Cricket fred

[Galfon]

..Japan.
How did that happen?

East Asia Pacific regional qualifiers..
PNG usually strongest from them parts, but what's this?
'Japan were scheduled to play Papua New Guinea in their final qualification fixture, but Papua New Guinea forfeited the match. The Papua New Guinea Cricket Board later suspended ten of the players for a year, after bringing the game into disrepute following a shoplifting incident'
Sounds like it was a team effort

Not sure where Singapore or HK fit in these days.

Jap get same points as NZ from the opening fixture.
That will disappoint.

[Galfon]

..unlike the start to D4 by Eng.
3 taken in the first 3 overs for nowt - the follow-on will be visiting soon.

u/d: how soon is now ? 3 for Broad, wrapped up in 5 overs, just 1 to the total. Decent porridge, clearly.

[Digby]

Rain probably forced the hand on the follow on, but probably the right call when things wrapped up so quickly, and then especially with the rain, fingers crossed not for rain (for once)

[Galfon]

SA appear adamant thst 4-day tests are the way forward.. good to have real nift in the bowling armoury.

[Digby]

That was a weird catch by Wood. No idea what SA think they're doing, bar not thinking

[fivepointer]

Piece of cake this test cricket, isnt it?

England have played well but SA have been pretty wretched since the start of day 2 when Stokes and Pope took the game away from them.

[Digby]

Piece of cake this test cricket, isnt it?

England have played well but SA have been pretty wretched since the start of day 2 when Stokes and Pope took the game away from them.

SA today look like a team not used to test cricket, day 3 of match 3 and it's all just piling up. Also like us their batting is..., inconsistent

[Banquo]

Piece of cake this test cricket, isnt it?

England have played well but SA have been pretty wretched since the start of day 2 when Stokes and Pope took the game away from them.

SA today look like a team not used to test cricket, day 3 of match 3 and it's all just piling up. Also like us their batting is..., inconsistent

SA are a poor side.

[Stom]

Root bowling himself over after ineffective over chasing his 5fer...not the sign of a good captain.

[Digby]

Piece of cake this test cricket, isnt it?

England have played well but SA have been pretty wretched since the start of day 2 when Stokes and Pope took the game away from them.

SA today look like a team not used to test cricket, day 3 of match 3 and it's all just piling up. Also like us their batting is..., inconsistent

SA are a poor side.

It's taken a while to really show, perhaps being masked by the first innings performance in the first test. They've had moments since then, but aren't putting in back to back sessions where they're better than competitive, and that whilst losing a good few sessions

[Banquo]

Dom Bess rewarded for a five for by being dropped for Woakes. I get it’s likely a seamers pitch, but surely that’s an excellent test as to whether he can hold down an end- vital if we end up with Archer and Wood and Stokes in the same attack.

[Digby]

Good for Bess to have to learn to deal with such a pitch, and Root needs the practice using spinners

[Banquo]

Good for Bess to have to learn to deal with such a pitch, and Root needs the practice using spinners

Indeed. Now we’ve reverted to collapsing type, even Stokes has failed

[Digby]

Good for Bess to have to learn to deal with such a pitch, and Root needs the practice using spinners

Indeed. Now we’ve reverted to collapsing type, even Stokes has failed

I find I barely care. I know Denly and Root give some options, but if they want to play without a spinner they don't deserve to do well

[Banquo]

Good for Bess to have to learn to deal with such a pitch, and Root needs the practice using spinners

Indeed. Now we’ve reverted to collapsing type, even Stokes has failed

I find I barely care. I know Denly and Root give some options, but if they want to play without a spinner they don't deserve to do well

SA have done the same but I get your point.

[Galfon]

After the usual mid-order fart, steady progress by Buttler mbe & Woakes, who presumably is in to stiffen the tail/bowl tightly and help secure the series win, if not this match.
Less than 350 would be below par first up here.

[fivepointer]

Our day. A little disappointing not to see a batsman make a century but a good collective effort to make 400.
Bowlers have backed it up. SA look shot.

[Galfon]

Good pace by Wood.Back-to-back follow-ons by Eng are rare indeed, (though JR will probs. elect to bat again...)
Not quite ridiculous to sublime, as SA have been poor, but options look much better this year.

[Puja]

I actually endorse the decision to bat again - the pitch isn't going to get better over time and we are more than capable of screwing up a small run chase. Better to bat while SA are demoralised, get more test batting minutes and confidence into the likes of Sibley, Crawley, and Denley (possibly Pope, depending on the situation).

Besides, it's only Day 3 and the forecast is for dry weather. We could bat until lunch tomorrow, present SA with a run chase of 500 to even draw the series, and let our bowlers go at them on a deteriorating pitch.

Puja

[Digby]

Especially with no spinner to allow the quicks more rest

[fivepointer]

Right call to bat again. Plenty of time left in the game for us to get a big lead and have 5 sessions to bowl out SA a second time.
A fair bit going right for England so far, but Denly and Buttler's form is a concern.

[Digby]

Unless we're declaring today that's a weird innings from Stokes

[Puja]

Unless we're declaring today that's a weird innings from Stokes

Either that, or we did want to give Pope a bit more experience of a situation that he's likely to come across as an England #6 - coming in before we've hit 150.

Puja

[Digby]

Looking at Curran then Stokes was doing as told
I was assuming he's bat until 40-50 minutes before lunch tomorrow

[Digby]

Possibly this ensures Buttler's survival, harsh to send players out to score quickly and then drop them for getting out cheaply