Second Test. SA v England. Cape Town, Jan 2-6

[backfootpunch]

Sometimes one just has to smile at the way cricket pulls your leg.

Bayliss was saying after the last Test how the England batsmen had left about 100 runs on the pitch.

Not this time - but the fielders have and probably considerably more!

well dropping AB on 5 cost us 83 runs

and so far dropping amla on 76 has cost 63 runs

had those catches been taken we would have won this game as of now a draw is very possible

he just got to 150 so we can make that 74 runs and increasingly looking like the game

[mikesiva]

Amla gets to 150....

[Arthur Crabtree]

Great knock based on his form and the situation in the game, less so because of the chances he's given. But in time, you tend to forget the drops.

[mikesiva]

FAF hits a valuable half-century....

[Aidan11]

Bit of a flat day.

[mikesiva]

What a mammoth innings by Amla...Test cricket at its best.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Maybe the pitch will break up... but no sign of that yet. This heat should be drying it out.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Bit of a flat day.

Dunno. Great day for SA, who have resisted after being rubbished and written off by many.

[Dr Cricket]

Surprised the draw is favourite right now considering it will only take a wicket or two for England to be favourites again.
Even if the game ends in a draw, England should get into position where their massive favourites, with stokes rapid innings and 3 full days left I be very surprised if this game ends In a draw with England never being favourites to win the game.

The game would need SA batting all day with at best 1 wicket down for that scenario to happen.
England 2.4 is crazy considering yesterday England were evens.
Somehow bookies have concluded England having a slightly poor day lol.

the bookies knew lol.
Bookies made loads of money in this match, especially after the tempting prices yesterday.

can't believe SA batted the entire day with only one wicket lost.

The bookies have now taken half my winnings from the SA vs india series.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Looks like it was a bowl first wicket after all.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Surprised the draw is favourite right now considering it will only take a wicket or two for England to be favourites again.
Even if the game ends in a draw, England should get into position where their massive favourites, with stokes rapid innings and 3 full days left I be very surprised if this game ends In a draw with England never being favourites to win the game.

The game would need SA batting all day with at best 1 wicket down for that scenario to happen.
England 2.4 is crazy considering yesterday England were evens.
Somehow bookies have concluded England having a slightly poor day lol.

the bookies knew lol.
Bookies made loads of money in this match, especially after the tempting prices yesterday.

can't believe SA batted the entire day with only one wicket lost.

The bookies have now taken half my winnings from the SA vs india series.

Only one went to a bowler yesterday. Two run outs.

[Dr Cricket]

Maybe the pitch will break up... but no sign of that yet. This heat should be drying it out.

even then should be a draw.
England need 17 SA wickets to win the test match and only another 100-150 runs to play with to give them loads of overs at SA in the 2nd innings.

Weirdly enough England are in a worse position because of Stokes quick innings, they should have batted another session.
Quite weird saying this but England declared far too early another 150-200 runs might have made a difference in this game, especially if the pitches crumbles on.

England don't have enough time/runs to make a result realistic.
You should expect SA to score another 150-200 runs which would mean england batting again and they will just bat for the draw, won't declare to set a target.

Maybe next time a team scores this quickly the team might declare around 700-750, might give them more leeway if the team does score 500 in the next innings, would still have enough runs in the bank to get a win if the pitch does crumble later on like adelaide etc.

[Dr Cricket]

Surprised the draw is favourite right now considering it will only take a wicket or two for England to be favourites again.
Even if the game ends in a draw, England should get into position where their massive favourites, with stokes rapid innings and 3 full days left I be very surprised if this game ends In a draw with England never being favourites to win the game.

The game would need SA batting all day with at best 1 wicket down for that scenario to happen.
England 2.4 is crazy considering yesterday England were evens.
Somehow bookies have concluded England having a slightly poor day lol.

the bookies knew lol.
Bookies made loads of money in this match, especially after the tempting prices yesterday.

can't believe SA batted the entire day with only one wicket lost.

The bookies have now taken half my winnings from the SA vs india series.

Only one went to a bowler yesterday. Two run outs.

I know but with the pace of the wicket + runs in the board + time, you expect england to at least be odds on favorite at some stage in the match.

[Alviro Patterson]

Maybe the pitch will break up... but no sign of that yet. This heat should be drying it out.

even then should be a draw.
England need 17 SA wickets to win the test match and only another 100-150 runs to play with to give them loads of overs at SA in the 2nd innings.

Weirdly enough England are in a worse position because of Stokes quick innings, they should have batted another session.
Quite weird saying this but England declared far too early another 150-200 runs might have made a difference in this game, especially if the pitches crumbles on.

England don't have enough time/runs to make a result realistic.
You should expect SA to score another 150-200 runs which would mean england batting again and they will just bat for the draw, won't declare to set a target.

Maybe next time a team scores this quickly the team might declare around 700-750, might give them more leeway if the team does score 500 in the next innings, would still have enough runs in the bank to get a win if the pitch does crumble later on like adelaide etc.

England timed their declaration to perfection for me, 9 overs before tea meaning Broad and Anderson could bowl two spells with a new ball. Sneak in a cheeky wicket before tea and have South Africa 4 down at stumps, which was close to happening had Root held onto an ABDV edge.

Depending on how quickly the remaining 7 wickets fall, England can still bat two sessions and add another 200 runs to the lead and still have some time to bowl South Africa all out.

[Gingerfinch]

The timing of the declaration was fine. If a couple of catches had been caught, then we may have had them 8 down, or all out by now.