South Africa vs England 3rd Test 14-18th Jan

First topic message reminder :

The pivotal 3rd Test starts in two days time. England are expected to be unchanged. Dale Steyn is out injured for SA and looks doubtful for the rest of the series, though Kyle Abbott is fit and will come into the frame for selection. Another possible change is someone else to open in the place of Van Zyl

Hard to believe SA were 23-0 at one point...

Love the line and shape from Stokes this over...terrific bowling

Du Plessis and Rabada have a heck of a job on their hands...

alfie wrote:Love the line and shape from Stokes this over...terrific bowling

Du Plessis and Rabada have a heck of a job on their hands...

I'd call it Mission: Impossible!

What an amazing performance from Broad. He's moved ahead of Bob Willis in number of test wickets taken.

I do like this Rabada. He is totally out of his class here batting ; but he isn't going to give it away. Four to mid off is a welcome score for SA
Finn looking to finish this...

I think at this point SA will just be happy if they can pass 74 - their current lowest total.

Bowlers getting a bit sloppy now and bowling some gift balls. Need to keep their focus.

Broad having one of those spells

Credit to Rabada here. He isn't going to leave the pitch wondering. South Africa 66 for 7.

About the best partnership of the innings

Rabada gets the lead past fifty...

Rabada (SA's #9) now top scorer with 16...


...and as I type this Stokes has him caught behind! SA 66-8.

Is this the end of the resistance?

Stokes now an improving bowler.

And as I type that he takes his 2nd wicket.

dyrewolfe wrote:I think at this point SA will just be happy if they can pass 74 - their current lowest total.

Bowlers getting a bit sloppy now and bowling some gift balls. Need to keep their focus.

Often tricky to finish these things : it is all going so well ,you can do nothing wrong...then a period goes by without anything happening. Temptation is to try too hard to wrap it all up...

Just need to stick to what is working.

As Stokes does...eight gone

South Africa 67 for 8 with a paltry lead of 57. This will be done and dusted today you would have thought.

So I guess tea will be delayed now ? Eight down.

Anderson back. Good move I think. Steady to the end ...Du Plessis needs to take charge - can he ?

This may still be a tricky chase

13 wickets for about 150 so far today

Wow, amazing stuff. Honestly thought we would be chasing at least 250.

This reminds me a lot of that Test in the Windies when Harmison went berserk

alfie wrote:

dyrewolfe wrote:I think at this point SA will just be happy if they can pass 74 - their current lowest total.

Bowlers getting a bit sloppy now and bowling some gift balls. Need to keep their focus.

Often tricky to finish these things  : it is all going so well ,you can do nothing wrong...then a period goes by without anything happening. Temptation is to try too hard to wrap it all up...

Just need to stick  to what is working.

As Stokes does...eight gone

Wise words. I guess even the best can start to get impatient and try to fix something that isn't really broken.

SA survive to tea then?

Can't imagine this goes to a 4th day

55-8 in that session.

Suspect the SA dressing room may need repainting after this break.

South Africa survive until tea on 71 for 8. A session with 55 runs and 8 wickets. England on the brink of sealing a win you'd think.

GSC wrote:SA survive to tea then?

Can't imagine this goes to a 4th day

Bad light may play a part in stretching it to a fourth day but there won't (at this rate) be much play tomorrow.

Got ahead of myself - of course , only 8 down , tea normal time.

What a session for England ! 24 overs , 8/55.

Broad back after tea...hardly a surprise

That was awful from bairstow

Anderson traps Viljoen lbw ...pending review ...

Oh , stone dead...Jimmy will be glad to get in on the act

Some comedy fielding...and running.

Viljoen nearly run out attempting to get a second overthrow run.

...and then he's out lbw and Jimmy Anderson gets his first wicket of the innings.

SA 77-9

Not long now...

Looking at du Plessis, I wonder what the lowest total is for any top 6 batsman who has carried his bat?

He has to be a good candidate, surely?

dyrewolfe wrote:Looking at du Plessis, I wonder what the lowest total is for any top 6 batsman who has carried his bat?

He has to be a good candidate, surely?

Well he has watched a lot of carnage at the other end...in fairness , he has at least stayed in while six others have fallen... Think he needs to play some shots now - easier said than done , maybe ?

What is Faf doing? Single off the first ball...

England review fails ...and four for Morkel !

SA past previous lows at this ground. Precarious lead of 73 though...what can the last pair add ?

South Africa bowled out for 83 leaving England to chase 74. What a catch from Broad and he ends up with 6 for 17. A 2-0 series lead is in the palm of England's hands.

And thats it for SA as Broad gets du Plessis c&b. 6 wickets in totla for him. Amazing effort!

SA 83 all out.

Routine run chase for England to follow?

JDizzle wrote:What is Faf doing? Single off the first ball...

It's as if he was waiting for something to happen at the other end, he had to try and do something.

alfie wrote:England review fails ...and four for Morkel !

SA past previous lows at this ground.  Precarious lead of 73 though...what can the last pair add ?

OK ...no more at all

Stuart Broad gets a deserved sixth Terrific effort for the c&b

6/17 .... Brilliant !

alfie wrote:

dyrewolfe wrote:Looking at du Plessis, I wonder what the lowest total is for any top 6 batsman who has carried his bat?

