180 all out.

Huge final session of the day coming up, England need to make some early inroads but I'm not confident.

Rain, another 4 days worth please

Apparently its quite green so why we batted god alone knows.

They said this morning that the team thats won the toss has batted on the last 9 occasions and have won 8 of the games so you can see why they choose to bat on the back of that.

They've again just not batted well enough. It's not a pitch your going to romp to 600-5 on but then it isn't a pitch you should be 180 all out on.

It was a very poor effort.

I'll volunteer a suggestion. To avoid batting last on it.

If SA get a big score we might still end up batting last on it.

This is the [islight[/i flaw in the plan... It only works if your key players don't chuck their wickets away by smearing a dolly straight to mid on and yes I am talking to you Kevin Bloody Pietersen

You may get your wish. The forecast is awful.

Not seen much of today's action, though the scores on the doors indicate a bit of a disaster for England...



However, I'm slightly baffled by Strauss's decision to bat first...



Its not that its a particularly wrong decision (I understand Smith said he would have done the same?), but considering that Strauss has put SA in to bat on the last 2 occasions when the pitches were more batsman friendly, he now decides to bat on a strip which, from what I have read, has been doctored to create a positive result.....Surely Strauss should have definitely gone second on this one if his past decisions are anything to go by?

Like I say, I'm just a bit confused...almost as illogical as deciding to bat first on an overcast Yorkshire morning against Australia...

Innit. There's other players who've been dropped for less.

SA said they would bat first so, I can't see too much wrong with Straus's decsion.

I'm not saying it was wrong....I'm just baffled as to why in the previous 2 tests he put SA in on supposedly better strips than this present one, which everybody knew was being prepared for a result....

According to the press, the groundsman was told to prepare a wicket that will produce a result. That means a strip that makes 30-40 wickets fall. If the pitch is a bowler friendly wicket from day one then it is likely it will be a nightmare to bat on in day 4 or 5, hence choosing to bat 1st.

That aside England were just plain rubbish

Lots of rain forecast for this afternoon.

Exactly. They shouldn't have been bowled out for 180 and it's as simple as that. If we look at the South Africans this morning they're showing the way to do it and thats by toughing it out and not giving your wickets away. England can't do that and haven't been able to for a while. They don't look disciplined enough and just seem to switch off when they get their scores above 20.

The batsman have yet again let the side down and will be the reason we don't win the series.

England have been woeful, sure, and to be honest the way we batted has just, well, it's made me sad. I've booked today off to watch the cricket and I feel deflated to be honest.

This said, we've not had the rub of the green here, Cook maybe was unlucky, the decision with Smith I found staggering and he's still there, SA have played some awful shots too but they've missed fielders, that's the game I guess, fine margins.

In all honesty, they more than deserve to draw this series.

Oh, Sidebottom, me.

It made me laugh when Kallis said he thought we'd had the luck throughout the series because tbh I don't think we've had a scrap. We've hardly had any good decisions via the referal system both batting and bowling especially the Smith incident this morning which is a farce(The South African broadcasters didn't provide sound for Harper unlike the Sky coverage so he heard nothing whereas we heard a huge sound as he nicked the ball) and the Cook one yesterday which to me was a no ball.

That said they've probably been the better side just about so to come away with a 1-1 draw out of the series won't be a bad result and is a scoreline I think the majority would have taken at the start of the tour.

Crooked sound engineer?

Ha ha ha. They're talking at Lunch and with the Smith dismissal the South African broadcasters sent the replays up to the 3rd umpire Harper and it had no sound on so he didn't hear the nick whereas in the replays by the same broadcasters just after Smith had been given not out you could clearly hear the nick.......................ummmmm something fishy going on by any chance?

Yeah Kallis we've had all the luck in this series

It's about the 3rd time a South African player has edged behind in this series only to be given not out because SBC don't have all the technology like Sky do! If they're going to use this review system then they need every country to be able to provide the full range of tools like Snicko and hotspot.

They are now saying Harper had the sound on his TV either muted ot turned down vey low, which is why he never heard it!

To be honest that would not surprise me...he is an abysmal umpire and having him on video umpiring duty is quite clearly asking for trouble!
I think Bob Willis may well explode this evening on the Sky highlights programme...he's not Harper's biggest fan at the best of times!!

Worst umpire in the world strikes again



Hopefully the rain will keep us in the game............it's our only hope.

The ICC need to shoulder the blame on this one. If you're going to introduce a referral system then every match needs to be played under the same rules, and if that means the host broadcaster or governing body putting their hands in their pockets to provide the best technology so be it.

Doing it this way and giving home teams an opt out is ridiculous.

Willis was funny in the last test,

"What's this joker doing out there, he's a joke of an umpire ..." Etc ...

I miss him in commentary sometimes, I mean, he's an idiot, a negative idiot, but he was funny at times when you needed a laugh.

"Absolute tripe from Harmison ..."