Read Vic Marks’s report:
Vic Marks’s report and Ali Martin’s bits and pieces will be with you very shortly. But that’s all from me! Rob and Adam Collins will be with you bright and early tomorrow morning, and I’ll be at the Ageas Bowl for the return of county cricket - live! Join us all! Speak then.
“There are few expletives that I’m not sure I’m allowed to say,” says Jonny Bairstow of his 99. He is smiling, though.
So, that’s a brilliant day for England. With only Olivier and Morkel left, they have a lead of 142 and are right in charge of the game. Ben Stokes’s brilliant catch at the end is So Very Stokes, but has also really hammered home that advantage. Assuming they can mop up that final wicket pronto, they’ll have plenty of time to charge their way to a target. Jonny Bairstow’s 99 already feels like a bit of a distant memory, doesn’t it?
Stuie’s absolutely right.
@willis_macp hiya will ENG in fabulous position
— Stuie Neale (@MrNeale92) August 5, 2017
Wicket! Rabada c Stokes b Broad (South Africa 220-9)
This is a brilliant catch by Ben Stokes! It’s flown low and hard to him at gully, and he’s stuck out his left paw and taken it inches from the ground! Great catch, and halfway through Broad’s over, that is stumps! South Africa tail by 142. Everyone is singing Jimmy Anderson’s name, he will surely bowl tomorrow morning, assuming Broad doesn’t get Olivier in the three balls remaining in the over.
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68th over: South Africa 219-8 (Rabada 23, Morkel 17) Interesting! Test cricket, meet Dawid Malan’s leg breaks! They are quite handy for Middlesex. The first one is a bit rank and is turned into the legside for one but the next is lovely and full! Defended. The next turns and is squirted away for one to long-on, before Morkel gets off strike.The final ball of the over is drilled so hard straight back at him that you can understand why some umpires wear helmets. Great shot, gets KG four. Final over coming up.
67th over: South Africa 212-8 (Rabada 18, Morkel 15) England’s openers are safe. With three overs left, they won’t be padding up tonight come what may. They are frustrated, though, as Morkel’s prodded edge flies directly between second slip and gully for four. “I hate a gap,” says Ian Botham with the venom of a man who has really been wronged by a gap. A single to mid-on leaves Rabada with two to negotiate, which he does in some style: the last ball is driven beautifully for four through wide mid-on.
66th over: South Africa 203-8 (Rabada 14, Morkel 10) MorMor wants to get after Mo. He tries to go downtown but only finds mid-on. Undeterred, he smacks the next two for four! The first is just over that man at mid-on, but the second is cleaner and truer, and goes straight down the ground. With mid-off pushed back, he takes a single.
65th over: South Africa 194-8 (Rabada 14, Morkel 1) Broad’s hammering away on a tight line from round the wicket. Rabada plays and misses a bit but Broad’s only reward was to be thrashed over point for a slightly ropey four.
64th over: South Africa 190-8 (Rabada 10, Morkel 1) Annoyingly, Moeen can’t take a hat-trick to finish this innings, which is what he normally does. Two of his Oval victims at the crease, and he’s going round the wicket to Morne. Weirdly, he doesn’t get him out, but it is a maiden, including one very good leave that just misses off stump. Five maidens among Moeen’s 20 overs today. He has two for 48. Beaut.
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63rd over: South Africa 190-8 (Rabada 10, Morkel 1) Morne survives the over, which includes a wonderful piece of fielding from Ben Stokes at cover that probably saved four. He goes round the wicket for the last ball, and is flicked for one through square-leg to ruin what would have been a wicket maiden.
Wicket! de Kock c Bairstow b Broad 24 (South Africa 189-8)
The big one! De Kock is gone! Broad angles it across the leftie and he goes forward to punchily defend, but gets a nick! Bairstow with a fine tumbling catch!
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62nd over: South Africa 189-7 (de Kock 24, Rabada 10) Moeen does de Kock all ends up with a loopy one that beats his outside edge. Should have left it. De Kock recovers well and cuts brilliantly to the fence at backward point. The 12th man, little Lankyman Rob Jones, cannot cut it off. Decent effort though. The over ends with a quick single that gets sent upstairs, but really doesn’t need to be.
61st over: South Africa 184-7 (de Kock 19, Rabada 10) Here’s Stuart Broad, who’s been wicketless, but pretty good today. He replaces Rojo and starts well: just two from the over, scampered singles for each of the batsmen.
60th over: South Africa 182-7 (de Kock 18, Rabada 9) Moeen beats de Kock early in the over, and Bairstow doesn’t gather cleanly. Not a stumping chance, but a bit untidy. He uses his feet again to cover drive for two, and the rest are dots.
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59th over: South Africa 180-7 (de Kock 16, Rabada 9) You sense Rojo won’t mind that single Rabada took last over. He goes round the wicket to him, and is angling it in at him. From nowhere there are two boundaries: one good, one bad. First he edges Rabada through the gap in the cordon, as de Kock recently did, then there’s a delightful flick off the pad when Rojo goes too straight. There are 10 overs remaining today. You sense that England, particularly Keaton Jennings, will want to get South Africa all out right on the stroke of stumps.
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58th over: South Africa 172-7 (de Kock 16, Rabada 1) Two lefties for Mo now. The new one, Rabada, is shuffling about then gets off the mark with one to the curious man at deep cover. Get him catching!
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57th over: South Africa 171-7 (de Kock 16, Rabada 0) In comes KG Rabada, but he hasn’t seen any action yet... De Kock plays out five dots, then edges Roland-Jones hard through the gap in the cordon between second slip and gully! That’ll be four...
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Wicket! Maharaj lbw b Moeen 13 (South Africa 167-7)
56th over: South Africa 167-7 (de Kock 12) Maharaj has just been poking about, but not any more! After de Kock takes a single off Mo, then goes downtown! That’s six over long-on! They’ve let Mo bowl to them all series, but that’s better. He follows it up with a classy fine cut and he overtakes de Kock. The follow on was avoided with the six, too.
Ah, he’s gone now. Just as I was typing all that lavish praise! He goes back to the last ball of the over, and he’s totally plumb. Didn’t turn much and he’s been gone.
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55th over: South Africa 156-6 (de Kock 11, Maharaj 3) De Kock is very obviously the key man in this passage of the game, and there’s his first boundary! It’s a lovely pull when Rojo drops his length back. He takes a legside single too, then Maharaj - the last of the useful batsmen - defends.
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54th over: South Africa 151-6 (de Kock 6, Maharaj 3) Mo ghosts through another very tidy over, which sees one run scored, by de Kock. Who says he can’t hold up an end?
