318 for 8 I think we might be 20 to 30 runs below par

No need to apologise , that's very illuminating. I had a friend at school who spent his early education in Scotland after his family moved up there. He was badly bullied, just because he was English. I think the Scottish Nasty Party's raison d'etre is anti-englishness. It really is appalling. Anyway back to the 6 Nations ! I'm just glad we beat them. I think that's 7 years since they last beat us. On to Italy now and as Eddie Jones has said let's go and give them a "good hiding" !

I watched the Scotland v England and the Ireland v Wales games on TV at the weekend. What a notable difference between the sportsmanship shown by the respective home crowds. Whenever Wales got a penalty and kicked for goal there was silence in the ground from the Irish fans. In the Scotland v England game , when England were taking a penalty / conversion, each kick was met by a chorus of boos. I wonder if Scotland will ever lose the chip they have on each shoulder as far as the English are concerned. I guess it's a problem for them that both our Rugby Union and Football teams have won their respective world cups. Or am I just picking on our kilted friends from the north ? .........hehe

Another good all round performance by England . De Villiers did come good with the bat , but like in the previous game was out to a magnificent catch. As one of my old captains in the Lancashire League used to say " catches win matches"

Yep our adopted Lancastrian. He's priceless in this form of the game and will take the IPL by storm !

It's amazing how they've changed their mindset as far as limited overs are concerned. Having said that Hales , Roy and Root were always going to score faster than Cook , Balance and Bell. Buttler is a phenomenon and the fact that Willey bats at number 10 shows the depth in the batting. The bowling isn't as good and I think yesterday we could have done with Broad for experience. De Kocks innings was even better than Buttler's. I rate him, a very good wicketkeeper / batsman. I still think England would have won despite the rain , but if Stokes hadn't taken that amazing catch to get De Villiers, it could have been close even on Duckworth /Lewis. That's 3 ducks and an 8 for AB in his last 4 innings. He's due a big score soon soon !

Well at 399 for 9 , now's your chance . Over to you AB ! The way England are playing one day cricket , KP wouldn't get in the side ! The bit about the Aussies made me smile. Hasn't that applied to all Austrailian teams throughout their history ? Good to hear they got walloped by New Zealand yesterday !

.....but when you thought it was safe to bring the fielders in a bit, Morgan arrives at the crease

I know !! Gibbs got a big score in that one from memory . Root out !

England going well in the 1st ODI at 213 -2 off 28 overs . Butler batting with sublime power and Root palying the "anchor " role . I'm hoping for a score of 400 or thereabouts . Two powerful batting line ups.This could be the day AB forgets his 3 ducks in a row and leads the South African chase !

Will he force his way into the side after 3 ducks in a row ?

Although each test stands on its own, once a team has won a series , despite all the efforts to be up for a dead rubber, subconsciously there isn't the same intensity to win. South Africa aren't a bad side and their demise has been over exaggerated. I think Amla is the best batter in the world and Morkel is a fine bowler. Add to those two, AB De Villiers and the new boy Rabada , plus De Kock and not forgetting Steyn ( best bowler in the world) and Philander. Also their Cook has looked the best opening batsman on both sides. With players of that calibre I don't think they'll drop too far in the rankings Taking into account everything, it's been a great series win, on a par with the win in India a couple of years ago. I agree with Mattyblue, our top order batting needs looking at, too many collapses. We had a similar problem when we won the Ashes last summer but having said that, if we're beating Australia at home and South Africa away , things aren't too bad with the state of English cricket Now onto the ODIs and T20s , where we've been showing good improvement recently.