These English selectors are scrambled and they are making stupid choices.
You should always stick with the original pool of players who were selected in the begining of the series.
James Kirtley, Jim Ormond dserved to be there.
I liked the idea of Ed Smith, he has been phenomenal with Kent.
Why are England overlooking Mark Ramprakash of Surrey, and Phil Jacques of Somerset.
England has dropped Gareth Batty from their squad - Smart move since Ashely Giles is there - no need for another spinner and get yourself screwed!
The most crucial of the changes to the sides is obviously the return of Jaques Kallis into the South African side - that really will be a major problem for England to deal with.
It will be interesting to see whether the weather comes into play or not - apparantly thunderstorms are due - and with the warmer weather and all - it will be interesting to see how things turns out.
This is how the squad of both teams looks like:
**England (from): MP Vaughan (capt), ME Trescothick, MA Butcher, N Hussain, ET Smith, AJ Stewart (wkt), A Flintoff, AF Giles, SJ Harmison, JM Anderson, G Chapple, RJ Kirtley.
South Africa (from): GC Smith (capt), HH Gibbs, G Kirsten, JH Kallis, HH Dippenaar, JA Rudolph, MV Boucher, SM Pollock, AJ Hall, PR Adams, M Ntini, D Pretorius.**
:smokin2:
I want to see how Ed Smith performances for the next 3 matches. He has been in superb form so far this season.
I think the likely sqaud for England will be;
Micheal Vaughan, Marcus Trescothick, Mark Butcher, Ed Smith, Nasser Hussain, Alec Stewart, Andrew Flintoff, Ashely Giles, James Kirtley, James Anderson, Glen Chapple.
Likely SA Squad;
Herschelle Gibbs, Graeme Smith, Gary Kirsten, Jacques Kallis, Boetta Dippennar, Neil Mckenzie, Mark Boucher, Shaun Pollock, Paul Adams, Dewald Pretorious, Makhaya Ntini.
Finally!
It's about time the poms got rid of their Robert Key/McGrath experiment (which was going nowhere), and did the sensible thing by giving a current domestic performer a chance.
Great start of the Third Test by England – Weeeeeeee!!!
It seems as if South Africa have come back down to earth and England have taken their feet out of their asses and started playing again. - No thanks of course to Mr. Vaughan aka The-Skipper-Who-Talks-About-Rescuing-Pomps FAILED AWFULLY again (though he did get done by an absolute beauty however - and a great catch at that too) but it looks like the Captaincy job at England really does come with loss of form - I mean Hussain gives up the captaincy and hits a 50 and a hundred in back to back innings and Michael Vaughan has failed miserably so far.
Plus every single (substancial) England Test Captain so far in the history of the game has faired better as just a player than as leader - Good knock from Mark too - he’s been in pretty good form lately, butchered Saffies for a century ton - And also Ed Smith did well too on debut - well done to him.
This leaves a pretty evenly poised Test and both teams can still win it (which hasn’t really been the case in the first 2 test matches) and possibly could it be Hussain who does the job for England - once again having to answer his critics in the sense of winning battles on and off the pitch? Uh-oh
England 296/3 
Oh no Graham Smith 36 runs out with hit wicket. 
OK - England did manage to get the command but - trust me 
- this is where the real fun begins.
I would like to point out that really is one crap ass pitch! It’s a crap bowling pitch as it so damn flat - it doesn’t really help the batsmen either as its hard to play your shots and the damn uneven bounce makes it so unpredictable. England batted well - South Africa were lacking in the bowling department and weren’t really bowling in the right spot - except for Shaun Polluck of course who was as usual accurate - However England’s bowling was truly pathetic. God knows how many time they had to get rid of the openers through them dragging back onto their stumps - It is pathetic - that’s the best word to describe it - And how do they get rid of the other opener - by having to rely on him to tred on his own stumps - I mean hit wicket - come on- how cringe worthy is that? And now when they thought luck (and a lot of luck at that) was on their side Jaques Kallis stroll to the crease…you feel a mammoth innings coming from him.