You may have heard, but Alex Hales has just played another ludicrous knock for Notts. Yeah I know it’s T20 and yeah I know it didn’t work last summer. But I’d probably pick him to bat No5 in the Test side against West Indies. He’s a freak. Here’s the card: if he’d hit the ball that dismissed him for six, he would have had the joint-fastest T20 ton ever.
53rd over: South Africa 150-6 (de Kock 5, Maharaj 3) Anderson’s wonderful spell ends, as Toby Roland-Jones replaces him from Jimmy’s End. He’s probing away around fourth stump, and Maharaj cannot score a run. Cracking start.
52nd over: South Africa 150-6 (de Kock 5, Maharaj 3) Hydrated, we go again. And it’s Mo. He draws a big nick out of Maharaj that Bairstow has no real chance with – it’s low and hard and tips the bottom of his glove. A drop, technically. Maybe he was fooled a bit by it and rose up? They scamper a single, as they do twice more in the over.
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51st over: South Africa 147-6 (de Kock 4, Maharaj 1) Another Jimmy maiden, with the offside still packed for de Kock, and that’s drinks. No real alarms but torrid to try and score off, is Jim. Back in a tick.
50th over: South Africa 147-6 (de Kock 4, Maharaj 1) Yer man Moeen continues, he’s into his 13th over now. Silly point joins short leg for Maharaj, who plays and misses at the one that goes straight on. The rest are dots, too. That makes it a maiden.
49th over: South Africa 147-6 (de Kock 4, Maharaj 1) There’s a delay before poor Keshav Maharaj – who is a bit injured – faces his first ball as England’s physio, the wonderfully named Craig de Weymarn takes a look at Rooteh’s finger. Hurt it catching. Maharaj is off the mark with an offside single, then de Kock drives straight to point. He has four off 27, which is out of character.
Hur hur hur.
@willis_macp Jimmy's got his End going!
— Chris Drew (@mesnilman) August 5, 2017
Wicket! De Bruyn c Root b Anderson 11 (South Africa 146-6)
Jimmy! He’s done it again. What a spell this is. De Bruyn began this over with a stunning flick through midwicket for four. But he tries to drive again, the ball leaves him a touch and his thick edge goes straight to Rooteh at second gripper. Spectacular stuff form England, who are into the tail.
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48th over: South Africa 142-5 (de Kock 4, de Bruyn 7) Tidy stuff from Mo again, but some bright batting, too. De Kock takes an easy one through the vacant midwicket region, before Theunis plays his favoured reverse sweep. They get two, but it should have been three. The over ends with a single turned to leg to break up the autonomy of the reverse.
47th over: South Africa 138-5 (de Kock 3, de Bruyn 4) Janet Stevens in France has wisely pointed out that South Africa “need another 25 runs to avoid the follow-on”. It’s 24 by the end of the over, which is another of utter Jimmy excellence. The runs comes when he bowls a yorker to de Kock and it appears to go through everything, including Bairstow, who only half stops it. It’s given as runs, so must have got something on it before it scuttled through.
46th over: South Africa 137-5 (de Kock , de Bruyn 4) De Bruyn gets through a Moeen maiden, resisting the chance to reverse sweep. He’s more conventional: lots of defensive stuff and then a drive straight to cover off the last.
45th over: South Africa 137-5 (de Kock 2, de Bruyn 4) A maiden for Jimmy, who is bowling some lovely stuff. The offside field is packed for Quinton de Kock, and he doesn’t look like breaching it, to be honest.
Not sure how he’d feel about this!
@willis_macp Anderson could almost be an be an honorary Yorkshireman. What a bowler
— phil withall (@phil_withall) August 5, 2017
44th over: South Africa 137-5 (de Kock 2, de Bruyn 4) Remarkable. Two drops in two balls! De Kock gets a thick, sharp edge and it flies to Stokes’s right at slip! He gets a hand to it but it’s just too tough. The bowler, Moeen, applauds because he’s filing it under good stops. After a single for Quinny, de Bruyn absolutely middles his reverse sweep and gets off the mark with a four! Wonderful shot.
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43rd over: South Africa 132-5 (de Kock 1, de Bruyn 0) Jimmy continues. Feels amazing that he’s never taken a five-fer at Old Trafford. He’s bowling beautifully, and only needs two more to break that duck. He’s testing de Bruyn around off stump and the last ball of this maiden over rears a bit, takes the shoulder of the bat and flies towards gully where Jennings dives brilliantly but drops it! Tough chance. Very tough.
Good email from Edmund King... There have been a remarkable number dismissed leaving it, haven’t there?
The apparent determination on behalf of the South African batting lineup to be discreet in the use of their bats in this series really does bring to mind the dismissals recorded here, as well as the harsh but fair titling provided by the inimitable robelinda2
42nd over: South Africa 132-5 (de Kock 1, de Bruyn 0) Moeen now has a leftie to bowl to, which will make him happy. He bowls a maiden, and de Kock never really looked like scoring.
Wicket! du Plessis b Anderson 27 (South Africa 132-5)
41st over: South Africa 132-5 (de Kock 1) Two in the over! The game has been changed, and Jimmy has three! De Kock gets himself off strike first ball, then Jimmy jags one back through Faf’s gate and the stumps get rearranged for the second time in three balls! Faf departs with the small consolation that at least he tried to hit the ball this time. The crowd are now Officially Excited.
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Wicket! Bavuma b Anderson 46 (South Africa 131-4)
Oh right. Where has that come from? There’s a leave early in the over from Bavuma, but you can’t leave this one! It’s nipped back from Jimmy and he gets in a tangle as he realises it’s going to clip the top of his off stump, which is duly does. I wonder what Faf makes of that from the non-striker’s?
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40th over: South Africa 131-3 (Bavuma 46, du Plessis 27) More Mo. There’s a single for each batsman here, and the last ball of the over is edged by Faf just short of Stokes at slip! It was very well taken, actually, but bounced just in front.
Ben Parker is in my inbox!
It seems to me that there is a real selection headache coming up which, if not solved via injuries to current players (a la Ballance), could well see TRJ being dropped in favour of Woakes and yet another opening partner (Stoneman) for Cook. May I ask who you would drop and bring in for the West Indies series?
Here’s what I’d do. Jennings has to go, and if Hameed makes runs for Lancashire at Hampshire this week, back he comes in. If he doesn’t, it’s Stoneman for me. I would always pick Woakes when fit, and I would rest Jimmy for one of those games. Otherwise, Toby drops out. I would also consider Hales or Livingstone for Malan.
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39th over: South Africa 129-3 (Bavuma 45, du Plessis 26) It’s no great surprise to see Stokes pulled from the attack. Jimmy replaces him, and it is a surprise to see him begin with a wide half-tracker. The definitive loosener is cut for four by Bavuma. The rest of the over is trickier to negotiate, and he nearly chops on. After a single, du Plessis does too as one jags back in! A good over, the rank opener aside, even if it costs six.
