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43rd over: South Africa 104-3 (Petersen 31, van der Dussen 19) Leach to Petersen, set and forget. Another maiden. Looks like these two are settling in for a long afternoon.
42nd over: South Africa 104-3 (Petersen 31, van der Dussen 19) Chance! Throw? Not exactly! There’s a man close to the side, a very close and straight midwicket, and Petersen almost selects Ollie Pope in that position. Things from the boss’s hand after he set the plan for the South African number three and stuck to it since lunch.
England’s Ollie Pope reacts after missing a chance to catch the ball from a shot by South Africa’s Keegan Petersen (back). Picture: Jon Super/APEngland Captain Ben Stokes and bowler James Anderson react. Photograph: Stu Forster/ECB/Getty Images
Updated at 2.13pm BST
41st over: South Africa 98-3 (Petersen 26, van der Dussen 18) Leach, we mused before lunch, is bowling faster. Well, that also applies to the length of his overs now – in the best tradition of his fellow left-arm spinners Jadeja and O’Keefe, he has bowled this maiden in 75 seconds. Petersen defends at all times.
“Adam”. John Starbuck! “About ‘seven’: yes, but first we read it in the OBO. I think it was either you or Tim that I told about this 4-5 years ago. A bigger mass of cricket fans now know about it thanks to The Hundred, so it wakes them up a lot more. But there is nothing new under the sun (unless it is Out of Africa, to alter the dates).
Yes, that was me you got stuck on a few times about this! I suspect I would have answered you as I did in the previous post – it’s second nature to me to use that as an option for “about” so as not to repeat myself, because we’ve been saying it in the field forever. But I understand your point that not everyone has been playing decades of cricket, so the slang on the field might break if the only link to hearing that term is through The Hundred. But I insist to anyone/everyone, that Butch’s use of it is not some subliminal conspiracy from heaven.
40th over: South Africa 98-3 (Petersen 26, van der Dussen 18) Nice shot, Petersen back on the front foot for three with a drive from Anderson outside mid-off. Which won’t worry the veteran, though, that he’s getting some movement both ways from what’s left of the seam, though it doesn’t look like a reverse swing to the naked eye (through a screen). Suddenly, the game is drifting a bit.
39th over: South Africa 95-3 (Petersen 23, van der Dussen 18) Rassie is in no rush but looks to score when he can, drilling Leach down the leg stump for three more to start the over. Petersen looks comfortable in defense until the last delivery, dropping back deep into the crease to cut to deep point and hold the shot.
A few others recommended listening to Dave Manby. “Just listened to Peter White’s interview on TMS for the lunchtime talk, describing ‘watching cricket’ as a blind person and also talking about everyone’s expectation that he should have a dog with him all the time. (Useful trip to Oxford Circus “Where’s your canine companion?”, “Oh, I must have left him on the tube!” Apparently they suspended the Bakerloo line to find this non-existent dog! Hear it “.
Viewed from the edge, it’s almost always worth your time. Want to know how it started? The third part of Daniel Norcross and my audio document of the first lockout of 2020 in 100 years of cricket broadcasting was devoted to Test Match Special.
38th over: South Africa 91-3 (Petersen 22, van der Dussen 15) Jimmy is spun towards the Statham End, which, during the trip, has been his preference. It’s his first crack at van der Dussen, who moves forward and back into defense before keeping a full ball with an inside kick. Petersen has a delivery to deal with and jumps to his box. unpleasant The usual routine is played: the batter doubles in pain; everyone else laughs. I’m not immune, I laughed too.
South Africa’s Keegan Petersen reacts after being hit by a ball from England’s James Anderson. Photograph: Lindsey Parnaby/AFP/Getty Images
Updated at 1.59pm BST
37th over: South Africa 90-3 (Petersen 22, van der Dussen 14) Leach has a short touch to Petersen early in the last over and pulls away for a couple, but the spinner improves from there with a ball that takes a long time to finish. , Petersen keeping an eye on his stump and Foakes’ gloves. “What a set, boy!” roars Ben Stokes.
Okay, I said I wasn’t going to do Culture Wars stuff here today, but given Stokes’ comment there, I think I have to at one point. Last week, Mark Butcher used “seven” to describe an ending and a lot of people got really angry. Butch responded on Twitter, and it got even worse. I can only vouch for what he says – the set has been used in every Cricket I have played since I was a kid in Australia 30 years ago. It was definitely not invented for The Hundred. Not everything has to be an online clipping. Or not?
