Life is a Rollercoaster - England Story

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First Test

England select the same team as the last Test. Prior hangs onto his place but only just. The only other selection decision is Cobb with Patel, Cale and Gould knocking on the door. Bell is the other batsman looking over his shoulder.

South Africa win the toss and put England in.
England reach lunch 91/2 Strauss and Pietersen bat well but Strauss falls in the over before tea for 83 with England on 192. A rain interrupted final session means Pietersen has to wait until the morning to reach his century. He goes on to 125 and late runs from Broad and Swann see England to 342.
South Africa make it till the end of day 2 98/1. More time is lost on day 3 with South Africa still going strong at the close. A flurry of wickets in the morning with Broad finishing South Africa off for 311 with his 5th of the innings.
Rain again cuts short the final 2 sessions of the day to make a draw the most likely result. Strauss is out in the morning making just 1 more than he did in the first innings. With a result now looking impossible England bat out the rest of the day to tie the match with Bopara making 64, Pietersen 27, Bell 48 and Cobb and Prior not out on 72 and 30 respectively.

England Man of the Match - Pietersen, guided the side to a decent total in the first innings in difficult conditions.
Other Notable Mentions - Strauss, Broad, Woakes
Poor Game - Cook, Swann, Anderson

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Second Test

England retain the same team for the second match.

England win the toss and bat.
England lose Cook for 21 in the first session and Bopara just after lunch for 40. Strauss again fails to reach a century, out for 85. Pietersen, Bell and Prior all fall quickly after tea but Cobb and Broad bat out the day. The bat well the next day with Cobb reaching his century. The partnership reaches an all time England record for the 8th wicket 206 before Broad is out for his highest Test score of 90. Cobb is eventually out on the morning of day 3 for 175. Swann falls soon after for 54 and England declare 541/9.
Anderson and Broad take 2 wickets each before lunch reducing South Africa to 62/4. Broad strikes again after the break, as does Swann in his first over to expose the tail. Swann and Broad finish them off for 232 but don't enforce the follow on.
England put on a 179 opening stand but Cook falls in the 90s. England declare on 224/1 just before tea on day 4 when Strauss reaches his century.
Anderson removes Smith in the only wicket to fall before the break. Swann takes 2 more wickets before the close with South Africa needing to score 400 on the final day and England needing 7 wickets. Anderson gets the other opener, Amla for 82, in the first over of the day. Broad and Swann each take a wicket while Woakes gets 3 to leave South Africa 9 down and England on the brink at lunch. Anderson takes the final wicket just after the break to give England a 1-0 series lead with 3 to play.

England Man of the Match - Broad, could've been so many players but he stuck with Cobb to prevent England setting a low first innings total and then ripped through South Africa to give England a huge lead.
Other Notable Mentions - Cobb, Strauss, Swann
Poor Game - Pietersen, Bell, Prior

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Third Test

England are again unchanged despite increased pressure on the places of Bell and Prior.

South Africa win the toss and bat.
Anderson snares Amla in the first over but he't the only wicket to fall before lunch. Anderson picks up his second, Smith just after the break with Woakes and Bopara also striking in the afternoon session. Anderson picks up his third and forth wickets in the first over after tea. Wickets from Broad, Bopara and Swann leave South Africa 9 down with Woakes taking the final wicket with the new ball giving South Africa a total of 308.
Strauss is out early but Cook and Woakes bat out the rest of the day. Woakes falls early and Cook makes just 31. The middle order all get starts but mone can make a big score. Bopara makes 66, Pietersen 36, Bell 54 and Cobb 31. Prior disappoints again, making just 1. England are 9 down at the end of day 2 but lose their final wicket in the first over of the next morning, bowled out for 260.
Anderson's opening burst removes both openers. Broad and Woakes take a wicket each and Swann gets two but Anderson is the stand out bowler taking a further 4 wickets to finish the match with 10 as England bowl South Africa out for 239 in the last hour of day 3, a lead of 287.
England's openers bat out the last hour. They each go on to make 50 but Strauss falls soon after lunch. Bopara is out for 29 and Cook falls to the new ball 4 short of a ton. England reach the target the next morning with a 43 not out from Pietersen seeing the side home to give England a 2-0 series lead with 2 to play.

England Man of the Match - Anderson, great bowling figures.
Other Notable Mentions - Cook, Bopara
Poor Game - Prior, Broad

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Forth Test

England are again unchanged going into a match where any result other than a loss would mean achieve victory in the series.