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38th over: South Africa 123-3 (Bavuma 40, du Plessis 25) In contrast to Stokes, Moeen’s overs are proving uneventful. There is a single and a two from this one, the two coming when Mo goes round the wicket to Faf. He flicks through midwicket, but it’s a nice ploy.
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37th over: South Africa 120-3 (Bavuma 39, du Plessis 23) All of a sudden, Stokes has become a bit expensive. There are 10 runs from this over, including two boundaries for Faf. A thick outside edge runs along the carpet to the fence at backward point, then Stokes aims for the pads and gets flicked hard through midwicket.
Inbox regular Ian Copestake is following up on a TV convo. Have to admit, I know literally nothing about comics.
Good to hear Tiger comics being mentioned on air. This in relation to where the Billiy’s Boots strip appeared. Obviously it also appeared in Razzle, but no one acknowledged that for some reason.
36th over: South Africa 110-3 (Bavuma 39, du Plessis 13) Moeen wheels away again, and there’s just a Faf single from it. He’s in the groove and looking confident, Mo.
35th over: South Africa 109-3 (Bavuma 39, du Plessis 12) Bavuma is compiling another very tidy little knock here. He takes two twos, and there’s a no ball from Stokes sandwiched between, too. The first of those twos is nudged behind square, and the second is pulled powerfully in front of square. Powerful, but not timed, and deep backward-square comes round to mop up.
34th over: South Africa 104-3 (Bavuma 35, du Plessis 12) I get the sense that the Old Trafford crowd has descended into that mid-afternoon lull, where it’s building up for a big last hour of Drunkenness. We have all been there. There is just one scoring shot from this over, and it’s a boundary! A cut four for du Plessis off Moeen that beats that sweeper. Lovely shot.
33rd over: South Africa 100-3 (Bavuma 35, du Plessis 8) England are persisting with their suicide gully. Jennings is celebrating his last Test for a while by fielding there. Stokes is the bowler, and he gets little Temba flashing hard, and it goes over suicide gully’s head for four! There is literally no one on the field who will mind that. The rest are defended dots.
32nd over: South Africa 96-3 (Bavuma 31, du Plessis 8) This session starts with Bavuma nudging Moeen out to a rather annoying off-side sweeper. Why on earth is he there? They take two as du Plessis puts it near him later in the over. Attack!
Well, cricketers are back on the cricket field for the third session of the second day of the fourth Test. Paul Stubbs emails:
I could have sworn David Gower on Sky just said “Heineken has not been in flowing form today”!
That is sensational, but if his colleagues are to be believed, Gower is more of a Veuve man. Heineken might just be the only beer he knows.
Working on a sports desk, it has just come to my attention that the football season starts today. Blooming ‘eck.
A long tea time email has come in from Kieron Shaw. He doesn’t rate Trev Bayliss. The email’s a bit too long to include the whole lot, but here’s an hilarious highlight:
Only in England could we look at an extravagantly paid person displaying complete inertia and stiff-lipped silence in the face of a crumbling domain and call it “leadership” – marvel at it, misty-eyed, as wonderfully astute diplomacy; a masterful ability to stay out of the way and say and do nothing. I blame the pioneering work of Her Majesty on that front.
Tea time!
31st over: South Africa 93-3 (Bavuma 30, du Plessis 6) So, Stokes to bowl the last over before tea. Du Plessis takes the opportunity to get off the mark, using his actual bat to guide past gully and they run two. He’s totally squared up by the penultimate ball, and it takes the edge of the splice and runs past third slip for four! The final ball sees Root bring in suicide gully under the lid – that’s what they call a very close slip – to go with silly mid-on and short-leg.
And that’s tea! Speak shortly.
30th over: South Africa 87-3 (Bavuma 30, du Plessis 0) More Moeen, and it’s a maiden! Bavuma watchful. I’m pretty certain Moeen just had his name extended to Mozambique by Bairstow.
29th over: South Africa 87-3 (Bavuma 30, du Plessis 0) Stokes continues, and he’s a bit straight to Bavuma, and he takes two then one, both off the pad. He has one ball at Faf, and he gives him something to leave, which we know he likes.
I really don’t think it has. A mercy killing from Mo.
@willis_macp Kuhn: has the old cliche 'put out of his misery' ever been more appropriate?
— paul (@pfon73) August 5, 2017
28th over: South Africa 84-3 (Bavuma 27, du Plessis 0) Faf is in, and weirdly doesn’t shoulder arms to his first ball. Or his second, for that matter. He’s defending the over out. Moeen extends his lead as the leading wicket taker of the series.
Moeen Ali has now equalled his best ever series with the ball - 19 wickets v India in 2014 and 'ere
— Ali Martin (@Cricket_Ali) August 5, 2017
Wicket! Kuhn c Stokes b Moeen 24 (South Africa 84-3)
England have made a total mess of this! First ball of Moeen’s second over, Bavuma drives to mid-off, and sets off.Cook is the fielder, and he doesn’t pick up cleanly. His throw is then pretty poor, and Moeen can’t gather it cleanly at the non-striker’s. He misses the stumps with his first event, then his second is too late.
But it doesn’t matter much! Two balls later, Kuhn tries to drive, edges and it goes straight to Stokes at slip! He takes a fine low catch, which Kuhn isn’t sure about but the umpires are. A pretty ugly innings ends, and that’s a relief, frankly.
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27th over: South Africa 83-2 (Kuhn 24, Bavuma 26) Double change! Stokes on for the first time. His first ball is dug in and Kuhn plays a very ugly pull. He doesn’t time it one bit but, curiously, there’s no fine leg, so Moeen has to chase from midwicket to a sort of backward-square position. They run through, as they do later in the over when Bavuma plinks one down there. THe lead between the batsmen is changing hands constantly. Dots for the rest of the over, too.
It’s looking dark and ugly outside Guardian HQ again...
@willis_macp Thunder and lightening, very, very frightening. https://t.co/3CNPw3XMMw. Just had them here in Beijing too.....coincidence?
— Andrew Benton (@thangnangman) August 5, 2017
26th over: South Africa 77-2 (Kuhn 21, Bavuma 23) Moeen time! The Greatest Living Briton is on, replacing Rojo, at the Statham End. There are two dots, then a single each, and then two more dots.
Phil Sawyer writes, and only reveals his true motive in the final sentence. I think Jimmy should actually sit out one of those Windies Tests. A risk not worth taking.
I think Woakes should replace Anderson. Woakes gets experience of opening the bowling, which I suspect he will have to do at least once in Australia due to Jimmy’s aging limbs, and Jimmy gets to enjoy feasting on county batters from his own end until the end of the season. I say this purely in the long term interests of the England team. Any benefits to Lancashire are entirely coincidental.
