And that’s all from me. It’s been an intriguing day, and the Test is in an intriguing place, albeit a place that’s significantly more encouraging for England at the moment than for the tourists. Still, all to play for – we’ll be back for more tomorrow. Bye!
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Moeen Ali does some talking:
I feel very grateful and blessed to be in those stats (2000 runs & 100 wickets). If someone told me I was going to have these stats I’d have bitten their hand off. There’s been loads of ups and downs. I’ll still have bad days, I’m still inconsistent, but I’m happy with the way I bowled today. I’ve probably bowled a bit safe the last year or so, and today’s the first day I went back to an attacking mindset. It’s nice for Lord’s to be spinning like this. We’ve got a lot of bowling to do still.
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STUMPS: South Africa 214-5, trail by 244
And that is the end of day two! It’s been a fine day for England, but they still have some work to do. On the plus side, the pitch is threatening imminent disintegration, and this still looks like an excellent toss to have won.
68th over: South Africa 214-5 (Bavuma 48, Rabada 9) Bavuma takes two balls over his single this time, and Moeen has four deliveries to deal with Rabada. There’s a slip, a leg slip, a short leg and a silly point, but none of them are given any work to do. Rabada eventually works the ball to Broad at midwicket, who flings it at the bowler’s end so hard and so wide that there’s no stopping it – five for Rabada!
67th over: South Africa 208-5 (Bavuma 47, Rabada 4) Bavuma gets a single off Broad’s first delivery, leaving Rabada with five to deal with. He deals with the first four soberly and sensibly, and then drives the last through the covers for four. Broad sprints through the over, with the aim of completing it in time for England to squeeze in one more. And they will …
Anderson's delivery to de Bruyn deviated away by 1.28° - his second biggest deviation of the innings & biggest since ball 6.3. #EngvSA
— The Cricket Prof. (@CricProf) July 7, 2017
66th over: South Africa 203-5 (Bavuma 46, Rabada 0) Rabada comes in as nightwatchman, and survives Anderson’s final four deliveries. I also didn’t see the umpire’s finger go up, though UltraEdge would have sent De Bruyn packing had he waited.
I think de Bruyne walked there. Pretty ballsy thing to do at such a crucial moment, DRS or not @nickmiller79.
— Gary Naylor (@garynaylor999) July 7, 2017
WICKET! De Bruyn c Bairstow b Anderson 48 (South Africa 203-5)
England make the breakthrough! The ball moves away from the batsman just a smidgeon, flicks the edge and flies into the keeper’s gloves!
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65th over: South Africa 203-4 (Bavuma 46, De Bruyn 48) Broad’s final delivery is angled into Bavuma, who tries to pull it away, misses it completely, and gets a flying cricket ball in the guts for his troubles.
64th over: South Africa 200-4 (Bavuma 44, De Bruyn 47) Still nothing doing, though Bavuma takes a stroll outside off stump and is very nearly bowled by Anderson, whose delivery whistles just past leg stump.
63rd over: South Africa 200-4 (Bavuma 44, De Bruyn 47) A final fling, for today, for Broad. Nothing much comes of it, but for two singles, but Root clearly feels that his frontline quicks can do something before the close of play, and are more likely than the spinners.
62nd over: South Africa 198-4 (Bavuma 43, De Bruyn 46) Four for Bavuma, worked to fine leg where there are no fielders around to stop it. Is De Bruyn, as Bumble appears to believe, really pronounced “de brain”? As in …
61st over: South Africa 194-4 (Bavuma 38, De Bruyn 46) Wood bowls, and De Bruyn doesn’t have to move his feet, just straightens his body and swings, the ball screaming through midwicket for four.
60th over: South Africa 189-4 (Bavuma 38, De Bruyn 42) The shadows lengthen, Anderson strains, but there’s no movement and De Bruyn’s defence is sturdy. Maiden.
59th over: South Africa 189-4 (Bavuma 38, De Bruyn 42) The highlight of the over being a ball that flies down leg and just evades a diving Bairstow, going for two byes.
58th over: South Africa 186-4 (Bavuma 38, De Bruyn 41) Anderson’s back, and Bavuma pushes the second ball into the ground and back to the bowler, who collects and flings it stumpwards. It hits the stumps but only after bouncing off Bavuma’s toe, and the whole thing seems a bit unnecessarily aggressive. Since their scores were last tied De Bruyn has scored more runs and Bavuma has faced more balls (he now leads 73-66).
57th over: South Africa 185-4 (Bavuma 38, De Bruyn 40) This is an excellent partnership. Wood puts his all into another over – no falls this time, but certainly a three-quarter-stumble-with-one-arm-pushback – but it produces no chances and five runs.
56th over: South Africa 180-4 (Bavuma 36, De Bruyn 37) Stokes’ over starts with a De Bruyn boundary, worked fine to long leg, and it ends with a wide, full delivery being thrashed to backward point for four more. Both boundaries the result of poor bowling.
55th over: South Africa 169-4 (Bavuma 31, De Bruyn 31) Wood falls over, as is his wont, while delivering his first ball, but still thinks he’s seen enough to be pretty certain he’d got De Bruyn lbw. But his fall-down didn’t precipitate the batsman’s downfall. The batsmen run a leg bye, which is all they get from the over.
