2nd Test: South Africa v England at Cape Town on Jan 2-6, 2016

[JJ]

Stokes has spent half his life in England so no great betrayal imo

 

[Pennies]

Do they also get the credit for his shithouse performances up to now?

So I suppose his 92 and 101 against NZ, which turn the game Englands way at Lords this year,was shithouse performance too because of the opposition?;-)
He is a work in progress and won't be another Flintoff.

 

[Pete Cash]

Stokes record ain't good...before this innings he was the worst averaging batsman to bat at 6 and play a minimum of 25 innings over the last 5 years.

Still an amazing innings. He can certainly pull them out

 

[Pennies]

Agree needs to be consistent. Still quite young only 24. But I would take him any day of the week as an allrounder instead of M Marsh.
Stokes can take his game to another level when on song. Maybe Bayliss can get the best out of him.

 

[Twizzle]

big fan of Stokes, liked him the first time I saw him when he toured here

 

[JJ]

So I suppose his 92 and 101 against NZ, which turn the game Englands way at Lords this year,was shithouse performance too because of the opposition?;-)
He is a work in progress and won't be another Flintoff.

That was his last good test, I'd imagine - which was the point :roll: Some brilliant stuff, but pretty much shithouse in between... he just needs to contribute more reliably, especially with the ball

Plenty of cricketers can put in a good performance every 6 months or so - to his credit he's done it against good teams, albeit when they've lost the plot a bit (he's part of that, I guess)

Must be something in the water here - to name a few JR Reid, Bruce Taylor, Richard Hadlee, Chris Cairns, Dan Vettori, Jake Oram, Jimmy Neesham, Corey Anderson, Mitchell Santner, Ben Stokes - all world class or potentially world class all-rounders

 

[ANTiLAG]

That was his last good test, I'd imagine - which was the point :roll: Some brilliant stuff, but pretty much shithouse in between... he just needs to contribute more reliably, especially with the ball

Plenty of cricketers can put in a good performance every 6 months or so - to his credit he's done it against good teams, albeit when they've lost the plot a bit (he's part of that, I guess)

Must be something in the water here - to name a few JR Reid, Bruce Taylor, Richard Hadlee, Chris Cairns, Dan Vettori, Jake Oram, Jimmy Neesham, Corey Anderson, Mitchell Santner, Ben Stokes - all world class or potentially world class all-rounders

You're going to need a bigger boat if you put out that much burley.

 

[JJ]

I said "potentially"

 

[The Roth]

What an innings. I stayed up most of the night and early morning. You can all argue about his inconsistencies but when he gets going the entertainment factor is well worth it.

 

[Iafeta]

The guy I am happiest for is Johnny Bairstow. Good cricketer, from good cricketing stock. Had a traumatic upbringing given his old man, a good test keeper in his own right, hung himself.

 

[Pete Cash]

The pitch looks pretty tame. Still what a mighty innings from amla considering all the pressure he is under both as captain and from the scoreboard.

76 runs off avoiding the follow on which would be a huge step in saving the match. Still plenty of batting needed from the rsa

 

[Twizzle]

South Africa: A New Hope

 

[TheParraboy]

pitch worse than Perth, a disgrace

 

[The Roth]

Pitch is a flat road. England dropping Alma twice and De Villiers once doesn't help.

 

[JJ]

With pitches like this and Perth many batting records will be broken

 

[Pete Cash]

It's not great but these things happen. Batsmen are just better at scoring on flat pitches now days because they are so good at just sizing up the length of the ball and if nothing changes the line its runs.

Something for cricket administrators to think about IMO.

 

[Twizzle]

I think its past that time

 

[Pennies]

Lol Amla makes the third slowest double ton in test history batting nearly 12 hours.

No surprise South Africa cooked up a road with Steyn and Philander out and 2 debutantes quicks in.

 

[Pete Cash]

I think its past that time

Oh I agree and its amazing how good modern batsmen are on flat wickets. Flat wickets have popped up at times through out cricket history. Guys now days are just so great on true wickets. Inversely if its not perfect collapses happen.

I think it might be time to juice up the pitches

 

[JJ]

Oh I agree and its amazing how good modern batsmen are on flat wickets. Flat wickets have popped up at times through out cricket history. Guys now days are just so great on true wickets. Inversely if its not perfect collapses happen.

I think it might be time to juice up the pitches

They are, but don't you think, for example, the Windies - Greenidge, Haynes, Richards, Lloyd, Rowe, Kallicharan etc would have been pretty phenomenal on roads too?