2022 UK Tour.

Weather looks overcast again for atleast the first 2 days...anothe quick match...we struggle a bit in Manchester...but don't play there much.

No Headingly this tour...

Man did Elgar ever screw up on his call to bat.

Pathetic batting and only Nortje and Rabada made the early breaks to see the others getting clobbered all around the field.

The wheels sure have come off this test.

Out gunned by the Poms this test I'm afraid.

Any chance of rain?????????

That is all that can save the Proteas from and innings defeat in this test.

Well, either that o r a miracle.

Do you have any good contacts with upstairs?

Some situations are not worth asking for guidance or help.

In this instance a bad toss to win and then bat can never be reversed.

It's called a BLUNDER.

Sorry.

Well I enjoyed this more than the last Test !! But seriously, this does make the final Test pretty exciting. 

Let’s hope it’s a good one. 

God we enjoy watching B en Stokes play.

We watch from far in NZ.

This world is a better place because he is in it.

Great player and I don't give a damn that he plays for England, just pleased that we are able to see his cricket skill and attitude.  

I understand your frustration AJ and it's hard to contain one's hopes but I did warn in my above post after the 1st Tes t.

Summed up like a man who knows cricket. I agree and I daresay things would have been different had the toss gone the other way. The Proteas as the saying goes had the rub of the green allowing their attack to take full advantage of the conditions. Following that it became a 1/sided contest which to be fair doesn't tell us a great deal about the Proteas or England. 

And then this "little" concern....four batsmen(Petersen, Dassie, Markram and Verryenne) scored a combined total of 70 runs.

Tail-enders Maharaj and Nortje scored a combined total of 69 runs.

Obviously nothings changed from one test to another and I'd be very surprised if there's a positive change in the third.

The blame for the recent loss seems to be falling square on the shoulders of the delusional Elgar.......I'm not entirely convinced. Here's the thing, once they selected two spinners instead of one then the team had to bat not bowl if they won the toss. Question is who decided on playing two spinners.....was it Elgar? The selection of the two spinners pretty much decided how the Proteas were going to role.

The second mistake was to change a winning side......."if it ain't broke don't fix it"...went whoooosh over some peoples head in the Protea camp. Let me tell you that the young Marco Jansen is hugely underrated in all forms of the game, one can argue that had he played for India or Oz he'd be given the support to develop into an awesome Allrounder.

Thirdly, the Protea seam attack was found wanting, runs early in England's innings were like hen's teeth, Rabada going legside as often as he did and Nortje bowling ineffective bouncers which flew over the keeper's head for four took the pressure off their batsmen. Ngidi contained rather than took wickets and this is where Marco Jansen would have been very effective.

We  now know that England bowling as a unit have the better attack of the two teams and we also know that the Proteas have a lingering batting problem.

If you don't get your hopes up you can never be disappointed.

Hoor, Hoor.

Also surprised that they made Jansen the 12th man and brought in a spinner.

I have always been unsure of Elgar as the captain as well.

He really screwed up on the call this time.

But in general the Proteas batters seemed to be intimidated by Anderson, Robinson and Broad and I for one think that Markram has once more failed and another batter should be brought in.

He has failed on many occasions with the bat proving to be a liability rather than a reliable run maker.

Time to give the young guns an opportunity to show their skills I think.

I have always been unsure of Elgar as the captain as well.

As a batsman he is average and as for the captaincy you'd have to say it was handed to him because there was no-one else.

Still, I'm not convinced it was his decision to bat instead of bowl, that decision was determined the instant two spinners were selected.

Question is, who decided on playing two spinners?

Hopefully the Proteas come up with a all round better performance in the third and final test.

Ja, hope, that's all we have.

Weather doesn't look too hot for cricket for the first 2 days of the final test .

Massive blow for England with Bairstow out

Four changes to the team, glad to see Rickleton finally get his chance also glad to see Marco Jansen back on deck. Mulder will need to step up with bat and ball.

Proteas to bat, England won the toss. This could be tricky, there'll be some juice in the pitch.