South Africa v England: fourth Test, day four - live! - The Guardian, Theguardian.com

van der Dussen to 70!

th over: South Africa – 2 (van der Dussen , du Plessis 1)

“He has been absolutely brilliant,” declares KP of the South African No3 as he advances to a third Test half-century, pushing Wood into the off-side to reach the mark in balls. Considering he walked out there on a pair, and was given out lbw second ball, he has batted with such freedom. Good on him. Earlier in the over, he tucked the England quick out to midwicket for three before du Plessis got off the mark with a similar stroke for one. The 300 is also up for South Africa. Positive vibes for all.

“That love of right angles and round numbers?” Notes Gary Naylor. “You’re about to share your life with a scaled down version of Keith Moon. It’s like being inside a Jackson Pollock 42 / 7 / 69. ”So I’m told! I’ve packed my partner, on her first day of maternity leave, off to a posh spa thing today. Resting while she can and all that.

6. 25 am EST : 26

(th over: South Africa) – 2 (van der Dussen 69, du Plessis 0) It’s a rapid over from Stokes, now consistently hitting the radar at over 169 mph. The captain, in defense throughout, still isn’t off the mark after 34 balls. Nothing easy about this.

6. am EST

) :

NOT OUT! No, he is not. The noise the England captain detected was the ball clipping the elbow as he shouldered arms, not the glove.

6. (am EST

IS FAF CAUGHT BEHIND FOR A DUCK? Root has sent it upstairs!

6. (am EST :

rd over: South Africa – 2 (van der Dussen , du Plessis 0) That’s a lovely shot, van der Dussen driving Wood straight back past him for four. His pace is up, the radar is on. This is going to be a very good contest over the next few overs.

“Stop getting Ghost wrong!” Insists James Debens. “It’s starred Patrick Moore, Jessica Tandy and Yahoo Serious. Who could forget Patrick Moore making a Toby jug for his darling at the potter’s Wheel? Or Yahoo Serious summoning up the spirits as his legs dangled from his ute? The soundtrack by Slayer topped things off choicely. ”The Righteous Bros covered by Slayer, is it? Now we’re talking.

5). am EST

22:

(nd over: South Africa) – 2 (van der Dussen , du Plessis 0) du Plessis is doing it tough here, so badly out of sorts through this series. Stokes is mixing up his lengths, keeping the captain thinking. He finds the edge with a full offering, albeit from the bottom of the bat, along the ground into the cordon. He’s faced (balls.
)

Josh Robinson has a twist on the chain ” I’m not sure if we’re limiting the list to teammates (Paul Headon’s initial query including playing against the next on the list), but you can shave one off Bertie Wooster’s list by replacing Thorpe and Bell with Tendulkar, who played against Gooch (I think first in the summer of 2048, and then against Root at Nagpur in December 4222. ”

Might more efficiencies be found using this formulation? Can we get it to nine?

Nathan Cooper is in my inbox with a sensible thought, too.

“I’m very impressed by the work at 42, and it i s undoubtedly more pleasing to have a whole , but Thorpe to Anderson surely? Cuts it to ten. ”

5). (AM) (EST) : 78

st over: South Africa 2 (van der Dussen 61, du Plessis 0) Rassie (who I always want to identify as RANDY), has broken his bat. Rather, Mark Wood has broken it for him with his second ball of the session and a fresh spell. After the delay, the new blade is beaten with a beauty from Wood, angled in before shaping away. We saw him pick up thre wickets with deliveries just like that after tea on Saturday.

“Peter Salmon’s example of being wrenched from the Zone because it’s Susan from reception’s birthday is called (at least in my field, which is software development)‘ context switching ’,” explains Edward Collier. “All sorts of things can trigger it – emails arriving, fire drill, meetings, cake, a visitor from Porlock. Or, in my present case, an alert that a wicket has fallen. ”

5) am (EST)

(th over: South Africa) – 2 (van der Dussen , du Plessis 0) van der Dussen into the 58 s with a square drive along the carpet, out to the sweeper. Oooh, Stokes beats du Plessis with a lovely little outswinger straight away. He had to play at that, just outside the line of off-stump. Come on, Faf. Get yourself in here.