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Not out! But that was as close as it could get without overturning the on-field decision – which was a bad one. The ball would have clattered leg stump pretty much full-on, but not quite full-only enough.
REVIEW! Mark Wood reckons he’s got De Bruyn lbw here! The on-field umpire, however, doesn’t.
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54th over: South Africa 168-4 (Bavuma 31, De Bruyn 31) Stokes bowls short, and Bavuma cuts it in the air but over backward point. Bavuma leads De Bruyn 58-57 on ball faced, and it’s 31-31 on runs scored, which is all very pleasing.
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53rd over: South Africa 162-4 (Bavuma 26, De Bruyn 30) De Bruyn gets two off the first ball of Dawson’s over, and four off the last. At the end of it Ben Stokes gets looked at by one physio and Bavuma by another, though neither seems seriously sore.
52nd over: South Africa 156-4 (Bavuma 26, De Bruyn 24) Stokes continues after the drinks break, and Bavuma’s cover drive is perhaps the finest shot of the afternoon. Not showy nor vicious, just fine timing.
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51st over: South Africa 151-4 (Bavuma 22, De Bruyn 24) Dawson’s seventh over yields but a single, and is followed by drinks.
50th over: South Africa 150-4 (Bavuma 22, De Bruyn 23) Stokes bowls, Bavuma drives, Jennings dives in the covers … and misses. Four. After 50 overs the score is 150, which is pleasing. “The answer to my question about who came 146th and last in Wisden’s averages,” writes Tom Bowtell, whose question stumped the world, “is Moeen Ali – today’s most threatening bowler for England. Someone should really invent an aphorism about stats being untrustworthy.”
49th over: South Africa 146-4 (Bavuma 18, De Bruyn 23) Dawson’s first Test maiden in England. History.
48th over: South Africa 146-4 (Bavuma 18, De Bruyn 23) Stokes is back, and convinces the ball to move away from the batsmen a couple of times. Now, how not to consume a cheese cracker – a pictorial guide:
47th over: South Africa 145-4 (Bavuma 18, De Bruyn 22) Dawson’s back, and his first ball is eased through midwicket for four by De Bruyn. Nine off the over in all.
46th over: South Africa 136-4 (Bavuma 16, De Bruyn 15) Bavuma goes after Moeen’s second delivery, hoisting it back down the ground for a two-bounce for. And there’s another boundary too, smashed square. But then just as it looks like he’s purring, he tries to drive the final ball and misses it extravagantly.
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45th over: South Africa 128-4 (Bavuma 8, De Bruyn 15) Six runs from Anderson’s first two balls include a four through midwicket, which Mark Wood races after and gamely dives at, but was never going to catch. And then four dots.
44th over: South Africa 122-4 (Bavuma 8, De Bruyn 9) A maiden from Moeen. These batsmen have faced 55 deliveries for their 17 runs. The blue skies under which Lord’s bathed this morning appear to have gone, with a thick layer of light grey clouds now hiding the sun.
43rd over: South Africa 122-4 (Bavuma 8, De Bruyn 9) Anderson’s back, but drama is not. So I went to see Eykah Badu last night, at London’s Hammersmith Apollo. It was a show memorable for two reasons: 1) It was like a furnace in there. Just ludicrously hot; 2) Badu wore a giant cloak; under the cloak she wore trousers and a top; under the trousers and a top, made of some plasticky fabric – basically modified bin liners – so she could rip them off when she’d had enough of them, she had another entirely different outfit, with both a top and a jumperish-type garment. She was the most overdressed person I have ever witnessed. The concert was a bit rubbish, but the clothing was unforgettable. Here ends my review.
42nd over: South Africa 119-4 (Bavuma 7, De Bruyn 7) De Bruyn goes after Moeen, marching down the wicket to hoik the first delivery towards long off for four.
41st over: South Africa 115-4 (Bavuma 7, De Bruyn 3) Broad’s first delivery isn’t so good, and Bavuma just needs to get a gentle tickle on it to get send it down leg for a guaranteed four. And he does. Then the batsman has a go at getting another boundary, but misjudges the bounce and the ball passes under his swishing, horizontal bat.
40th over: South Africa 109-4 (Bavuma 2, De Bruyn 2) Moeen’s second delivery turns wildly, befuddles De Bruyne and flies behind the batsman’s legs but wide of the stumps, a genuine ooh moment. South Africa get two byes out of it.
39th over: South Africa 107-4 (Bavuma 2, De Bruyn 2) Since tea: seven overs, three maidens, two wickets, 11 runs. This is another maiden, from Broad.
38th over: South Africa 107-4 (Bavuma 2, De Bruyn 2) A single apiece from Moeen’s over. “A surprising stats quiz for your readers,” writes Tom Bowtell. “Which bowler came 146th and last in Wisden’s First Class bowling averages for last season?” Er … Well … Um …
37th over: South Africa 105-4 (Bavuma 1, De Bruyn 1) Two new batsmen at the crease, and Broad’s got four slips in place as De Bruyn seeks his 12th Test run in his third Test innings. He gets one off the penultimate delivery, and Broad’s last jags into Bavuma, whose desperate bat-lunge across the line is just about successful – the ball clips the bottom corner of the bat – but he was about 2cm away from being on his way as well.
