England v SAF series round up...

So it ended with a reasonably convincing England win at the Oval yesterday, but South Africa took the 2-1 series victory.

It’s been a difficult series to assess overall, particularly given we missed the decisive third test but we suspect it’s probably just about the right result and now the SAFs take over the mantle of the ‘side most likely to stuff the Aussies’.

It’s going to be a corker this winter, but where did it all go wrong for England? Well one word, ‘selection’. You’ve got to get the right team on the field for a start and virtually from the off, we simply didn’t do so.

From the confused selection of Pattinson, to the stubborn refusal to ice Ambrose, to just realising that you need a balanced side, to myriad other clangers, their were more howlers than a convocation of werewolves.

They say a series can hang on the smallest of details – but if you get the big ones wrong you simply don’t have a chance.

Perhaps most damage has been done with the resignation of Michael Vaughan, who though going through a bad trot, was still the best captain of recent years. Vaughan was a highly skilled all-rounder being both captain and batsman and the obvious solution to just drop down to the middle order simply didn’t happen.

But it’s done now and there’s no going back. As for KP? Well he’s certainly got the cojones, no doubt, already bullishly saying “Bring on the Aussies” but can he develop the all-round captaincy skills we’ll need to make a decent fist of it? We’ll see I guess.

In the meantime we’ve consoled ourselves with watching YouTube footage of amazing new Sri Lankan ‘mystery’ spinner Ajantha Mendis who’s an off-leg spinner with a mean doosra all in one...

As if Murali wasn’t enough, where on earth do Sri Lanka find them? And more importantly are you watching Monty?

We fear there’s trouble ahead...

Ooh we’ve just noticed there’s btw 100th post – a century all of our own! At last!