Will England's run at Edgbaston continue..?

Question

England play South Africa in the 3rd test, which starts tomorrow.

England have lost only 2 times in there last 10 matches at Edgbaston

England have dropped Stuart Broad & Darren Pattinson, and recalled Ryan Sidebottom & Paul Collingwood!

South Africa are missing Steyn, so Andre Nel will come in for him!

Who will win?

Who has more pressure on them to score runs, Vaughan, Ambrose or Colingwood?

Will an attack without the leader Dale Steyn, pose as much threat to the England side?

Who will top score for both sides?, and who will take the most wickets?

Answer 1

The dropping of Stuart Broad appears to be a harsh decision on the youngster who is batting brilliantly. With this step, England's batting ability is now reduced. If SAF is 100, England is 81 in batting.

In bowling, England has an advantage. If they are 100, SAF is at 78.

In fielding, SAF is 100, England is 77.

Overall, SAF is 100, England is 89.

I expect SAF to win the match easily.

For England, Pietersen, Strauss and Bell will score well. Vaughan will make decent score. Collingwood is under pressure to perform.

England side will benefit as Steyn is not there. Anderson and Sidebottom will share the bowling honours for England while Morkel will be more successful for SAF.

The man of the match will be Kallis this time. He will top score and win the match for his team.

Answer 2

oh .. many questions... i think ambrose will feel more pressure cause he is new in this arena... i think kallis and strauss will be top scorer and side bottom will take most wickets.. england have chance in absence of steyn.. but they have to restrict SA strong and inform batting line up

Answer 3

I have a sneaky feeling that England will do quite well in this Test match. There are a few players with a point to prove, and international carrers to save: Vaughan, Collingwood, Ambrose; Bell is on his home ground; and the weather forecast is for showers and generally unsettled conditions.

I think this will suit England. All South Africa's batsmen have fired in the series so far, with the notable exception of Kallis. Sooner or later, they will fail. This could be the match.

I think Anderson, Sidebottom and Flintoff will find the conditions to their liking. Anderson has been inspirational this season, and I am glad to see him back performing very near his best (even though he's a Dingle!)

England will win.

Vaughan has the most pressure on him to score runs. Collingwood has proved he can be dropped and brought back, and has the added advantage of his bowling, Ambrose is young enough to come back if dropped, but Vaughan must surely know that if he is dropped, there will be no return.

South Africa will still pose a threat, but they will badly miss Steyn.

Strauss will top score for England, and Kallis for South Africa.

Nel will take most wickets for South Africa, and Anderson for England.

And Pietersen will give a press conference every day completely contradicting whatever he said the day before!

Answer 4

Well England played their first test at Edgbaston in 1902 and didn't lose there until 1975 (I think).

KooKee, haven't I always told you how great Birmingham is!

I hope England win but whether they will is another matter.

Answer 5

A good question Wills! Given their good record at Edgbaston one could hardly go past England, but SA have been looking good lately so I think it will be a close match. I think Nel will do well, he's been a favourite of mine for a long time. I think he will get the most wickets.As to who will get the most runs, I have no idea.All the best to both teams anyway.

Answer 6

they will have the home advantage

Answer 7

I very much hope England bounce back - but I'm still not certain England have the bowling attack to bowl South Africa out twice. However, hopefully this pitch is Monty friendly, as Harmison's been left out due to the pitch, or so I've heard.

I think Broad needs a break, but what's astounded me, is that according to Sky, he'll be playing for Notts tomorrow. Maybe he has been dropped due to his bowling, I mean, after all, he was in the team for his bowling - and his batting average is nearly as high as his bowling average! His batting was an incredibly nice bonus. But his bowling wasn't threatening the South African batsmen, in fact, they'd taken a fancy to it - he got hit for 114 off 29 at Headingley, 78 off 26 in the second innings at Lords and in the first 88 off 23.

I'd definately say Vaughan is the most under pressure. He's the captain, he's coming in at three. Without Dale Steyn though, he may feel more "confident" (possibly)... Morne Morkel poses a huge threat to England - we are incredibly lucky that Steyn's been ruled out, as he seemed to be getting form at Headingley, but Morkel's been fairly good from the start of the series. Hopefully Ntini will be off form, and England can have a day like they did at Lord's! :)

Top scorer for England: Pietersen, probably spurred on by a battle between him and 'Gunther' Nel.

Top scorer for South Africa: Prince. 3 centuries in 3 matches? I can see it.

Most wickets for England: Monty or a fired up SiBo.

Most wickets for SA: I reckon Nel, just because he may feel he has something to prove.

Hm. This is an incredibly long answer. Sorry about that!

Answer 8

1)Who will win? England

2)Who has more pressure on them to score runs? Vaughan

3)Will an attack without the leader Dale Steyn, pose as much threat to the England side? Why not Definitely wii be a threat.

4)Who will top score for both sides? Ian Bell for England & Ashwell Prince for SouthAfrica

5)Who will take the most wickets? Ryan Sidebottom for England & Morkel for SouthAfrica.

Answer 9

The ground will favour England, they have a great record there and they know how to play the conditions very well. Hopefully England can gain an advantage with their batting line up. Saying that though it'll be hard as SA have the momentum coming into the match with a well deserved draw and a big win (not that that necessarily means anything, on previous tours SA have come in to the Edgbaston test with an advantage and blown it) and their batting line up is very strong. I doubt England will gain much of an advantage from the missing Steyn (though SA might miss the extra pace he brings) as SA have bought in Nel, a very capable bowler. And they have Morkel who is shaping up to be a fantastic player and Ntini who is also very good.

I don't think England's bowling attack will be potent enough, they lack the pace required to bowl SA out twice. They'll have to hope Monty does well, that the ball swings for Sidebottom and Anderson and that Flintoff can do his usual thing of restricting the oppositions score line. Collingwood is really only a part time bowler and he isn't really inform with the bat.

All three of the names you mention (Vaughan, Ambrose and Collingwood) are under pressure for their batting. But I reckon it'll be Collingwood most under pressure, he's been dropped from the team all ready and is coming back in hoping to make an impact. If he fails to score runs then it could have a detrimental effect on the rest of his test career. The W/K position is always under pressure and Ambrose's woes are well documented but I would think he's a goner anyway after this series so what he does in the next few games really won‘t matter (thought obviously I hope he does score runs so England can gain an edge). Vaughan is out of luck in the runs department too but I would say that he has more of a chance of scoring runs than Colly does at the moment.

Top scorer for England: Pietersen or Bell. Both have been getting good starts and Bell scored that huge total (199) at Lord’s.

Top scorer for SA: Prince, 3 centuries already, I can see him getting another one. I really hope Kallis can gets some runs, as one of my favourite ever players I want to see him do well.

Most wickets for England: Monty, I think the conditions will favour him. Though it could also be conducive to swing bowling, in which case I’ll say Anderson.

Most wickets for SA: Morkel.

Let's hope England can win this one so we can have a competetive series that goes down to the last game.