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WICKET! Duminy lbw b Broad 15 (South Africa 104-4)
Another one for England! This also stays low I think, and moves into the batsman, and Duminy gets nowhere near it before it slams into his back pad, surely stump-bound. The umpire’s finger goes up, and Bavuma tells his team-mate not to waste a review.
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36th over: South Africa 104-3 (Duminy 14, Bavuma 1) Duminy gets a single off the last to deny Moeen a maiden. Can these possibly work? If they do, why isn’t everybody wearing them?
Me trying to see where those Moeen haters are hiding #ENGvSA pic.twitter.com/PpPbheGBmR
— Vithushan (@Vitu_E) July 7, 2017
35th over: South Africa 103-3 (Duminy 14, Bavuma 1) A maiden from Broad, the ball repeatedly staying pretty low and Bavuma leaving them well alone.
Elgar played for more turn than there was & got an inside edge. The ball spun 2.46° which is 1.06° fewer than Moeen's match average. #EngvSA
— The Cricket Prof. (@CricProf) July 7, 2017
34th over: South Africa 103-3 (Duminy 14, Bavuma 1) Moeen also swaps ends, and with near-immediate effect. It could have been even greater: Elgar goes, Bavuma comes in, swings wildly and inside-edges his first ball into his foot, which is all that stopped it hitting the wicket. Duminy sweeps the last to the log leg boundary, where it’s hopelessly misfielded and thus earns four.
Moeen Ali - gets to 100 Test wickets and 2,000 Test runs this match. 38th cap makes him second fastest Englishman to this double
— Ali Martin (@Cricket_Ali) July 7, 2017
Quickest England all-rounders to 100 wickets and 2,000 runs:
— George Dobell (@GeorgeDobell1) July 7, 2017
37 Tests Greig
38 Moeen
42 Botham
43 Flintoff
48 Rhodes, Bailey
67 Broad
WICKET! Elgar c Ballance b Moeen Ali 54 (South Africa 98-3)
Moeen comes on and has an immediate impact, as Elgar edges into his front pad and the ball flies into the hands of Ballance, who had just been installed at short leg!
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33rd over: South Africa 98-2 (Elgar 54, Duminy 10) Stuart Broad is back for more post-pausal action, after a fine burst before and after lunch (though he’s since switched ends). Duminy faces, with three slips and a gully waiting for a catch. Broad, though, bowls into the pads, and Duminy works it away for an easy two. Then he does edge one, but the ball falls well short of Jennings at third slip.
Tea: South Africa 96-2; England 458 all out
Interesting afternoon session. Probably roughly even, and England have bowled a little better than the two wickets suggest. South African captain Elgar has looked very solid indeed, but he could do with someone to score a few quicker runs alongside him, mind.
32nd over: South Africa 96-2 (Elgar 54, Duminy 8) Moeen is back into the attack, this time against the slope from the Nursery End. So many men around the bat Duminy can barely see the sun, but he cautiously plays out the last over before tea.
31st over: South Africa 96-2 (Elgar 54, Duminy 8) Both a short-leg and a leg slip in place as Wood comes round the wicket to Elgar. He pulls for a single, then Duminy plays a delicious drive through the covers and to the boundary. Wood drops a little shorter, and Duminy goes for a pull but bottom edges it into his toes, and fairly nearly onto his stumps.
30th over: South Africa 91-2 (Elgar 53, Duminy 4) Stokes is going for a slightly straighter line, possibly aiming for one of those away swingers. Although he does get one to swing back in at Duminy which raps the pads, and looked close. No decision, no review though.
Root has been on the attack for 30 overs now @nickmiller79 This augurs well for the future especially if England can field all these options
— Gary Naylor (@garynaylor999) July 7, 2017
29th over: South Africa 90-2 (Elgar 52, Duminy 4) Root mixing up his bowlers a little: here’s Mark Wood, on in place of Moeen. He sends down a maiden, of broadly tight lines save for one odd delivery miles down leg side.
28th over: South Africa 90-2 (Elgar 52, Duminy 4) Stokes thuds one into Duminy’s pads, and while it was heading down leg there was a little swing there. This might be another way in which the England attack might be superior to the tourists’: all South Africa’s quick bowlers seemed most comfortable bowling with the new ball, whereas England have a couple who can made the old one do a bit too. Two singles from the over, one a leg-bye.
27th over: South Africa 88-2 (Elgar 51, Duminy 4) Duminy drops to one knee and tries the lap sweep, but misses and hits his back hip - there’s an appeal, but he was probably outside off stump so no dice there, and the ball squirts away for a couple of leg-byes. He looks a little uncomfortable for most of the over but Moeen lets him off the hook from the last ball, dropping a short wide one that Duminy efficiently cuts to the point fence.
26th over: South Africa 82-2 (Elgar 51, Duminy 0) Stokes sends down a short one that Elgar ducks under, but the remainder of the over is on a fairly tight off stump line and it’s another maiden.
25th over: South Africa 82-2 (Elgar 51, Duminy 0) JP Duminy, who feels like he’s been in the South Africa teams since the mid-90s, is the new bat. Two slips and a short-leg in, but despite one that gets a bit of zip from off stump, Duminy survives relatively comfortably.
