3rd Test

England 57 for no wickets. 24 overs gone. Looking good for a big score. 

Maharaj has spun a few. 

74/1

The run rate is very poor -  79 runs from 38 overs is just about 2,2 runs per over and represents a strike rate of 34,65.    

Strike rate is getting worse - it is now 33.35 -  117/2  runs from 58 overs.    

I  think  Faf is totally clueless.   He stands in the slip at the same spot when Rabada and Patersn bowls,   Because he did not take a step up with  the mush inferior=paced Pattersomn came on, the edge Stokes hit to slip fell short of Faf,  Bad news that one.  

Are you sure your local club would take him - you better check, LMAO

Let's see how we go. Things though look pretty grim. 

It is 60/2 and Malan fell off his wagon and so did Hamza - bo th failed on a dead pitch, 

That English run rate certainly doomed them.....hahahaha.

Ollie Pope is real class. Yeah I wish we had a few of his calibre.

Impressive stats for one so young.

• England (2018–present)

Have to agree on Paterson and Hamza, Dave, test cricket looks a bridge too far!

Edgar and Du Plessis are both gone and the score is 71/4   The fact is that Nortje reads the bowling better in defending than the two mentioned idiots did.   Now the game is over and the test is lost  already,  

Get rid of all four top batsmen and  replace them asap,  Poor De Kock  is in the dwang again and he must be really demoralized by now,   

Bavuma may return and will fail again on test level.  

Smith and Boucher inherited shit and they would now be blamed for the disgrace.   

Nortje has faced 76 balls - more than Elgar did - and he reads the spin balls better than Elgar did.  What does that tell people?  

Van der Dussen is out with the score on 109/5.   This is ridiculous - clean up the swamp please.

Heaven may yet save the Proteas - it has been raining in Riversdale for two days and the fact is the rain driven by the North-Western is moving in the Port Elizabeth direction.     

Yes heavy winds down here in the Cape so rain may help save Proteas. 

The Proteas side lacks class. Big rethink should happen after the serurs if things continue to go south as is looking to be the case. 

They are back playing.  What a disgrace,   Nortje faced 132 balls - virtually two thirds of which from Bess - who took all five 5 wickets,   If a bowler can play him  can play him how the hell can a batsman not do so?   

No rtje is out after facing 135 balls - he was caught off the bowling by Stokes.

Easy as pie - idiot speaker.   

1   Janneman Malan

2     Breetzke

3    Van Tonder

4    Verreyne      

5    Ackerman

They cannot be worse than the players already in the team.

You never played any cricket...did you Wanker? Put these chaps in a test match setting and they will melt away like Hamza.

In any case our biggest failing so far is the bowling.

Well, our batting has been p!ss poor for a while now. Faf will probably retire with Vern after the fourth test vs Poms...Elgar owe us runs. Hamza should bat lower...we are just hopelessly out of sorts. They recovered some grit, but there's no quick fix for this rabble.  CSA left it too late.

While the team struggled with Nortje, De Kock and Philander to get something out of the game, Du Plessis showed no interest in what is going on the field - he is sitting reading a  book. What a captain would not be that interested in  what is happening to his struggling team?     

And they did not struggle in batting Idiot Speaker?   The wicket went flat on day 2 in PE and remained flat on day 3.   Five batsmen lost there wickets when a very average spinner bowled.  A   bowler held out against him for about 80 balls in total and facing  a total of 135 balls.   

Melt away like Elgar, Marais, Du Plessis Hamza and Van der Dussen did you mean?  

At least the players I mentioned has the potential to develop further in future,  The above five has none other than going further down than they already are.   By the way the only batsman who showed some real fighting spirit is De Kock - a player you despise and wanted to be replaced by Klaasen last year,        

That is what I call a shit disaster - and a thorough house cleaning is called for - so bring in th new guys.    .            

A few weeks ago in jest, I suggested that Bavuma would be appointed Captain of the "Marigold's" once Faf is fired.

Sure seems like a possibility now.........

Right political affiliations.

Right color.

Right he is not a test player.

Fits right in with what is expected.

Nothing.

De Ock fighting spirit?  No, mostly just lady luck, dropped 3 times by Stokes....one has to wonder whether Stokes has a side bet on Okkie making a 100. He should have been gone at 30. Besides Ock was the player who surrendered the second test, when he and Dussen were well set.

What about the rest - Snow flake?  

The Proteas are well documented chokers....but at least we were tough in our own backyard. Since the loss of Amla and Steyn the last vestiges of  that are gone. Ock is right at the point in his career where he should be setting an example. But as he has done through his whole career, he folded again in the second test.

I can't think of one test he has helped win  through mental toughness....he has scored runs, yes, but never when the chips were really down.

Sadly as I predicted the loss of the prior generation, although now inevitable, was going to be followed by something a whole lot worse.  Those clamoring for that change have been shown to be gormless.

" Sadly as I predicted the loss of the prior generation, although now inevitable, was going to be followed by something a whole lot worse."

Actually, I predicted the decline of the Proteas as far back as the last WC. I also predicted that the decline would last for at least the next five years, perhaps even longer.

Mozart never accepted that the decline was evident in performances by the players he wanted to stay way past their "sell by" date.   Once players have one good innings and mess up in 6 or 7 you have clear signs that things are going downhill fast,  

South Africa lost 4 wickets with the addition of 1 run this morning,   It was a continuation fo the disaster already in evidence.    

"What worries me  more is what is already evident in the under 19 team of SA in the present Under 19 WC squad,   Why is the squad the weakest ever fielded by SA?  I think the problem is the fact that in provincial school competitions in SA no school provincial teams may have more than 4 White players out of the 12 squad members,  White kids have lost interest in playing cricket as a sport and the development of the game has gone out of the window.   Denny talk about a period of five years before a recovery is possible - I think the days of SA teams being competitive in World Cricket is gone and will not recover ever"

You've brought something to my attention that I didn't think of......if what you say is a fact then my belief of a 5-10 year recovery period goes out the window and that the decline will be permanent. They'll lose the current series which makes it the fourth in a row with not a win on the horizon. My only hope is that Bouch and Smithie won't be held responsible for the decline in our cricket and that they are not unfairly criticised because the entire blame lies with the ANC and its ubiquitous racist policies. CSA is just a puppet organization which rubber stamps that policy. The obsession to pick on race and that being black is a tick box and the only requirement is insane.

God help us as no one else can .

There has been no cricket played since about 10:45 this morning and it is still raining.  The chances of rain today was given as 55% and there may be some cricket played.  The SA score 14/0.  The chances of it raining tomorrow is given as 67%.

It is still raining in Riversdale - the third day in a row - with a western wind driving the rainy weather towards Port Elizabeth,   It will be a travesty if the rain caused the test to be a draw,  

The game has started again and the score is 22/2  with Elgar gone for 15 and Hamza for 2.   

Du Plessis book reading has been interrupted and he is batting,  He egged he ball badly and it went for a four.