England tour of South Africa

[yuppie]

Batting is looking tough.

Presently anything over 200 looks a tough ask.

[Durhamfootman]

what's really nice is that every team they play understand that all they have to do is keep bowling tightly and then just wait until England throw their wickets away

It must make bowling plans nice and simple.

[Durhamfootman]

54 overs that innings...... 54!

and this is in a new bold era of batsmen who have finally been given the all clear to sell their wickets dearly, instead of having to wear hair shirts for poor strike rates

now we have batsmen trying to keep their wickets, block, block, blocking away and still getting out for not many.

still.... after 4 years of thrash away boys, dominate the bowlers, take the game to them, express yourselves, don't get bogged down, it will probably take a while for them to do anything else but get bogged down.

England may find themselves having to tinker with the bowling for the second test

[Durhamfootman]

Elgar playing like a man who knows that all they have to do is bash a quick 100-150 runs and then finish England off tomorrow

which is something we all know, of course

23 overs left in the day, so at this rate they may even get the chance to nip out one of the England openers before COP

[yuppie]

This is looking like a 3 day test.

SA are not hanging around.

[Arthur Crabtree]

now we have batsmen trying to keep their wickets, block, block, blocking away and still getting out for not many.

They were batting with a high SR today.

[Durhamfootman]

40's and 50's is fine I think. Only Stokes and Curran went faster than that and Stokes took a while to get off the mark. Of the players who gave themselves time to get in, all fell far too early....... and most managed overs where they scored boundaries in clusters...... all or nothing cricket... nothing in between.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Root went at 60. He's one of the worst offenders for playing outside a reasonable degree of risk (in my view).

[Arthur Crabtree]

England coming back into it. Still in the game.

Press says bowling first was a big mistake.

[Durhamfootman]

true... they get carried away. They smack a couple of balls that deserve to be hit to the boundary and then go stretching/searching/feeling for the next one. It's probably the reason why Honest Joe has trouble converting fifties

[Durhamfootman]

synchronicity

don't you love it?

[The Professor]

Bowlers let down by the batsmen yet again. Same old story. Frustrating era to be a Ben Stokes.

[mikesiva]

Philander 4-16
Rabada 3-68

[Alviro Patterson]

ah........

as improved as that

a six ball 1

Bowled, such an unusual way for him to get out........

Interesting to know what odds Bet365 give for Jonny Bairstow to be bowled....

[Durhamfootman]

No alarms for SA this morning apart from a tight run out possibility and a review for a catch that hit the shoulder rather than the bat

don't worry though..... England will make the pitch look like a minefield later

JB2 has gone down with the lurgy so YJB has the gloves...... it all helps to fuel the narrative that England were just a bit unlucky yesterday

"damn you sickness and diarrhoea bug

we'd have won otherwise"

"Probably scored 500 if preparation hadn't been disrupted...... maybe even a 1000"