Thetownend.com

So that's the series drawn then.

Shambles.

Oh lummy.

Amla's catch from Strauss might well be the best catch I've ever seen mind.

Pietersen gone. Oh fuck. Attempted Hook to mid-on. Good work lad.

oh jesus christ...and i just paid for skyplayer to watch this

I've had it with Pietersen.  We all know what he can do...problem is his form has dipped so alarmingly at the moment that his potential means bugger all.  Not quite as good as he thinks he is.

Cook gone. We're seriously teh phucked.

...Reviewing it...No ball!

1x Bullet dodged.

What the heck, they've upheld the out decision, despite the fact it was a clear no ball? Who the fuck is in charge of this shit. Oh, Daryl Harper, enough said.

At least this saves me the bother of following the match in the background for the next 5 days.  Pathetic showing from England.


Too bloody right.  No balls.

On a less serious note anyone see the big Swindon Town flag?
Pitch looks lively...250 will be a goodish score...come on  England.

70/4 and Collingwood hits a six :D

You know how a picture tells a thousand words?

[url width=146 height=110]http://wwwimg.bbc.co.uk/feedengine/homepage/images/sport/_47108056_kevinout226_146x110.jpg[/url]

Yep.

oh dear... collingwood gone now.

Oh 'eck, Bell loses his stumps to Steyn. Emphatically bowled, I think is the phrase.

Prior gone with the score at 136. Enter the Swannmeister.

Daryl Harper needs fuckin executing.

Is the pitch really spicy or are we just batting like cunts, I'm too hungover to get up and watch it

and another gone...

a bit of both i think dave.

Pitch is doing a fair bit but it's not an absolute minefield like you might think. Strauss was out first ball to one of the best catches I've ever seen (no exaggeration, watch it in real time) Trott and Pietersen were swinging and missing at eveything, Colly and Bell played reasonably well but got out to pretty good balls. Cook's was the referral mess, was looking reasonable until then.

I'd say 250-300 would be a good score on this pitch, but Broad's just gone and we'll get nowhere near that.

180 all out after Swann blitzes 27.

We're going to need to bowl very well.

got to keep sa below 300, get 350-370 and see what happens.

Ahhh the usual shite returns. In fact i'd argue that so far we've only been good in that 1 test match. At least we have some fighting spirit now though but this looks like a long way back sadly.

IOB - Cricketus Pessimisticus :)

Buzzing for Jimmy to ruin their top order before lunch tomorrow, we'll be having a little bat by mid afternoon, fuckin come on boys

We have a happy knack at the moment of not being so good most of the time, but being able to do something when it matters  most.  1-1 would be a fair result for this series, and a decent outcome for England, so all good.

LIGHT DRIZZLE...will come to our aid in this.

Would be nice.

Looks like the South African's have resorted to cheating.

Smith edged one behind but was given not out and didn't walk. Then the video feed given to the 3rd umpire by the host broadcaster didn't have the sound on it which the Sky replays had. So he was given not out.

Should Smith of walked? Did the host broadcaster deliberately "lose" the sound?

Either way, I think we now have an excuse should we lose.

They've overtaken our score, one wicket down.

Oh boy. Was asleep for the Smith thing this morning but sounds more than a little bit naughty.

If we lose by an innings plus, which is looking fairly likely, I think the Smith 'cheating' incident will seem a little hollow.

Is there any other sport which such extreme levels of inconsistancy. Some people would say this is the beauty of cricket, personally I think its bloody annoying. It would be nice to know whether we had a good team or a joke team...however this seems to change from session to session.

Rain glorius rain!

TMS are providing wonderful commentary on the weather :D

SABC are insisting Daryl Harper had sound, but hadn't turned it up. You couldn't make this shit up.

You can't say Smith cheated. No-one walks.

Harper's become a fucking laughing stock, it's a joke that he's allowed anywhere near a decent standard of cricket. We're fucked ain't we?

He walked last week and was called back in by Strauss.

different scenario - you can't claim you haven't hit it when the ball goes to 2nd/3rd slip!

I reckon Harper as probably used up all his lives as a Test umpire, this was a major mistake even for him.

But it also shows just how bad the referral system in cricket is. The technology used depends on whether the host broadcaster provides it or not - so some is missing from the series as they didn't want to spend the money. How can you have one system for tests in England and another for tests in South Africa? Crazy.

With mistakes being made in the referral decisions, what's the point of having it in the first place?

We'd have the same issues with referrals in football. Unless the technology is very accurate, consistent, has no or little human involvement and is used by everyone then what's the point? Don't know why we can't have goal line technology though seeing as that meets those requirements.

Exactly that- provide Hotspot and Snickometer and you have a good system, right now you're not going to see edges overruled unless they've thumped it to gully.

