i think buttler is a better athlete and there is room to play bairstow purely as a batsman imo and have buttler keep

my issue really with woakes is he doesn't really look like a massive wicket taking threat , but isn't really that economical either , bowls alot of "four balls"

this sums up england's performance today so far

we bring samit patel on as a sub fielder

..........and today he looks like our sharpest fielder

yep always cracks me up when people say he is the safe option. he provides control etc.

England missed a trick by not picking footit especially as he was the best bowler in the nets if the reports are correct.

well as i said before the start i would have picked footitt

the one thing that someone said yesterday that i saw was you sometimes have to be careful picking a fringe player based on how they look in the nets as the guys that know they have a spot are maybe just going through the motions whereas someone like footitt who is desperate to impress is maybe just pushing a bit harder in the nets

i made a comment about woakes being a "safe pick" but what i mean by that is they know he lengthens the batting and he has had least played at this level a few times now, so "safe" as in they know what to expect

It's been terrible from England (so far).

even worse afternoon session for england

118 runs conceded for zero return

Seems like the South African selectors have been ignoring an excellent opening batsman

Stephen Cook looks good

play suspended due a burst pipe underneath the outfield

wonder if that was where samit was fielding

shame they've fixed it.........I thought we were going to get a draw......

Slightly tired shot from Amla. Good areas from Stokes though and deserved the wicket. Can he follow it up with more now ?

2 successive ducks for AB . This Captaincy lark does seem to affect them. Since Amla got rid of it, he's looking like the player he used to be

Not a great day for England, though it must be hard to stay up for it as much when you have already won the series.

Better finish to the day though

really got back into the game in this last session

quite a long tail for SA as well

It is a dead rubber they could have taken a risk.

yep and imo they should have

SA probably just ahead at close , but that last session has at least got us back into the game

a wicket in those last 10 overs with the new ball would have been nice, especially when both batsmen were new-ish to the crease when the new ball was taken

seen a few comments predicting they could get close to a full house on sunday for the BBL final at the MCG between the stars and the thunder

the attendances for the BBL overall have been pretty spectacular but 90,000 at the final would be some achievement

and he would give some variety.

if anyone a batting expert here how easy is it too change batting stance/techniques in the same game.
http://www.espncricinfo.com/australi...ry/964499.html
just wandering since Kohli had a wider stances last year which Fletcher was a big fan off but in doing the wide stance it made it difficult for kohli to play shots of the back foot and cut and runs square or through third man started to become difficult for him.
Now he operating narrower stances so he can score runs through that region again.

wouldn't it be more beneficial if you can change the style/technique in the same game or series.
especially if you feel the bowlers are restricting you.

i would hope batsmen would make little changes during a game to adapt to whatever plans the fielding team are using against them , however they have to be comfortable with things like their stance and trying to make too drastic a change would probably make them more likely to make a mistake

depends what format you are talking about as well tbh

look at someone like gary ballance, in tests the success he had in that first year was due to have a very set approach to what he was going to play, what he was going to leave and where his scoring zones were. problem was fielding teams have so much information available to them now with things like spray charts, hot/cold zones etc etc, that they were able to work out how to really tie him down. he tried to make changes to react to that but the changes he made actually made things worse.

bit bizarre when they put up the table of top run scorers in the aus-india ODI series and india have the top 2 and are 4-0 down

australia on for around 350 here again today

after a bit of a wobbly start and being 117-4

Impressive again from Australia but I'm finding it difficult to watch with the volume up