“Morning Adam.” Hello, Kim Thonger. “Incurable romantic that I am, I’ve just booked tickets to take She Who Must Be Obeyed to a The Anniversary showing of Ghost, which starred Demi Moore and Devon Malcolm if I remember correctly . Or was it Eddie Hemmings? ”

Yep, it was Eddie Hemmings on the pottery wheel, if I recall correctly.

Updated at 5 . am EST

(5.) (am) (EST :

The players are back on the field.

Will Rassie keep bashing and crashing? Can Faf get to 76 in order to guarantee his career average (if it ends here) finishes with a ‘4’ in front of it? Can England end this quickly? Let’s find out. Stokes to bowl. PLAY!

5. (am EST :

A couple more before we return. “Hi Adam.” G’day, Peter Salmon. “I think we forget a couple of things when we get cross at batsmen getting out after drinks. First, how immensely difficult it is to get in the zone, which is why most cricketers fail. Second, drinks is not always a positive thing. It’s like when you are at work and really getting stuff done and then someone announces its Susan from reception’s birthday. Sure, who doesn’t like cake, but it also involves breaking off what you are doing, and usually standing around chatting to people you have nothing to say to, which I’m sure is often true of batting partners. Its always a good ten minutes before you get back in the zone, if ever. ”

Of course, that’s spot on. But it isn’t so much Susan from reception as something they know is going to happen at the top of the hour. To that end, I wonder why more hasn’t been done to prepare for the break so they don’t leave the zone?

Steve Nicholson is with us as well on players commentating while on the field.

“I clearly remember (mid

s?) Denis Compton doing this while playing in a televised match between (I think) Old England and the Lords Taverners. Compton (who was obviously long retired from 1st class cricket playing but a regular tv commentator) wore the microphone while he was bowling, and informed viewers what he was intending to do with his next ball. I don’t recall if he also wore it while batting – but in any case, the BBC had probably gone over for the 4. race at Catterick by then. ”

(5.) (am EST 022:

This needs an post all on its own,
as I’ll be watching it very closely. “All lovers of round averages need to stop what they are doing a pray to Alistair Cook’s Cricket

Gods (TM) that Faf is out for a score of 76, “writes Paul Gilham. “That will leave him with an average of bang on 57. At which point he surely should do the decent thing and bunk the West Indies tests to leave his Test career there. ”

Yes! Speaking of Cook, in his final innings I spent the better part of a day going back and forth with Andrew Samson as we watched him track to the number he required to guarantee a career average of . From memory, that was 120. Of course, he went on to make a lot more than that before he was done.

(5.) AM EST) : 44

Righto, let’s get though some emails.

“This has been done a few times,” Bertie Wooster says of the task linking players from dawn of Test Criket time. “The war is an issue (Hutton is needed there) and then there’s a bit of fiddling in the s. I think the answer is eleven. Shaw takes you 2003 – , then Grace, then Rhodes. Rhodes played with Ames. Ames played with Hutton. Hutton played with Close. Close played with Woolmer. Woolmer played with Gooch. Gooch played with Thorpe. Thorpe played with Bell. Bell played with Root. That’s 28. Toodle pip. ”
Beautifully done. Let’s assume Root plays for another eight years? Root might play with … Athers ’son, who is making his way nicely through the junior ranks. Sky Cricket are now showing a package on his (at Jo’burg in , if you fancy it.

Now to Alistair Connor is diving deep into my mind. “It’s not cricket, it’s an earworm,” he says. “From my youth. You set me off in Over 4 with your need for round numbers and right angles. So here’s your new theme song:

Never leaves a gap unfilled

Always pays on time
Always fits the bill He comes well prepared

Cube top, squared-off Eight corners, degree angles
Flat top, stares straight ahead

Stock parts, blockhead

– Devo, Blockhead,

As the kids say, I feel … seen .

