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Hendricks out cheaply twice...the batting of this A team are not exactly putting pressure on the team that batted so poorly in India.

cricinfo's description of Footitt's first delivery this morning

Footitt to de Lange, OUT, full on leg and off, de Lange tries to flick it away and gets gets a leading edge to Taylor at short-leg

full on leg and off suggests it was on middle stump.

Nothing of significance from Rossuow, Ramela and Zondo...the only 'A' team batsman making a case for himself is deKock.

mikesiva wrote:Nothing of significance from Rossuow, Ramela and Zondo...the only 'A' team batsman making a case for himself is deKock.

Was only a few months ago when Zondo was complaining SA weren't picking him. Since then he's averaged less than 10 in the Ram Slam and got a pair here.

Important bowling performance for Moeen. Hopefully can do a job in the Tests.

Wonder why he didn't bat, but Cook and Root batted on beyond their tons.

Warm ups have gone as well at they could have done. 4 batsman made centuries, 2 half centuries. The spinner and 3rd quick have taken wickets. Plus they would have gained confidence from stop easily beating South Africa's reserves. Broad and Anderson are under cooked but they know their own bodies and game and should hopefully adapt quickly.

Just the one question remains - will England risk Finn for the first Test? Or will they go with Woakes or Footitt to begin with? Finn is clearly the best option, it's just a matter of fitness.

Arthur Crabtree wrote:Wonder why he didn't bat, but Cook and Root batted on beyond their tons.

Carried on as it was a first class game...had an eye on their averages.

that game couldnt have gone any better really, maybe all we needed was bairstow to score runs

team looks nailed on now

cook
hales
compton
root
taylor
stokes
bairstow
moeen
broad
jimmy
Finn

i like the look of that team, i have a funny feeling we are going to surprise some people in this series

The only query regarding the XI is if Finn will last five days. Unless there's a reason why Anderson hasn't been playing.

Regarding the strength of the side, there are still potential holes in the batting, uncertainty as to how good Steve Finn is these days, and an unconvincing spinner. Also Bairstow may not be a Test quality keeper. But South Africa have problems of their own. If Steyn is at his best, I expect they'll win. But that may not be the case.

Bairstow didn't do much in the 2 chances he had. Should have been a priority to give him some batting time.

He has a terrible Test record so needs all the practice he can get.

Bayliss has said that Jimmy needs to have his workload managed if he is to play 4 tests in 32 days. With his experience rest would be more beneficial than a low key practise game. Moeen has just taken a six for against what was a genuine Saffers A team which must be a real boost to his confidence. Provided Finn shows no reaction he's surely got to play on boxing day. It would have been ideal to have given Bairstow more batting time but the priority had to be to give the top five as much practise as possible-a consequence of having so few practise matches before the series starts.

So, Anderson is injured.

Arthur Crabtree wrote:So, Anderson is injured.

Dobell saying there's a strong possibility he'll miss the first Test regardless of the scan result, due to the two day gap between Tests.

Woakes the favourite to come in. Not sure who would get the new ball.

Woakes and Broad, for me. I wonder a bit if Woakes is really ahead of Footitt though, who played ahead of CW and took the new ball v SA A. It feels unlikely they would work it that way. I'd have Woakes.