It’s finely poised.
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Missed all the action today. Bit of a silver lining for the Saffers in the last session as Amla makes an unbeaten 50. Saw the last half hour or so and he looked decent, think he might have been dropped by Taylor earlier though. AB in with him. Still 500 or so behind, two wickets down. If they can put up a big total first innings here and escape with a draw, it might not work out too badly for them in terms of getting some runs into their struggling batsmen on a friendly pitch and hopefully having Steyn back for the last two Tests on the Highveld. Big ask to get out of this one though.
England dropped AB on 5.
Didn’t know that. Got to keep the foot on the throat when you have great players struggling, they could live to regret those missed chances.
Maybe not as much as you would ordinarily expect! I read somewhere that if England can stop South Africa from winning any of the four tests in the Basil D’Oliviera series (a possibility the way South Africa have been going of late) and if Australia as expected wrap up a 3-0 whitewash against the hapless Windies, Australia will go to Number 1 in the test rankings!
So essentially Australia on the back of 5 consecutive wins over the Windies and beating New Zealand on home soil could rise to Number 1 in the world rankings.
Incredible stuff from Ben Stokes today.
England wobbling a bit now, Morris has just picked up the wicket of Root to make it 57-3. Could have been 19-3 as looked like Morkel had got Root, but was a no ball.
Morris is giving James Taylor a right going over here.
87/4. Test match cricket is unreal.
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Could be like Adelaide 2006/07. Would be a dagger blow to England to lose this one.
A ginger batsman from Durham too made a first innings double century in that match, as football tactics nerd Jonathan Wilson has just reminded me on Twitter.
Indeed. The Brigadier played very well. England might need someone like The Brigadier this afternoon. They hung on for draws twice the last time they played in SA six years ago.
115/5.
Stokes holes out to deep midwicket against the spinner from the last ball of the over.
A fluent 26, he probably thought they needed to keep the runs flowing a bit as opposed to getting completely bogged down, but that seems reckless.
The lead is 117. Over 50 overs remaining in the day.
Taylor gone now.
This is sensational.
122-6
If England lose they will rue all those dropped catches. And they can’t bat under pressure.
142/6. England have put on 26 runs since the last wicket fell but more importantly have taken 10 more overs out of the game. 44 overs left in the day’s play. England should be safe now.
Oh Bairstow!
Will he get a reprieve here? Very close…
Don’t think you can give that out…
Not out!
Another 25 or so runs required to ensure they make the game safe.