25th over: South Africa 75-2 (Kuhn 20, Bavuma 22) Broad’s in that bowling dry groove. Doesn’t look like conceding a run, and here’s his fourth straight maiden. Short leg is in but he’s not that short, and Kuhn’s inside edge doesn’t carry. There’s also a drive that hammers into the batsman’s ankle. Not easy to score, which seems like a good time to discuss the England seamer... Tom German writes:
How long would an established bowler like Stuart broad be given before England look at other options. Are there any other examples of long (ie 5 years or more) players who get dropped I could only think of Ian Bell in recent year.
Don’t think Broad is going anywhere soon. But Hoggard would be a recentish example of this. And, of course, KP...
24th over: South Africa 75-2 (Kuhn 20, Bavuma 22) A profitable over for South Africa begins with a scrambled single for Kuhn that, had Jimmy hit the stumps from mid-off, would have seen the impish opener run out. Rojo then takes two through cover then four through midwicket. He’s looking comfy now.
Ryan Mitchell writes from Melbourne, with a valid point then a dig at the end! My hunch would be that the only non-English born player in Brisbane would be Stokes, and good luck telling him he’s not a Pom... Seriously, though, if theyare all fit, Australia should definitely do this: leave Lyon out until Adelaide, bat Maxwell six and use him for the offies.
What if Australia do the Starsailor? Four to floor, I was sure... Starc/Cummins/Hazlewood/Pattinson. All 150 km/h. I fear for the two English batsmen. And the majority of the team who are not born in England.
23rd over: South Africa 68-2 (Kuhn 19, Bavuma 16) A Broad maiden. Another! He has bowled three of them since I took over the OBO. Bowling nicely – very tight line. Bavuma’s the batsman, and the cricket is mellow.
Richard McKeary has seen the news that Woakes is playing for Warks tomorrow and delivers what he calls a short but profound question: “Woakes replaces?”
A fine poser. I love Rojo, but I’d bring him in for him. He could come in for Malan bat No8, but I just reckon six bowlers is too many, and nine batsmen isn’t.
22nd over: South Africa 68-2 (Kuhn 19, Bavuma 16) Kuhn gets himself off strike with a characteristic squirt into the legside off the first ball of Rojo’s new over. Bavuma never looks entirely comfortable and then takes a single off the fourth ball with an inside edge into the legside. Kuhn defends unhappily for the last two.
Dan Johnson has been in touch, continuing the talk about Jimmy that Rob was delivering earlier. It was Moores who brought him back, wasn’t it? You could probably halve separate Jimmy’s career with BB and PB: Before Broady and Post-Broady.
To add to the 10th over comment on Jimmy’s career stats, it’s also worth pointing out that he has really had two separate careers. The first one, where they tried to coach out of him the quirky action, yielded about 100 wickets at 35 (using my arbitrarily chosen point sometime in 2008 on the handy statsguru slider thingy). Then once left to his own devices he managed the next 380 wickets at 26, which is absolutely world class.
21st over: South Africa 66-2 (Kuhn 18, Bavuma 15) Here’s Broad again, and it’s a maiden to Bavuma. Not much he can leave, and the final ball gets a bit big on the little man and hits him on the back hip. Ouchie. Short leg still there, by the way.
David Keech is unhappy with the skipper. The subject line of his email is Another Terrible Review, and he’s talking about that strangle a couple of overs ago. I think they just got excited about two strangles in quick succession, which would have been fantastic.
After improving a lot at the Oval Root has gone back to his old ways. Allowing bowler’s emotions to get the better of him and throwing away a review. It was terrible. Miles away from the bat. We may need that review for a critical decision later on.
20th over: South Africa 66-2 (Kuhn 18, Bavuma 15) Handsome Simon Jones and Handsome Freddie Flintoff are in the crowd. 2005 HEROES chatting. Anyway, Rojo. He’s edged or, if you are feeling generous, guided wide of gully for three by Bavuma first ball, and at the end of the over there’s a single for each batsman - Kuhn’s to fine leg, Bavuma’s wide of mid-on. The sun is shining in Manchester. It hasn’t been so nice in London today - there was a storm involving both thunder and lightning as I was on the way into the office!
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19th over: South Africa 61-2 (Kuhn 17, Bavuma 11) Stuie Broad continues from, err, the James Anderson End. He beats Kuhn outside off first up. The opener is being worked over, and later in the over, he inside edges onto his pad and it loops up to exactly where short leg hangs out. Alas, he was not there. Broad tried to catch it in his follow through, but no dice. In goes short leg, and Kuhn’s defence is better. A maiden.
Should mention: I am contactable! The emails (will.macpherson.freelance@theguardian.com) and the twitters (@willis_macp) are there for you to speak to.
Hello! Will here, taking over from Mr Smyth. Good cricket this, and they’re just finishing hydrating.
18th over: South Africa 61-2 (Kuhn 17, Bavuma 11) Bavuma pushes Roland-Jones for two and denies him a third consecutive maiden. It’s time for drinks. That’s it from me, Will Macpherson will be with you for the rest of the day. Bye!
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REVIEW! South Africa 59-2 (Bavuma not out 9)
England think Bavuma has joined Amla in being caught down the leg side off Roland-Jones. It’s given not out and they review. There was a noise, though that may have been bat on leg. Replays show that’s precisely what it was, and Bavuma survives.
17th over: South Africa 59-2 (Kuhn 17, Bavuma 9) James Anderson is replaced by Stuart Broad, a slight surprise given the potential threat of Moeen and Stokes on here. Perhaps they are saving Stokes to bowl a long spell if it reverses later in the day. Broad continues to look unusually innocuous, with Bavuma clipping him through midwicket for three.
“TMS overseas,” says Rob Halliday. “For non-Twitter users, go to this link, then click on the ‘LIVE’ link about the test match at the top of the page. Then there should be a ‘TMS Overseas’ link at the top of that page.”
There are non-Twitter users?
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16th over: South Africa 56-2 (Kuhn 17, Bavuma 6) Replays show that, on that Anderson LBW appeal, Bavuma was hit in line but the ball was going well over the top. Roland-Jones continues at the other end with another maiden. South Africa have been stuck since the dismissal of Amla, with nine runs in five and a half overs.
“You mentioned a Mike Selvey/Javed Miandad story earlier,” says Robert Petersen. “I think this story, which Mike told BTL, deserves to be exhumed and exposed, blinking, to the light of a new day: In a match on a raging turner at Swansea, he spent 30 or 40 minutes before an interval in uncharacteristic trouble, but somehow survived. In the dressing room, he just sat there shaking his head. I tried to cheer him up by telling him how well he had done etc etc. He looked at me witheringly and told me that I didn’t understand. “I have been playing and missing, and nicking on to my pad for half an hour or more to try and get them to bring fielders in so I can twat it. But they won’t.” He got 200 of course.”
