England are in control. The Cricket Boks look beaten. Their champion has pulled up lame. It’s only a matter of time now …
Excuse my premature confidence but I really expect England to win this game now. The lead is already 260 and there’s two full day’s play to come. Root, Taylor and Co should extend our advantage to approximately 450 sometime between lunch and tea tomorrow, and then we’ll have four and a half sessions to bowl them out. It’s a simple game eh!
The reason for my buoyant mood is simple: Dale Steyn will play no further part in this test match. His shoulder has given up the ghost and already submitted its request for unemployment benefit. It’s a bitter blow to the South Africans. Morkel can’t do it all on his own.
Despite our useful lead, England’s batsmen were loitering without intent just before tea. We looked nervous and were going nowhere. But once Steyn was forced from the field, and Compton and Root survived a defiant but ultimately vain assault from Morkel – mainly due to catching that would shame even the West Indies XI playing in Melbourne – a big lead looked certain.
The key contributions of the day came from Root and Compton with the bat and, somewhat refreshingly, Moeen with the ball. Let’s talk about Mo first …
It was really promising to see the ‘beard to be feared’ rediscover his Midas touch. He bowled at the right pace, spun the ball, and even recaptured some of the control that went AWOL nine months ago. He actually looks a good bowler when he hits the right areas consistently. Better than the lacklustre Dane Pietd anyway.
With spin unexpectedly expected to play an important role in this series – rumour has it that most of the pitches in this series will be dry for reasons that escape me – Mo’s return to form is most welcome indeed. Perhaps he was simply having confidence issues and his six wickets in the last warm up match restored his swagger?
We shouldn’t just praise Mo, however. All the England bowlers did their job extremely well. I’m not sure how David Saker is doing in his new job, but I think he’s better off where he is and we’re better off without him. Things have definitely improved since Gibson arrived back on the scene last year.
It was a bit of a mixed bag from our batsmen but thankfully a useful partnership between Root and Taylor, the ideal men in the circumstances, settled the nerves. Cook was dismissed early when he played down the wrong line to a straight ball from Pietd (Yasir Shah and Nathan Lyon seem to have got into his head a little) and Hales played a scratchy innings that only highlighted his shortcomings really. Poor bloke.
Compton made a useful 49 but was dropped twice in the process. Overall he looked quite composed again. I like the way that Compton stays so still at the crease and plays so straight. He’s a real throwback.
Compton is the kind of batsman who would make my school coaches proud. Yes he’s a bit one-paced but number three has often been a problem for England. I’ll settle for someone who can block up and end at the present time. We’ve got enough dashers in the team already. It’s not like we’ve got the new Brian Lara waiting in the wings.
So what will tomorrow bring? More pain for the Cricket Boks one imagines. I hope their agony on the field continues but let’s hope for some better news off it. Cricket fans everywhere will be waiting for the medical bulletins on Steyn with baited breath. He’s the world’s best fast bowler and it would be a massive shame if he misses the rest of this series. Test cricket needs its brightest stars burning bright.
James Morgan
Looks like I criticised Moeen too early! Bowled very well today, fair play to him.
England bowled fantastically well today and have quietly build a fabulous lead too – we really should win from here, can’t see SA chasing down anything over 300…. I hope Cook declares early enough although one suspects that it might be better if we were bowled out with a lead of around 350 so that the decision doesn’t actually have to be made.
Agree on Steyn, would be a shame if he were out, particularly if Anderson misses the next match too; it’d be fascinating to see them both compete in the same game.
I also do not rate moeen in test cricket but he did bowl ok today, didn’t give much away. However, we must remember this SA line up is poor and the few good players they have are woefully out of form. The wicket is also a decent test wicket as players can’t just hit through the line without big risks.
It’s an enjoyable game as the sides are relatively even but I am sad as a test crixket fan to see standards declining.
Sadly I agree. I think standards are definitely declining :-( the ICC needs to think hard about the way forward.
lol. I would be utterly amazed if the ICC gave a shit.
Realistically SA are chasing at least 350 – 400 even if they bowl England out fairly quickly tomorrow. Only thing left here I think is for SA to try for the block-a-thon once more. Expect them to try and strangle the England scoring tomorrow to give themselves the best chance of blocking it out. England are more likely to win if they get bowled out as Cook won’t do an early declaration and risk losing the game.