SA - England: Fourth Test

[dell boy]

Five down, Swann with wicket in 1st over

[Nemo]

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.

[Nemo]

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

[Iffy's Onion Bhaji]

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.

[jonny72]

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.

[DMR]

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

[DMR]

Oh bejesus

[Iffy's Onion Bhaji]

Shite. Total shite.

[Nemo]

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

Only 241 to go!

It'd better happen.

[Nemo]

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.

[Saxondale]

When does that start Nemo?

[Nemo]

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

[Iffy's Onion Bhaji]

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.

[DMR]

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.

[Nick Bamosomi]

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.

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