England will be hoping to redeem themselves and avoid a first ever series defeat
to South Africa when they come up against their high flying African neighbours
this coming Wednesday July 30th in Birmingham. England are already
1-0 down in the four match series and any more setbacks here will hurt the English
sides aspirations going into the ICC champions trophy in Pakistan.
Click for Live Score Card of England vs South Africa
England were thoroughly outplayed with both the bat and ball last time around
against South Africa . A huge 10 wicket defeat was probably just the just result
for some rather lewid decisions with both the bat and the ball. Batting first,
England struggled on the face of some supreme face bowling by Dale Styen
and Morkel to end up for a low total. After a dismal batting performance, their
bowling proved to be no face saver either as they were creamed by the likes
of Kallis and AB De Villiers en route to a huge 300 plus deficit in the first
innings. Chasing up, England barely managed to erase that deficit and the defeat
will hurt an England side coming into this series on the back of two consecutive
series victories against New Zealand. One of the biggest flops of last
test match was Andrew Flintoff who was a major disappointment in this
comeback match. The burly all rounder was expected to make a major contribution
and his lack of form and vigour would have disappointed millions of cricket
fans all over. However, Flintoff was part of a large English platoon all of
whom were woefully out of form and much improvements will have to be made if
they are make to fight of it against rampaging South Africa.
The Proteas on the other hand will be mightily pleased with their performances
in the series so far. South Africa were lucky to come out unscathed in the first
test match but their impressive performance in the second test match will lend
credibility to their standing as the biggest competitor for Australia's crown
atop the ICC Test Championships. South Africa were thoroughly dominant with
both the bat and ball last time around a ten wicket victory will give them hope
of finally securing a test series victory on English soil. However, South Africa
will have to beware of under laying inconsistency as has been their woe many
a time in England. South Africa have led both the times in their two previous
test series in England only to miss out in the final test. The omens look bad
with the injury to Dale Styen coming into this clash and the Proteas will be
hoping to prove sceptics wrong with a repeat performance on their smashing victory
last time around when they come up against England in Birmingham this coming
Wednesday 30th July 2008 in Birmingham.
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