WICKET! Amla lbw b Moeen Ali 29 - South Africa 82-2
A ripper from Mo, the first one he’s really got to grip, starting out quite wide of off stump and jagging back in, trapping Amla dead in front of middle. There’s brief and enormously optimistic talk between the two batsmen of a review, but that was stone, stone, stone dead.
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24th over: South Africa 82-1 (Elgar 51, Amla 29) The ‘medium pace’ of Stokes whistles past the edge of Elgar, having bounced plenty. Then the next ball, a little fuller and wider, grubs along the floor and through to the keeper. This pitch probably won’t be much fun to bat fourth on. Elgar then carefully opens the face and guides a four down to third man, and that’s his half-century.
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23rd over: South Africa 78-1 (Elgar 47, Amla 29) Lovely, controlled shot from Elgar, taking a step or two towards Moeen and calmly driving straight down the ground and to the boundary. One more single, pushed down to long-on, from an over very carefully played out.
22nd over: South Africa 73-1 (Elgar 42, Amla 29) Root using his range of options now, as Ben Stokes comes on for a bowl. Shrewd analyst Warne describes Stokes, the bowler who frequently tickles 90mph, as a medium-pacer, but it doesn’t exactly matter how quick you are when you bowl two balls at Amla’s hip. The great man flicks both for four, one square and the other in front of mid-wicket.
21st over: South Africa 64-1 (Elgar 42, Amla 21) Spin from both ends now, as Mo Mo Mo Ali is on from the Pavilion End. He’s round the wicket first up to Elgar, who doesn’t look absolutely comfortable against the ball spinning away from him. Still, a relatively incident-free maiden.
20th over: South Africa 64-1 (Elgar 42, Amla 21) Elgar now doing his best not to let Dawson bowl at him. He takes a step or two down the pitch and goes inside-out over mid-off, then tries the same from the next ball but gets a thick edge that flies over gully.
19th over: South Africa 54-1 (Elgar 35, Amla 18) Bit of bounce from Wood, and Elgar fails in his attempt to get on top of the ball, edging down past Jennings at third slip, hitting turf a yard or so in front of where fourth might have been. A streaky four, then Wood tries coming round the wicket, has no joy but falls over once in his follow through.
While the players have a drink, Nick Miller back here to delicately guide you through until tea. Emails to Nick.Miller@theGuardian.com, Tweets to @NickMiller79
18th over: South Africa 49-1 (Elgar 31, Amla 17) Amla thumps Dawson’s first delivery through fine leg for four. His average in first innings played in England is a trifling 19.33, which he’s on the verge of surpassing. His best effort was 36, at the Oval in 2008.
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17th over: South Africa 42-1 (Elgar 29, Amla 12) Good pace from Wood, earning himself a first maiden of the day.
16th over: South Africa 42-1 (Elgar 29, Amla 12) Dawson has a slip, a short leg and a silly point in place as he bowls to Elgar, who sweeps the ball away for four. “Oh yeah, 50 for two boys!” encourages Bairstow from behind the stumps, optimistically.
15th over: South Africa 36-1 (Elgar 24, Amla 11) A run each for the two batsmen. Jonty Jenner, who is surely a PG Wodehouse character rather than a cricketer, has just come on as sub fielder.
14th over: South Africa 34-1 (Elgar 23, Amla 10) Liam Dawson comes on, and his second ball spins and turns hard, throwing up a cloud of dust and jagging into Elgar’s back pad. One ball – not quite as encouraging, but definitely welcome – later, Root brings in a silly point, just in case. “I wouldn’t fancy a spell of fast bowling if I’d just eaten that lot!” says Mick Belford of the Lord’s luncheon.
13th over: South Africa 28-1 (Elgar 22, Amla 5) Just as Wood sends down his opening delivery a cream-blazered fellow strolls out of a box in Elgar’s line of vision, leaving the batsman clearly narked. He composes himself, and punches the final ball down the ground for another four.
12th over: South Africa 24-1 (Elgar 18, Amla 5) Finally someone gets runs off Broad, Elgar pushing the ball straight back where it came for four, and then easing another off his pads for one. “Regarding lunch, looking at that menu I think you’d have to take the healthy options if you’re a professional sportsman, skipping the heavy-sounding mains to leave room for both cherry bakewell, and mango cheesecake,” writes David Wall. “The fitness coaches can’t object to players eating more fruit, can they?” That’s why it’s always worth choosing strawberry ice cream over the likes of chocolate and vanilla – it’s the healthy option.
11th over: South Africa 19-1 (Elgar 13, Amla 5) A bowling change sees Mark Wood come on, and the left-handed Elgar fends one down the leg side for a single before Amla gets a couple off the last. This is an interesting Wood-based stat:
In Test cricket Wood has an average of 27.45 against right-handers compared to an average of 62.20 against left-handers. #EngvSA
— The Cricket Prof. (@CricProf) July 7, 2017
10th over: South Africa 16-1 (Elgar 12, Amla 3) Another Broad maiden, Amla defending every delivery. “I imagine that if I went to sleep for fifty years, I would wake up to find Anderson and Broad still leading the England attack (and taking wickets),” writes Andy Wilson. “Ballance will just have been recalled to England after showing good county form. Anybody to do with the national team will still be scratching their head and wondering what Rashid even is, while one of the test openers will be on debut. This will all be brought into perspective by Yorkshire patiently waiting for Lyth and Lees to come back into form. Nothing will change, except I may have bionic legs.”