He has to be a good candidate, surely?

Well he has watched a lot of carnage at the other end...in fairness , he has at least stayed in while six others have fallen...  Think he needs to play some shots now - easier said than done , maybe ?

It wasn't a criticism of him, as such...I agree there wasn't much he could have done. I was just curious as to the lowest not-out score by a top-middle order batsman.

dyrewolfe wrote:And thats it for SA as Broad gets du Plessis c&b. 6 wickets in totla for him. Amazing effort!

SA 83 all out.

Routine run chase for England to follow?

Suppose it ought to be...but do England do "routine" ?

Nice start from Hales...

Hardly been able to see any play today but clearly a marvelous performance from Broad. Seems there was decent support too from the other seamers and especially Taylor in the field.

Third day is often moving day but I doubt that even Pickfords have shifted more in a couple of hours!

Perfect end now will be red ink entries for Cook and the somewhat under pressure Hales.

dyrewolfe wrote:

alfie wrote:

dyrewolfe wrote:Looking at du Plessis, I wonder what the lowest total is for any top 6 batsman who has carried his bat?

He has to be a good candidate, surely?

Well he has watched a lot of carnage at the other end...in fairness , he has at least stayed in while six others have fallen...  Think he needs to play some shots now - easier said than done , maybe ?

It wasn't a criticism of him, as such...I agree there wasn't much he could have done. I was just curious as to the lowest not-out score by a top-middle order batsman.

An interesting question . Someone more patient than I might extract the requisite figures from Cricinfo stats

There have been some very low scores in Tests ; so there may be others where the not out bat - or last out bat - was a top six man , with very little to show for it. Might be back in the early years ?

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/62539.html

Hammersmith harrier wrote:http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/62539.html

Nice one , hammersmith

Early history indeed...guess that was the all time low ! Did that take you long to find ? I do admire the skills of you computer-handy fellows...

Hammersmith harrier wrote:http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/62539.html

Wow - well done HH!

Can't have been easy to find that.


Just for the record...

JMM Commaille (#5) 1 n.o.
SA 30 all out
ENG vs SA, Birmingham 1924

Yes, brilliant research from Hammersmith.

Little more than an anorak observation at this stage but that was a brilliant leg side stop by Vilas off Viljoen. For all the talk about Bairstow in this Test, Vilas has done better behind the stumps from what I've seen. It's not just about how many the keeper takes but whether he takes all that come his way.

alfie wrote:

Hammersmith harrier wrote:http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/62539.html

Nice one , hammersmith

Early history indeed...guess that was the all time low !   Did that take you long to find ?  I do admire the skills of you computer-handy fellows...

Just looked through the lowest ever test scores and that was third on the list.

Hammersmith harrier wrote:

alfie wrote:

Hammersmith harrier wrote:http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/62539.html

Nice one , hammersmith

Early history indeed...guess that was the all time low !   Did that take you long to find ?  I do admire the skills of you computer-handy fellows...

Just looked through the lowest ever test scores and that was third on the list.

Don't give away your secrets, Hammersmith - keep the magic!

All pretty straight forward so far for England who are now 38 for 0 and need 36 more to win.

guildfordbat wrote:Yes, brilliant research from Hammersmith.

Little more than an anorak observation at this stage but that was a brilliant leg side stop by Vilas off Viljoen. For all the talk about Bairstow in this Test, Vilas has done better behind the stumps from what I've seen. It's not just about how many the keeper takes but whether he takes all that come his way.

Vilas messed up a run out actually , guildford. Generally he's been OK though. Mind you , Bairstow has had a decent match , though he isn't exactly stylish...only the one error that I saw , for which he might owe Jimmy a beer

Finns feeling something. Might be sensible to rest him for what now looks like a dead rubber

Hammersmith harrier wrote:

alfie wrote:

Hammersmith harrier wrote:http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/62539.html

Nice one , hammersmith

Early history indeed...guess that was the all time low !   Did that take you long to find ?  I do admire the skills of you computer-handy fellows...

Just looked through the lowest ever test scores and that was third on the list.

Haha ... lateral thinking . And there was I thinking you'd come up with some clever algorithm or something ...

Presume we can't beat "1" as the lowest ever.

GSC wrote:Finns feeling something. Might be sensible to rest him for what now looks like a dead rubber

Wondered if he was iffy , seeing as he was sparingly used second innings. Agree might be opportune time to rest him for another go for Woakes - or perhaps a look at Footitt ?

alfie wrote:

guildfordbat wrote:Yes, brilliant research from Hammersmith.

Little more than an anorak observation at this stage but that was a brilliant leg side stop by Vilas off Viljoen. For all the talk about Bairstow in this Test, Vilas has done better behind the stumps from what I've seen. It's not just about how many the keeper takes but whether he takes all that come his way.

Vilas messed up a run out actually , guildford.  Generally he's been OK though.   Mind you , Bairstow has had a decent match , though he isn't exactly stylish...only the one error that I saw , for which he might owe Jimmy a beer

Alfie - thought it was a bad miss by Bairstow when he dropped Morkel (?) off Jimmy. Got rather overlooked in the circus that followed with Jimmy being hauled off.

Anyway, not really the day to be grumbling about England.

Cook and Hales doing what's necessary even though the latter probably hasn't turned many of his doubters round.