Shocking. Even with no sound you could see on the replay that he clearly nicked it. Terrible decision.

We're still gonna win

Pietersen manages to sum up both England's performance and Harper's continued employment:

[url width=146 height=110]http://wwwimg.bbc.co.uk/feedengine/homepage/images/sport/_47108056_kevinout226_146x110.jpg[/url]

I love this picture enough to continue spamming it. I may even make it my avatar.

He won't be face-palming when he smashes 250* (let's cling to that shall we...)

lets

Yes please. I can see us making a pretty decent fist of our second innings, but we're going to have such a massive defecit...

I would like to see the referal system linked to disciplinary action. So, for example, if a batsman hits the ball like Smith clearly did and puts the umpire under pressure by not walking, he should be severely fined. Equally, if a fielder claims a catch that clearly hits the floor, a similar fine should be incurred. That would get batsmen walking more often and reduce cheating.

Isn't that face palm from when he hit 81 the other day then got himself run out?

Thing this is though that he'll most likely hit 250 one day and then do something really stupid once again to get out.

He can't help it, its the way he is. At least he does it through stupidity rather than incompetence.

217 for 4, two early wickets

http://fatipadi.com/player3/

If any wants a link.

Five down, Swann with wicket in 1st over

Things aren't going well for us are they, de Villiers just thumped the ball behind to Prior, given not out by Steve Davies, plus this one earlier that Harper overturned when it wasn't out.

I think our luck has officially run out. Apparently the ECB are complaining bitterly and trying to get a refferral re-instated. Not sure about that, we're not the FAI are we.

Giles Clarke (Head of ECB) is going ballistic on the radio. Not terribly diplomatic of him!

Agree Nemo we need to let it go now despite the fact it was a terrible decision. We need to save the game first and foremost.

Apparently Harper has posted on Facebook that he wasn't to blame and that it was the host broadcasters fault for not giving him the sound feed. Though Sky reckon he fucked up another referral by rushing it and over ruling the original decision of out.

Haha, Beefy doing his nut on Sky earlier about Harper, ace.

Oh bejesus

Shite. Total shite.

Only 241 to go!

It'd better happen.

Sigh. That didn't go too well. Whilst we've come out of the Series with a very creditable draw, we got completely destroyed for the most part, which is worrying. Strauss, Trott, Pietersen and Prior have hardly scored all Series, although Collingwood was a bright spot.

Next Test Series is against the Banglas, who are currently having a whale of a time against India, so I think we need to be a little more respectful of them than I suspect we will- Shakib Al Hasan is an excellent player, and they have a few other decent players. Team announced tomorrow, I expect a fair few players to be rested, giving Plunkett, Wright, Rashid and co a chance. Will be interesting.

When does that start Nemo?

ODIs late Feb tests in March. We've got a few T20 games in Abu Dhabi against Pakistan first, I believe.

At least we didn't lose the series. A few players need to have a look at themselves though. KP for a start. Waste of space on this tour. I'd drop him. At fucking hell I never thought i'd say this but Bell was probably our best batsmen in the series alongside Collingwood. It's strange how it was those 2 who were under pressure in the summer and could have easily been dropped yet here we are 6 months later talking about them being the better performers. Funny old game.

Kp's gotta fill his boots in Bangladesh or questions need to be asked, Trott was found out for the limited, leg-side player he is and fair play to Prior for becoming a good glovesman but fuck me his batting has suffered, the suggestion that Broad can be a test match no 7 looks fucking laughable, in fact Swann should be at 8.

On the plus side Cook made some runs, Bell showed what a good player he is, Collys back to his best, Straussy didn't bad badly, just was on the end of some belting deliveries/catches, Swann showed he's world class.

Alot to work on before Aus next winter.

Agree on all counts.
Don't understand how we can go from being better than OK in the second test to absolute embarrassing shite in the last one

May aswell have left Pietersen out and given him a break too.

I'm sure he would have been left out if he hadn't had a woeful series.

Less changes than expected for the Banglas tour, Strauss and Anderson the only ones left out. Shahzad of Yorkshire comes in, don't know much about him but he's another medium-fast bowler, we need someone with out an out pace- I'd have given Steven Finn a tour if they've (perhaps wisely) decided Mahmood is a no go.

Looking @ Cricinfo, Shahzad has a first class bowling average of 35, and a batting average of 30: Broadesque, anyone?

I saw Shazad bowl in a one dayer on the box back end of last season, from memory, he's one of those quicks who break down in their youth, and so come back a bit slower.

Think anyone who can bowl a bit sharply will get a game for England in the hope of unearthing a gem.  Meaker at Surrey is sharp, and has the advantage of being a Saffa.