9th over: South Africa 16-1 (Elgar 12, Amla 3) There’s duck on the sample menus on the Lord’s website for the Harris Garden and Pelham’s restaurants, though none at Thomas Lord, the Cricket Academy or Lord’s Tavern. Still, they clearly do like a duck.
@Simon_Burnton strange seeing the @HomeOfCricket menu with duck on it. Doesn't history say this was banned? Or is it an urban myth?
— Austin Baird (@BinkyBlotto) July 7, 2017
8th over: South Africa 13-1 (Elgar 11, Amla 1) Broad’s bowling fine, disciplined stuff here. There were a couple of deliveries that slid across Elgar and down the leg side, one of which slammed into his pad on its way, prompting a brief appeal. He has yet to concede a run since lunch.
In Test cricket Broad has dismissed Amla seven times in 644 balls, conceding 301 runs at an average of 43 runs per wicket. #EngvSA
— The Cricket Prof. (@CricProf) July 7, 2017
7th over: South Africa 13-1 (Elgar 11, Amla 1) Amla averages 49.39 across his Test career, but in England his average is 75.70, helped in no small way by his 311 not out at the Oval in 2012, though there are two other centuries on the list, both at Lord’s. He is yet to play a Test here without getting a ton, but in his two previous first innings here he got six and 13.
6th over: South Africa 10-1 (Elgar 9, Amla 0) So two overs, one wicket and no runs since the lunch break, and Hashim Amla strolls out.
WICKET! Kuhn c Cook b Broad 1 (South Africa 10-1)
The final ball of the over takes a healthy edge and flies into the hands of Cook at slip!
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5th over: South Africa 10-0 (Elgar 9, Kuhn 1) Hello! I hope you’ve all luncheoned well. I certainly did, though it’s baking hot here in London and there was drama as the air ambulance helicopter noisily landed next to my lunch spot, just across the canal from the Guardian’s Kings Cross HQ. I hope all OBOers are happy and healthy on this fine day. Here’s what the players got stuck into. I’ll have the halibut please.
🍽 Here's what the players will be tucking into at Lunch today.@officialcsa's bowlers will be desperate for that final wicket! #LoveLords pic.twitter.com/QngIgoMfm5
— Lord's Ground (@HomeOfCricket) July 7, 2017
Simon Burnton will be along shortly to take you through the first hour of the afternoon session. Email him on Simon.Burnton@theGuardian.com.
Temba Bavuma will probably be batting soon enough. Here’s Ali Martin’s interview with him from earlier in the week.
Lunch: South Africa 10-0, England 458 all out
Careful start from South Africa, as you might expect from just those four overs. Hints of movement from both Broad and Anderson, but nothing too flamboyant so far. The real match will start after lunch, mind.
4th over: South Africa 10-0 (Elgar 9, Kuhn 1) Broad beats Elgar with an away-shaper, but after a single Kuhn plays out the remainder with the care of someone handling a new-born kitten.
3rd over: South Africa 9-0 (Elgar 8, Kuhn 1) Anderson continues over the wicket, and beats Elgar going across him: brief appeal from the slips, but any noise came from bat hitting pad. Then Elgar plays a lovely, controlled drive through the covers, carefully picking up his first boundary.
2nd over: South Africa 4-0 (Elgar 3, Kuhn 1) No rest for Broad, as he starts in from the Nursery End to debutant Heino Kuhn. He’s away from the first ball, jabbing a single off the back foot through the covers. Broad comes around the wicket to Elgar, who nudges an optimistic single to mid-wicket: he has to run around the bowler, Dawson takes aim at the stumps and just misses. If he’d hit, that was out by three or four yards.
1st over: South Africa 2-0 (Elgar 2, Kuhn 0) Anderson starts over the wicket to Elgar. First few balls get Elgar hopping a little, and the third jumps up past his chin. Elgar gets off the mark with a deliberate guide through gully, and they come back for two. Elgar keeps the rest of the over out, very deliberately, almost crouching forwards as he tries to smother what swing there might be.
Both sets of players wait at the bottom of the steps for the umpires, which is unusual. Joe Root gives his first teamtalk, and England look pretty lively.
Ticklish 15-odd minutes for the Saffers now. Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad striding in, or perhaps they might give Mark Wood a go: he probably won’t have been too disappointed about his delivery, given it was a bit of a shooter.
A rather entertaining morning, all told. 12.3 overs, five wickets and 101 runs. That, as an aside, was Stuart Broad’s first fifty since he scored 65 vs Australia at Trent Bridge in 2013. That, as Michael Clarke will tell you, was the innings where Broad nicked behind (not to first slip) and didn’t walk. Always nice to be reminded of that one.
WICKET! Anderson c De Kock b Morkel 12 - England 458 all out
Broad backs away and lasers another boundary through the covers. Then - technically - he’s dropped, as Amla gets a hand to a high edge in the slips, but he did well to get anywhere near that. Then, the fun stops, as Anderson nicks behind off Morkel.