The players return to the field. Leach gets the first one. PLAY!
Staying on topic, Andrew Thomas has other frustrations. “Forget being asked for ID,” he says, “what pisses me off is when the automated teller asks a member of staff to confirm my age and presses a button marked ‘The customer is clearly over 18 years'”. One (only?) positive of the Covid mask era: getting ID.
And a note from Iain Noble before the players return. “One thing that often gets lost in the need for Foakes to be on the Test side is that he achieves the role that the chef used to play in providing a reason, unrelated to sporting prowess, to watch cricket.”
He is an absurd looking human. Perhaps never more so than when wearing a helmet for several hours. This is not fair or reasonable.
This is a good interview by Rob Key. The ECB supremo is on Sky and looks right at home with that microphone in hand. I’m sure that whatever he says about the ECB’s high-yield review (some of which was published yesterday) will piss off a lot of people, but I suspect it will be worth listening to on his podcast feed when they publish it later. today. But I don’t have Culture War material today, it’s too tired.
Oh, speaking of podcasts – I better plug the weekend cricket history show than Geoff Lemon (also from this parish) and I do on our Final Word channel. We gave it a lot this week for almost two hours, my co-host had just left a dive bar in Las Vegas.
Well, bowl of soup done, I’m back. Let’s continue with some emails.
“Good morning from North Carolina,” says Ken Andrew. “Speaking of Fred Trueman’s booze, I had to show ID last night to buy a bottle of wine in a supermarket. I’m 67.”
The pretty harsh answer to all Americans aged 18-21 who have a fake ID!
“Thanks for being there,” says Martyn Fairbrother. “Watching in a bar in Paris, but they’ve moved on to footie. Pagans.”
To talk to Robert Wilson (he’s reading) about where you can find a place in Paris that has both. There are times when we are good enough.
England wins hour one, South Africa the second. But it remains very much in the hosts’ favour, three wickets in the first stanza exactly what they needed to open this third day with the visitors 176 away from making them bat for a second time. England’s three sandbars were put into play; Anderson’s set-up and finishing move to extract Dean Elgar’s off-stump is already going viral. Robinson picked up where he left off on day one and Broad provided his usual flurry of activity, knocking Markram over with a no-ball before dismissing him a few minutes later.
Credit to Petersen for the composure he showed during this testing stretch, and to van der Dussen, who played well despite a finger injury in this second innings. But if the Proteas are to have any chance of returning to the Test, it will be this pair who will have to occupy the crease for a long time to come.
I’m going to have a bite to eat; I suggest you do the same. Get back to you shortly.
LUNCH: 36th over: South Africa 88-3 (Petersen 20, van der Dussen 14)
Root helps the column of extras along four to start the final before lunch, right on the edge of the leg. van der Dussen does the rest, defending Root without bother. They leave with an unbeaten streak of 34. Very well played.
35th over: South Africa 84-3 (Petersen 20, van der Dussen 14) Leach runs again to ensure they get one more before lunch – back-to-back maidens from him to Petersen. He faced 60 balls for his 20 and was the most organized batsman to display during the session. He also had some useful time for Durham earlier in the season, so he’s been here for four months in these conditions.
34th over: South Africa 84-3 (Petersen 20, van der Dussen 14) I’m not a Root Basher when it comes to bowling spells – better than a part-timer. But I’m not sure why it ends the session from the Anderson End instead of the guy with his name on the end. South Africa made a similar calculation 24 hours ago, but didn’t play Nortje and Rabada until well after the long break and it backfired, with Stokes and Foakes quite fit when the main men returned. Anyway, I have now said that all this Jimmy will take with the first ball after the long break. Oh, and van der Dussen also found his second boundary here, a stylish cover.
33rd over: South Africa 80-3 (Petersen 20, van der Dussen 10) Leach to Petersen from cover and runs through a 75 second maiden. The last of the overs is the most threatening with some extra flight and some spin, finding the outside edge of the right-hander’s bat. But it meets soft and pleasant hands.
“He went yesterday and I admired the team spirit shown by England and the quality and…