Who will be the key performers in the First Test between England and South Africa?

Question

The first Test of the much anticipated series between England and South Africa gets under way at Lord's tomorrow. After nineteen consecutive matches against New Zealand, England, players and supporters alike, will be glad to see some new opposition.

The weather is forecast for sunny intervals on the first day, and light showers on days two and three, with the fourth predicted to be a sunny day.

England are unchanged for the sixth time, although the talismanic Flintoff has joined the squad as a net bowler, and will be putting the pressure on several players to perform.

South Africa are in red-hot form at the moment, and are favourites to win.

Who in your opinion will be the star performers from each side?

Answer 1

KP

Answer 2

Makhaya Nitini

Answer 3

SOUTH AFRICA

Greame smith

Kallis

Andre Nel

ENGLAND

Peterson

Vaughan

Flintoff

Answer 4

well the top six in english Batting lineup, average 40, but no one averages 50+.

And only 1 batsmen averages 50+ in south africa batting lineup.

Jaques Kallis is by far the best batsmen from the two sides.

South Africas 90mph+ fast bowlers, Dale styen, Ntini and Morkel, will be a handful.

If it swings, then James anderson will be a nightmare.

If aggresive batsmen like KP, Ab devilers and Graham Smith have a good series, then they will be the key also.

Both Batting lineups are good.

However England only has one agressive player in KP, whos strike rate is 61 in test cricket, meanwhile all the batsmens strike rate are below 50, so they dont have many agressive players. However most batsmen in the english side have a fairly solid technique.

Answer 5

Vaughan, Pietersen, Sidebottom,  Morkel, Kallis, Steyn.  South Africa should've picked their best batsman - Gibbs!

Answer 6

Dear Oracle,

Key players in the overcast condition at Lords: Kallis for medium pace (yes this may be suitable), Steyn.

England Kevin Petersen with the bat.

Rehman of Multan

Answer 7

Jacques Kallis is by far the best batsmen on show and I feel that as a talisman his bowling will be rewarded. I alos think that he will get a score of 50+ in one innings. For the South Africans I think Ntini will also be bowling at speeds the English batsmen haven't been used to, he will be bowling at 90 mph + where as the Kiwis had bowlers who were 80mph. This added pace may prove an advantage to the South Africans as the English bowling attack doesnt have an out-and-out fast bowler, more fast-medium bowlers. I also think that A.Prince will perform for S.A.

For England, I think Bell will break his bad patch of form, with a 50+, Strauss could be a key performer, as could Cook, who scored 90 odd last week in a Friends Provident. And of course we will have to see how the South Africans cope with Monty. I think he could pay a key part.

Overall I think the game will be a draw, with some time being washed out due to the rain.

Answer 8

For England:

Pietersen: he pretty much always plays well against SA, and if he is allowed to play his naturally aggressive game then he could prove a handful.

Panasar: If the conditions are conducive for spin bowling then he could do well.

Anderson: If the pitch is swinging then he could be very destructive.

For SA:

Steyn: his out and out pace will be a handful especially if the England batsmen aren't performing.

Kallis: he's the best player out of both teams and I don't think the England bowlers will trouble him too much (unless it swings a lot, then it might be a different story). And he always provides useful spells with his bowling.

The SA team are much stronger than the England team in all areas of the game, providing batting depth all the way down to their tail end and they have one of the best bowling attacks in the game with Steyn, Nel and Morkle (as well as Kallis) providing that much needed extra pace that the England quickies lack. Not only that but they have one of the games all time great wicketkeepers in Boucher, while we have Ambrose!

The top 6 of the England lineup may well average over 40 overall but only one of them is averaging that for this year (as far as my memory serves me at this late hour) and that's Pietersen. And with that pesky middle order not performing they will be very susceptible.

SA are a very inform team and England aren't quite frankly. England will need to put in a great performance to make the game competitive. I hope they can manage it.

Answer 9

The key men for South Africa are Smith, Kallis, Steyn, Morkel and Ntini. Their pace attack will be the key to the series, and Kallis will be as important with the ball as with the bat.

For England, it's the usual suspects: Vaughan, Cook, Pietersen, Sidebottom, Broad. If Sidebottom finds favourable conditions then England will be in with a shout.

Answer 10

Well it should be a really interesting contest on our South African side our key performers should be a mixture from our experienced guys and new players

experience Jacques Kallis he is our rock who often holds our batting line up together and Smith but he is coming back from injury so not really sure how he will go but he showed some good from in the ipl and Ntini who with all his experience should be a factor and he has shown signs that he is getting his top bowling form back

young players like Steyn Morkel and De Villiers are very good players and if they fire it will be exciting the rest of our players can all do a job but the players I have mentioned should be our key players through the series

From the England side the key players that could do some damage to us as I see it are all your bowlers they swing the ball and I'm not convinced how the SA batsmen will handle the swing as a few batsmen could be found out there, Panesar is a really good spin bowler

the key batsmen Michael Vaughan, Kevin Pieterson Andrew Strauss are very good batsmen Strauss looks to be England's most in form batsmen right now, KP and Vaughan are really good players who once they get in will be difficult to remove KP will probably be the danger man and once Flintoff comes back which I am anticipating he will strengthen the team and be a key performer in the tests he plays in

Answer 11

I am looking forward to the tussle between Monty and Kallis, and also to another hardworking performance from Ntini. KP would surprise me if he didn't blast away as usual. An underrated performer might be Sidebottom, the Medium.

Answer 12

Monty Panasar