What a Test. A brilliant 5-day Test. And what a win. England haven’t won at Cape Town since Ethelred The Unready was sitting on the throne. But Joe Root’s heroes – the Cape Crusaders – have put a sword through this rather sorry record. After a disappointing day one the team played excellent cricket. I really can’t fault them. Every single individual played his part. Even Zak Crawley, who sadly didn’t make many runs, pulled off a couple of sensational catches...
Marching On – Day 3 at Cape Town
The Barmy Army were singing, Romesh & Rob were watching, and England’s batsmen were laughing. I thought our lead might be approaching 300 by the end of day three, but never in my wildest dreams did I anticipate the loss of just four wickets. Today went swimmingly, and South Africa look sunk. The only time the bowlers dominated on day 3 was when Jimmy Anderson cleaned up the Cricket Bok’s tail. He completed a well earned 5-40, which will improve his record in South Africa (a rare blemish on...
The Old And The New – Day 2 at Cape Town
We haven’t had many good days to celebrate in Test cricket recently so today’s definitely one to savour. In fact, I’ve just settled down at my keyboard with a nice glass of something fizzy. It’s not champagne – we haven’t won yet – but it will do nicely in the circumstances. England bowled beautifully today, and with the pitch looking increasingly dry and the odd delivery already breaking up the surface, we really should dominate the game from here...
Pope Rescues Holy Mess – Day 1 At Cape Town
First let’s start with the positives. England picked the right team, won the toss, and correctly decided to bat first. Hallelujah! In this day and age that’s a triumph. It’s just a shame that the rest of the day – you know, the bit that actually involves playing cricket – didn’t exactly go to plan. Sadly there’s no hiding from the fact that 262-9 represents a big disappointment on a decent batting pitch. It’s even worse when you consider that...
If Not Now Then When? Day 4 At Centurion
Defeat. Another depressing defeat. And this time against a side that had lost their last 5 Tests. Basically, if you’re an international team struggling for confidence, look for England on your fixture list. This loss stings because it wasn’t the archetypal England defeat overseas. Normally we concede 500, get bowled out for 300, and then complain bitterly about our inability to take wickets with the Kookaburra ball. This time we were gifted a pitch that should’ve suited our...
Lions With The Bat, Buffoons With The Ball – Day 3 at
A day of mixed emotions at Centurion. The good news is that we’ve still got a sniff thanks to some remarkably resilient batting in the evening session. But after what we witnessed during the morning session, which was as lamentable a performance as I’ve seen from an England team in the field, I’m not sure whether I can say (hand on heart) that we deserve to win. First let’s deal ‘with the positives’ (© ECB media training vernacular). How good was Rory Burns...
