My dear old things, it's STW TMS!

29-3. Interesting.

62-4

24 wickets in the first 2 days :/

Has anybody heard what the thinking behind bowling first was?

Not sure it involved much thinking!

Arrogance. Thinking they’re better than they actually are. Root just seems to get most big calls wrong.

As a glass half full kinda guy I’m actually feeling there’s a chance England could do this...

Starting the day at 121-1, Burns set on 77no, Denly has been in fine touch. I mean, what could possibly go wrong? Apart from a bit of v & d?

From The Granuiad

" Today should be England’s last day of cricket in 2019 – a year that has included a World Cup victory in whateverthehellthatfinalwas, a Headingley miracle, Test match scores of 67, 77 and 85 all out, the emergence of Jofra Archer and so much more. I suppose it’s only fair that they put us through this addictive wringer one last time"

Should be interesting whatever happens!

edit: here we go!

Bowling first in this match is an absolute howler.

We are back to the old problem here, Archer aside (I will come back to him) England lack pace on hard pitches with a Kookaburra ball. Root is also over-bowling Archer, although in this area he has little choice. What England also need is a decent spinner. Sure a world-beater who can turn the ball square would be great, but almost as good would be an old school boring spinner who can bowl negatively to tight fields. They would be able to get through the overs, tie batsman down, give the quicks a rest and force the odd mistake. If they knew which end of a bat to hold, that would be an advantage too.

By the way.

I am struggling to find any highlights anywhere and am reduced to Sky five to seven minute jobs on YouTube. Are there any?

Nice to see England have decided that “Test Match Batting” is the way to go in a Test Match !!

a bit of a battering england are dishing out now !!

5 down again !

Stokes!!!!!!

Good ending this

*ripples politely

Awesome stuff. You really can’t beat test cricket.

Anyone suggesting 4 day tests should have their brains remapped to remove days like this from it.

Never in doubt.

Sort of.

Really can't see the argument for 4 day tests. Apparently for player workload and scheduling. But in reality most test now finishing in 4 or fewer days. Having 5 days tests means the players mostly get built in R&R (a good thing) most tests and when it does go to 5 you get days like today. Also the number of tests that end in 4 because the team batting 4th are faced with an unrealistic amount of time to survive so go 'do or die'. If it was only a 4 day match I'm sure they would go conservative and attempt to bat out for a draw.

openers have put on 50 without loss, #shocked

i need to lie down!

Bully boy Stokes is off. So is Rababada. Seems harsh

ton up for stokes 450+ looks a possibility

This is looking for a good innings, nice to see everyone in double figures for once.

nice to see everyone in double figures for once.

400-6

sa being flayed to all parts now !

This is great stuff. Mark Wood has the chance to get the fastest 50 from an Englishman.

EDIT: or not!

martin "mockers" hutch 😉

The declaration score is making me itch

The un-declare was fantastic; properly grinding them down. Fingers crossed for a couple of wickets tonight.

my word that was fun

martin “mockers” hutch

Cursed! Went next ball! Is 499 some kind of Nelson variant which requires David Shepherd to hop up and down a bit?

They are in a bit of bother here!

Was hoping to settle in for the day whilst on Standby, but I’ve just been called out 😣

excellent so far, great close catching from Ollie Pope

As junior player you get to field at Boot Hill; I was wondering if he needs to be wrapped in cotton wool given what a batting talent he is - but he'll get the job permanently if he does it that well! If he's got any sense he'll miss a few and then get sent out to square leg before he wears one!

Dom Bess / Murali !

Dom Bess / Murali Underwood !

Laker?

Underwood was the last English spinner to take the first 5 wickets of an innings back in 75, but calling Laker is a tad premature 😉

After a 3-hour 45-minute delay, the first ball of the resumption was held up by a steward walking behind the bowler's arm. Only in cricket!

🙂

stumps cartwheeling all over the place this morning!

Yup. good bowling / poor batting. Its time to follow on!

1 down 9 to go

Woody!!!!!!

In total, South Africa are 27-6 today.