Steyn off again.

Hales OUT!

Fecking idiot Hales, needless cheap wicket

Compton

Root ffs

Boy did we need tea, both players dropped, need to regroup.

Am happy England aren't batting last.. Its like playing in India for SA.. this wicket is very dusty and will only get worse with the sun beating down on it. anything around 300 and England will be very happy. need to get there mind you.. big partnership needed..

Good from this pair but scoring is too slow for my liking, need to up the rate.

Well, South Africa look awful. So much for the best team in the world.

England are the best in the world

roooot rings around the crows as Joe brings up his half century..

50 for Joe Root

comment by Forrr - Admin 4 (U18420)
posted 33 minutes ago
England are the best in the world
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Hooray...we're great

Good day for us

1. Cook
2. Compton
3. Root
4. Hales

That seems to me the best order for those 4 batsmen, given their respective skillsets. Having said that, the fashion seems to be to have a destructive opener alongside a more conservative one, and arguably Cook and Compton would be too defensive, so I can see why they're trying Hales there.

Root out for 73 to Abbot. Good innings but he doesn't seem to be getting so many real big ones recently.

Stokes also gone, for 5 off Piedt. Pity as he could have biffed the ball about.

Ben Stokes just doesn't give a sh|t when hes batting..He couldn't careless.

You see I have issues with Ben Stokes. For the reason is ego is bigger than his talent.. And hes played 20 test matches now and his record is average to poor..
I never gave the likes of Ravi Bopara a free ride. Am not going to give Stokes it either.

Our mindset has been all wrong this morning, completely wasted the first hour of play. Root is frustrating in that he always gets out at the start of a new days play regardless of how long he was out there the previous day.

comment by englandwhoelse (U16825)
posted 18 minutes ago
You see I have issues with Ben Stokes. For the reason is ego is bigger than his talent.. And hes played 20 test matches now and his record is average to poor..
I never gave the likes of Ravi Bopara a free ride. Am not going to give Stokes it either.
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He's single-handedly won more test matches for England than Bopara ever did though

I take your point, but if batting average is the only yardstick you ever use then you'll always be disappointed by Stokes. He's an impact player who will need to be carried more often than you might like, but then he'll win a match with a 70-ball ton and a devastating 3-wicket spell.

The fact he offers decent (if expensive, relatively speaking) bowling means he'll always contribute one way or another.

For my part I can only assume Bairstow has kept his place because of a lack of alternatives. Never been convinced at all by him, he seems a very average bat at test level.

Hopefully he'll prove me wrong now. Nice biff through square leg there.

Oh Jimmy Jimmy Jimmy. Big old charge down the wicket and an easy stumping.

Great start to his test career proper, though.

Taylor stumped for 42. A disappointing morning for England.

Bairstow looking in good touch. We'll see how he deals with the new ball...

I think you need to be realistic with expectations. This isn't a wicket that is easy to score quickly on. England have tried to force the pace and lost their wickets as a result. They have more than enough runs already but will want the magical 400.