South Africa v England, 4th Test, Jo’burg, Jan 14-18

taipan wrote:To me the funniest part is the number of posts praying for rain

Gallows humour T, gallows humour.

JKLever wrote:I don't think Zat is that bothered Furry

You're right JKL, ICGAF. But nice of furri not to rise to the bait.

Strange fact of the day - Ryan Sidebottom made his Test debut around two years before any other member of the current England side. Although he had to wait six years for his second appearance, so only Swann and Trott have fewer caps.

beamer wrote:Strange fact of the day - Ryan Sidebottom made his Test debut around two years before any other member of the current England side. Although he had to wait six years for his second appearance, so only Swann and Trott have fewer caps.

You've been waiting to say that ever since Flintoff retired. hehehe.

DJ_Smerk wrote:

beamer wrote:Strange fact of the day - Ryan Sidebottom made his Test debut around two years before any other member of the current England side. Although he had to wait six years for his second appearance, so only Swann and Trott have fewer caps.

You've been waiting to say that ever since Flintoff retired. hehehe.

No actually I only spotted it when I looked at the career stats on the Cricinfo match page.

Although you could say Swann is actually the England team's final link with the 20th century, having been selected for a Test squad in 1999 but not actually playing.

beamer wrote:

DJ_Smerk wrote:

beamer wrote:Strange fact of the day - Ryan Sidebottom made his Test debut around two years before any other member of the current England side. Although he had to wait six years for his second appearance, so only Swann and Trott have fewer caps.

You've been waiting to say that ever since Flintoff retired. hehehe.

No actually I only spotted it when I looked at the career stats on the Cricinfo match page.

Although you could say Swann is actually the England team's final link with the 20th century, having been selected for a Test squad in 1999 but not actually playing.

Ok. I see what you mean.

Our turnover of players is quite remarkable in fact, we've got nobody left who played before 2000 whereas India have a player who will surely achieve the feat of playing Test cricket in 4 different decades...

Shahid Afridi has played in under 19 World Cups in each of the last four decades.

I blame Ashley Giles and sporting pitches.

Dello wrote:Shahid Afridi has played in under 19 World Cups in each of the last four decades.

And he's not even 18. That's quite remarkable.

Our tendency to not pick players until their mid to late 20s and then write off anyone much over the age of 30 who has a couple of bad games tends to count against us. Those few years in between though, it's harder to get out of the side than into it...

Graham Thorpe was our last player to manage 100 Tests. I always thought Vaughan would, and Trescothick, and perhaps Flintoff, but for various reasons their careers came to a somewhat premature end. Who will be the next England player to make that milestone, does Strauss have another 30 or so Tests in him?

beamer wrote:Our tendency to not pick players until their mid to late 20s and then write off anyone much over the age of 30 who has a couple of bad games tends to count against us. Those few years in between though, it's harder to get out of the side than into it...

Graham Thorpe was our last player to manage 100 Tests. I always thought Vaughan would, and Trescothick, and perhaps Flintoff, but for various reasons their careers came to a somewhat premature end. Who will be the next England player to make that milestone, does Strauss have another 30 or so Tests in him?

But then again, even half the fans on this forum wouldn't pick someone until "he's had a few more seasons in FC cricket.". The fans, like the selectors, are too quick to judge a guy on his age.

I'll be hugely surprised if Strauss fails to make 100. The only thing stopping him from getting there is if he fails to make a century every 8-10 innings.

Well I suppose we haven't had the youngsters putting up spectacular figures in the county game. If we had someone averaging over 50 with the bat or under 25 with the ball in their first two or three seasons of Div 1 county cricket the selectors would struggle to ignore them. Instead it's Ramprakash, Trescothick and numerous overseas players and Kolpakkers topping the averages every year.

beamer wrote:...does Strauss have another 30 or so Tests in him?

They play a shit-load of cricket these days. What's 30 Tests - two years?

If his form holds, I don't see why he wouldn't still be around.

Under 25?

What happened to under 30?