England v South Africa, Lords, 3rd Test Thread

[Duty281]

First topic message reminder :

The equation is simple. If England win, they remain number 1. If South Africa avoid defeat, they move up to number 1 and will officially be the best Test team in the World.

England: 1 Andrew Strauss (capt), 2 Alastair Cook, 3 Jonathan Trott, 4 Ian Bell, 5 James Taylor, 6 Jonny Bairstow, 7 Matt Prior (wk), 8 Stuart Broad, 9 Graeme Swann, 10 James Anderson, 11 Steven Finn

South Africa: 1 Graeme Smith (capt), 2 Alviro Petersen, 3 Hashim Amla, 4 Jacques Kallis, 5 AB de Villiers (wk), 6 Jacques Rudolph, 7 JP Duminy, 8 Vernon Philander, 9 Dale Steyn, 10 Morne Morkel, 11 Imran Tahir

Are you ready?

[Duty281]

3/13 now for Steven Finn.

[skyeman]

Over in 3 days, series drawn.

[liverbnz]

Hand off the bat

Well we've seen those given before

Crucially so!

[Mike Selig]

It wasn't out, although I don't think it was given not out originally for "hand off the bat", so England were right to review.

Would Kallis know his hand was (just) off the bat when he gloved it? I wouldn't have thought so, so reaction from him was poor.

[Mad for Chelsea]

Hmm the more I see it, the more I think Kallis is unlucky there.

Broad back on, come on Broady!

[skyeman]

3 wkts for 5 runs, wow just wow.

[Fists of Fury]

Makes up for the abomination at Headingley where Finn was denied the Smith wicket, I guess. Swings and roundabouts, but agree it shouldn't be happening at this level.

[Biltong]

The tide is turning it seems.

[Mad for Chelsea]

Broad with some extravagant swing there, too much swing unfortunately...

[liverbnz]

Would Kallis know his hand was (just) off the bat when he gloved it? I wouldn't have thought so, so reaction from him was poor.

I'm not so sure Mike. He wasn't out and he has a right to be disappointed with the decision. If he'd have been given out originally then perhaps he could have accepted it, but there wasn't conclusive evidence either way so it should have stayed with the onfield umpire's decision.

[VTR]

The tide is turning it seems.

Cough, cough, splutter, wheeze etc....

They're not are they, surely they're not?! Can a say it? C*****g

[skyeman]

The SA balcony looking very, very glum.

Someone text them happy thoughts

[ShankyCricket]

Disgraceful umpiring! Utter disgrace!

[JDizzle]

This is hostile from Finny. ABDV did not enjoy that over...

[Duty281]

Like FOF said, this dismissal makes up for the one England should have got at Headingley. Two wrongs make a right in this case.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

This is why Finn should be in our team. He makes things happen, he has that ability to change the game on its head with the ball

[dummy_half]

DRS is supposed to be used to correct clearly wrong decisions - in this case, giving Kallis not out was not clearly wrong, and therefore the decision should not have been overturned, especially as the umpires are still required to give the benefit of the doubt to the batsmen.

Poor decision. However, umpires are humans too and can sometimes get caught up in the momentum of the game - suspect JK would have survived if SA weren't in a mini-collapse

[skyeman]

12 overs an hour

[ShankyCricket]

Makes up for the abomination at Headingley where Finn was denied the Smith wicket, I guess. Swings and roundabouts, but agree it shouldn't be happening at this level.

Not sure I agree. That Finn decision was well within the laws. They had already warned him a couple of times when his knees crashed the stumps and that no ball was called before Smith nicked the ball. And it was consistently called thereafter. Perfectly reasonable. Nothing compared to this disgraceful misinterpretation of laws by an umpire. This is worse than club level. I want Finn to take a lot of wickets but not this way.

[Mad for Chelsea]

Broad so so close to getting a wicket with the last ball before lunch, great session for England you have to say.

[Mad for Chelsea]

12 overs an hour

to be fair there's been three reviews (one of which was lengthy), four wickets and a break for some sawdust, but yeah, still pretty ordinary over rate...

[liverbnz]

Like FOF said, this dismissal makes up for the one England should have got at Headingley. Two wrongs make a right in this case.