South Africa win the toss and bat.
South Africa put on a 210 run opening stand with both openers making centuries. Broad and Woakes dismiss Smith and Amla respectively but South Africa finish strongly to end the day 297/2. Anderson gets Duminy for 73 with the new ball and de Villiers edges Broad to the slips on 86. Woakes, Swann and Anderson each take 2 further wickets but England can't prevent South Africa reaching a commanding first innings total of 558.
England bat out the rest of day 2 for no loss but lose Cook for 41 in the first over of the next morning with Strauss following him soon after for 37. Pietersen and Bopara each make centuries and bat out the rest of day 3. Bopara falls the next morning for 130 but Pietersen powers on past 150. He eventually falls 5 short of a double ton. Bell makes 25 and Prior makes 40. Cobb bats superbly with the tail to reach a century while Swann and Woakes make 43 and 24 respectively with Cobb the last wicket to fall for 139 with England on 726.
South Africa begin their second innings half way through the final day, 168 runs behind. Wickets from Woakes and Broad give England a sniff of victory but a second century in the match from Smith helps South Africa to a draw which sees England to a series victory.

England Man of the Match - Pietersen, great innings, deserved a double century.
Other Notable Mentions - Bopara, Cobb
Poor Game - Anderson, Broad, Woakes

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Fifth Test

England again name the same tea for the final Test of the summer.

South Africa win the toss and put England in to bat.
Englands openers bat out the first day both making hundreds. They reach the close 230/0 after rain ends play half an hour early. Strauss falls early the next day on exactly 100 to leave him on 8899 career Test runs, 1 run short of the England record held by Gooch. Cook follows him soon after for 119. That brings Pietersen to the crease who himself is just 47 runs short of Gooch's record. He makes just 23 though. Bell makes 43 and Cobb 22. Prior disappoints again with just 11. Bopara becomes the third England player to reach three figures and goes on to 159 the next morning. England are eventually bowled out for 562 when Swann, perhaps crucially, is forced to retire hurt.
Woakes and Broad make early breakthroughs taking a wicket apiece. They pick up another wicket after tea with Bopara also striking before the close of play on day 3. Anderson takes the early wicket in the morning buefore a run out and 2 wickets in the same Bopara over sees SOuth Africa all out for 238.
England enforce the follow on but fail to take early wickets. SOuth Africas openers put on 136 before Bopara removes Smith for 78. Anderson gets Amla for 70 soon after but Duminy and de Villiers survive until the end of day 4. They bat well the next morning both reaching centuryies and putting South Africa back into credit. Duminy edges Woakes to slip and Broad sends Prince on his way just before lunch. Broad strikes twice in the same over to remove both de Villiers and Kuhn. He then takes another before Wokaes and Bopara return with a wicket each. Woakes finishes the job to give England a target of 134 with exactly one session remaining.
Strauss does what he failed to do in the first innings and becomes England leading Test run scorer with a 4 in the first over. The openers look likely to seal the victory themselves but fins scoring hard in the last 30 minutes. They go into the final over needing 5 runs for victory with Cook on strike. They take a single off each of the first 4 balls to tie the scores. A good stop at extra cover prevents Cook hitting the winning run off the fifth ball but nails his cover drive to the boundary with the next to win the game for England.

England Man of the Match - Bopara, scored a century with his only innings of the match and bowled well in the absense of Swann.
Other Notable Mentions - Strauss, Cook
Poor Game - Prior, Anderson

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The ECB Selection Committee has announced the 15 man squad for the ODI Series and T20 matches at home vs South Africa:

ECB Selection Committee
A Cook* (ODI Only)
J Anderson
I Bell
R Bopara
S Broad
M Cale
A Flintoff
K Gould
S Neville (T20 Only)
S Patel
K Pietersen
A Rashid
I Skelton
C Woakes
D Wainwright
L Wright

Skelton is in line to make his England debut and has been given the gloves due to his good form domestically. Gould comes into the England side for the first time after impressing domestically for a number of years. Wainwright is the other new inclusion, profiting from an injury to Swann that would restrict him from playing in all but the last match. Cook again captains the one day team but will be replaced by Neville in the T20s with Flintoff resuming the captaincy of the T20 side.

Player Profile

Ken Gould RHB, RMF
Nottinghamshire
Batsman
Aged 22

Batting Averages
First Class - 68.54
One Day - 60.58
T20 - 34.60

Slight front foot preference
Strong off side preference

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First T20

As expected Skelton makes his England debut while Gould is also in the side ahead of Bell. More suprisingly Patel does not make the team and Rashid is the only spinner chosen.

South Africa win the toss and bowl.
England start well but lose Neville for 14. Bopara and Pietersen put on 72 for the second wicket to give England a good platform. Pietersen is out for 33 and Bopara soon follows him, run out for 47. Gould, Cale and Flintoff all come and go and it's left to Skelton and Rashid to propell England to a total of 164.

South Africa start well but lose a wicket in each of the last 2 overs of the powerplay. Despite an expensive first Rashid recovers with 3 good overs while Woakes bowls well from the other end, picking up 2 wickets. South Africa going into the last over needing 5. Despite a wicket off the first ball of the over Flintoff can't prevent Kallis hitting the winning runs.