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15th over: South Africa 56-2 (Kuhn 17, Bavuma 6) This is Anderson’s eighth over, which isn’t bad for a 35-year-old. Maybe he just doesn’t want anyone else to bowl at his end. Bavuma survives a big shout for LBW when he pushes defensively at an inducker. I thought it looked really close but England barely even discuss a review. He must have been outside the line.
Thanks to Chris Yates, Richard Woods and others for pointing out that the daily TMS link is pinned to the top of their Twitter feed.
14th over: South Africa 54-2 (Kuhn 17, Bavuma 4) That was such a bonus wicket for Amla, both in its timing and manner, because Amla looked in the mood and form to bat for the rest of the day. The scoring rate is likely to drop while these two watchful players are at the crease, and Roland-Jones’ second over is a maiden to Kuhn.
“Whatever the stats say, there’s certainly a lot of love for Jimmy Anderson at Old Trafford today,” says Simon McMahon. “And a pretty impressive beer snake on the go in the Fosters Party Stand too. *please drink responsibly (especially you, Scott McLaughlin).”
You know what they say about daytime drinking: when the fun stops, keep going in the hope you can get the fun back, even though deep down you know this won’t end well stop.
13th over: South Africa 54-2 (Kuhn 17, Bavuma 4) Here’s Brian Withington. “In partial reply to Ric Latham’s 8th over query regarding Jimmy Anderson’s latest claim to immortality, I can think of one legendary former England cricketer who regularly commentates from out of his own end.”
12th over: South Africa 51-2 (Kuhn 14, Bavuma 4) In nine years, Jimmy Anderson has dismissed Hashim Amla twice in Tests. Toby Roland-Jones has done it three times in nine days.
The new batsman is Temba Bavuma, promoted from No6 to No4 in a swap with Quinton de Kock, and he gets off the mark with a thick edge to third man for four.
“Many thanks for the TMS link,” says Dave Langlois. “But to avoid us expats being driven mad every day, can someone who knows how to find the link explain how they do it?”
WICKET! South Africa 47-2 (Amla c Bairstow b Roland-Jones 30)
He’s done it again! Toby Roland-Jones dismisses Hashim Amla for the third time in as many innings. It was a cheap dismissal, a catch down the leg side off the face of the bat, but England won’t give a solitary flying one about that. That’s a vital wicket because Amla was looking ominous. It was Roland-Jones’s third ball of the innings.
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11th over: South Africa 43-1 (Kuhn 14, Amla 26) Kuhn looks much more comfortable after a nervous start. I’m sure his role is the same as at Trent Bridge - bat for as long possible and tire England out, with any runs a bonus.
10th over: South Africa 42-1 (Kuhn 14, Amla 24) Amla drives Broad exquisitely through mid-off for four and then forces Broad through the covers for another boundary. Nasser Hussain reckons these are the best batting conditions of the series, and if South Africa do this right we might be looking at a repeat of last year’s fourth and final Test.
“Greetings Rob,” says Tom Bowtell. “Because I’ve got quite a lot of work to do I’ve been spending some time trying to establish Jimmy’s place in the pantheon of modern(ish) England pace bowlers. Looking at this list, it seems to me that he’s right up there in all metrics - maybe third overall behind Willis and Snow in the last 50 years? Finn’s stunning strike-rate of 51.2 also leaps out in a slightly poignant but still portentous way.”
Strike rates are a bit of a red herring, given the way the game has changed in the last 17 years. My peers in the Staternity look at those figures with contempt.
9th over: South Africa 33-1 (Kuhn 14, Amla 16) A good over from Anderson, though again there’s no sign of sideways movement. In other news, Andrew Benton is a good man, for he has supplied a TMS link. Bye then!
8th over: South Africa 30-1 (Kuhn 12, Amla 16) Amla softens his hands to steer Broad through the slips for three. There was lavish swing before lunch but nothing since, which is a slight concern for those Poms of a partisan persuasion. Kuhn reaches to thick edge a wide delivery for four. I think I’d get Roland-Jones on at Broad’s end straight away.
“An obvious, if slightly sad, question - is Anderson’s dismissal of Elgar the first time someone has taken a wicket at their own end?” asks Ric Latham. “Since most stands are named after players have retired, it must be pretty unusual.”
Yes, we were wondering about this. It might well be, for the reason you suggest, though I couldn’t be certain. It’s one for Ask Steven.
7th over: South Africa 23-1 (Kuhn 8, Amla 13) Mikey Holding reckons this bat will be a belter for batting once the new ball loses its hardness and swing. Amla seems to share that opinion because he is happy to bat time unless he gets an obvious four-ball - like that from Anderson, a near half-volley that is punched through the covers for four. These are early days but Amla looks good.
“Any chance of posting the link for TMS live on YouTube for today like you did yesterday?” asks James Short. “I’ve searched and searched and can’t find it. I’m melting in France in the 40 degree heatwave, it’s too hot to go outside and OBO and TMS kept me sane yesterday!”
Anyone? Anyone? Fry?
6th over: South Africa 16-1 (Kuhn 8, Amla 6) England fancy Kuhn as a cheap top-order wicket, understandably so given his series average of 13.66. Broad, who hasn’t had a great series by his stratospheric standards, gives Kuhn a short, wide delivery that is slapped for four. That’s all, folks.
“I agree with you about Moeen,” says Phil Harrison. “I love the man but I fear for him this winter - I think it’ll be the defining series of his career. If he can survive it, he could play 100 Tests, if he can’t, that might be it. I argued at the end of the India series that he’d have to prove his worth as a top six batter whose bowling is a bit of a bonus and I still feel that way. But surely England must pick a specialist spinner for Oz? Rashid must, or should, be furious.”
I don’t think they’ll bother. They’ll use Moeen at No8 and four seamers. I doubt Rashid will play Test cricket again, which is a shame given how many wickets he took in India. He’ll die wondering, and so will we.
5th over: South Africa 12-1 (Kuhn 4, Amla 6) It’s James Anderson to begin at the James Anderson End. Try explaining that sentence to a cricket-ignorant Martian. He starts with a maiden to the watchful, immaculate Amla.
“You are probably right that Donald Trump might not have used up a precious review on that classic Anderson dismissal before lunch,” says Brian Withington. “I suspect he might have settled for having the umpire sacked and replaced with his son-in-law though. And getting his mate to hack the DRS computer while he was at it.”
And dismissing ball-tracking technology as FAKE-EYE, probably.
Some statgasmic work from Keiran Betteley
“I was doing some statting to explain that gut feel that Joe Root doesn’t get as many hundreds as he should given how often he gets in. For batsmen with over 5000 runs, he’s in the top 5% for getting to 50. But when he gets there he’s in the bottom 10% for turning them into 100s. Now it’s not that his conversion rate is terrible, it’s not, it’s just bad considering how easy he seems to find it to get to 50 in the first place. It’s like he’s a worse batsman once he’s got his eye in properly...