Not sure I agree with that, but what's done is done.

[ShankyCricket]

Like FOF said, this dismissal makes up for the one England should have got at Headingley. Two wrongs make a right in this case.

That is utter hogwash tbh. If such a decision had gone in our favour at Headingely, then maybe but these are 2 different games. If you think that these two wrongs make a right, then you are clearly not fair.

[Duty281]

Cracking first session for England. 2 more wickets and we're into a softish tail. We've got a great chance to bowl them out on the first day for under 250, so let's go and take it.

[Shelsey93]

Great stuff from England. Would it be hyperbole to say that that was the best spell I've seen Finn bowl in a Test?

England deserved the wickets, but both the Petersen and Kallis decisions were iffy - slightly in the Petersen case (well, he didn't review) and majorly in the Kallis case (how can there not be at least enough doubt to stick with the umpire?)

[ShankyCricket]

250? We will bowl them out under 150, as I predicted. Not much batting now. They will choke.

[Biltong]

The tide is turning it seems.

Cough, cough, splutter, wheeze etc....

They're not are they, surely they're not?! Can a say it? C*****g

Nope. Choking is when you fold, Amla was taken out with a superb delivery, Kallis a tad unlucky, not choking.

[skyeman]

The word choking for me takes away something from the opposition. The England boys have applied the pressure.

[skyeman]

Fantastic. Stopped raining, mopping up and sun back out.

Could start on time still

[VTR]

The word choking for me takes away something from the opposition. The England boys have applied the pressure.

According to my analysis 2 of the wickets were due to England pressure, and 2 due to choking.

Only joking! I'll lay off now. Well played England this morning - about time in this series!

[mystiroakey]

JUST TURNED IT ON 65/4

[trebellbobaggins]

this is interesting. Haven't seen SA under any pressure this summer.

Finn seems to be getting better all the time.

I guess the challenge is whether they can bat any good with the changes but they need to move and only have people loyal to the side and their colleagues playing so fair enough.

[Duty281]

Delayed start, 1:55 the new start time.

[skyeman]

Rod Tucker, did you enjoy your lunchtime tucker

[Duty281]

Is there a Third Umpire of the Year award? I've always been a big fan of Rod Tucker...

[skyeman]

Anyone know if both sides and all umps use the same dining room at Lords?

[alfie]

Well well ...very much England's moring , eh ?

Bowled well , indeed , and crucially had some luck ; first with the cloud rolling in , and then getting on the right sight of some close decisions.

The Kallis one did look wrong though : I thought it looked out initially so was not surprised when they reviewed it. But after the slo-mos I really cannot see why the third umpire chose to over rule... Had the on field umpire given it , I don't think Kallis could have complained , as it was a very very close thing , but surely there was nothing remotely close to clear evidence that the original decision was wrong... Bad one by Rod Tucker.

Have to admit Finn has been excellent this morning. I have not previously joined the general rush to get him in the team that has been growing on here , but if he keeps this up I will be delighted to have been outvoted

[liverbnz]

2 lefties in. Maybe some Swann to test them out. Rudolph out twice to spinners.

[skyeman]

Good restart from Finn.

[Fists of Fury]

ABdV is a righty, liver.

[Mike Selig]

These two looking a bit more composed now.

Broad well down on pace again (low 80s or even high 70s in this spell).

Might be a good time to see if Swann can find his range.

[Duty281]

Strauss has thrown Swann the ball, good call Straussy.

[mystiroakey]

Ermm the break has helped out our saffa cousins abit.

[JDizzle]

Rudolph looks like he is going to try and be positive against Swann. Not sure Graeme will mind that.

[Duty281]

This partnership creeping up to 50, going to have to take a wicket soon to maintain our advantage. Finn's been a bit loose after lunch.

[alfie]

Swann started very tidily.

Finn is spraying it around a bit now ...time for Jimmy ?

[Fists of Fury]

Need another breakthrough soon. Not looking good at the moment, all too easy.

[mystiroakey]

thats was so out

[mystiroakey]

plumb- bad call from the umpire

[Mad for Chelsea]

think Anderson's unlucky there, that looked out for me, but just a millimetre or so away rom being overturned.

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