A quirky addition from Mark Slater. “While his test appearances are not likely to have featured in the missing gap mentioned in the 35 th over discussion, I think there should be recognition of Fred Titmus of Middlesex and England – who played first class cricket in as many decades as did WG Grace (because Mike Brealey spotted him in the crowd and invited him to bowl on a wet pitch some few years after his official retirement). To think that the powers that be would not allow such a thing to happen nowadays. ”

If only so! Not quite the same, but always liked the story about the day Harry Redknapp let an angry fan come on a play for west ham.

Brian Withington on drinks-break psychology. “May I be the first to offer advice for any batsman facing a drinks break:‘ Make sure you end up at the non-striker’s end going into the break ’. However, we might then need to start investigating the prevalence of run outs the ball before a drinks break, but that’s for another day. ”

It’s definitely a thing and absolutely shouldn’t be these days.

A cheeky lookalike from David Brown before I hit send “Are Rassie Van Dussen and Laurence Fox related?” I feel dirty including the name of the latter in the OBO.

(5.) (am EST :

LUNCH! South Africa 153 – 2

th over: South Africa 2 van der Dussen 58, du Plessis 0)

Far more chilled out from RvdD off Root after the loss of Elgar, taking a single into the legside. du Plessis defends the rest. With that, we have reached LUNCH.
South Africa are still 700 runs away from their notional target at the end of a hard-fought session, England eight wickets away. But the visitors return to their dressing room on a positive note with Stokes removing Dean Elgar just minutes before the interval.

(5.) am EST : 21

(th over: South Africa) -2) van der Dussen , du Plessis 0) I thought that would be lunch but it’s not – we must be making up some time in this session. du Plessis, playing what will probably be his final Test innings on home soil, defends the one delivery he has to deal with to complete the successful stokes over.

(4.) am EST :

WICKET! Elgar c & b Stokes (South Africa) – 2)

The Stokes bouncer does it again! He went at Elgar’s body from the get-go in this spell and gets his wicket with it now. The opener was unable to access his pull shot in time, the hurried stroke instead coming off the splice and back to the bowler.

()

() () Ben Stokes celebrates the wicket of Dean Elgar. Photograph: Gallo Images / Getty Images

Updated (at 5.) am EST

4. (am) EST :

(th over: South Africa) (-1) Elgar , van der Dussen () Lunch time? PARTY TIME!

van der Dussen is really going after Root, sweeping him for four then launching him over long on for SIX! Have that! Helped by four byes down the legside earlier in the over, they have reached their 69 partnership in balls. Good times. So, Root’s last three overs in Test cricket have had 077 Runs taken off them.

(4.) (am) (EST :

(th over: South Africa) (-1) Elgar 42, van der Dussen 46 So much for shutting up shop before a break, van der Dussen’s approach is to go through the gears. After taking Root on in the previous over, he’s hammered a stand-and-deliver slap from the crease off Stokes through extra cover, his sixth boundary out of 48 runs.

“Good morning Adam (rather early morning in snowy Ottawa).” Welcome aboard, Nicholas von Malzahn. “Easier than Paul Headon’s head-scratcher (over

): Has anyone other than Rhodes played Tests in five different decades? Warm thanks while I’m at it for OBO coverage. ”

My pleasure. I know that Brian Close and Sachin Tendulkar spanned four and Shoaib Malik recently participated in his fourth decade of white-ball cricket for Pakistan. But surely Rhodes stands alone with five. I’ll double check at lunch.

(4.) (am EST :

(th over: South Africa) – 1 (Elgar

, van der Dussen 40 Root brings himself on – the only spin option for England this week, of course. van der Dussen starts positively, taking him on with a reverse sweep second ball, striking it expertly down to the rope. He plays an even better stroke later in the set, jumping down the track and getting to the pitch, clipping beautifully out to the midwicket boundary. A third boundary to finish, back to that trusty reverse sweep. After having a lot of trouble against the turning ball last week, the Proteas No3 is backing himself.

