Collingwood and Trott lead England to victory

Trott might have played for SA had it not been for affirmative action race quotas.

Quote of the year from Mickey Arthur about Trott:
'He wouldn't be in our top six at the moment because our line-up is settled and has a lot of steel'
After seeing him thrash our attack all round the park this afternoon (and bowl better than any of our jokers), why wouldn't Trott make it into our top six, Mr Arthur? It can only because he is not one of Graeme Smith's golfing buddies, or he is the wrong colour.
No wonder we are losing all our best players - I don't blame them.

Its disappointing that we lost obviously but I want to add that the track was certainly the most vital factor here. I dont think the English are good enough to beat us "on paper". Any pitch goin gthrough what we had this weekend on the highveld would push any winning captian to field first, no doubt about it. I hope the boys bounce back and hope mickey has taught them to adapt better....

In my assessment, we lost the game the moment England won the toss and the look on Graeme's face was one of resignation. We now have to win at least two of the last three games to save tl likelihood will end in a draw.
Some positives to take out of today's game were how solid Alviro looked when batting. His stance is one of authority and I think he is destined for greater things in the Proteas squad. The injury to Kallis in my opinion is a blessing as it gives an opportunity to the likes of Alviro to show us what they can do.
Kallis is a good player but the game does not suit his style anymore. He was groomed in the old days before the introduction of the 20/20 and power plays. For us to achieve world domination we need to play batters who are suited to the current nature of the game. AB Devilliers, JP Duminy, Alviro Petersen, Loots Bosman, Graeme and to a lesser extent Albie Morkel. We have players suited to how the game is played today but because we want to keep Jacques and Boucher "happy" we sacrifice good players. Why was it so easy to get rid of Makhaya. Pushing Boucher down the order today is a sign that his services are not needed. 33 runs a game is just not good enough anymore.

The time has come for AB or even Kunh to take the gloves. Kallis can still add value in the test squad but his time in the ODIs has passed. We need someone to take the team forward. Yes, we can beat any team in the world on our day but its time we build a team that can beat any side in the world everyday. We have enough players to be the superpower of the game as we saw in the recent IPL Champions’ trophy. Only a team like South Africa can drop a player who is in the form of his life in Loots. The argument that he is not a one day player does not hold anymore. It seems the criterion we use to determine an ODI player is that one must be slow and have a strike rate of at most 80. If you have a strike rate of 200 then you are not good enough. The game has changed, let us change with it.

250 runs may win you a game in the 20 over version but in the 50 over version it is no longer good enough. And why bring back Charl Langeveldt. Yes he is a good swing bowler but the guy is way past his prime and will in all likelihood miss the next world cup. Is beating England that important that we choose to not build for the near future. We have so many capable bowlers. Why not give Tsotsobe a chance to play. Abdullah is perceived as unfit but he plays regularly for his domestic outfit. Everytime he plays for the Proteas he impresses. His type of bowling gets wickets which is what we need.

In order to beat England in the remaining games we need to be aggressive. The opening pair of Amla and Smith is fine, AB at 3, JP at 4, Alviro 5, Kunh at 6, Albie at 7, MacLaren 8, Robin Petersen 9, with Steyn and Tsotsobe making up the tail. Why have Roelf when you can have a genuine all-rounder in Robin Petersen. When Parnell is back he can rotate with Tsotsobe as well as Steyn. Steyn has lost his mojo and needs to find it fast. His fast and straight balls normally go for runs. He is fast becoming like a bowling machine akin to Allan Donald’s last days as an international. Jimmy Anderson's success is that he is fast but hardly straight and Steyn can learn something from him.

Having said all that we will beat the English in this series as well as the test matches. We have enough depth and individual brilliance than they do but to beat top teams like India, Pakistan and Australia we need to play aggressive cricket and for us to achieve this we need to pick the right players, horses for courses. Thank you Mark Boucher for serving your country with distinction but your time has come to an end. So long Jacques, I look forward to enjoying your majestic stroke play in the test matches but there is no room for you in the ODI squad.

"England are not good enough to beat us 'on paper'"!?

Are you for real? The last seven matches we've played against them, they have won six and there's been one wash out. Exactly which of our players do you think the English wish were in their team? Duminy maybe, Bosman possibly - but none of the rest. If we refuse to face reality, there's no hope.

Mickey Arthur is just as bad, claiming that Trott wouldn't make it into SA's top six... after watching him thrash our bowlers all round Centurion yesterday, I wonder if Mr Arthur would care to explain this statement?

Morkel is one of those all-rounders who isn't a good bowler and isn't a good batsman (one 50 in 48 matches!?) and should be dropped.