I have not seen the hotspot, it was Barry Richards who I heard comment on it.

But.... you have to take these things either way, it is part of the game. I do remember the vital 4th test in Joburg last series SA-Eng where there was a small matter of the 3rd umpire not turning up the volume to hear a huge snick off Mr Smith's bat... Smith went on to make 105 and SA squared the series by winning that test. My chin got a little tougher after taking that one

Whilst talking about poor calls we must accept that all teams are on the receiving end of them