South Africa v England, 1st Test, Centurion, 26-30 December, 2019

lardbucket wrote:Bairstow seems to have been practising leaving a bigger gate for bowlers to target.

Noticed that. Nortje bags his second and QDK has five catches.

As it stands, Philander's average sits below 22.

England eight- for and still over a hundred behind.

QDK has six catches.

SA ends up with a lead of 108. England fell into a heap in the end.

Let's see if their bowlers can rally.

Philander with the figures, four pegs and rather niggardly.

Oh Kock... we crapitulated again. Yarps four down fairly cheaply, but they probably have enough already.

Why did I think Naughty/Nokia was a spinner when I saw the teamsheet? Certainly has some raw pace about him anyway...

Wow. This game has galloped on. Fantastic to see Vern start his last series in such great form with the ball as well as adding some starch to the Saffie tail.

Question: Why did England and the Yarp top order in the second dig play as if it was a 50 over match?

Observation: Good to see Root's protector and Pomgoila's next skipper make a fighting 50.

Where is Nigel? Like Death and Taxes, one can always count on Taipan to hide away during a Yarp match thread

So Yarps are effectively 4-180.

It will take something special from England to avoid 1-0 from here.

skully wrote:So Yarps are effectively 4-180.

It will take something special from England to avoid 1-0 from here.

Apparently 4/175.

SA will definitely need to add more runs as surely England cannot capitulate so badly again.

Matches in SA tend to go along at a fair pace.

On that second line, Red - obviously, you've not been following England's batting very closely ....

The Yarps almost threw this away. The Faffer increasingly looks a white ball cricketer.

horace wrote:The Yarps almost threw this away. The Faffer increasingly looks a white ball cricketer.

Yep, they were a little bit profligate.

PeterCS wrote:On that second line, Red - obviously, you've not been following England's batting very closely ....

Well they have batsmen at least potentially more dangerous than their opponents - Root, Stokes and Buttler could knock off a modest tally alone.

Seems consecutive knuckle balls from Joffrey nearly took the nightwatchman's head off.

Faff had a cry about it to the match referee after a 2nd call of no-ball (which would've ruled Archer out for the match) was rescinded by the umps.

King Joffrey says “Bring me his head!”

Maybe he should have stuck to the beamers, an hour’s play today and we still haven’t got their Jon Snow out.

Anyway, useful start from the openers before it inevitably all falls in a heap and we pray for a Stokes miracle.

Markram ruled out for the series for the Yarps. What’s their backup at the top of the order, a Kock up perhaps?

Few openers are as woeful as Marky Mark Markram. It is a mystery he is in the team (quota for a particular 'good school').

Excellent effort from Burns. Pomgolia has a chance to pinch a win.

Hmm, can England keep their head?

The pitch seemed to have died a bit. Still, a decent effort by Burns. First hour tomorrow is key.

Looks like it's become easier to bat on as the match as progressed. Sometimes Centurion becomes a featherbed by the end.

The way Rabada is bowling, it's almost England's test to lose.

SA was a bit cavalier with their batting at times; they didn't make the match safe.

Anyone know what the dustup between Stokes & Broad was about?

Big Dog wrote:Anyone know what the dustup between Stokes & Broad was about?

No .. but hardly surprising those two creeps could fall out.

arguing about which one of them was The Enforcer, probably

Burns and Denly gone

Another Stokes masterpiece??

He came in with exactly the same number of runs needed as at Headingley

Unfortunately, the absence of Leach is likely to leave him stranded when he runs out of partners.

England working themselves into a great position.