James Kirtley was a stupid selection - a couple of days back Kabir Ali took another 8 wickets in an inning - 8 of a an unbelievable 25 to fall in a day! Now he surely must be a better option than James - Don’t you all think? Flintoff was a failure today - and he faced a dozen balls before that and failed to get off the mark, though, he does deserve a little more time - he played a great innings at Lords - Well done to Alec Stewart too - he looks to be wanting to end his International career on a high - Ed Smith played a sensible innings made 64 runs on his debut - well done to him as well.
This should leave an open enough Test Match - I guess both sides can still win it, though, 2 days are already up - Kallis could be the ‘Man’ to completely take the game away from England.
A pretty tough day for all - England played much better today - but so did South Africa and they battled hard. Great innings from Shaun Polluck - and from Mark Boucher too - they steadied the ship enough not to give England too much of a lead - James Kirtley’s figures look good because he managed to get seam movement with the overcast conditions and take a couple of wickets - it was hard to play in those conditions - And plus there were a lot of low bouncing deliveries and a lot of balls that really weren’t hit-able due to the damn cracks on the pitch.
As soon as the conditions changed James Kirtley was taken out of the attack - I still don’t think he’s good enough to play in the England side. Ah well it leaves and interesting game - but time is of the essence with only 2 days left - and one break for weather could completely kill of the game!
England leads by 83 runs.
Yaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyy England Won!!!
What an amazing performance by Shaun Pollock yet again! Trent Bridge has certainly been a great place for the Pollocks to play - the top 3 bowling performances in Test Match Cricket belong to them - Peter Pollock has the best and third best and Shaun Pollock has the second best figures ever at Trent Bridge is Test Match cricket - Oh and Peter has taken 10 wickets in a match there and Graham of course hit 100 there too - not bad I think! - Shaun Polluck have now claimed 5-wicket haul for the 15th time in his career! DAMN!
Jimmy Anderson and Kirtley bowled very well - to be honest - beyond my expectations - It’s true the pitch is pathetic and doesn’t do justice but hey …no more carrying, howling about it - Test Series has turned into an interesting point - two more Tests to go - and the series is even - I hope England wins it!
Go Pomps Go!!!
interesting result, what happend to the south african batsman?
Talha you must be a happy man, Kabir Ali has been included in the next test squad in Headingly, where it favors the bowlers even more.
Seriously I think South Africa needs an extra fast bowler, both Hayward and Andre Nel have done well so far in the county season, both should get a chance.
FINAL SCORECARD FROM THE 3RD TEST ’ TRENT BRIDGE>>>>>>>>
england win the 3rd test!!! :dhimpak:
**england bowled magnificently in their second innings they used the pitch to their advantage and their seamersa read the conditions and the pitch perfectly, its nice to see england win a test match under vaughnie’s reign and it makes the test series more spicy and interesting **
ENGLAND SQUAD FOR THE 4TH TEST TO BE PLAYED @ HEADINGLEY, YORKSHIRE >>>>>>>>>>>>
england selectors spring a surprise in their 4th test squad
** kabir ali ** is included in the squad, :k: :dhimpak: about time he was considered regularly for selection wat a talent being wasted… if only pakistan approached him 1st but then again its best they didn’t as pcb would’ve probably spoiled his career 2 :mad:
Happy man? Hahaha - Yeah why wouldn’t I be? - I just became the best ‘Betting Man’.
The next 2 Test Matches are gonna be interesting - I wonder who would be favourites now going into the next Test? Bookies are split and most of the pundits have gone England’s way - I’m a betting man - and if you ask my bet - my money is on England - It’s not that I’m saying Pomps are better side than Saffies but the circumstances have changed that all - I think South Africa will have a tough time pulling out the next Test match - and with Shaun Polluck - The Hero won’t be in the next Test match as his wife is set to give birth (hope that all goes okay) - there Saffies would need a striker/all-rounder who can be as efficient as Polluck - and there ain’t no time to find a player qtr of Polluck.