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105th over: England 453-9 (Broad 52, Anderson 12) Even Anderson is at it now. Well, sort of: he edges along the ground, through gully and to the boundary. And then - I promise you this is true - he skips down the track, adjusts for a shorter ball and spanks a six into the Mound Stand! What scenes! That’s the third six of his career, apparently, and the England balcony is falling about laughing.
104th over: England 443-9 (Broad 52, Anderson 2) Broad upper-cuts which drops just short of third man, but he barely had a clue where that was going. Rather surprisingly they take the single...but Anderson manages to swiftly get off strike with a nudge to deep backward square. Morkel tries to york Broad, but he does v.well to not only dig it out but bunt a couple of runs out to the sweeper on the cover fence. Shaun Pollock muses that Broad “will just be looking for a single from this delivery”, so of course he hooks a six into the Grandstand. And then another, exactly the same shot, just slightly higher into the stands! That’s Broad’s 50, in just 45 balls. Good knock that man.
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103rd over: England 427-9 (Broad 37, Anderson 1) Rabada lets England off the hook a little with some rancid fielding off his own bowling, allowing Anderson to take a single and remove himself from the strike. Umpire Rieffel raises his eyebrows at Rabada for running on the pitch again, which was an issue yesterday. Broad takes a brace of twos, the first hard run to third man then a pull out to deep mid-wicket.
102nd over: England 421-9 (Broad 32, Anderson 0) Broad will play some shots now, and he starts that with a lovely back-foot drive just in front of point that goes to the fence. He then backs away and goes for a meaty cut that takes a bottom edge, it thunks into his boot and damn near spins right back into the stumps. Morkel pitches a couple up, almost gets an outside edge then misses the stumps by a hair with one that Broad misses. Then from the final ball of the over he drops short again and Broad - perhaps not always entirely looking at the ball - pounds a pull in front of mid-wicket to bookend the over with boundaries.
101st over: England 413-9 (Broad 24, Anderson 0) A mild clatter, and England might be a little disappointed that they’ve lost four wickets for 56 runs this morning.
WICKET! Wood lbw b Rabada 0 - England 413-9
Mark Wood is the new bat, and he lasts two balls, as the second one from Rabada ducks in and thuds his knees right in front of all three. That was so dead he walked.
WICKET! Moeen Ali b Rabada 87 - England 413-8
Moeen controls a pull nicely, and we’re treated to the sight of Morkel chugging after the ball, then diving to stop the thing. Which he just about manages to do, although with the minimum of grace. He gets another two, but then goes for a drive with one that Rabada gets to duck back in and it takes the top of off stump.
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100th over: England 409-7 (Moeen Ali 83, Broad 24) Once again Mo larrumphs a shot for no runs, this time is perfectly-timed drive is stopped in the covers. Then two balls later the same happens, Bavuma the man again to deny him. All he can get from the over is a single flicked down to fine leg after Morkel changes to over the wicket.
Looks nice, dunt it?
View from the comm box...as Richie might have said "Watta day!" pic.twitter.com/bDakxLjGGb
— Mark Nicholas (@mcjnicholas) July 7, 2017
99th over: England 408-7 (Moeen Ali 82, Broad 24) Mo nails a cut but Bavuma does well to stop a certain four at point. A tucked single gives Rabada a few goes at Broad, and he nearly takes an ear off with a rrrrrrrrapid bumper. Then beats the edge with one pitched up. The ol’ one-two.
98th over: England 407-7 (Moeen Ali 81, Broad 24) Morkel has a go at Broad from round the wicket, has no joy so tries over. No joy there either, although they have now brought in a short leg. However...
They bowl far too many at him - they should try to get him out like they would any other Number 9 @nickmiller79 https://t.co/m5n8oYc3nP
— Gary Naylor (@garynaylor999) July 7, 2017
97th over: England 406-7 (Moeen Ali 80, Broad 24) A bowling change, and Kagiso Rabada gets a go from the Nursery End. Broad gets an extremely lucky boundary with a weird jab at the ball which caught the inside edge that flies inches over the stumps, and way past De Kock. Broad then goes for a hook which goes way up in the air, but Morkel at fine leg firstly doesn’t pick the thing up as it was floating through the sky, then makes a fairly moderate attempt to save it from the boundary when he had worked out where the thing was. Needless to say, he was not successful. A decent over from Rabada, thoroughly unimpressed with his colleague’s efforts, but eight runs come from it.
96th over: England 398-7 (Moeen Ali 80, Broad 16) Morkel gets Broad hopping around the crease like a startled cat with a rib-tickling short one, then after a single Moeen pulls out of a hook that hits the splice, could have gone straight up in the air but instead plops safe.
We could be heading down a bit of a rabbit hole here. “Regarding John Starbuck’s comment,” writes Steve Hudson, “is that really possible given that still don’t have a definitive statement from the ECB about stubble? At what point does clean shaven become stubble? Or stubble become a beard?”
95th over: England 395-7 (Moeen Ali 79, Broad 14) “Alternatively, you could forget about quick or slow hitters,” writes John Starbuck with some absolutely watertight logic about England’s top order, “and select people on their chin preferences. Most of the bearded players have scored well, most of the clean-shaven ones haven’t.” Vern sends down a maiden, only threatened by a lusty attempt at a cut by Mo that he doesn’t get nearly enough of.
