Woakes, who underwent knee surgery earlier this year, will play his first Test in 16 months after Anderson was sidelined with a calf injury.
Advertisement
Dirk Nowitzki passes Shaq for sixth on all-time scoring list
Dirk Nowitzki was running through the laundry list of things working against him ever becoming the NBA’s sixth-best scorer. It was easy to fold up our tent and not compete, but we came out in the second half and came after them.
“I think it’s just a real slight niggle and the management decided it really wasn’t worth the risk”, said Broad.
Steyn strikes early blow for South Africa
England lost two-nil against Pakistan in the UAE while Amla’s side were humiliated three-nil in a four-match Test series in India. He’s disappointed but with the strength in depth we’ve got in this group it’s not a hammer blow to us”.
Anderson is “more disappointed than anyone else but it gives Chris a great opportunity”, England captain Alastair Cook said at a news conference Friday.
Looking for Santa Claus? NORAD is Here to Help
Google has been tracking Santa for 11 years and its site is full of games to keep the little ones busy before Santa arrives. On Christmas Eve, 1955, Colonel Harry Shoup began receiving calls from kids asking to speak with Santa Claus .
Stuart Broad will lead the attack in the absence of Anderson, with Steven Finn, Ben Stokes and Moeen Ali lining up alongside Woakes.
“South Africa’s pace attack will target Alex Hales, who has to prove he has the technique and temperament to cope with high-class new-ball bowling”.
Hales, who averaged 51 for Nottinghamshire last season and made a career-best 236 against the eventual champions Yorkshire at Trent Bridge, has the opportunity to become the first batsman to score hundreds in all three formats of the game for England after his maiden 50-over century against Pakistan last month and an unbeaten 116 against Sri Lanka in the 2014 World Twenty20.
South Africa captain Hashim Amla won the toss and asked England to bat in the first test at Kingsmead on Saturday.
But if Hashim Amla wins it and lets Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel loose at the debutant Alex Hales then it could be a case of watching from behind your sofa.
As play resumed after lunch, the Barmy Army began to gently warm up with a few isolated chants no doubt in preparation for a rousing vocal tour debut, setting the marker for the four-Test series.
“All our talk within our group has been focused on us and what we have to do to win here”.
“So no matter who we come across on the first day, it’s important for us to start well”. So we’re focused on that.
England have a genuine opportunity to topple the number one ranked team and we would not have been saying that in April.
“For us being at home is a huge advantage for us”.
De Villiers, possibly the most destructive batsman in world cricket, is still a class apart. That’s what we took strength from in the Ashes with Mitchell Johnson and Michael Clarke.
Boxing Day sport has a special place in British consciousness and none more so than when our cricketers are bathed in winter sunshine to lock horns with south hemisphere giants Australia or South Africa. “I assume it provides you good stability, particularly within the final innings when there’s a little bit of flip and it additionally provides the seam bowlers a little bit of relaxation”, he stated.
Advertisement
Delighted by his side’s last warm-up game victory, England coach Trevor Bayliss believes that his side are fully prepared and show good sign ahead of the upcoming Test series against South Africa. We want to start really well, especially after our series in India, which didn’t go too well. There is patchiness and that’s interesting as a bowler because when it doesn’t look completely smooth you know there could be some different bounce off the different parts of the wicket. “Obviously having Dale back in our team is also a big boost”.
