South Africa v England

[The_Reaper]

England have announced their test squad.

Bell dropped.

Ballance, Compton and Footitt all included.

I'm guessing Compton will open with Cook

 

[Cotchin 9]

Compton stiff to be dropped in the first place - hope he goes well.

Bell, wowee.

 

[Carbine Chaos]

Would have retained Rashid ahead of Patel. Good to see Compton back.

 

[ioppolo]

So Patel has dropped some weight I assume?

 

[Donnie Darko]

Patel only made it to UAE because Ansari picked up an injury.
Ansari should have recovered by now and deserved to go on tour.

 

[corbies]

England have announced their test squad.

Bell dropped.

Ballance, Compton and Footitt all included.

I'm guessing Compton will open with Cook

Cricinfo article reckons Hales is the favourite to open the batting with Cook. I don't get it. Surely you would be picking Compton over Hales especially in South Africa.

Alex Hales remains favourite to open alongside Alastair Cook in the Boxing Day Test in Durban, but that position could yet go to Compton to revive the partnership which was the first combination used after Andrew Strauss retired. The Cook-Compton alliance remains the most successful of the seven pairings used by England since Strauss, averaging 57.93 in 17 innings together with three century stands. Otherwise, Compton will vie with Ballance for the No. 3 berth vacated by Bell

 

[ioppolo]

Alex Hales in tests

He's made one decent score in the Pakistan ODI series.

 

[HBF]

Surprised by the omission of Bell. Can't wait to watch a bit of this over the Xmas/New year period.

 

[Bucking Beads]

Surprised by the omission of Bell. Can't wait to watch a bit of this over the Xmas/New year period.

No century in about 12 tests I believe. He had a lot of low scores in that run as well.

 

[HBF]

No century in about 12 tests I believe. He had a lot of low scores in that run as well.

True, but he has been a wonderful servant for english cricket. Just a bit shocked not to see him there.

 

[JackOutback]

Writing was on the wall; they were already talking about dropping him during the Ashes. Hearing Hales is the favourite, but I would think Compton should get another go. He has the best partnership with Cook since Strauss retired, didn't really do anything wrong.

Get the feeling the Saffers will rip them apart.

 

[ioppolo]

Bell averaged what, 20 in that 12 test run?

 

[HBF]

Writing was on the wall; they were already talking about dropping him during the Ashes. Hearing Hales is the favourite, but I would think Compton should get another go. He has the best partnership with Cook since Strauss retired, didn't really do anything wrong.

Get the feeling the Saffers will rip them apart.

Yeah I think so. South Africa at home are very hard to beat, and the poms aren't that good away from home.

 

[Hellgood]

Dropping Bell is a reasonable course of action. Really battled through the last couple of series and with the excellent Taylor coming on nicely it's a positive move.

Jordan ahead of Plunkett is horrendous IMO. Not sure what the point of Patel being on a South African tour is either.

 

[Natho]

Alex Hales.. geez

 

[Donnie Darko]

The current S.A team are beatable IMO. They have lost Smith and Kallis since the last time we played them..
I get the feeling that some of their top players are on the way down.

 

[frankrizzo]

Might be a tight series if it was in england but no way that england batting lineup is getting the job done well enough to win in SA.

It isn't talked about as much as it is with other teams but england really have a very poor away record in recent years, been 3 years since they last won an away test series(india) and that's their only away series win in nearly 5 years.