So recco you dropping pietersen?

Why is it that South Africa has to play a four day game while England get a rest? Even the few English players who could have gone to play country cricket has been told to take a break. Maybe its an English plan to wear out their opponents.

Saman, one change to your team. Drop panesar and play flintoff. Panesar has been useless so far. A bowling attack of anderson, sidebottom, harmison and flintoff is very good. Colly can bowl a few if req also.

Great idea prophet...

Andrew hudson? Really? He would get ten ducks, followed by a century and need another ten ducks before the next one.

I would like to take this opportunity to call for Vaughans head. Tactics is important, but if u cant motivate your players then the captain is useless. Plus he has made too many bad decisions of late. Add to that his useless batting and i say its time to go.

What does vaughan mean by he wanted someone to pitch the ball up? If that was the tactic then just tell harmison or tremlett to pitch the ball up. If anything they would have given more variation cause bowling the occasional short ball would have been possible.

Karma - no its not a lie. Id bet most south africans would not want pietersen in the team. The public wouldnt want him. The selectors wouldnt want him. The team wouldnt want him and Smith wouldnt want him. Sometimes i feel sorry for him. He will never be seen as english and never as a true south african. He has no home.

Saman, to drop broad is not too clever. He has one of the highest averages in the english team. Rather drop panesar and bring in another fast bowler. Maybe harmison and hoggard for panesar and pattinson. Sidebottom might be needed to replace anderson. Even tho he also looks not very threatening in the first test.

Pietersen kinda played into south africas hands. The game plan it seems against him is to bowl wide with kallis and make him frustrated. That wouldnt have worked if he had batted time.

THATS the secret!! Drink five litres of milk and girls will throw themselves all over you. Maybe dhoni is sharing his milk with his bodyguards nowadays and as a result is now suffering from fatigue. The BCCI really should budget some money next season for dhonis milk. Don want him feeling fatigued again.

Tisatito- is being listed in tendulkars dairy, the same as being on the honours board at lords? Just its not who scores a century or takes 5 wickets but who drinks the most milk?

Ok this wicket is flatter than i thought. I hundred run lead might not be enough. Maybe 200. Coz then england need to score 400 to put sa under pressure. Maybe sa can bat til tea 2moro...

The english commentators also couldnt stop moaning about cooks wicket. When it happened to amla they hardly mention it!! I have always hated english commentators, but after the lords test i wasnt sure why. Now i remember.

Well things are pretty even right now cause sa need to bat last on this pitch. Sa needs abt a 100 run lead.

Ok time for kallis to play an innings. He and amla tend to bat together well. For a long period when gibbs and smith were opening and in bad form they have done a good job from this kind of position.

Tisatito, i don think tendulkar is the best player of spin. He is known to struggle against left arm spinners and i remember a certain t. Tsokelile from south africa bowling him.

I think smith and mickey arthur are playing mind games. They are doing the same thing that the english media did for the sa bowling attack to flintoff. They are creating hype. And this time the media is helping.

Abt the whole Dhoni issue: Indias ODI team will be weaker. But i think Kirsten is thinking abt the champs trophy. He knows how imp dhoni is to the team. Did anyone hear that he has a all female security team? He needs girls to protect him?

Just read the pitch report for the second test. The toss is going to be important. But what to do if you win the toss is an issue. This is where local knowledge comes in, hence advantage England. First days will be the best for batting on a seamers ground. But Day one weather forecast is cloudy, meaning swing. Maybe day two will be better this time around? Anticipation is starting to build already...

Spinner is not really an issue. Only India and Sri Lanka can say they have a spin bowling culture. Aus was a once off with Warne. No one else has an actual match winner. Even Vettori is not as good as he used to be. Only Sri Lanka with Murali followed by Mendis and India with Kumble followed by (probably) Chawla. SA hasnt had a spinner in ages. But are the only team that has knocked Aus of the ODI rankings in the recent years and currently ranked 2nd in tests. Maybe a spinners need is overrated.

Maybe SA can bring Johan Botha in. If McKenzie gets serious just send him home and bring Botha. JP can bat at #6 and De villiers can open the batting. I think de villiers plays better as an opener, only there is no space there.

Who ever wicketkeeps is going to be a lesser batsman than when not wicketkeeping. Wicketkeeping is tiring work. Constantly sitting down and up and concentrating. Plus ab is not that good a wicketkeeper. I have seen him do it twice in t20 games and both times dropped a catch. One a top edge that went straight up.

I once bench pressed 10kg. And without a spotter. :)

If smith wins the toss in the second test he should bat first if the pitch is even slightly batsmen friendly. That way the english bowlers will be worn out even more. Esp sidea$$ coz of his age. And panesar might have a few blisters on his hand from all the bowling he did.

Six centuries actually... Four to sa and two to england.

Karma and Ed - I don agree with you. Ntini performed well just recently in India. One bad test doesnt mean he should be dropped. He is the kind of bowler who has win a match by himself. And 6 wickets from 350 wickets, dropping him would be cruel.

I think south africa should continue doing what they are doing now until they start to lead. Then accelerate (maybe with ab) and build a lead of 200. Then put england in to chase 200 of 20 overs. Like a t20 game on a day five pitch. If england lose a few quick wickets then suddenly england might be the ones trying to save the game

Sidebottoms injury might open the door for flintoff. Will also add more batting power to the line up. If sidebottom can bowl then i rate paul collinwood should go.

Whats wrong with allan donald? He never has anything positive to say. His south african legend status needs to be revoked. He should be reminded that every penny he makes in england comes about because of what south africa taught him. All his knowledge and experience comes from there.

Maybe Nel will be selected now...