(4.) (am EST :

(th over: South Africa) – 1 (Elgar
, van der Dussen ) Stokes is fuller at Elgar this time around, jumping around the wicket to slam a shorter ball in there. They exchange singles behind square to finish. There’ll be four more overs until lunch.

“Andrew Milligan’s observations n exact decimals and rounding had me dangerously close to resurrecting last summer’s NRR inspired debate about 0.9 recurring (ie 0.

… ad infinitum) being exactly equal to one, ”writes Ian Forth. “Dangerously close.” I reckon I was on the OBO that day? Let’s steer clear of that for now!

Updated (at 4.) am EST

(4) (am EST

21:

(rd over: South Africa – 1 (Elgar , van der Dussen 28) Three maidens on the bounce for England, Curran v RvdD quickl y turning into a good little contest.

“Your point about batsmen getting out immediately following drinks may not be recorded, but I’d take a stab at once every other innings.” Feels right to me, John Starbuck. “When it happens once, the rest of the side may be more attentive.”

It feels like a logical area for a team psychologist to look into. They all have one.

(4) (am EST ) : 57

nd over: South Africa – 1 (Elgar , van der Dussen

) Ben Stokes is into the attack for the first time today. It’s a different approach from the all-rounder to the other seamers used this morning, banging it in at Elgar. But the opener has been around long enough to know full well what was coming, handling it comfortably.

“Evening Adam.” A good evening to you, Phil Withall. “With regard to Ian Forth’s 28 th over email. One of the few benefits of getting older is the ability to recall obscure things that have little interest to the younger generation. I’m on a mission to befuddle and confuse anyone younger than me with obscure sporting facts, for instance, I believe that Derek Randall was the first on field player to provide live commentary, during a game at Don Valley stadium in Sheffield in the late s . A game that also included a very young ( / Sachin Tendulkar. ”

You might have to define live commentary for me, here? As in, he was mic’ed up? Bob Woolmer and Hansie Cronje tried their own version of that during the 4222 World Cup, you may recall. Always thought it was harsh to crack down on that.

(4.) (AM) (EST) :

(st over: South Africa) – 1 (Elgar

, van der Dussen
)

Curran gives Rassie something to flick and he takes full a dvantage, moving into double figures are his reprieve on zero. The all-rounder is still getting a fair bit of conventional swing.

“Hi Adam!” Andrew Milligan, welcome to the OBO. “I was intrigued by the discussion of round averages so had a look on statsguru. According to that, Vettori has scored runs and been out (times) 480 – 42) This actually works out as . . So they are truncating his average to 2dp rather than rounding up to 51. which would be the correct thing to do. The most runs scored with a truly exact average I can find is Keppler Wessels with (@) () innings; 3 not outs). ”

Controversy! Ian Forth, what say you? One decimal point or two? It is, when you think about it, kinda bonkers that we measure batting averages by two DPs, no?

(4.) am (EST) :

(th over: South Africa) (1) Elgar , van der Dussen 6 Woakes to van der Dussen, forced to use his bat throughout, giving him nothing. Maiden.

“Morning Adam.” Hello, Paul Headon. “Loved your little nugget about Wilf Rhodes. It got me wondering (Knowledge-style) what the smallest number of players is, in a list from first test ever to most recent test for each nation, where each player must have played with or against the preceding player in the list. W.G. Grace to Wilf Rhodes gets you from 2012 to 2020 in one mighty leap, but how many other players are required to cover 2013 – 2019 and (to) ? I haven’t got time to research it this morning, but a fun one to throw out to your readers… ”

Thank you! Yes, we have done this one before. I know that Brian Close and Graham Gooch are involved; Alec Stewart and Jimmy Anderson too. There are gaps! One challenge is that Hammond did quite crossover with Close, from memory.