“Also threw Jonny Bairstow’s figures in there for comparison... Then made the schoolboy error of trying to explain to my wife what I was actually doing, and why no DIY or dog walking or whatever it was she wanted was getting done... Not sure she really understood the importance.”
Here are the figures, which also confirm that Steve Smith is not of this planet.
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Lunchtime reading
“That was a bad decision on the field, Rob,” says Luke Regan of the Bairstow dismissal. “Looked almost certainly outside the line so why not leave it to the bowling captain to review? DRS is still not quite right. Umpire’s call should be always not out and to balance this they should increase the margin for OUT decisions, i.e. the umpire’s calls that are smashing the stump.”
Yes I agree, both on the decision and the imperfection of DRS. But we shouldn’t forget that even in its current form, it is miles better than before.
Lunch: South Africa trail by 350 runs
4th over: South Africa 12-1 (Kuhn 4, Amla 6) Amla takes a dodgy run into the covers, where Westley is a bit slow to react. A smarter pick up and throw would have given him a run-out chance. As it was his throw missed the stumps and Amla was home.
Kuhn, who apart from his crucial innings at Trent Bridge has had a touch of the Liebenbergs, is fortunate to survive the next two deliveries. He almost drags on and is then beaten by some trampoline bounce outside off stump. The rest of the over passes without incident, and that’s lunch. It was England’s session, thanks mainly to an exhilarating 99 from Jonny Bairstow. See you in half an hour!
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3rd over: South Africa 11-1 (Kuhn 4, Amla 5) Anderson tries a magic ball to Kuhn, who flicks it through midwicket for four to get off the mark. The final delivery of the over is a monster that lifts and seams past Kuhn’s outside edge.
2nd over: South Africa 7-1 (Kuhn 0, Amla 5) Broad gets some hooping inswing to Amla, who deals with it solidly. The extent to which this new ball is swinging should mean a very enjoyable lunch for Anderson and Broad.
“Morning Rob,” says Matt Emerson. “I used to share a flat with Simon Daniels, who was last man out in the Miandad innings you mentioned in the 106th over. He was still complaining about the lbw many years later. He also reckoned the 200 against Somerset was better - it’s detailed in the Peter Roebuck ‘Great Innings’ book.”
Lord Selve, who played with him at Glamorgan, also tells some lovely stories about the extent of Javed’s staggering genius - deliberate mishits so that the opposing captain brings the field up, that kind of thing.
1st over: South Africa 3-1 (Kuhn 0, Amla 1) That LBW was so plumb that even Stuart Broad wouldn’t have reviewed it. Hell, Donald Trump wouldn’t have reviewed it. It was a classic swing bowler’s dismissal of a left-hander. A great first over from Anderson ends with Kuhn, aiming to leg, ended an outswinger fractionally short of Stokes at gully. It’s swinging.
“Max Walker also used to return fewer wickets than his bowling seemed to deserve,” says John Burton. “I remember a commentator (Richie?) explaining that it was because he always bowled at the back of a length and would have taken more wickets had he pitched it up a little more. Does that apply to Morkel and Hendricks as well?”
Definitely, and also Phil DeFreitas in his still golden period in the early 90s. Morkel has bowled more full deliveries in this series but his stock delivery will always be shorter.
WICKET! South Africa 2-1 (Elgar LBW b Anderson 0)
James Anderson opens the bowling from the Ian Austin End James Anderson End - and he strikes third ball! Elgar plays around a textbook inswinger and is plumb LBW.
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Here come the players. We’ll have time for three or four overs before lunch.
The last England batsman to be out for 99 in a Test, since you asked, was Kevin Pietersen against Bangladesh in 2009-10.
The wicket of Bairstow was Maharaj’s 16th of the series, the most by a South African spinner against any opposition since the great Hugh Tayfield in 1957-58.
Morne Morkel pats Bairstow on the back as he runs past him. Geez, could he be any nicer? Bairstow looks mildly devastated, and gets many a consoling pat when he reaches the dressing-room. He is a very selfless cricketer, however, and when the dust settles he will realise he has played a gem of an innings for his team.
WICKET! England 362 all out (Bairstow LBW b Maharaj 99)
He’s out! He was just hit in line, and the rest was straightforward. Ach, that is cruel.
Bairstow tried to sweep Maharaj and was hit on the pad. I thought he was outside the line but Kumar Dharmasena disagreed, and with each passing replay this looks more likely to be given out.
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ENGLAND REVIEW! Bairstow given out LBW on 99!
Oh my.
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108th over: England 362-9 (Bairstow 99, Anderson 4) The non-striker Anderson drags his 35-year-old body back for consecutive twos to help Bairstow to 98. A single takes him to 99, and means Anderson has two deliveries from Olivier to survive. If Anderson reverse sweeps a boundary here, he deserves an on-the-spot knighthood for services to maverick behaviour. He doesn’t, but he does survive the over. That single from Bairstow brought up the fifty partnership, though nobody noticed.
107th over: England 357-9 (Bairstow 94, Anderson 4) Anderson goes back to the coaching manual after that reprieve, and gets off the mark with a lovely cut for four.
REVIEW! England 353-9 (Anderson not out 0)
Anderson tries to reverse sweep the new bowler Maharaj, misses and survives a big LBW appeal. South Africa inevitably review, and replays show it was umpire’s call.
106th over: England 353-9 (Bairstow 94, Anderson 0) This is turning into a memorable innings from Bairstow. He scoops the new bowler Olivier for four, an authentic one-day shot, slaughers six over long-off to move into the nineties and then pings the last ball to the third-man boundary. Fourteen from the over. This partnership is worth 41, and Bairstow has scored the lot. That is brilliant from Bairstow, although it doesn’t quite compare to my favourite lower-order partnership: when Javed Miandad added 43 with Robin Hobbs, who was out first ball.
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105th over: England 339-9 (Bairstow 80, Anderson 0) Bairstow steals a pair of twos and then back cuts for Rabada. He is batting brilliantly now. Nothing irritates quite like a tailend partnership, except maybe piles, and South Africa are getting frustrated. Don’t worry lads, it’ll never hurt as much as Cape Town.
“Watching Morkel bowling superbly for modest reward puts me in mind of Mike Hendrick,” says Brian Withington. “He was another excellent (somewhat slower) quick bowler whose reputation for unflagging excellence seemed to never quite be matched by results. I will leave it to Ian Copestake to complete the equivalence analysis with appropriate statistical rigour and narrative flourish.”
Yes that’s an excellent comparison. Hendrick never took a Test five-for did he? Morkel has a few but no ten-for. His supporting role reminds me a little of Joel Garner.
