England in South Africa

[verndog158]

ha nirvana, niggle all you like! finn keeps taking wickets, and i guess at some point ill have to eat my words, but still doesnt quite convince me at test level. yeah he took 4, but 3 were complete burglaries!

like stokes in the side, balances it well. ideally if bairstow improves then he would bat 6 and stokes at 7. think that looks best?

man of the match for moeen too, surprised by that, then again, not many obvious candidates, more plenty of good performances. compton and taylor first innings set it up though

[BorntoBubble]

I suppose its a good sign that we stuffed them and there were no stand out MOM performances. Lots of good performances with nothing really stand out.

SA looked average. Saying that, I bet we get stuffed at newlands.

[TightEnd]

Boycott: South Africa vs England: The Proteas are a mess at the moment and ripe for a walloping again

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricket/international/england/12074556/South-Africa-vs-England-The-Proteas-are-a-mess-at-the-moment-and-ripe-for-a-walloping-again.html

[TightEnd]

newlands...a bat first pitch...cracked already

important toss

Click to see full-size image.

[TightEnd]

Dale Steyn ruled out of Cape Town Test with shoulder injury

[vegaslover]

England need to win this, very different prospect facing both Steyn and Philander in the 3rd test

[TightEnd]

big toss to win this. great pitch, steyn and philander missing.

[nirvana]

Good to see Hales making a solid start - haven't been sure about him but hope he proves me wrong.

[buzzharvey22]

Would be happy for Ben stokes to prove us doubters wrong right now!!

[horseplayer]

Not bad this stokes lad

[buzzharvey22]

I've never doubted him. Ever.

[nellberg]

I'm a Stokes doubter (everyone at my club goes over-board on all our Durham players so I like to play devil's advocate and choose the opposite course haha), but today showed his worth, taking the game away from the opponent late in the day when they tire. I still want his stats to improve, with both ball and bat, but today is a step in the right direction for that and stats don't show the benefit of momentum-changing innings like today. Hope he goes big tomorrow. On the other side of the coin, what was Amla doing with Morkel? No Steyn or Philander, surely Morkel is your go-to man, yet doesn't get the 2nd new ball, doesn't bowl for an hour after lunch? They are ripe for the taking here.

[horseplayer]

Amla is beyond poor as a skipper

Be amazed if he is for the third test regardless of the result here

[Longy]

Amla is beyond poor as a skipper

Be amazed if he is for the third test regardless of the result here

There is South African politics at play here, ab de villiers is the obvious replacement but he is already moaning about his workload never mind the captaincy.

[buzzharvey22]

Alreet Stokesy you've made your point.