England South Africa test series

Well, England have taken an unassailable lead of 2-0 in the ongoing series in South Africa with one test yet to go. This is an incredible feat fro England to upstage a team consisting Hashim Amla and AB De Villiers. Some thoughts on the cricket in the series so far are posted below:

1. Broad has this amazing ability of delivering knock-out punch in one spell. When he finishes his career he'd be remembered for his test-winning spells more than the number of total wickets he got.

2. I think this SA side is in some sort of mental disarray after the mauling they got in India. The fact that G Smith captained this side for a long period has perhaps gone against SA - they are struggling to find a worthy successor to G Smith the captain and the opener both. Amla, AB both are excellent batters but I doubt if they are as hardnosed as G Smith. They are certainly not suited for captaincy. But then I have no idea who should be made the captain of this SA side. Du Plesis? Elgar? Can they find a mentally tough cricketer who may not be blessed with natural cricketing skills yet who's good enough to be in the XI?

3. On the England side, I really like J Taylor. The two catches he took were superb. This guy has fantastic ball sense. I reckon Root & Taylor will provide the English fans many good partnerships in future.

4. I have never been a fan of Cook's captaincy. However, if we look at his captaincy records he's got an away series win in India and SA. That's pretty impressive. 

5. Amla is such a graceful person. It was apparent he was struggling as a captain. Good on him to step down and focus more on his batting. Similar to Sachin Tendulkar. Amla is role model for all the right reasons - elegant batsman, no obscene gestures or words from him.

6. England have finally got a strong middle / late-middle order, which can act as a hedge against collapse of top order. Imagine, Stokes, Bairstow and Ali at 6, 7 and 8. I reckon this England side can score 400 plus anywhere.