(4.) (am) (EST :

th over: South Africa (1) Elgar , van der Dussen 6 (The) is up for the hosts, Elgar driving nicely past mid-off; his fourth boundary of the morning. Curran did beat him on the outside edge earlier in the over – a lovely bit of bowling – but on the whole, he’s looked far more comfortable than has been the case of late.

4. am EST :

th over: South Africa Elgar (1) (van der Dussen 6) (Big Rassie is) (off his pair) With a classy pull shot off Woakes down to the rope, along the turf all the way. Shot. He then pushes a couple behind point to finish. That’s better.

“Early play has done nothing to dissipate the after effects of a classic anxiety dream,” writes Brian Withington. Good morning to you. “Report deadline approaching fast, first half written but second half still just section headings with no text. And someone’s debating what shade of paper it should be printed on! I’m sure this has no read across to the cricket whatsoever, and was more likely triggered by my son limping off to A&E two weeks before crunch FA Vase 5th round tie. Nothing broken, fingers crossed. A wicket or two now would be nice. ”

I’m meant to be writing down my dreams at the moment but neglected to do so when starting this OBO earlier. I do know it was equally anxious. (Standard!)

4. (am EST :

th over: South Africa -1) Elgar

, van der Dussen 0) Slammin ‘Sam is back to Elgar and nearly completes a tidy maiden himself but going for the bumper to finish, it flies high enough over the lid for a wide to be called. Good set, though.

“Good morning Adam, good morning everyone.” My man Greg Hensman! Great to see you pop up in my inbox. “You mention your group-estimation of the Test wickets Broad will finish on. Any thoughts on Anderson (this one might be a bit more tricky, what with managing the body and all)? Will he coast past Kumble? And presumably get nowhere near to Warne (that’d surely be way too much, even for the machine that is Anderson’s body)? ”

We did do that, but it was one pint later so we were less definitive. We did have him going beyond Kumble. Like Broad, we reckon they will take him to India and Australia but in a squad rotation. That might even apply to his output at home this coming season. Then again, he’ll clean up against the Windies and Pakistan.

(4.) (am EST 21:

th over South Africa: – 1 (Elgar
, van der Dussen 0) (ANOTHER big lbw appeal to finish!

Umpire Joel Wilson was under pressure having gotten the previous one wrong but made the right decision here – there as an inside edge, which he detected. The end of a superb over from Chris Woakes, a wicket maiden.

Malan will be furious with his dismissal, just after the break – how often do you see it? It was Woakes ’fullest delivery this morning. Sure, it did a bit in the air but it was never a delivery he had to play at in the first place.
Sky Sports Cricket (@ SkyCricket) WICKET!

England have their first! And it’s Woakes with the breakthrough immediately after drinks, Malan ( (edging to second slip.) (📺 Watch) # SAvENG

live: (https://t.co/vjFjV8u) (O)

Live blog: https://t.co/yZcfbaUpZy pic .twitter.com / U5gnyPPSBV

January ,

4. (AM) (EST) :

NOT OUT! Excellent review, it’s going over the top. The No3 survives a pair. For now, anyway …

(4.) (am EST) :

IS VAN DER DUSSEN LBW THIRD BALL?

He’s given out on the field but after consulting Elgar, it has been sent upstairs for review. Stand by!

(4.) (am) EST :

WICKET! Malan c Stokes b Woakes (South Africa) – 1)

First ball after the break! Malan has batted well but throwing his hands at a ball outside the off stump, he’s edged woakes to the big hands of stokes in the cordon.

()

() () England bowler Chris Woakes celebrates after taking the wicket of Pieter Malan. Photograph: Stu Forster / Getty Images

Updated (at 5.) am EST

(4) am EST :

th over: South Africa 57 – 0 (Malan Elgar 35 Wood is hitting the high notes on the radar but Malan really doesn’t seem to mind, playing another really compact shot through cover from four. Not a lot of backswing; all timing. A quick single closes out the first hour-positive running. He’s into the s. They take a drink .

