Dale Steyn declares England as phoney No 1 Test side

[jusarrived]

What the hell is a swinging pitch? Is it like the bouncing yorkers that the Indian batsmen apparently can't play?

yes :finger:

[maniac]

Even though I would really like to see SA kick Eng's ***,History says ,More often than not these kind of statements end up biting their own *** Tony Greig,Javed Miandad,Sehwag,Shoaib Akthar etc some famous examples

[rkt.india]

Good bowling conditions ' date=' SA batsmen will strugle more than the Eglish batsmen .[/quote'] They could not handle Zak, Sreesanth at Durban. Anderson and Broad will make mincemeat of them.

[rkt.india]

So England's lucky charm Bresnan could not stop them to lose this match. I am hoping he will be dropped the next match. Their pace attack looked very one dimensional in flat conditions. No real fire power like they had Morkel and Steyn. Finn may get a chance to play a rare test for England, not sure what he can do if plays tests after such long gaps, but he will attack Saffers.

[MechEng]

on swinging pitches. Smith = Strauss Peterson < cook Amla < Trott Kallis < KP AB < Bell Rudolph = Bopara Duminy < Prior 0-5 pwnage ^ 2 :two_thumbs_up:

:omg:

[SLICKR392]

on swinging pitches. Smith > Strauss(big time) Peterson < cook Amla < Trott Kallis < KP AB < Bell Rudolph = Bopara Duminy < Prior 0-5 pwnage ^ 2 :two_thumbs_up:

Fixed

[carnish]

Yes he did jump the gun here. But what he is saying is obvious. If a no. 1 side gets hammered in their home conditions like this then their ranking is in some serious doubts.

How come ... I thought Ranking is based on what you did in past and not future.. if england lose this series they will go down from no.1 so ranking is fair.. no doubts. Its like saying after winning French Open since Nadal lost in 2nd Rd of Wimbledon then ATP rankings are in doubts.

[Old guy]

what? ingerland better at playing swing ? i rememb atleast 5-6 times even at home where barbie abd prior bailed them out! even against india smith better then strauss any day cook better then peterson agree.. amla > trott... jsut bcos trott is boring does not makes him more solid .. gr8 logic! kallis > kp (can we all agree here? ) then ab is better then i cant bat under pressure bell :P after that htey have clowns playing at 6 and good keeper at 7 south africa have duminy at 7 :dontknow:

[Spiderguy252]

on swinging pitches. Smith = Strauss Peterson < cook Amla < Trott Kallis < KP AB < Bell Rudolph = Bopara Duminy < Prior 0-5 pwnage ^ 2 :two_thumbs_up:

Eh?

[Vilander]

They could not handle Zak' date=' Sreesanth at Durban. Anderson and Broad will make mincemeat of them.[/quote'] zak was top of his game and santh delivered some unplayable brutes in that match. So i think Anderson and broad or finn need to step up to get one over SA.

[Crookbond]

Rankin to retire from Ireland to play for England :facepalm: :facepalm: :facepalm: :facepalm: :facepalm: We should soon start hiring talent from adjacent countries too. Where is the spirit of the game now Mr. Tony Greig?

"There's been lots of sleepless nights recently," he told ESPNcricinfo. "It was a very difficult decision, but I will be retiring from playing cricket for Ireland after the World Twenty20, as I feel I can't continue to play the amount of cricket I have been playing with Warwickshire, England Lions and Ireland over the last few years. "I have genuine ambitions of playing Test cricket and I have to give myself the best chance to do that by reducing my workloads as a fast bowler and concentrating on playing cricket for Warwickshire." "I've decided to retire for several reasons, and among them is a need to reduce my workload," Rankin said. "Something had to give and unfortunately it had to be Ireland. "It has become increasingly difficult to play for three different sides throughout the year as it leaves me with little time for rest and recovery."

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ireland/content/current/story/576369.html

[vayuu1]

Well the problem is that mr Tony pony jibrony bahony Grieg left for karry packer

[Needforspeed]

England continues to outsource...

[Sidhoni]

Bad move. He would not be able to make even their second XI in Tests despite being a decent bowler.

[putrevus]

Its ok for ECB to Poach Players from other countries? Rankin has signed a new three-year deal with English county Warwickshire - whose director of cricket is England selector Ashley Giles - and it is understood that the county put pressure on the 6'8" bowler to retire from international cricket with Ireland. He had returned from Ireland's World Twenty20 qualifier in March with a stress injury to his foot which has ruled him out of his county's season until mid-July http://www.espncricinfo.com/ireland/content/current/story/576369.html These fricking pommies are ready to poach players from other countries and their counties dictate when players play or quit for their national teams. They have already poached Morgan from this team but when it comes to KP ,its media (which cries against IPL the most) is blaming IPL as root cause of their problem. They easily forget how guys like Rankin are looking for better things by quitting their national team and joining county cricket. KP is also on same boat he wants to get more money and flexibility.He is doing what is best for himself. On one hand they cry wolf on IPL but on other hand ECB and its counties continue to prey other national players. In IPL the players at least go back to their national team here there is no such thing.

[superstar]

Shhhh.... They are taking him to play test cricket. The purest form of cricket.

[Precambrian]

Ire will never be a test nation if this continue to happen.

[CoverDrive]

England killing chances of Test cricket in Ireland.

[Vilander]

England killing Ireland cricket. This should stop..

[indiaregulator]

I don't see the problem? On a personal level, whats wrong with Rankin wanting to play test cricket? Its not as if ECB are putting a gun against his head telling him to play for England or die.