94th over: England 395-7 (Moeen Ali 79, Broad 14) Mo tucks a two and a single off his legs, then Broad wafts at Morkel as he finally sends down a short one.
What did you do before breakfast today?
Well now ... this is an interesting Breaking News Alert ... certainly gave me paws for thought. pic.twitter.com/2rZmjQysEj
— Robert Hull (@Rob_Hull) July 6, 2017
93rd over: England 392-7 (Moeen Ali 76, Broad 14) Woof! Mo gives it some, specifically with a pull in front of of mid-wicket and then a whipped leg glance, both of which reach the ropes. That’s 2,000 Test runs for Moeen, almost all of them lovely.
William Cooling picks up on the England top order point: “I think too much emphasis is placed on the personnel causing problems with England’s top order and less on the tactics imposed on the players on management. The “problem” is that they want everyone to be scoring quick runs but most of the best candidates for the top order prefer to carefully accumulate runs. Which is pretty obvious considering the difficulties playing aggressively against the moving ball.
“What we need to recognise is that the top three should be used to build a platform that our more aggressive middle-order can then capitalise. Take the shine off the ball, tire the bowlers and fielders out, and then unleash Root, Bairstow, Stokes and Ali. We know this tactic works – Cook and Compton combined well in South Africa until management destroyed the latter’s confidence by screaming at him to score faster. They’ll do the same to Jennings and Ballance.”
Updated
92nd over: England 381-7 (Moeen Ali 67, Broad 12) Morkel gives Broad a widish half-volley which he sort of jabs through point and it goes to the boundary. Not an entirely convincing shot, but also a weird line of attack: there’s no short-leg/any catching fielder on the leg side to Broad, a man not entirely comfortable with the short ball, being bowled at by the steepling Morkel. Another full ball is driven at by Broad, and this is edged through the slips and for another boundary. Nine runs from the over but barely a convincing shot played.
“Someone might have the stats,” says Kevin Wilson, “but I’m pretty sure whenever Root is not out overnight he gets out really early the next morning.” Anyone?
91st over: England 372-7 (Moeen Ali 66, Broad 4) Moeen drives with no little gusto, gets an edge but again it drops short. Elgar shuffles in another yard or so closer in the slips. Then after a single, Broad prods at one that takes another edge, but this one flies beyond De Kock and goes to the boundary. Vern gets one to duck back and thwacks Broad on the knee: they go up with confidence, but despite having a couple of reviews left they don’t go upstairs, which turns out to be a mistake as the replays suggest that was heading for about 3/4 of the way up leg stump. Why on earth didn’t they review that?
Steve Hudson writes: “In the interests of balance, can we also have the results for “I disagree with Gary Naylor”? And “Who is Gary Naylor again?” Unpossible.
90th over: England 367-7 (Moeen Ali 65, Broad 0) Morkel beats Broad outside off, then causes him to duck a decent bumper, and that’s a double-wicket maiden. Not bad.
David Wall writes: “Following the OBO of yesterday’s play it was striking how many of the emails were raising concerns about the no 3 position in the batting order, even into the afternoon and evening sessions when England were dominating the play. It could just be that England supporters like to take a pessimistic view of the side, and like to moan. But could it also be that the selectors treat the side like a later version of the Matrix, building in some obvious flaws because they know that the supporters are more comfortable having something to complain about. At the moment it’s about who bats at no. 3, last summer it was who should open the batting with Cook, and even during the period under Strauss’s captaincy, when there was a settled side, at the no. 1 ranking, there was an issue about the tactic of bowling dry, and so on. Of course, this approach can go too far (see the England side during the 90s), but would we prefer it if they went for perfection like the Australian selectors did in the Mark Taylor/Steve Waugh captaincies?”
There is an English tendency to whinge and complain, but No.2 and No.3 are pretty crucial positions and England haven’t had either of them absolutely nailed down for quite some time. It’s understandable that people are concerned, at least.
WICKET! Dawson lbw b Morkel 0 - England 367-7
It was just shaving the leg bail, but that’s enough to stick with the ump’s call and Dawson’s brief stay in the middle is done after two balls. Doesn’t look quite as shiny for England now...
Updated
Review!
Morkel gets one to jag in at Dawson second ball, pads are rapped, finger is raised. Could be a bit high...
WICKET! Root c De Kock b Morkel 190 - England 367-6
And like that, it’s over. Morkel gets one to bounce a little and move away just enough, and Root feathers an edge through to the keeper. A quite glorious innings comes to an end.
Updated
89th over: England 367-5 (Root 190, Moeen Ali 65) Root shuffles back and across a little and punches a brilliant back-foot drive which skips its way to the cover fence. With most batsmen you’d say that was an outstanding honker of a shot, but with Root it’s the norm by now. A single brings Moeen on strike and Philander induces an edge, but it drops a couple of feet short of skipper Elgar at second slip.
88th over: England 362-5 (Root 185, Moeen Ali 65) Morkel has the ball for South Africa, jerking in like an animated Anthony Gormley statue. Root gets his first run of the day with a clip off his toes, then Moeen hammers one of those Gowerian drives through the covers for a four as glorious as the weather.