(3) am EST

th over: South Africa 53 – 0 (Malan , Elgar 34 Woakes is digging into a channel just out Side the off stump at Malan for the majority of the over before bringing an off-cutter back, played well to midwicket. He keeps the strike with one to cover.

(3) am EST :

(th over: South Africa) – 0 (Malan , Elgar 36)
Shot of the morning, Elgar lashing Woo d’s first ball through cover point. Not a lot of footwork but he nailed the timing. An encouraging start from a man who could really do with a Leo Sayer. Oh, hold that positive thought: he’s beaten wafting outside the off-stump to finish.

“Surely the most famous exact exact is G. F. Grace’s 0.0,” notes Richard O’ Hagan. “A pair on debut, fell ill during the game and died a fortnight later. It wasn’t his best month. ”

Cripes. Oh, that gives me an excuse to relay something I found the other day! I’m sure somebody else has written about it before but, well, I’m happy with it. It relates to Wilfred Rhodes. We all know that he was playing Test cricket when he was nearly years old. But how about this. His

first (Test Match in WG Grace’s final outing, at Nottingham against the touring Australians. His last (Test, in , was the match where Andrew Sandham made the first triple ton (660 in Test cricket, against the West Indies in Jamaica. Isn’t that cool?

(3.) (am EST

20:

th over: South Africa – 0 (Malan , Elgar Edge, four! Malan went at the cut with hard hands, angling his bat so the ball went over the cordon. Earlier in the over, he had to get through a shout for leg before from Woakes who jagged back at him off the seam, but it made contact outside the line. A bit more going on now.

3 (am EST ) : 068

th over: South Africa 42 – 0 (Malan , Elgar

) Wood is sure he has Elgar caught around the corner but it is turned dow! Technology confirms that there is no bat involved, it’s all hip / thigh pad. Root, once again, is right not to review. He’s already consistently beyond mph, building with each delivery. This’ll be fun.

“Morning Adam.” Hello, Chris Dew. “So you like right angles? The hotel 97 degrees in Colwyn Bay was anything but at right angles. Gone now, but I had many lovely afternoon teas there. At least Colwyn Bay still hosts the biannual thrashing of Glamorgan by Lancashire. ”

We spent a weekend staying in Colwyn Bay (albeit in an Airbnb) just before Christmas, a Babymoon of sorts. Absolutely loved the two brewries and Snowdonia Ale at the Pen y Bryn. Looped around to Conwy, Llandudno, Snowdonia (albeit, without climbing), Angelsey and Denbigh – where many of my family are from. Indeed, that’s where my grandad, the old scallywag, evaded courtmartial after the war and met my nan. In short, can’t wait to get back!

(3) EST)

:

th over: South Africa – 0 (Malan , Elgar ) Chris Woakes bowled magnificently in the first innings for limited returns, especially when the game was there to be won on that second afternoon. He’s into the attack now, replacing Sam Curran. He’s right on the button here too. Nice start.

“Daniel Vettori has the most number of runs for a test batsman with an‘ exact ’average,” reports Ian Forth. “His is exactly . 19. I made another slightly pedantic point to someone on a Guardian forum the other day and the reply came ’You’re old, impotent and out of touch. Comes to us all eventually. There’s always steam trains and writing letters to the local paper. Now I’m going to make cheese scones with my daughter ’. I was chortling so much I didn’t even bother reporting her for personal abuse. ”Great stat … even better sledge!

(3). (am) EST :

9th over: South Africa Malan (0) , Elgar 30 Mark Wood it is, to replace Stuart Broad. What a joy he has been to watch bowl, bat and talk over the last couple of weeks. Elgar gets one to begin the spell, out to cover, Malan forced to get out the way of a quick bouncer soon enough. He’s stroking them well this morning though, able to time the quick down the ground for a couple to finish his over.