“I would Keegan it if Bairstow gets a hundred!” shrieks Ian Copestake.
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104th over: England 330-9 (Bairstow 71, Anderson 0) Bairstow flicks Morkel sweetly through midwicket for four - and then, when the field comes up for the fifth ball, blasts another boundary over mid-off. A single off the last ball ensures he’ll keep the strike. It would be strange if, after all those unconverted fifties, Bairstow raced from 53 to 100 in the company of No11.
103rd over: England 321-9 (Bairstow 62, Anderson 0) Too full from Rabada, and Bairstow muscles it thrillingly down the ground for four. Shot! That’s the only incident of note in the over, and it’s time for drinks.
“Do you reckon Quinton de Kock looks different when he’s actually about to cry rather than just having that expression all the time?” asks Darren Smith, taking me back to the schooldays when everybody would shout ‘CRYING FACE!’ at some poor kid who was looking flustered for one reason or another. Not me, I should stress. Never happened to me.
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102nd over: England 316-9 (Bairstow 57, Anderson 0) Bairstow takes a single off Morkel’s fourth ball, giving Anderson two to survive. He does.
“To what extent do you think Jonny Bairstow’s poor conversion rate (98th over) is primarily a function of batting further down the order?” says Chris Savory. “In this (shall we say) inconsistent England line-up, he often seems to be stuck throwing his bat alongside the tail, rather than patiently accumulating runs and building an innings. I’d love to know how many of those 14 unconverted half-centuries ended with him as last man out...”
Yeah, I think that’s the most important factor – although, a little paradoxically, he gets fewer centuries up the order. His conversion rate at Nos 5-6 is eight per cent, and at No7-8 it’s 25 per cent. I wonder if the role of wicketkeeper has created a batting mindset that prevails wherever he bats. He is a seriously good player though.
101st over: England 315-9 (Bairstow 56, Anderson 0) Bairstow is dropped by de Kock, a low chance to his right off Rabada. It was a difficult chance, though I reckon he’d take it seven or eight times out of ten.
“With ball in hand, Moeen will be much more dangerous,” says Andrew Benton. “Are you still not a fan, even after his escapades last Test?”
Don’t get me wrong, I love Moeen. He’s elegant, likeable, selfless, charismatic and bloody talented. I would have left him out at the start of the series because I don’t think he’s either the best spinner in the country or among the best six batsmen. It would be scandalous to leave him out now. That said, I’ll be pleasantly surprised if he averages over 30 with the bat or under 40 with the ball in Australia.
100th over: England 312-9 (Bairstow 53, Anderson 0) Sir James Anderson gets a nice ovation as he walks to the wicket, and his first defensive stroke prompts exaggerated cheers. The party mood and the frisky batting obscure the fact that England don’t have enough runs here. Anderson looks like he’ll try to hang around and support Bairstow.
“On the Bairstow non-dismissal last night, it’s certainly one area where TV/DRS has probably had a disadvantageous effect, as the slo-mo almost always makes it look like it’s bounced, even though fingers are under it,” says Guy Hornsby. “I suspect teams almost expect those to go against them these days. Not that I’m complaining.”
WICKET! England 312-9 (Broad b Morkel 7)
A smidgen of justice for Morkel, who cleans Broad up with a full-length delivery. Broad wafted all around it, not the most responsible shot when a specialist batsman is at the other end. It’s the way he plays!
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99th over: England 307-8 (Bairstow 52, Broad 3) Broad times his first ball through extra cover for three, with Maharaj moving gingerly after the ball. He clearly isn’t right, though it didn’t affect his bowling yesterday. Bairstow then inside-edges Rabada straight into the personal business area. This has been Rabada’s best performance of the series, and figures of four for 74 represent his work appropriately.
WICKET! England 303-8 (Moeen c du Plessis b Rabada 14)
Moeen edges a shortish delivery from Rabada to second slip, where du Plessis takes an excellent low catch. That’s a vital wicket because Moeen was looking dangerous; he made 14 from 12 balls.
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98th over: England 303-7 (Bairstow 51, Moeen 14) Bairstow slaps Morkel wide of gully for four to bring up another important half-century, the 17th of his Test career. He only has three hundreds. That conversion rate is about the only thing he needs to improve. He has become a brilliant player. In a sense No7 was beneath him, but then it was beneath Adam Gilchrist. Who cares when he is so effective there? Bairstow averages 49 at No7.
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97th over: England 297-7 (Bairstow 45, Moeen 14) Rabada goes around the wicket to Moeen, who helps an errant short ball on its way for four. He is already dangerous,and a superb pull for four takes him to 14 from 10 balls. South Africa know that, if Moeen is still batting at lunch, they will be in a bit of trouble.
“Mr. Smyth,” writes William Hargreaves. “Please tell Mr. Wilson Beuys of 10.35 that this is a typical example of European bureaucracy from which I have decided to extract my paycheque self. Johnny Foreigner tries to get his hands on a second-hand cricket box and gets kicked in the proverbials for his troubles. Well not on my watch. Time we got out of this sham. If you can forward me an address I will send along a container load of purple and yellow shell suits. By the by, is your correspondent related to the best supporting actor nominee from “Castaway”? If so, please pass on my congratulations - remarkable performance. Slamdunkin’, mates. Yours, Mr N. Forage.”
96th over: England 287-7 (Bairstow 45, Moeen 4) Bairstow hits Morkel for consecutive boundaries, a loose carve over the slip followed by a classical back-foot cover-drive. Four leg-byes complete a good over for England.
As Mike Atherton says on Sky, Bairstow was on 4 when he was dubiously reprieved yesterday evening, with the third umpire deciding that Dean Elgar hadn’t take a clean catch. That might be a big moment. I’m surprised South Africa didn’t make more of that because they were hard done by.
95th over: England 275-7 (Bairstow 37, Moeen 4) Rabada greeets Moeen with some beard music, ripping a bouncer through to the keeper de Kock. When the fuller ball inevitably comes, Moeen times it exquisitely down the ground for four to get off the mark. That is some stroke.
“Isn’t Bairstow just a peach of a guy,” says Ian Copestake. “His politeness to Morkel in stopping him in his run-up will not make any YouTube sledging compilations but might make a top ten quite nice moments in cricket.”
England have got some very likeable blokes in their team at the moment. That picture of them celebrating Moeen’s hat-trick was utterly lovely.
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WICKET! England 271-7 (Roland-Jones c Bavuma b Rabada 4)
This is a good wicket for South Africa - not just on its own terms, but because it brings Moeen Ali to the crease against Rabada and Morkel. Roland-Jones got a little giddy after a cracking cover drive the previous delivery; he tried to repeat the shot and sliced it straight to Bavuma at point.
