England tour of South Africa

[bigfluffylemon]

Not good from Stokes. I read some commentary, only half joking, that said the ECB might be more annoyed about the term 'four-eyes' rather than c***, as one of their major sponsors is Specsavers.

Perhaps they ought to fix Joel Wilson up with a free eye test?

Probably just a fine and a demerit point for Ben, but he should know better. At least he owned it and for apologised straight away.

[GGAS]

Sir Gentle Ben OBE fights who he wants

[alfie]

I don't have much sympathy for a spectator who goes out of his way to abuse a player as he leaves the field . But Stokes really ought to know better than to react like that. Would fine him heavily - not that he can't afford it - and if I were Joe Root I'd let him know what I thought about unprofessional conduct detracting from the team's otherwise good performance on this tour.

Moving on : this match seems to be following the script from Port Elizabeth quite closely. Insipid SA effort with the ball in the first session followed by their bowlers roaring back after a break and inducing a somewhat typical England collapse from a position of strength. And again it is young Pope walking in at six and immediately exerting a calming influence on the game... Will he and Root now go on to a mammoth stand tomorrow ?
Even if this innings is cut off rather quicker than last time you'd think anything north of 300 would be reasonable on a pitch which is offering a bit of bounce and carry for the massed battalions of fast bowlers on both sides. SA may have cause to regret that strangely flat first session...
I still wish England had included a proper spinner : it isn't automatic that their pace attack will just roll over the South Africans - they are about due to get a good early partnership going and as we've seen today this ground is pretty good for fast scoring. Might possibly need a bit of change of pace at some point...but that is for the future. And at least they have options in Root and Denly.

Best thing - apart from the way Pope looks again - from this day , for England , was the way Crawley played . Early days - and he's not without flaws - but there was a lot to like about the strokes he produced in that first couple of hours. He will have ups and downs - and indeed will face a challenge just to hold his place when Burns recovers fitness : but he appears to have something. How it survives tougher tests and the targeted approach of opposition bowlers as he is subjected to analysis and planning remains to be seen ; but he has made a higher score than his previous best in every Test innings he's played so far - which is by definition an upward trend

[Durhamfootman]

after a delayed start, we are now off

Root and Pope take the score past 200

[GGAS]

Well played again by Ollie Pope. Lucky we don't have Bayliss there or he'd be batting at 3 by the summer.

[Durhamfootman]

100 partnership

50's for both

250 up

[Durhamfootman]

Pope falls first ball after drinks

ain't that always the way

[Durhamfootman]

Buttler next up

England might not get to 300

[Arthur Crabtree]

Curran seems to be falling away a bit with the bat. First baller today.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Averages progression for Curran by year, number of Tests are 7-7-2.
Batting-37-21-17
Bowling-25-34-39.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Probably already a handy score for England.

JB2 has to get some runs eventually. Only got the bottom three for company, but Woakes should be a good partner. Then again, new ball.

Well done to Nortje with the old ball.

[alfie]

No runs for JB2. Blame Arthur for that ?

Woakes going alright ...318/8 : get it up to 350 and I'd call it job done ; but there is a bit of work left to do that...

Scratch all that as Woakes goes...good catch Faf and a deserved five wicket haul for Nortje

Looks like 320-330 tops. OK ; but not a rock-crusher.

[alfie]

Ha ! Reckoned without Stuart Broad rolling back the years and smithing the bowlers to all parts...

Not many number elevens have a Test century to their credit. Fifty stand really rubbing it in to SA.

Never expected 370 plus...

[Durhamfootman]

400 it is, and 9, 10, jack all score more runs than JB2

How long before Pope gets thrown the gloves?

[mikesiva]

Malan continues his downward trajectory. Out for 15.

Similar for RvdD who was out for a duck!

Both have Test averages of 29, which will be less than that after this Test.

South Africa waiting for Markram to recover from his injury. The cupboard is bare.