South Africa win by 4 wickets
Man of the Match - Prince
England Man of the Match - Woakes, great economy, keeping South Africa tied down in the middle overs.
Other Notable Mentions - Bopara, Pietersen
Poor Game - Cale, Broad

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Second T20

England reamin unchanged.

Sotuh Africa win the toss and bat.
They captitalize on the early good overhead conditions by making a good start. But Woakes again bowls well in the middle overs with Bopara and Rashid both economical. Good deat bowling from Flintoff retricts South Africa to 138.

England keep up with the rate for most of the innings with Pietersen and Gould the main contributers but a late collapse brings Rashid and Woakes to the crease with 12 balls to get 21 runs. Four singles and a two means they need 15 off the last for an unlikely victory. Woakes and Rashid exchange singles before Woakes hits a 3. Rashid gets Woakes back on strike with another single off the next ball with England 9 short of victory with 2 balls left. Woakes hits both for four to give England a tie.

Match Tied
Man of the Match - Kallis
England Man of the Match - Woakes, bowled well again and did enough with the bat to draw the match.
Other Notable Mentions - Pietersen, Gould, Rashid
Poor Game - Broad, Bopara, Cale, Skelton

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First ODI

Gould come into the side ahead of Cale with Bell retaining his place. The only other two changes from the last ODI are Skelton making his debut and Rashid in for the injured Swann. Patel keeps his place despite being in poor form.

England win the toss and bat.
England lose Bopara ealry but Cook and Petersen put on 157 runs together. Cook falls to the first ball of the batting powerplay for 87. Pietersen goes on to three figures but when he falls for 117 England collapse to 289 all out in the last over.

Flintoff opens the bowling but is expensive early on. Broad and Anderson slow the scoring rate with a wikcet each. Bopara, Rashid and Patel bowl well with 4 wickets between them but South Africa begin to accelerate after the half way mark. Flintoff comes back but can't do any better in his second spell than in his first. Broad and Anderson come back on taking further wickets with Broad finishing off the tail to complete an 11 run victory.

England win by 11 runs
Man of the Match - Pietersen
England Man of the Match - Pietersen, batted well and now holds the record for most ODI hundreds for England
Other Notable Mentions - Cook, Broad
Poor Game - Bopara, Flintoff

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Second ODI

England are unchanged going into the second game of the series.

South Africa win the toss and bat.
Flintoff starts better in this match keeping it tight early on with Anderson. Broad introduces himself wita wicket in his first over but Smith and Duminy bat each post big scores. They never get away from England though mainly due to good bowling from Rashid. Flintoff returns to take Smith Smith's while Pietersen bowls well, dismissing Duminy. England bowl well at the death with Anderson taking two wickets as South Africa set England a target of 268.

Englands chase starts well with a quick 32 from Bopara. Pietersen doesn't quite get going in this game but Cook putts on good partnerships with Bell and Gould. He brings up his century but is out soon after and it's left for Gould to guide the team to victoy.

England win by 4 wickets
Man of the Match - Cook
England Man of the Match - Cook, a well paced innings to steer England to within sight of a victory.
Other Notable Mentions - Gould, Rashid
Poor Game - Pietersen, Patel

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Third ODI

England remain unchanged going into a game where victory would see them enjoy a sixth consecutive series win.

England win the toss and bowl.
Broad and Anderson take early wickets for England but Smith and de VIlliers combine to put on 125 runs together. Patel takes the wickets of both. He also takes the wicket of Prince and along with Rashid restrict South Africa's scoring in the middle overs. However, some late order hitting from Wiese and Kallis sees South Africa to a total of 259.

Cook and Bopara again give England a solid start. Cook makes 28 but Pietersen comes in and looks in good form. He forms a good partnership with Bopara until Bopara falls for 60. Bell comes and goes for 11 which brings Gould to the crease. He, along with Pietersen ease England to the target. They enjoy a successful powerplay which brings the rate under control and they look to be cruising towards victory. England go into the last over needing 2 runs. Pietersen, though, on 96 has eyes on a century. He survives a caught behind appeal off the first ball but whacks Wiese for 4 off the next ball to bring up his second century of the series and seal the series for England against his native South Africa.

England win by 7 wickets
Man of the Match - Pietersen
England Man of the Match - Pietersen, yet another century for Pietersen against South Africa.
Other Notable Mentions - Patel, Bopara, Gould
Poor Game - Bell, Flintoff

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Forth ODI

Woakes comes into the ODI side for Flintoff while Bell is dropped and replaced by Cale. With a spin friendly pitch expected Wainwright was considered but Patel's impressive figures in the last match with the ball means he keeps his place.