“Quick stat check re John Swan,” writes David Moore. “Dunno if this is possible, but just wondering if you can interrogate the Guardian archive to see how may times the OBO has quoted a email starting “I agree with Gary Naylor...”
Well, the results are in, and...
The players are out, Lord’s looks like Lord’s looks like on a sunny day. Wonderful.
Updated
Another shout for this splendid idea, from Jo Neate:
“I mentioned this yesterday, and had a great response so hoping you’re able to help again. We’ve nearly got full teams for both of our upcoming trips. Once again a motley group of part-time OBO readers are heading off for our fifth year on a couple of jaunts to play cricket, one in Brighton in mid-August, and then across in Italy in mid-September.
“You can read about our previous exploits here - http://oboccasionals.weebly.com/ - and if you’re interested in turning out for us, any and all abilities are absolutely welcome. We also welcome umpires, scorers, spectators or people just want to ride a Vespa around a provincial Italian town.
“If you’re interested in either trip, drop me a mail at joe.neate@gmail.com
“Oh, and we’re also looking for a third team to join us for the Italy weekend, in case there was a touring team out there looking for a fun weekend. The tours are always AMAZING fun. It’s a great group of people, all games are played in the right spirit, and we always fit in a smidgen of something culture-y, as befitting a group of Guardian readers. It’s not all cricket and gin and tonics. Honest. Anyway, give it a go, you won’t regret it!”
“Morning Nick, morning everyone,” greets John Swan, formally but entirely correctly. “I agree with Gary Naylor’s advice to Joe Root but I think it is probably entirely unnecessary. Joe Root is surely his own man – he may be a cheeky chappy with a boyish grin but he has huge mental strength, he’s very organised and he knows his game, and I am pretty sure he has already hinted that he will captain proactively and aggressively, he will take punts on bowlers and field placings, he will make outrageous declarations and he will back the team to play with even more freedom. I think exciting times await – and I say that as an England cricket fan who has been following the sport since the eighties.”
You’re all busy people, so you can’t be expected to keep up with every single piece of grade-A gold that we publish on Guardian Sport. But don’t fear: sign up for The Recap, and we’ll remind you of the best articles from the previous week.
Among several virtuoso performances yesterday, Shane Warne on commentary was at his Warney peak. It reminds me that after Ian Bell started scoring loads of runs Warne, who had previously dubbed Warwickshire’s finest ‘The Shermanator’, instead started calling him ‘Stifler.’ It’s probable that Warne is the only man in the world who thinks calling anyone Stifler is a compliment.
Will Macpherson was down the road yesterday to watch a quite heroic effort of skill and endurance by Rory Burns. Report here:
A piece of advice from Gary for when England get into the field at some point tomorrow morning.
Root really needs to captain as he bats. When the time comes to be aggressive, be aggressive with slips, a gully and short leg @NickMiller79
— Gary Naylor (@garynaylor999) July 7, 2017
Should you require a recap, here’s Vic Marks’s report from yesterday.
Preamble
Morning all. Joe Root, then. It tells you plenty that this is a sportsman who is only 26, has been on the international stage for about four-and-a-half years and even now, there’s little left to be said. Of course you could suggest that plenty of yesterday’s heroic 184* was down to luck, dropped once-and-a-half, stumped of truly the most absurd no-ball, but cricket is a game of centimetres, millimetres even. You’ll be able to find a point in most of the great innings in which the player in question could have been dismissed before they reached the peak of their innings.
But what now? A double hundred? Beating his own best Test score, which he got against Pakistan last summer? A total north of 450 for England? That of course is the tangible triumph of Thursday at Lord’s, alongside the glorious individual success, that England were in a piping hot mess before he and Ben Stokes, then Mo Ali, corrected things and set them towards this potentially formidable total. Against a South African batting line-up that isn’t entirely bullet-proof, it’s perfectly possible that Root’s innings is already a match-winner.
But all things can change on a new day. Root could leave a straight one. Kagiso Rabada might rip through the order. Morne Morkel might stop bowling no-balls. But none of that seems especially important: there’s a sunny Friday ahead at Lord’s. And if you can’t enjoy that, you’re in the wrong game.
Nick will be here soon. Here’s Barney Ronay on Thursday’s hero, Joe Root:
As Joe Root and Ben Stokes punched and clipped their way towards a recuperative century stand on a heavy, woozy afternoon at Lord’s it was, as ever, easy to forget the presence of pretty much anything else beyond those high Victorian garden walls.
There were gurgles of pleasure around the basking bleachers; a parade of triumphantly bared male lower-leg beneath pleated chino shorts in the garden behind the pavilion; and everywhere the standard, quietly fevered consumption of jugs, pints and flutes.
It was, though, simply a prelude to the main action, a genuinely startling innings from Root that decorated the opening day of the Test summer with an effortless, assertive grace and provided the opening act of his captaincy with a suitably storybook centrepiece.
By the end of the day, with Moeen Ali settled and producing some exhilarating shot-making of his own, Root was finding deeper gears, a binding captain’s knock transformed into a genuinely outstanding innings of 184 not out in England’s score of 357 for five as Lord’s luxuriated in the full range of his talent.
