Blog:England ahead of the game as they prepare for tough challenge to come
England may have become notoriously slow starters in Test series overseas, Shoes Mbt but they believe that South Africa are more likely to be caught cold this time.
Ashley Giles, the duty selector who flew with the team from East London to Johannesburg yesterday, thinks that the touring team can repeat the start of five years ago, when they beat South Africa in Port Elizabeth on the way to a 2-1 victory that put them on track for the 2005 Ashes success.
Although England have lost the first Test in six of the past seven overseas tours, South Africa may prove the rustier come the start of the four-match series in Centurion on Wednesday. A number of the home side have not played first-class cricket since the third Test against Australia in March and J-P Duminy, the most extreme example, has appeared in as many as 49 various limited-overs matches since then. Graeme Smith, the captain, has played 40.
Giles, who featured in 2004-05, discount Mbt shoes said: “I think we caught South Africa a bit cold at the start of the last series and we have an opportunity to do that now. There is a lot of pressure on them . . . and I think our work in East London has been very good. We can hit the ground running.”
Predicting a “macho” series, Giles added: “The South Africans are that way anyway, we will go toe to toe and it will be a bit of a bout. Physically I don’t think I have seen a better set of athletes, I think you can call them that now. Our preparation with the backroom involvement has been great.”
Andrew Strauss scored 126 and 94 not out in the win in the warm-up match in Port Elizabeth, but the captain admitted after the second game against the Invitation XI on a desperately slow pitch in East London that England remain undecided on whether to choose six batsmen or five bowlers. James Anderson will test his right knee again in “middle” practice at Pretoria today, having bowled 15 overs across three spells on Saturday.
Strauss agreed that picking Anderson carried an element of risk and Giles said yesterday that England will not equivocate over the fitness of their leading bowler. Mbt shoe “The way I see it is that he is fit or he isn’t,” Giles said. “You cannot play an extra bowler because somebody is not fit. If somebody starts, he has to be able to bowl his overs.”
Although Giles will have a formal vote on the side only if Strauss and Andy Flower, the team director, disagree, he will be an influential voice in discussions over the next 48 hours.
“You could say it is positive to go in with five bowlers, you could also say that it is a long series so a game of chess as well and the batters need runs on the board. You have to be flexible through the series and look at conditions.” Giles feels that Stuart Broad is “probably not” a Test No 7 at the moment and gave a more effusive verdict on Luke Wright,Mbt shoes uk whom he described as the only plausible selection as an all-rounder from the county circuit.
“Luke is not Andrew Flintoff, but he has the potential to be a very good cricketer,” Giles said. “It is exciting for me because he offers a lot of things: he is very hard-working, has a very good character and is fantastic around the group.”
The fitness of Jacques Kallis left South Africa with a similar conundrum as they completed their camp in Potchefstroom amid reports that their all-rounder is considered an increasing risk for Centurion despite attempts to quicken the healing process of his broken rib in an oxygen tent.
If Kallis is held back for the Boxing Day Test in Durban,Mbt sale the two most likely options, depending on the balance of the side, are to reward Alviro Petersen for his three half-centuries in the one-day series, or to use Ryan McLaren as an all-rounder. Both would be making a Test debut.
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