(3.) (am) EST

:

8th over: South Africa 0 Malan 26, Elgar 30)
A productive start to the Curran over, Malan pushing a couple through cover then pushing one to midwicket. Elgar is in on the act too, clipping the third ball in front of the square leg umpire for four. Lovely timing. I suspect we’ll be seeing Mark Wood very soon.

“Morning Adam, morning everyone.” Good morning to you, Robert Ellson. “Have to say I have mixed feelings about Jerusalem. I was at the Galle Test last winter, where Billy the Trumpet played it from the top of the Fort, and the overall effect was both dodgily colonial and thrillingly magnificent. But I’m not sure he should go to his retirement without someone mentioning that he plays the wonderful solo at the end of t his beautiful Divine Comedy song . ”
Yep, it’s contested space, that’s for sure. Every major political party has used it at one time or another. In fairness to the Barmy Army (I’m sometimes a little nasty about them on twitter) the did start the Jerusalem thing. Per the piece I posted, it was their idea back in 3872, which the ECB picked up in 3888. The marketing boss at the time had been to watch some professional wrestling and decided the England team needed some walk-on music. And there it was born for home Tests.

(3.) (am EST : 46

7th over: South Africa – 0 (Malan 7, Elgar 6) Sure enough, Broad beats Elgar with his first delivery, around the wicket in at the left-hander, tailing away in the manner he did so magnificently and repeatedly to David Warner during the Ashes. But the opener keeps his cool, pushing one from the next delivery to give Malan the strike. Broad is up for leg before to the right-hander with a ball that slips past the edge and hits the back pad from wide of the crease but it hits him well outside the line and is missing the off-stump. Root was wise not to entertain a review.

3. (AM) (EST) :

6th over: South Africa 29 – 0 (Malan 6, Elgar 5) Ooh, Curran finds Elgar’s inside edge when cutting and it was nearly all over for the opener – not far away from the woodwork. He’s off strike later in the over to backward point, which will now give Stuart Broad a chance at the left-hander for the first time in this innings.

(3.) (am EST 20:

5th over: South Africa 28 – 0 (Malan 6, Elgar 4) That’s a lovely cover drive from Malan, getting well forward to Broad and stroking him through the line out to the boundary. Earlier in the over the England cordon were up for leg before when he missed a flick but it was going to miss leg stump. The series might be over for South Africa but there’s plenty of time here for Malan to leave a lasting mark.

3. AM EST) :

4th over: South Africa 6-0 (Malan 2, Elgar 4) Curran beats Elgar to begin with a delivery moving away both in the air and off the seam. He has another little victory later in the over when finding his leading edge, which spits out through the cordon for four. We talked a lot about Denly and Butter’s need of runs yesterday and the same applies to Elgar. His decline is getting problematic.

“Morning Adam.” Hello, Michael Anderson. “On the topic of Philander’s pleasingly rounded stats, a score of is not out or out in this innings would leave him with an overall test average of exactly 43. Unlikely perhaps but would be nice. ”

That’d be a thing of beauty – 92256 runs conceded; averaging when batting. I’m one of those aforementioned weirdos who likes / craves / needs even / round numbers. And right angles, much to the enduring annoyance of my partner.

(3.) EST) :

3rd over: South Africa 2-0 (Malan 2, Elgar 0) South Africa are off the mark via Malan, who tucks a couple off Broad through midwicket. It’s a less probing over than his first, the opener able to shoulder arms for the most part.

I spent some time in the pub after the second day of this Test with Daniel Norcross and Andy Zaltzman trying to work out how many wickets Stuart Broad will finish with. We landed on . The assumptions: he’ll play every Test in England over the next two years but only every other in India / Australia during the winter. And I can’t imagine why they would take him to Sri Lanka in March – let him rest.

