South Africa are batting and its 22 for no loss after 6 overs.
England have dropped Swann and picked another seamer Steven Finn. Also Bopara has been dropped and 22 year old James Taylor - average of close to 50 at first class level - comes in
No changes to SA side.
Haha crap morning for the Poms so far....
First Cook drops Petersen...
Then came this....
Oh boy, we could have some controversy here. Smith has edged Finn to Strauss at first slip but Steve Davis has called dead ball because Finn struck the non-striker's stumps. Smith did not look distracted. He just edged it. The slips did not show much emotion, so they heard the dead-ball call early.
Strauss is not happy with the dead ball call. But the Upire is 100% right. However inconsistent. He should call them al As stephen finn is kncking the stumps consistently with his foot. This is going to be an issue.
84 for none after 26 overs. Great start!
Beeno - I watchd the cricket and did not know SA won a gold medal in rowing - that should inspire all SA sportsmen.
The PPOM attack looks a bit iffy - not so?
Yeah mike but i think the whole dead ball issue with finn put them off. Someone in the commentary mentioned that South Africa might have known this about Finn and decided that if it happens they are going to let the umpire know it's offputting thereby playing some mindgames. Not sure about that but yes. the England bowling look out of sorts.
Almost 500 runs since England last took a wicket!
Haha TImmy and Stu still have The Hash coming in next!
Better run fast boys! He may just decide to eat you!
It's only the weather that's going to deny the Proteas another win....the English attack is powder puff.
Mike I am following an electronic scoreboard on Supersport. This evening I am having folk around so I will miss the first day!!
What is this wicket like? I heard the Headingly was a place that produced results.
Its now 129 for 1 with Smith out for 52. Alviro on 66. Very solid start. Try to bat to tea tomorrow and have 400 odd?
i think if we can managed 400 plus then we can put them in and with our attack really but them to the sword. just depends how quickly we bat. i must say the boys are batting really well
just as i say that amla is runned out
Hey Beeno, Headingley is traditionally a result wicket you are correct in that assesment. It is also normally a bowlers wicket when there are some clouds in the air. Assoon as the sun comes out it gets flat then the batsmen can enjoy themselves. Currently there is a lot of movement in the pitch and the clouds are there so it should be a bowlers wicket. England are not really using it fully to thier advantage though.
151/2
Thanks Ek. What a pity about Amla!!!!
Beeno
There definitely is some swing available - but the wicket seems not tpo favour the bowlers. On the other hand the P{OM bowlers were bowling both sides of the wicket and they are not very effective. Smith got himself out and so did Amla - with a crazy third run attempt. Kallis is out now - did not see what happened.
MIke we had better stop the rot fast. Lets hope Alviro presses on as he is well set. AB time for a big un!
Beeno - De Villers is out as well. I was wrong about the pitch. When the POMS took the new ball - the pitch started to behave funnily. From one end the balls was exceptional low - whilst at the other end it was bouncing head high. Steyn was sent in as night watchman - he was cleanbowled for a duck. I do not know what to make of the pitch at all - but it is lucky that we have 262 for 5
On a unpredictable wicket it is a nice score to have. Our bowlers are going to have a field day onm the pitch like that and the POMS must hope we dso not make another 50 runs.
oh i can't wait for our boys to have a bowl on this wicket. It will be glorious. :)
Beeno the score is really not that bad taking the wicket into account it should have been lower as the ENglish bowlers couldn't take advantage of it in the beginning. In the morning we might see some fireworks here, let us hope we can have a cloudfree day for now so the pitch dries a bit and the batsmen can go on, but i doubt it will happen. This is going to be a bowlers test.
Pietersen to Rudolph, OUT, 84.0 kph, Pietersen strikes with his second ball, Rudolph failing to get his foot back over the line! KP got BIG turn (are you watching Swanny) and Rudolph leaned too far out trying to defend. Prior whips off the bails and after the third umpire had a long look at it, he decided that Rudolph hadn't quite managed to get a stud back in the crease
JA Rudolph st †Prior b Pietersen 19 (74b 3x4 0x6) SR: 25.67
Schoolboy error from rudolph.
329/6
Philander gets Cook with a beaut and the desperate pom player asks for tv replay. This rain is not welcome.
Can poms still win this - unlikely surely.
At this stage guys this is a draw. We should bank it and move on. Focus on the lord's test. Attempt to win it, and if we can't make bloody sure we draw it at least. This will give us a 1-0 win in the series and the Nr 1 spot.
Ek lets hope the walking wounded are going to be okay - Kallis, Alviro and Smith. Cant afford to go in without these guys.
101 for none. Match drawn.
Would be very nice for Rudolf to get a ton. Do his confidence a heap of good.
In the extreme case that none of them are available:
Rudolph to open in Alviro's place.
Faf to come in for Smith
Tsolekile/Tsotsobe to come in for Kallis.
We will either need an extra batsman(Tsolikile in which case he will take the gloves) well mostly we might need the extra seamer, so I'd rather go for Tsotsobe.
Which means:
Rudolph
Amla
AB
Duminy
Faf
Albie morkel (Hopefully he is fit)
Philander
Steyn
Morkel
Tsotsobe
Tahir
That is extreme case scenario, in all likelyhood they will all be fit i hope.