Philandophilia: England in South Africa 2019-20

[Antepli Ejderha]

Fourth incident in two years apparently, hence the ban.

[Etienne]

Yeah, this is a cumulative process for Rabada (it's far from the first time he's crossed the line). It's always a tricky one for the authorities, Rabada is a brilliant player (and not unimportantly in this South African team that is struggling to meet development goals a brilliant black player) and everyone wants to see him on the field, but how else are they to police behaviour? Fines might be a deterrent for some players, but not a superstar who can earn millions playing T20 leagues.

Pope looks the business.

[Kevin S]

And I guess the trouble is now the ICC has got into the habit of policing celebrations, they're having to decide where the line is between what is ok and what isn't. And that all becomes quite tedious - you only need to look at the NFL to see where it gets you.

[Kevin S]

Woo, Stokes gets his ton.

[Ray de Galles]

I'm reaching a view that England are just a better side than South Africa right now, though it helps that they've won all three tosses. Must feel like deja vu for the hosts.

That was the overwhelming opinion in the previews for the series, especially given the transitional stage SA are currently in, and perhaps it really was the illness that struck England in the first test that gave the hosts the best chance of a win that they're going to get.

[nmrfox]

Been a very good disciplined partnership so far, with the right amount of aggression combined with watchfulness tiring the SA bowlers. Big Vern has been partiularly poor today from what I've seen, especially compared to his usual high standards. I wonder if the top 4 are all regretting having got out when all made starts in view of how realtively easy Stokes and Pope are making it look. Try and get to 500 before close today and declare maybe? 150 runs in a session and a half should be achieveable, despite SA's tactic of bowling wide down the offside and will give England a handful overs at the close to unsettle the openers.

Re Rabada. As others have pointed out, it does seem a bit harsh, but he has got a lot of previous with his celebrations and will therefore be a prime target to pick up demerit points. By all means celebrate a wicket, but running up screaming at the batsmen really isn't on and if he can't control himself better, he's (sadly) going to miss a lot more cricket.

[Kevin S]

Buttler's c&b 1 has probably taken 500 off the table though Curran's quickfire 44 has really helped accelerate things for England. Pope has completed an excellent century and will now be looking to farm the strike with support from the bowlers and see where it takes us.

Edit - and there goes the 8th for 426. So 450 would be good from here.

[Gangster Octopus]

When did England last get a 400 in the first innings?

[Kevin S]

Kesh Maharaj doing the damage today. Is he coming back to the Championship for a spell this year?

[longeared]

Yeah, he's back with Yorkshire for the first couple of Championship games, then Ravi Ashwin replaces him.

[Kevin S]

When did England last get a 400 in the first innings?

December against New Zealand, 476 in reply to New Zealand's 375.

[Gangster Octopus]

Not since last month then...

[Kevin S]

But it's somewhat longer since England did it when batting first - December 2017 in the Ashes at Perth. Unfortunately the Aussies then made over 660 and won by an innings.....

[Gangster Octopus]

By the way, E10 is doing the Graun's OBO.

[Kevin S]

Cheers GO.

My word, Mark Wood is justifying his selection before he even bowls a ball. Bravo.

[Kevin S]

499/9 declared as Wood is felled and Kesh gets his fifer.

Bloody annoying of Root not to allow England to tick off the extra run.

[Ray de Galles]

5 sixes in 22 balls? Does he play a lot of T20? What has happened to the bowling?

[nmrfox]

Buttler's c&b 1 has probably taken 500 off the table though.

How right you were as England fall short on 499-9 delared : )

[Kevin S]

Heh, cheers foxy! Would have been interesting if we'd had any takers of high scores on the prediction game too.

Does anyone fancy taking part in a prediction game for this match? If so, copy and complete the below before the toss please. Most of the predictions have to relate to the first innings for reasons of fairness.

_______________________________________
Match result: SA win / Eng win / draw

Chosen batter (first innings):

Chosen bowler (first innings):

South Africa first innings score: 0-49 / 50-99 / 100-149 / 150-199 / 200-249 / 250-299 / 300-349 / 350-399 / 400-449 / 450-499 / 500+

England first innings score: 0-49 / 50-99 / 100-149 / 150-199 / 200-249 / 250-299 / 300-349 / 350-399 / 400-449 / 450-499 / 500+
_______________________________________

Scoring:
Correct result = 40 points
Batter = 1 point per run
Bowler = 15 points per wicket
Score ranges: 10 points each team

(This is shamelessly borrowed and adapted from Middlesex CCC.)

[Ray de Galles]

I wonder if England will even need to bat again.

[G-Man]

499/9 declared as Wood is felled and Kesh gets his fifer.

Bloody annoying of Root not to allow England to tick off the extra run.

I've noticed that sides often declare just a few runs short of a landmark score. Is there a good reason to declare at 499 instead of 500, or instead of, say, 487?

[Etienne]

"It's a shame England don't have a top line spinner given how dead the pitch looks for seamers" - what I nearly posted yesterday!

[Capybara]

I've noticed that sides often declare just a few runs short of a landmark score. Is there a good reason to declare at 499 instead of 500, or instead of, say, 487?

I didn't notice the precise timing of the declaration, but that can be a factor. Declaring on 499 means South Africa need to score 300 to avoid the possibility of following on, which might have a slight psychological effect.

[ad hoc]

In this case though it was just because Wood got out. He tried to declare about 30 runs previously when Wood was "out" to a no-ball. The actual score on the board didn't come into it

[Capybara]

Ah, right.