Thursday, January 16, 2020

Third Test, First Day At Port Elizabeth.

Skipper, Joe Root, did what he was supposed to - calling 'heads' as the coin went up into the air. Three on the belt. Nice!
England elected to bat on a fairly unresponsive pitch - for the seamers, at least.

The similarities between this track and the one at Cape Town were remarkable, only the exaggerated spin by Maharajah on a first day made any distinction between this wicket and the previous one.
Astonishingly - all of England's top six got a start but only Crawley managed to nudge over 40.
224 for four, at the end of the day, gave England a slight edge with both Pope and Stokes established at the crease.
The ball kept low. (Ask Joe Root about that!)
Sorry to keep on keeping on about that pitch but I do not anticipate this one dying in the fourth innings of the match as happened in Capetown!
Expect batting last to be a nightmare for South Africa.
So what would be a good first innings total for England?
I suspect that 350 to 370 would be considered a very good score. England would probably not expect to post 400+.

An Outrage Goes Effectively Unpunished!

My husband turned to me and said 'this is the best day of my life'... 15 minutes later he died in my arms - and his killer only got ...