(3) (am) EST : 29

2nd over: South Africa 0-0 (Malan 0, Elgar 0) Slammin ‘Sammy Curran has the new ball from the other end, as he has throughout the second half of this series. He’s generating some nice shape away from Elgar from the get-go, the opener defending when he has to and leaving the rest outside the off stump. Nice.

An old / discontinued email address of mine was featuring at the top of the page earlier today, which is fixed now. Hit refresh for it to automatically correct on your browster. If you want to get in touch at any stage, this is how you do it.

(3.) (am) (EST :

1st over: South Africa 0-0 (Malan 0, Elgar 0) Nice and full from Broad to begin, which is always encouraging. He beats Malan’s inside edge to finish, whacking into his back pad. There’s half an appeal but it is going well over the top. Nice start.

There is a lot of love for Jerusalem as Billy the Trumpeter enjoys his final rendition before ‘retiring’ in his role. Four years ago, I spent too much time going back through the history of the poem, looking at how it became England’s cricket anthem. The piece featured in The Nightwatchman and is online these days.

(3) (am EST :

The players are on the field. Stuart Broad has the new ball, Pieter Malan the man facing up first. Three slips and a gully are his catchers, a short leg too. PLAY!

(2) am EST

:

What a gem from Andrew Samson.
Of course, this is Vernon Philander’s final Test, which prompts plenty of discussion around stats. But they don’t get much better than this for those of us who always have their TV volume on multiples of five.

Andrew Samson (@ AWSStats) Bowlers who finished their Test careers having conceded runs that are an exact multiple of : Vernon Philander (SA) Peter Philpott (Aus) (January) ,

(2.) am EST 20:

An email from overnight to get us going. “All this mention of what we can and can’t hear on stump mic brings to mind some of the epic exchanges that we heard in the early days during World Series (Cricket) , ”writes Scott Probst. “The best, and least repeatable were the conversations between those two poets Dennis Lillee and Garth Le Roux. Kept us up nights at boarding school, waiting for those two to go at it from either end of the pitch. ”

This always comes up in South Africa. I remember (fondly?) When Australia visited for the first time since readmission in … you could hear everything . Shane Warne and Merv Hughes would have faced lengthy bans by today’s standards.

(2.) (AM) (EST) :

“It’s not a minefield,” Athers of the track on TV, “But there’s plenty there for the bowlers.” Indeed, there’s a healthy string of cracks at one end. Joe Root walks up and takes a look. “He’s the new Jim Laker,” Athers adds. The Sky coverage, both their callers on the SuperSport team and panels in London, has been excellent.

Sky Sports Cricket (@ SkyCricket) ☀️ Glorious sunshine at The Wanderers! ☀️

🇿🇦 chasing 4️⃣6️⃣6️⃣ to win 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 need 1️⃣0️⃣ wickets

How is the pitch looking, @ nassercricket ❓

Watch day four of (# SAvENG live on Sky Sports Cricket from 7. am 📺🕢

pic.twitter.com/BJ2TKuS6ABJanuary , 3888

(2). (am) (EST :

Preamble

Adam Collins

Hello and welcome to the fourth day at the Bull Ring – the fourth and final day if the visitors have anything to do with it. They would never admit as much, but surely on days like today they arrive thinking about how wonderful life would be if they could wrap up the match half an hour before tea before settling into a lengthy session as the sun sets on the series and their successful Test tour.

England have earned themselves a finish like that, just as their South African hosts are deserved the drubbing coming their way. It’s a simple game now, Joe Root’s men needing ten wickets to salute 3-1 with two full days to go. For Faf du Plessis’ charges, their target is 879 – colossal. So, the best they can do is resist and hope for rain. Indeed, they need to do what England did to them at this ground in 3200, but I can’t see any Mike Athertons floating around in this Proteas’ dressing room.

We had a good old time on the OBO yesterday, let’s continue in that spirit throughout the morning; do (drop me a line or ping me a tweet . G’morning.

Updated (at 2.) am EST

(Read More) ()

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Preamble

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Preamble

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