http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Alec-James-Stewart-c43081 gives marginal edge to the Poms over Proteas - Cricket News Update
Former English great Alec Stewart has put his weight behind his national side to emerge victorious in the upcoming Test series against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757, while retaining their position as the world’s top Test side.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Stewart-c91370, who is the most capped Test player for his country, believes that it won’t be a contest between the two best bowling attacks in the world, but a test of characters to see who rises to the occasion and who falls.
“I see the outcome hinging on who deals best with the new ball - both how the bowlers use it and how the batsmen are able to cope,” the 49-year-old wicket-keeper said.
While the two sides have boasted about their bowling attacks, Stewart believes that it will come down to the batsmen to decide the outcome of this series.
The former captain believes that at this time of the season, English conditions will be favourable for the bowlers and it would require a lot of grit and mental toughness from the batsmen to survive against such world-class bowlers.
English bowlers http://www.senore.com/Cricket/ST-Finn-c2566 have done exceedingly well in recent times and are currently considered as the best bowling attack in the world.
However, they are closely matched with an equally potent South African bowling department which includes the likes of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Imran-c64193 Tahir.
The former wiscket-keeper, thinks that perhaps, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/England-c56013 just slightly edge out the Proteas in the batting department with a better top and lower-order, which in the end, might prove to be just enough for the hosts.
“Man for man, the quality of both batting line-ups is very similar - with the exception of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/MJ-Prior-c1984 to score more valuable runs than Duminy at seven too,” he said
Stewart believes the home side can take comfort in their in-form batting lineup which recently did well against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746.
Former England captain was however, careful over predicting a clear winner as both teams are an equal match, but has installed England as his favourite.
“It's a really close call, because it's the most evenly matched contest that we've seen for a long time but I'm backing England to win by one and retain their status as the world's number one Test nation.”
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