South Africa win the toss and put England in to bat.
England lose Cook early and Pietersen and Bopara struggle to get going. Gould plays a similar innings but England are kick started by a dynamic innings from Cale and an explosive one from Patel to put England on track for a decent score. A six and 2 fours off the last over from Anderson gives England a total of 279.

Smith and Amla give the South Africans a good start putting on 124 for the first wicket. Amla makes a century and together with de Villers they keep the rate in check. Bopara bowls Amla for 113 but late wickets from WOakes can't prevent de Villiers steering his side to victory.

South Africa win by 4 wickets
Man of the Match - Amla
England Man of the Match - Cale, England were in a spot of bother when he walked to the crease and he not only rescued his side but also set up a defendable total.
Other Notable Mentions - Patel, Woakes
Poor Game - Anderson, Broad, Cook

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Fifth ODI

England are unchaged for the final match in the series.

South Africa win the toss and put England in to bat.
England get off to a good start with Bopara attacking from the off. After a quick 33 he edges to the keeper. Pietersen fails to make an impact but Gould and Cook steady the innings. Cook falls three short of his half century which brings Cale to the crease. He bats like a man possesed and with Gould they raise the scoring rate dramiatically. But they can't sustain it and a flurry of wickets mean England are bowled out for 257 after just 43 overs.

Broad gets Amla early but is expensive in his opening spell. With Smith at the wicket with first Duminy and then de Villiers South Africa looks to be cruising towards the target. But Patel does a good job in the middle overs conceding just 27 off his 10 overs and the run rate begins to climb. Anderson returns with two wickets to put England back into control. Kallis steadies the ship and Gerber, who bowled so well in the first innings on, sticks with him as South Africa close in on their target. Anderson bowls the last over with South Africa just 7 runs from victory. He bowls well but can't prevent Kallis and Gerber taking a single off each ball to tie the match.

Match Tied
Man of the Match - Gerber
England Man of the Match - Cale, played a very good innings with an amazing strike rate.
Other Notable Mentions - Gould, Cook, Patel
Poor Game - Skelton, Pietersen, Broad

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Series Reaction
England win Test series 3-0
England win ODI series 3-1

A perfect English summer. Beating Sri Lanka in both formats and then doing the same to South Africa. The batting in the Test was first class and rarely let South Africa get a sniff of victory. On the odd occasion they did the bowling made sure they couldn't achieve it with some exceptional displays.

Another good showing from the ODI side. The main thing that has improved in the last year is the frequency of the batsmen scoring centuries with one in each of the first 3 games of this series and winning all three games. The one day side has really turned around since losing to Inida at home last summer. Since then 9 centuries have been scored while in the year preceeding that point only one was. Score a century, win the game.

Man of the Test Series - Strauss, 2 centuries, 5 half centuries is a very good return from a series. To do it at the top of the order against one of the best ace attacks in world cricket is exceptional. Not bad for a 35 year old and with less than a year to go until the next Ashes series you would expect he would be the man to lead the team in their quest to regain the urn.

Man of the ODI Series - Pietersen, this guy just loves batting against South Africa. He excelled against them at the start of his England career, led England to victory against them in his first series as captain in 2008 then hit his highest ODI score on his return to South Africa in 2009. In this series he followed up his big fifty in the first match by hitting his fifth and sixth ODI centuries against his native county in the next two. Lucky for him South Africa are up next again.

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The ECB Selection Committee has announced the 18 man Test squad to tour South Africa:

ECB Selection Committee
A Strauss*
J Anderson
I Bell
R Bopara
S Broad
J Cobb
A Cook
K Gould
P Horton
G Onions
S Patel
K Pietersen
L Plunkett
M Prior
A Rashid
I Skelton
G Swann
C Woakes

Gould comes into contention for his first Test appearance after impressing in the ODIs and after Cobb's good form in the summer it seems like he will be competing with Bell and Patel. Rashid is again selected as back-up to Swann and 5 pace bolwers are chosen. Along with Anderson, Woakes and Broad, Plunkett, and Onions have been selcted as backup. Horton again appears as the back-up opener while Skelton could be in line for his first Test appearance although he is a doubt for the warm-up vs the Lions with a cold. He will be competing with Prior for the gloves.

Before the Test series vs South Africa England play a warm-up match against Lions.

England Team to play Lions
Strauss*, Cook, Bopara, Pietersen, Cobb, Gould, Prior^, Broad, Swann, Woakes, Anderson

England - Bat

England - 542/9(Strauss 97, Cook 6, Bopara 37, Pietersen 207, Cobb 125, Gould 28, Prior 0, Broad 3, Swann 0, Woakes 10*)
Lions - 323(Anderson 2/92, Woakes 3/81, Broad 3/83, Swann 2/59)
Lions - 48/3(Anderson 1/15, Woakes 1/22, Broad 1/11)

Man of the Match - Pietersen