Finally the England selectors have taken their feet out of their asses and selected who I think is undoubtedly England’s best bowler is Kabir Ali and the possibility of back-up may be required as Steven Harmisson doesn’t look at all fit - Headingley pitch favors seamers and fast bowlers so I guess Ashley Giles is probably the best bet who won’t play in the fouth Test match - Well we will see how it goes.
Go England!
An amazing start by England turned into sour - Gary Kirsten is to be blame! 
In his first over returning to the side after an amazing 114 Test Match rest! {A big :p} Martin Bicknell comes back and takes a wicket! A great start by England - and some big scalps taken - none more so than the wicket of Jaques Kallis - Also some good work from Alec Stewart behind the stumps too - taking catches and some great stops from deliveries that would have probably raced away to the boundry.
I have to say that the toss really was one that both sides really wouldn’t have wanted to win - Graeme won and decided to bat. Yet Michael too said he would have batted first had he have won the toss - and Headingly is his team’s (Yorkshire’s) damn home ground! - Of course the decision to bat was wrong as the overhead conditions would help the ball move around a lot and there would be a lot of seam movement - and especially with England going with the 5 Quick’s - it was certainly an error by Graeme and that’s where his inexperience as Captain comes in 
- you would not really see Shaun Pollock, Jaques Kallis or Gary Kirsten making errors like that.
Kabir Ali bowled well today and deserved his 2 wickets - I have to say Anderson was slightly wayward but he’s bound to have rough patches here and there - he may be carrying a slight shoulder strain too.
Gary Kirsten - simply unbelieveable - what a great performance by him. - I have to say though that he was supported well by Jaques Rudolph - and Jaques really did need a good knock to cement his place in the side - before this game I was gonna say that perhaps he wasn’t worthy of his place as he really hadn’t performed at all in this series. But a good innings from Gary Kirsten have changed my opinion about him - Also Zondeki annoyed me today 
He’s kind of an all-rounder though he usually ain’t that good with the bat - he’s more of a specialist bowler to be honest but he seems to be quite of good match of Shaun Pollock…urrrrrrrrggggggghhhhhhh
All in all a good day play - The test is evenly balanced but it looks as if the luck is on England’s side as when its their turn to bat its looking more and more like conditions will suit them - Though if South Africa were to get a pretty decent score on the board then it may put a bit of pressure on the England boys - Firstly obviously they will be looking to get to 300 - and then whatever else they can get will be a bonus - If they could get to between 300-350 or so- I think that Graeme Smith will be very pleased by his team’s effort.
Go England!!!
Why in the world was Kirsten dropped for the 3rd test, he may not be one of the best batsmen but he is very consistent.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by UMAIR316: *
Why in the world was Kirsten dropped for the 3rd test, he may not be one of the best batsmen but he is very consistent.
[/QUOTE]
Gary Kirsten was injured
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by UMAIR316: *
Why in the world was Kirsten dropped for the 3rd test, he may not be one of the best batsmen but he is very consistent.
[/QUOTE]
Gary Kirsten was injured
Terrible performence by England, they are all out in less than an hour for 209. Souoth Africa go up in the series 2-1. Kallis took 6 wickets, he bowling was simply superb!
Urgghhhhh get this Mr. Shameless Vaughan out of team - he just talks about blah blah character - it was not him that Pomps won the 3rd Test - he clearly did not mention the name of Butcher & Hussain who saved the match for Pomps - All bets are off from now - England is in deep trouble - Thank god I did not bet the whole series.
Nasser Hussain could miss the final Test against South Africa after breaking his toe - He has a undisplaced fracture of the big toe on his left foot. 
- he can’t even put a shoe on at the moment - that really doesn’t look too good - though luckily a bit of space until the final match at the Oval.
There could have been a draw had the weather not held out - but it just about did - but only just! Though the only just bit helped the South Africans as it made very good conditions for swing bowlers - hence the success of Kallis - that was great from him
Anyway so England can’t win the series now as it looks - I really thought it would be the other way around in the sense that South Africa would have won the One-Dayers and England the Test series - Ah well…Good Cricket is the answer.