94th over: England 267-6 (Bairstow 37, Roland-Jones 0) Morne Morkel is up to his old tricks. He has an LBW appeal against Bairstow turned down - it was slipping down the leg side - and then snaps consecutive deliveries past the outside edge. This is wonderful bowling. You could make an arthouse classic on Morne Morkel’s bowling, The Eternal Quest for Just Deserts. The best thing about him is that, no matter how great the misfortune or injustice, his good humour is never compromised. Not even when, in this over, his last ball is a bit too straight and Bairstow puts it away through square leg for four.
93rd over: England 262-6 (Bairstow 33, Roland-Jones 0) We know that Roland-Jones can bat - he averages 85 across all formats in his fledgling England career - and his role here is pretty important. If this pair can see of Morkel and Rabada, it means Moeen will come in against Olivier and Maharaj, an infinitely preferable scenario for England. A couple of leg-byes in a slightly looser over from Rabada.
92nd over: England 260-6 (Bairstow 33, Roland-Jones 0) In an unusual development, Morne Morkel beats Jonny Bairstow with his first ball of the day. It’s a rite of passage for all budding Test batsmen to play and miss umpteen times at Morkel. It’s another good over to back up Rabada’s, and South Africa start the day with consecutive maidens. If they dismiss England for under 300 they have a great chance of taking control today.
“Harking back to the discussion of German names for fielding positions during the last Test, I recall someone mentioned that ‘Winkel’ , meaning set square, might help with square leg,” says Edward Costar. “It also means corner, as I was reminded when I came across the village of Kuhwinkel. That’s cow corner sorted.”
91st over: England 260-6 (Bairstow 33, Roland-Jones 0) Michael Holding reckons batting will be much easier today and tomorrow. South Africa’s plan is clear: whip England out this morning, and bat for the best part of those two days. Rabada starts to Roland-Jones, who is in the unusual position of being nightwatchman at No8, and beats him twice in the course of an excellent maiden.
“Did you know that, since his recall in 2014, Joe Root has averaged 85 in the first Test of a series, but ‘only’ 51 in subsequent Tests?” asys Gareth Wilson. “And, if you exclude the Windies series of 2015, that second average goes down to 39? It’s a fair old drop-off in performance. I wonder if it shows he relaxes too much after a big score, hence those dreamy 50s, 60, 70s ended by a careless and needless bit of overconfident strokeplay.”
It’s possible, though I prefer to accentuate the positive: that’s he’s our best tone-setting batsman in many a decade. That innings against Australia in 2015 was as good as it gets. Root doesn’t strike me as somebody who suffers from overconfidence. Carelessness, yes. The other thing is that maybe the extent to which England depend on him starts to take a mental toll towards the end of a long series.
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Can you help?
“I wondered whether you felt able to act as a good-deed intermediary via the medium of OBO?” says Wilson Beuys. “I was in northern Burgundy this week, working as an English interpreter for new immigrés to France who don’t speak French. I was approached by a guy from Afghanistan who organises ad-hoc cricket for children from the newly arrived communities. It’s all very “beach-cricket” at the moment.
“They don’t have any equipment to speak of — from what I could gather, maybe just some bats and some tennis balls, and certainly no pads (hence the tennis balls) — and it’s also hard for them to find places to play, what with most of the countryside around about being farmland or vineyards, no real cricket pitches anywhere and a certain degree of inbuilt hostility to people in their situation anyway. He asked me whether I knew anyone who might want to coach them. The kids love playing, but he himself described the level as very low.
“I wondered whether any OBO readers might live in the area and be willing to go along and help out with some coaching, or even donate some old cricket gear for the children (and/or adults). He explained that any requests they might make to the few cricket clubs in the area would be met with the inevitable French love of paperwork: demands for them to join an association, get a licence (which needs identity papers and medical certificates for sport insurance... obviously), and then they’d have to pay for coaching from a Federation-approved coach.
“They really don’t have money to spare to buy equipment, and they’re already doing enough running into brick walls of bureaucracy that doing the same just to get licences to play a game is obviously an exhausting prospect for them — assuming their applications were accepted in the first place.
“So do you think you could ask whether any of your OBO readers happen to live around that area and would like to help out with a little coaching or helping them find somewhere to play?”
If you can help, let me know and I’ll put you in touch with Wilson.
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“Dear Rob,” says Michael Meagher. “I’ve never understood the whole nightwatchman concept. If he gets out your in a worse position and if he stays in you have a non-batsman in place to start the day.”
It comes back to that Mike Brearley quote: human beings will invariably postpone the moment of performance if possible. And I suppose nobody wants to hear the thump of something landing in their in-tray when they are about to go home. I think it’s sensible to have a nightwatchman a lot of the time - there is much more to lose if a proper batsman is dismissed - but I’m surprised, in this age of challenging assumptions about Test batting, that more people don’t reject the option. Cricket is sometimes highly resistant to change. See also: rotation.
KG Rabada is being interviewed on Sky. He talks like a 22-year-old veteran on any subject, from wrist position to his demon yorker to the challenge of bowling to Ben Stokes. He is a ridiculously impressive young man.
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Preamble
Good morning, my friend. You don’t need to talk like him from Big Brother to know that the second day is frequently the most important of a Test match. It’s when the game really starts to take shape. In this series it has been even more significant, the day when the match starts to cement.
The second and third Tests were effectively settled by batting collapses on day two and, while such extreme drama is unlikely today on what is a good pitch, you’d expect one side to take a potentially decisive advantage in the next 90 overs.
The first day was a cracker, a tug-of-war in which neither side had the initiative for long. Kagiso Rabada’s storming late yorker to dismiss Ben Stokes has given South Africa a slight advantage, though this is contingent on them limiting the damage done this morning by Jonny Bairstow, Toby Roland-Jones and the No9 Moeen Ali.
It’s a big day in the north, and it starts at 11am sharp.
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Here’s Vic Marks on a frustrating, if not disastrous, opening day for England:
With substantial rather than decisive contributions from the old guard – Alastair Cook, Joe Root and Ben Stokes (yes, he can just about be included in this category now) – England tiptoed towards a serviceable total in the final Test of the series, but no more than that. This trio scored 46, 52 and 58 respectively as England finished an absorbing day on 260 for six.
Yet South Africa were able to leave the field with a smile. They were boosted by the late dismissal of Stokes just before the close and the knowledge that they had hung in there with a depleted attack. Several times England were on the verge of domination, whereupon another wicket fell.
The simple fact is that this England team is far from formidable at present since three of their top five are searching – with varying degrees of success – for ways to leap over the initial barriers that Test cricket presents. The obstacles have several threads: better bowlers, greater scrutiny, which leads to a far more pressurised environment than is experienced in domestic cricket. The newcomers all made a start, supposedly the hard bit, but they could muster only 64 runs between them.
